Once again I appreciate the assistance.
Bronco

The only assistance I can give is 'cos the wife lives here.

And you want to be here 'cos.....................

Bronco, after giving this particular topic some SERIOUS thought, I've have to say that the primary thing that attracted me to Udon Thani was the RUMORS I'd heard while living in Pattaya. I came to Thailand to retire and play golf. When I got to Pattaya I thought I'd actully found 'golfers heaven' (March thru Sept) and then the reality of 'tourist season' set in. I had read and hears some stories about Udon and took a long weekend to come up and check it out for myself. The city was nice, people were friendly, golf was good and the prices were about 1/3 what I'd found in Pattaya. I moved and have never regretted it.

retired in feb 08 rented a house in pattaya for six months heard many good things about udon came up loved the place went back to pattaya give notice left 2 months early. now live in udon the people are nice and freindly for me this is thailand.

I came to live here 5 years ago be course my wife lived here, and after seeing several other cities in Thailand I've never regretted ending up here, as has been mentioned already, this is the 'real' Thailand.

Although I live just off the ring road I can go for days without seeing & talking to a Falang - if I so wish.
On the other hand, I know a couple of places in town where I can go & have good Falang conversation (& food), if I so wish. Same with shopping - if I want Falang it is available,if I want Thai that is available to.
Might say then why come and live in Thailand if you want Falang stuff, which is a fair question . Well I have always found that you only miss what you cannot have - you do not, necessarily, need it if you know it is available when you do feel like it.
Udon is still pretty laid back and not "in your face", unless you want it to be - so more options
The local inhabitants are, in the main, friendly & willing to help a foreigner (who may be destroying their language in an attempt at communication) and throw in the odd English word as well.
It is not Paradise - the weather can be too hot, the land too flat & uninteresting & no beach to lie on - but it is a pleasant place to live and everywhere has its' drawbacks.

This is a topic where I can't comment.I've never lived there.I did go to Sri Chang Mai twice in the early 70's and took a boat across the river and then went into Vientiane to renew my visa to come back to Thailand.I vaguely remember Nong Khai.
Anyway, I really have to defer to the members living there,taking a moment to write what attracts you to move there and stay there?Undoubtably family may be a reason but what do you really like about the area?Is it the Udonmap members?Irish Clock? Carefour?-----
Seriously what are the GOOD THINGS about life there?
Bronco

I lived in Udon for 2 1/2 years I just left moved in to my new home in my wife's village.
at first I did not like Udon I could not find suitable places to eat and I had no friends
that soon past and now living in the village I miss Udon and all it qualities which
has many but like every one else you will have to find your place here and see if it what
you want like Bob said and he has been here longer than most it a lay back community
with wonderful people both expats & thais. yes you will come across some who will
try to rip you off but you learn to avoid those places let me put in a plug for 2 bars
the Irish clock & Mojos are in my opinion the best places in town outside it Harry bar
I am sure there are many others but as a non drinker I would not know of them
good luck and happy hunting

Well I am fairly new to Udon, though not thailand as i lived in the south before, For the short time ive been in the area I find it laid back also mostly friendly along with the expats, which in some tourist spots is not the case. The big help for me has been the Forum to be truthful as I live in the sticks and in all honesty I would have found it difficult as I don't drink much. I do miss the beaches of the south though I can go there reasonably cheaply and I have more of a thai culture experience here so I am happy. I also like NK as I do like moving water and to sit by the mekong enjoying a meal is good and not far away.
Anyway Udon gets the thumbs up for me and long may it continue to be that way.

in my opinion , udon has everything you could want from a thai town except a beach and the sea . but i compensated for that by buying land close to a pretty lake and i now have a view that includes water , lots of trees and wildlife . what are the benifits of settling in udon . i settled here because it was the nearest civilised town to the wifes home village . its pluses for me are , decent roads and rail link , the airport , good hotels in all price ranges , low housing costs , several golf courses , fabulous public parks , plenty of restaurants both thai and western of a good standard , more bars than you could do a pub crawl through if your a drinker , the complex , where you can pretty much buy anything you need , a good selection of food shops , some catering for our needs , the farang population , including udonmap members , and last but certainly not least , the isaan people . ive pretty much travelled the country now and as much as enjoy thailand , its always great to get back to udon . i will be here till my final barbeque , government permitting .

Thanks Bronco for another interesting topic you've brought up! As i'm not in Udon or Nong Khai yet, i can only agree with what's been written already. That, nearest main sensible town to g/f village, has hospital, the food shops (need sort of special diet), airport, more 'real Thai', my mate lives in area, have enjoyed my visits there, driving around a pleasure. The forum has all sorts of stuff, some funny, some serious, but reading the thoughtful responses above, is what makes the Udonmap forum the best!

I came to Udon on my first visit to Thailand, after only seeing parts of BKK and I've got to admit, when I first came here my first impression was, "what a dump". The traffic was chaotic, the pavements lethal, the sewers stank and being January it wasn't all that warm. I was obviously Westernised and it came as quite a shock.
However, over the next two years I visited a further 7 times. During that period I made many Thai and Falang friends that made my visits more welcoming. I also found places to visit and things to do where I felt comfortable in that environment.
When I eventually made the decision to retire in Thailand, despite not visiting many places in Thailand, there was only one choice. Udon felt like home and I've never regretted it.
My advice to anyone thinking of living here would be, don't let first impressions spoil your judgment. Maybe visit other places and come back to Udon 2 or 3 times. Eventually it gets to you and you realise what a great place to live it is.

Udon. The attraction for me? Its 4 hours drive to the inlaws. Before anyone wants to make something of that, let me say I have a great relationship with them They have never sponged a single baht off me. Quite the contary they have been most generous .Its just that I have a neighbour who married a local girl and all day there is a constant procession of relatives visiting, for various reasons, either wanting something or dropping off kids to look after while the parents go out. He is fed up to the teeth with the intrusion on his privacy, but what can he doi. His wife just say'; "they are family" TIT

Proximity to my wife's family.

I was fed up with bangkok after a couple of years,didn't like being a falang there!I had visited Udon twice and as Galee mentioned ,it didn't excite me.I had never gone the other 50 KM to Nong khai!

I met a Kiwi that lived in NK 6 months of the year and we were discussing the different attitudes the NK & Bangkok locals and authorities exhibited towards falangs.I couldn't believe that, generally speaking,there was such a difference.After over 5 years in Bangkok and going to many other provinces to try and get a feel for a place to live,I was near leaving Thailand and probably would have left if I could have got the stepdaughter out of the country(another story).

I decided to give NK a real looksee!We came and stayed a month,found everything to be exactly as he described it and decided to make the move over 5 years ago!

I have learned to enjoy visits to Udon,but I have never regretted moving to NK.It is cooler ,has the river and the friendliest local folks of any place that I have experienced in Thailand.

I like the traffic patterns here also,that makes it comfortable to ride a bicycle everywhere comfortably and it is a relatively clean town.I like the smallness of the community.Meet alot of travelers and tourists passing through,that are not focused on life centered around alcohol or seeking sex venues.I don't feel hustled here by the locals with an ocassional minor exception!

The wife and I are out and about on bicycles everyday with our little dog in the basket.We get friendly nods,smiles and ocassional weis from locals all around the town that have got used to seeing us.We feel accepted,yet not encroached upon.NK feels like our ''hometown''!

We might be leaving here in 2 more years when our daughters education pursuits change,as we want to be close to support her University time!But we will move back to NK as soon as circumstances allow.