Serendipity2

I'm hoping to get other expats' recommendations on condo projects or apartment complexes to rent. My previous post elicited a response from one person - elektrifie - who suggested I read through nearly 7500 topics as, in his words, "It's been discussed before". 249 pages x 30 topics per page! Thanks elektrified, but not very helpful.

I would appreciate other expats' recommendations of condominium projects or apartment compleses in Chaing Mai that expats would recommend to rent for several months. I'm hoping for something close to the Night Bazaar, Chaing Inn or Ta Phae Road - that is quiet and few barking dogs. T he fewer the better! I would be open to your suggestions as well. I'm not looking for an individual apartment or condo as my time horizon is too far out just projects that are well run, fairly priced and quiet. And projects to avoid as well! Thanks in advance for any constructive suggestions.

Serendipity2

I highly recommend Natty (www.realestateinchiangmai.com) I have bought several from her and she is straight and honest 0864209661

ChaingMaiFun,

Thanks for that! I'll give her a call or go to her office.

Serendipity2

It depends on what you are looking for in a building--you want night bazaar area--very touristy--there are some serviced apartments at the Royal Peninsula Hotel(?) that I saw some photo's of. In CM you can get almost anywhere in a song-taew within 10 or 15 minutes.

I personally chose to be around Kad Saun Kaew, because I do not have my own transportation, and it is very central, and I can get anywhere in the city by just walking out my door and getting a ride. There are a number of condo's in this are--some with better amenities than others--and you have to state your budget. Factor into the equation that you have to give first and last months rent up front, plus a months security deposit up front. Then you have to pay all utilities, plus installation charges for phone and internet which are about 2K baht which is not refundable.

So give us a better idea of your budget, whether you will have your own transportation, and then members can sort of guide you along.

Hi Shepsel,

I do not plan to own a car - may buy a small motorcycle or a bicycle but that's about it! I plan on living very austerely. The primary reason I was interested in the Night Bazaar was because there's a GREAT place to eat across the road - hidden behind the businesses that front Chang Khlan Rd. that I really like near the bandshell. I recommend it highly. You exchange your THB for script and buy with script. Many different cuisines available!

Paying a couple of month's rent up front is not a problem. My only concern is that I've read it's usually difficult if not impossible to get back the deposit so I would try to negotiate that as the last month's rent. From the landlord's perspective, since he's already "spent" the money he doesn't want to give it back. From the tenant's perspective he wants the deposit back or use as the last month's rent. Thanks for the tip on a good area to live. Would my budget of 10,000 THB per month get a decent place [furnished] in Kad Saun Kaew? Do you have problems with barking dogs? I know the more "touristy" the area the higher the cost. Same with restaurants. If it's a touristy place or expat place it will be more expensive than if it primarilyu caters to Thais. I prefer the latter for the most part. Thanks again for the helpful tips.

Serendipity2

I doubt that posters intended for you to search through 30 pages of threads. More likely, you could use the search function. Limit it to key words of more than three letters, this forum, and no more than 180 days old.

There is no accepted standard of apt. hunting here. One of the sponsors provides listings, and the classified ads have listings. But there are no competing agencies of professionally staffed advisors with hundreds of listings, who know their neighborhoods, speak English well, etc., as we have in the West. Hundreds of condo rentals are owned and leased by individuals who are quirky and not professionals.

I have never been to more than two condos near the Night Bazaar, none near Tha Pae Gate, and do not know what Chiang Inn is. Most of our experiences are anecdotal. Most of us don't know but have been willing to share what we know. Good luck.

Thanks, PeaceBlondie,

Not 30 pages but 249 pages.! I'm reasonably ambitious but not that ambitious. That's about 7500 individual threads.

I suspected most condos would be privately owned but some buildings are constructed better, are quieter and are better maintained than others. I'll probably stay at a guest house for a week or three and begin my search. One of the things I would like to do anyway would be to visit several hill tribes and do a photographic essay in exchange for room & board for a week or so and give them copies of my work. I'm not sure that's feasible but as they say, that's plan A! Between trips living with the hill tribes I would need a place to relax and decompress or recuperate.

Chiang Inn was THE hotel in Chiang Mai 30 years ago. It's still there but a parking structure was built adjoining it and the hotel has since gone downhill. Many newer and larger hotels are in Chiang Mai now. Still a grand hotel in its day and I stayed there many times. Thanks again for your comments and help - much appreciated.

Serendipity2

Well I won't rail on you for not looking at old topic, prices change do does ownership, so rave reviews from a year ago might not hold true. Though you failed to mention your pricerange. The idea of fairly priced might mean 8k baht to some and 25k to others.

Serendipity2 -- you said: I'm not looking for an individual apartment or condo as my time horizon is too far out What does that mean as, by definition, apts & condos are in a complex. And will today's recommendation apply too far out?

