Rural Thailand seems to always get bashed by expats who have visited 1 time.
Most of those types feel they cannot live in a place with nothing really going on.
It is odd because these same people will live in Bangkok with sky high levels of air pollution and never give it a second thought.
To each his own.
Rural Thailand, to me, is more like normal life.
If you didn’t grow up in a major city the size of Bangkok (Like London, New York, LA, Tokyo, etc.), perhaps many find rural Thailand more like where they grew up?
Rural Thailand is not about nightclubs, girly bars, restaurants, etc.
It is about farming and open spaces. Land, lots of land, so you can keep a safe distance from neighbors, barking dogs or just noise in general.
It is normal, it is peaceful.
Rural Thai’s are quite poor for the most part, but still happy, friendly and very helpful.
When you marry a Thai, who has a large family in rural Isaan, it is anything but boring.
From Rural Isaan through Northern Thailand, there are many wonderous nature sites to see and behold, all void of traffic and massive crowds. Not boring for sure.
In rural Thailand, there seems to be plenty of Tesco’s and Makro’s around to get your western groceries.
Costs for goods and services are cheaper than anywhere in Thailand.
Loads of fresh fruits and vegetables. You can grow your own!
Rural Isaan is family life, if you were a person that married a Thai and don’t want to be around the family, Isaan is probably not for you.
The open spaces, lack of traffic, pollution and other evils plaguing Thailand is what makes living in rural Isaan attractive to many.
If you need to sit on a bar stool all day and watch the world go by, it is definitely not for you.
I will take the peace and quiet any day over the hustle and bustle of the cities and tourist areas.
I can always visit those places anytime, but I surely do not want to live there.