Self sufficient in Thailand

[SumDay]

People like that stay well entertained with village gossip and the men drinking liquor with their buddies (partially kidding but there’s quite a bit of truth in this).

And this is different than my neighborhood how?

I'm really enjoying this bucolic thread. My son plans to go to Thailand next year for their honeymoon. They want to get out and roam outside the big cities - I'll have to show him this.

 

[bmcgonig]

And this is different than my neighborhood how? [emoji23]

I'm really enjoying this bucolic thread. My son plans to go to Thailand next year for their honeymoon. They want to get out and roam outside the big cities - I'll have to show him this.

They'll love it. I spent two months there after the dot com crash, after years of working 60 hour weeks. Best vacation ever. I went to an island with some friends. We all planned to spend a week or two there and then split and go tour around. We never left the island for the whole two months. It was idyllic.

 

[Chuckanut]

My forer neighbor's cousin lived a similar lifestyle right here in the USA (Arkansas to be specific), though certainly not as cheaply as Thailand. If one's material needs are few and modest, it can be done in parts of the country that are less dense, less well known and whose cost of living is lower.

IMHO, one could do a lot worse. And, many do a lot better (materially) and are still unhappy.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

There’s also 1 similarity of their lifestyle to our American and I was very surprised by it, they all use credit and most are in debt, some pretty deep

We've come across some interesting characters during our trips to Thailand. One sketchy person we met was an expat with his Thai wife who had a side business of bridge loans on the cusp of loan shark rates to people who can't or don't want to deal with the banks.
I'm curious if a lot of folks are stuck in this kind of debt trap due to using shadow lenders with crazy interest rates.

 

[RAE]

We rarely eat out too. We love to cook...but im not growing every single spice I use. Im not raising livestock or fishing for my meats...although I do harvest white tailed deer when the season comes around. Im not growing fields of grain and then making my own flour, etc etc.

We have a garden and its cute...but we do not grow nearly enough to supply us with veggies all year. We buy most of our fruits from other people who grow them.

I personally do not know a single person who is remotely close to being self sustaining...we (americans) purchase most of our goods from someone else who grows them...then we combine them to form a meal.

I didn't say in my last post that I was food self-sufficient, nor that my goal was to be completely food self-sufficient. My point was that some of us (yes, even some Americans) enjoy having a direct connection to the land, where all food ultimately comes from. In my case, my large vegetable garden provides about 50% of our veggies for the year. Venison from the deer I harvest provides some of the meat we consume, and the rest (beef, lamb, pork) comes from local farmers, along with farm eggs. We also forage for mushrooms, along with wild rice. We pick a lot of wild fruits, for both fresh eating and for making wine. And I'd say that about 70% of the fish that we eat is from fish that I catch myself. It's important to me to do these things, as I know exactly where this food comes from, and how it was grown or raised. So I think I can understand the connection that the family in the OP's post has with their food. To them, it would probably be just as foreign to have to go to the store to buy their food, as it is for you to try to imagine having to live like they do.

 

[Letj]

I agree with you. These things are not that hard when you are used to doing them, especially from childhood.

 

[97guns]

We've come across some interesting characters during our trips to Thailand. One sketchy person we met was an expat with his Thai wife who had a side business of bridge loans on the cusp of loan shark rates to people who can't or don't want to deal with the banks.
I'm curious if a lot of folks are stuck in this kind of debt trap due to using shadow lenders with crazy interest rates.

My father in law is a bit of a loan shark as well without taking interest but only with his family members, there are also a few loan sharks in the village as well and they have quite a bit of clientele, one of my wife’s cousins was offered a loan but the shark wants the home as collateral, I told the cousin DO NOT DO IT!, I lent them $1300 before coming out here.

 

[FUEGO]

Of course they're self sufficient! You built them a mansion and they get to live there for free!

My in laws live next door in Cambodia in an even more rural village. They have to trek to go to the communal well (if it works). But they have a cell signal and can facebook call/chat w/ family here in the US.

My sister in law was happy to escape working in the rice paddies all day by sneaking over the border into Thailand to work in a sweatshop all day. Manual labor required to grow your own food and process it gets tiring. I guess if that's the only options you have (beyond overseas remittances) you embrace your lot in life, smile, and make the most of it!

We're here in the Bahamas for a month right now kind of in the middle of nowhere. We had the chance to chat with our plumber's 5 year old son for an hour or two while the plumber took that long to complete a 10 minute repair. Life is pretty slow for the 5 year old too. No computer but they have a phone so he's somewhat connected to the world. Activities include swimming and soccer and hanging with his dad. Going fishing in the canal or going out on their boat to fish. Fishing = the way they get protein because wages aren't great, meat is low quality, and store bought seafood is very expensive. Lots of people love fishing (I don't) and the plumber seemed pretty happy about fishing all the time. And the water is full of fish, lobster, crab, etc so maybe it's not much work for a high yield.

