Good Areas to live in?

So, which are the best areas to live in Udon, then?

I live just outside the ring road, which is good if you want to drive out and about anywhere, but at times I feel restricted in that there's nowhere to walk to locally. I have to get the car out to go anywhere, even to the shops.

At times I think I would like to live closer in, maybe near a bit of parkland and on a Songthaew route, so that I or GF (who doesn't drive a car or ride a m/bike!) can walk or take a songthaew into the central shopping area.

I also live about 3km outside the ring road, albeit closer to the Sakon Nakon highway and thus have either the slow city bus or songthaews to get easily into central Udon.
On where to live and what is best.. Well, that certainly depends upon what you are looking for.. My choices were a relatively quiet area, not much developed, with concrete roads, power, city/village water, and an accessible and decent village chief (pu yai ban). Having Big C, AEK Udon, and several fresh markets within a couple of kilometers weighed in on our decision too. Yeah, you can dig up my other posting on my place getting burglarized but since two Thai homes got hit the same night, I didn't feel singled out.
Overall, I feel Udon will be a fine place for retirement, and a place I have no qualms dragging my kids and grandkids to visit regularly. I personally wouldn't buy into one of the packed housing estates on the ring road. I'd recommend driving around the ring road and pushing out another 1-2 kilometers into some of the smaller villages. If you have a TW/GF, and see an area which looks promising, find out who the Pu Yai Ban is and talk with him. He'll know who's selling land, and what government infrastructure upgrades are coming (water, power, roads etc.)

FrazeeDK wrote:I'd recommend driving around the ring road and pushing out another 1-2 kilometers into some of the smaller villages. If you have a TW/GF, and see an area which looks promising, find out who the Pu Yai Ban is and talk with him. He'll know who's selling land, and what government infrastructure upgrades are coming (water, power, roads etc.)

Well that's exactly what I am doing Dave. However, as soon as I do that I see they start to develop a (albeit very small) electronics assembly factory over the road, I presume because the land is cheap.

I do hope Udon is not going to get the urban sprawl in the same way as BKK

arjay wrote:So, which are the best areas to live in Udon, then?

2 blocks from Robinson works fine for me, walking/staggering distant from/to most places in downtown area. Outside the ring road? Too far off for me, don

quite........

We live 9k out on the Nong Kai road. We have the white bus and the Nong Khai bus to use at our doorstep and an extraordinarily helpful tuck tuck driver living locally but working in the city - so he is nearly always available - and there is a taxi - I read other correspondents said there are no taxis in Udon, but there is a rather decrepit one operating between Udon and Ban Phu. My brother-in-law has a spare car and driver which we can use (I would pay him a fee), so all in all especially as it is such a pleasant area, we don't mind living so far from town. The biggest problem is crossing the highway with its speeding traffic, to catch the bus.

Thanks Miruku. That's useful to know. I'll slow down and have a look round when I next go up to Nong Khai.

well summer has arrived and todays temp at airport was 37 (98+), but on the eastside of the beltway, I bet it was 40 (104) I noticed while on the westside, we had a breeze, same at the park for lunch. But living surrounded by houses, on the eastside, no breeze!

The rel humidity at the airport was about 25%, so it was a dry heat So it felt like an oven

So I guess the westside is the best, but make sure its an open area

Yep it sure was a scorcher today; I had the air-con on from lunchtime onwards.

Oh well, it's better than the freezing conditions back in the UK.

lee wrote:Yep it sure was a scorcher today; I had the air-con on from lunchtime onwards.

Oh well, it's better than the freezing conditions back in the UK.

Yep it sure is cold today;had the heating on full blast this morning. !

too true lee, raining today and raining tomorrow also very cold here in uk. you lucky devils.
still it can only get better. Bring on the summer.

Old mother land england, always wet and cold, I wonder if the woman are the same?

Kally

AussieBoy wrote:Old mother land england, always wet and cold, I wonder if the woman are the same?

Kally

at the moment its a heatwave, so plenty of totty walking about.

Ok sounds good , but whats's a Totty

Kally

AussieBoy wrote:Ok sounds good , but whats's a Totty

Kally

an example of what "Totty" is'nt..........get my drift AB...

She'd keep ya warm in a russian winter