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According to Bangkokian thinking everything outside Bangkok is called “upcountry”. I could have never imagined that I would live for almost 2 years in Bangkok , but I did, and for many reasons it became time to move out of this city of fallen angels.

When I came to for holidays I left Bangkok many times, and even when living in Bangkok I also left Bangkok many times. Many times I left with pain in my heart. I remember once when I was sitting at a gate at Don Muang airport to go to my home country for a reality check. The waiting room at the gate was filled with fellow countryman and they were talking about their holiday in Thailand, and what was worse they were talking about how happy they were to go back home. They were already making up their schedules for what to do as soon as they would be back, and saying that they missed their home country so much. I was sitting there, alone, and thinking of my wonderful life here in Bangkok. When the airplane was airborne and the wheels lost contact with the soil of I felt like I was losing something. But I always came back to Bangkok, and again I still remember one of those times that the airplane was making its final approach for Don Muang airport as you overlook Bangkok very early in morning when the sun has just put her first shining glimpse over the city. Yes, what I saw through the small window of the airplane was "Home sweet home", but after almost 2 years living and making friends there it also became time to end some friendships. That came to my mind when I was on a small tour from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi, Nakhon Nayok and finally to Pattaya. While on the way to Kanchanaburi it became clear to me that I had to end a friendship, and I did choose to do that by leaving Bangkok. As my tour was ending in Pattaya and I have a friend living there I did choose to live in Pattaya. So I called my friend in Pattaya and asked him to check for a room for me on the same street where he was living and he did. So when I was on tour in Pattaya I checked out the room and accepted it as my new home. Now I still had to go back to Bangkok to pickup my belongings and bring them to Pattaya. The bus ride to Bangkok was a heavy one, because I knew that I was breaking up with almost 2 years of joy and pain. So I picked up my belongings and took a taxi back to Pattaya. My thoughts were not in the place where I was going to, but at the place that I just left. The taxi driver was feeling my mood and did not say anything during the 2-hrs drive to Pattaya that seemed for me like a life-time. Finally I arrived at my new home and my new neighbors were so friendly to help me bring my little luggage that I had into my new house. Now living here almost 2 years I ask myself many times "Why the hell have I moved to Pattaya?" It seems strange because most people living here have a good reason for living here. Not me, because until I had to go to Pattaya for my work I had never been in Pattaya. I always avoided Pattaya, just like I always avoided any of these kind of holiday resorts in Europe.

My new home in Naklua

Well actually I’m not living in Pattaya, but in a suburb of it called Naklua. It was once a small fishing village with a big fresh market and jungle between what is now called Pattaya (actually Nongprue as Pattaya does not really exist) and Naklua. Now it is almost fully connected with Pattaya, and where I live is about 5-min from the big fresh fish market. My new home is a one-floor townhouse, build in a private project of 2 old Thai-Chinese sisters who live opposite of this block of houses. It consists of a big U-form soi with rows of about 12 houses next to each other. In the middle of the whole project is an open field with some palm trees. Each house has a small kind of veranda from where you can enter from the front-side room. Mostly this room is used as a living room, but, as I had no furniture, I used it as a parking place for my motor-bike that I would buy the next week. The second room I used as my bedroom and the third room at the back-side I used as clothing room. Behind that is the bathroom and a small back-yard. Well for the 3000thb a month excl. water & electricity it's not bad at all. Of course I pay a little bit more for the water & electricity as my landlord has to pay. It's nice to live in a real Thai neighborhood; my friend and I are the only falang here. The downside of living in a real Thai neighborhood is that your neighbors could have chickens and/or dogs, and not one or two dogs, but more likely 5 to 10. And first it does not bother you so much that the chickens from your neighbors wake you up between 5 and 6 o'clock in the morning, but after a while it gets irritating and then you also start to hear the barking dogs, the crying children and the drunken Thai boys next to you.

Moving around in Pattaya

So it became time to move again. I found my new house at Sai Sam, it’s a wooden Thai house with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room with open kitchen, and beautiful wooden floors. It even has a small kind of garden and place to park my motor-bike, all this for 8000thb a month, including water and cable-TV. I did not think too much and moved the next day. Of course as being a not too smart falang I made a mistake by living in a wooden house in an area full of big buildings. That means that there is almost no wind, and that means that it very hot inside the house. Another thing that started to irritate me is the busy streets of Pattaya Tai, which has too many cars and motorbike's driven by drunk and crazy people. After 8 months it irritated me so much that I decided to move again. Out of the center of crazy Pattaya, back to Naklua again, at the end of a long soi of Thanon Naklua in a small apartment complex where I rent two rooms for the price of 2250thb per room per month including cable-TV. The apartment is brand new and the landlord is living at the same place. In front of me I overlook the still green area of Naklua where sometimes even some elephants overstay for a few days. My landlord is a Thai man originally from Tak, but living here now for almost 15 years. He has been working in for some American companies and in that way he has some more understanding for the way of living of falang. The rooms that he did build himself are also just a little bit different than normal Thai rooms. No electric wires over the walls, nice tiles on the floor, no stupid TL-lights, and a real western toilet. Living here with some other people and the family of the landlord I feel at home here for the first time. In the evening we sit outside, eat and drink.

But living here now almost 3 years in Pattaya, the sin city of Thailand, I’m getting irritated by the kind of people who do choose to live here in Pattaya also. And I’m not only talking about the falang but also about the Thai people who mostly come here to make a fast buck and see falang as a walking ATM. Of course there are good and bad people everywhere, but I presume that Pattaya is a magnet for the not so good people. Now living here for more than 1 year in my 2-rooms apartment I’m more and more missing some private space around me and a green garden with trees and flowers. So I’m thinking it’s time to move again. But the problem is I do not know where to move to. First I had been thinking of moving just outside Pattaya, but not too far. But on the other hand I also like the north of and especially Lampang. So who knows where I will end up next time.

Baan Chang Noi

After looking around for more than a year in and around Pattaya I finally found my place to make my “castle”. I had been driving around to look for land or house for rent or sale and came in contact with a Thai lady who was acting as intermediary between people wanting to sell and people wanting to buy. She showed me many houses and land but also a nice small house on more than 1 rai land near to her own house. I liked the street and I liked the house, and so I decided to buy the house. I talked to the owner and we agreed at a good price and a 50/50 split for the costs of buying. I also asked for advice from my landlord who was not too much positive about it because it would cost too much to do something with the land. This and other things made me cancel the whole project. I continued to look around and almost a year later I was driving by again and saw that the house was for rent now. I again talked to the owner and we agreed on a rental contract of 1-year with an option of 6-months to buy the house for the same price as almost 1 year ago. Of course there had to be made some investment in renovating the house & garden. It took 2 months and some money to renovate the house & garden in a way that we could live there. After 6-months of living there happily I even actually finally bought the house. That is of course my girlfriend was so nice to buy the land & house and we made a long-term lease contract. So here I live now at “Baan Chang Noi”, about 12km from Pattaya and 100km from Bangkok and I love it. Mostly it’s quiet and the neighbors are friendly and nice people. I have a big garden and at sunset I sit in the garden and drink a glass of Amaretto and think to myself, “Life is good for me.” Of course there sometimes are some problems like barking dogs, or dirty water from the water-well, or a rat that tried to eat the water-pump. But overall I live a good and happy life here.

Chang Noi