I'm glad I have enough $$$ to outsource all of my food production and don't need to worry about where my next meal is coming from or the vagaries of farming (weather, pests, algae/fungus, theft, etc). My paternal grandparents would be best described as a half rung up the ladder from subsistence farmers in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. They grew or raised most things they ate during the first part of their lives, and sold some of it or bartered it to afford other things. Outhouse, hog house, chicken house, etc all on the property (now all that stuff is gone or in ruins though Grandma was living there at age 90 until moving to a nursing home last month). I'm very glad I've climbed several more socioeconomic rungs from where they are!

 

[HI Bill]

I thought life in Hawaii was slow...

Which part or island? I just came back from Hilo, and the fastest part of life there is the 17 mph river of lava...but on Oahu, with more than a million souls, and too few highways (and unfortunate geography), traffic is horrendous here. And many work 2+ jobs to make ends meet. I work in the business district of Honolulu, and it's mostly high-rise office towers with $250 monthly parking.

 

[97guns]

Which part or island? I just came back from Hilo, and the fastest part of life there is the 17 mph river of lava...but on Oahu, with more than a million souls, and too few highways (and unfortunate geography), traffic is horrendous here. And many work 2+ jobs to make ends meet. I work in the business district of Honolulu, and it's mostly high-rise office towers with $250 monthly parking.

My mom was born in Maui and met my dad in Honolulu, he was born and raised in the Kaimoki area, they bought a house in Kailua and lived there for 10 years before coming to the mainland, the Kailua side of the island is pretty slow for me, I’m used to the SF Bay Area pace.

 

[brett]

We spent some time in the Philippines this winter. We were so happy when we landed back Thailand (Krabi), it felt like coming home. DW was somewhat hesitant to go to Thailand at first. Now, she cannot wait to return each winter. If we skip it in favor of another location I hear about for quite some time.

 

[97guns]

Couple of shots of the inside of the house, I like the bathroom designs here with no shower door, really easy to clean. I especially like the point of use hot water heaters and in the wall air conditioning units. I’d like to remodel my bathroom at home like this, also a shot of her fathers kitchen, he likes to cook on open fire.

 

[Another Reader]

Mini splits for A/C because there is no ducting. Do they ever need heat?

How do they keep bugs and other pests out of the kitchen?

 

[97guns]

Mini splits for A/C because there is no ducting. Do they ever need heat?

How do they keep bugs and other pests out of the kitchen?

No heaters here, can’t keep the bugs out, they’re kept somewhat under control with the fans, constantly on the lookout for flys landing on food

 

[RobbieB]

Just eat em.

 

[97guns]

Just eat em.

They do, I’ve seen the family eat ant eggs, bats, rats, gecko, Scorpion, if it moves they eat it

 

[zinger1457]

How do they keep bugs and other pests out of the kitchen?

One of the workers at the local street food stall will take care of it.

 

[Retch The Grate]

Couple of shots of the inside of the house, I like the bathroom designs here with no shower door, really easy to clean. I especially like the point of use hot water heaters and in the wall air conditioning units. I’d like to remodel my bathroom at home like this, also a shot of her fathers kitchen, he likes to cook on open fire.

Lovely house!

My uncle built his in Phu Noi, about 30 minutes south of Hua Hin. I love the giant lanai style spaces and the outdoor kitchens.

 

[Backpacker]

97guns I see they've opted for the american toilet My Son and DIL recently moved and only option was the squatty potty on our last visit. supposedly they are having it changed out to american style. even his Thai wife isn't really a fan of the hole in the floor!

 

[97guns]

97guns I see they've opted for the american toilet My Son and DIL recently moved and only option was the squatty potty on our last visit. supposedly they are having it changed out to american style. even his Thai wife isn't really a fan of the hole in the floor!

Yeah those squatters are the norm everywhere with a bucket of water and saucepan for flushing, fortunately I haven’t had the need to try one of those, you gotta bring along your own toilet paper for public restrooms too. The other Americanized aspect of the house is the dining table, they all sit on the floor to eat.

 

[ejman]

Yeah those squatters are the norm everywhere with a bucket of water and saucepan for flushing, fortunately I haven’t had the need to try one of those, you gotta bring along your own toilet paper for public restrooms too. The other Americanized aspect of the house is the dining table, they all sit on the floor to eat.

Many moons ago in Iran we installed a couple of Western style toilets at a work camp bathroom. A few of the locals tried them and couldn't quite figure out why in the world westerners would come up with such a stupid toilet design. No matter how carefully they squatted on the toilet seat they kept missing and hitting the water tank with the payload

 

[redshift]

Snapped this in a bullet train restroom last year...

 

[FUEGO]

Snapped this in a bullet train restroom last year...View attachment 29018

LOLing at the #2 diagram. I've seen plenty of "favor de no echar el papel en la basura" signs around my part of North Carolina. They put a trash can in the stall just in case. Otherwise you get poop-stained paper tossed into the corner behind the toilet.

 

[Newventurer]

This is great, like Thai HGTV

 

[97guns]

I’m not sure if these things are designed to injest toilet paper or not but I take some rolled up in my pocket whenever we travel just in case, I guess I’ll find out when time comes.