Hi Noise,

Thanks for your reply! What I meant was I'm most interested in the complex and not a condo or apartment right now. I'm not arriving until fall so whatever is available today, if good, won't be when I arrive. But I do want a short list of decent places [buildings] that are well maintained and are secure. If a condo they're probably going to be owned by an individual which is great but I'm not able to see anything now but knowing a certain apartment complex or condo project is well run, clean and safe is what I'm aiming for right now. Thanks again

Serendipity2

Well I won't rail on you for not looking at old topic, prices change do does ownership, so rave reviews from a year ago might not hold true. Though you failed to mention your pricerange. The idea of fairly priced might mean 8k baht to some and 25k to others.

Hi BlackArtemis,

Thanks for your reply! From what I've read the price for a modest sized, semi-furnished to furnished apartment or condo runs around 10,000 THB give or take with at least 2 months prepaid. If that's not realistic please advise! I hope there are some larger condo buildings with expats as I'm more likely to get a fair idea of the good and not-so-good. My priorities are security, quiet and then price - happy to pay more for a safe and quiet place. Any suggestions are appreciated!

Serendipity2

37-year-old woman mauled to death by 3 pit bull terriers

Pit Bull Terrier. -- Stock photo

NAKHON SAWAN: -- A woman was mauled to death by 3 pit bull terriers, which also injured her three relatives and killed another local dog, police said.

Police said Raksina Techawatanabamrungkij, 37, was killed late Friday night after she released the three pit bull terriers from the cage into the compound of her family's rice mill.

Her mother-in-law, Charoensri Lorlertrat, 53, her daughter, Thaweephan Lorlertrat, 20 months, and her brother-in-law, Satit Lorlertrat, 33, were injured by the dogs.

Charoensri told police that Raksina left the house to release the terriers from their cage at about midnight but she did not come back inside, prompting her daughter to cry.

Charoensri came out to look for her and found her badly-mauled body along with a local pet dog of the family.

The pit bull terriers then turned to attack Charoensri and her granddaughter. She cried for help and when her son came out to help, he was also attacked.

Eventually, Charoensri's husband, Seksuek Lorlertrat, came out to help and shot two terriers dead while the other one escaped.

-- The Nation 2009-04-05

Will these fools never learn. Pit bulls were bred to kill. Sure some can be nice but even the nice ones can have a bad hair day and severely injure or kill. The breed should be outlawed and those who own them should be required to carry LOTS of insurance and be held personally responsible. Ironic that it was the owner who was attacked. A good pit bull is a dead pit bull.

Seremdipity2

I'm hoping to get other expats' recommendations on condo projects or apartment complexes to rent. My previous post elicited a response from one person - elektrifie - who suggested I read through nearly 7500 topics as, in his words, "It's been discussed before". 249 pages x 30 topics per page! Thanks elektrified, but not very helpful.

I would appreciate other expats' recommendations of condominium projects or apartment compleses in Chaing Mai that expats would recommend to rent for several months. I'm hoping for something close to the Night Bazaar, Chaing Inn or Ta Phae Road - that is quiet and few barking dogs. T he fewer the better! I would be open to your suggestions as well. I'm not looking for an individual apartment or condo as my time horizon is too far out just projects that are well run, fairly priced and quiet. And projects to avoid as well! Thanks in advance for any constructive suggestions.

Serendipity2

I imagine if you see a crowd and some paparazzi, then she will be in the middle of it.

I also imagine it cant be easy being followed around everywhere you go.

Have always liked her work and admired her more when she became a UN ambassador. I wish her luck in her work and hope she gets a little peace and quiet.

As for "any lucky guy seen her"..according to many westerners on TV, all western women are completely and utterly repulsive and undesirable (to put it mildly), so why would any of them be interested in seeing the talented and beautiful Ms Jolie-Pitt?

eek,

Talented and beautiful? As they say, "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder" but talented she ain't. She can't act which is supposedly where her fame came from. I"ve seen two movies with the "beautiful and talented" Angeline Jolie in them. The first, a remake of the classic "Gone in 60 seconds" was a joke. The other was so bad I can't remember the name [ity was "Hackers"] but she weighed a great deal more in that movie that her anorexic self does today. She CAN'T ACT. So what other talents do you perceive? She's probably a bum lay.

The ONLY reason Angelina Jolie is a Goodwill Ambassador of UNHCR was that then-President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton sucked up to Hollywood. Sorry eek but Angelina Jolie is no babe but she knows how to ring every dime out of her fame. The average Thai lady is much sexier and has a lot more class. As for western women, most are overweight, over-value themselves in the meatmarket and come with 9 yards of attitude. Why do you think expats become expats?

I much prefer Jennifer Aniston to Angelina Jolie.

Aniston is pretty and feminine and nice, where Jolie is the attention seeking, slut type. All of the adopting children and "good works" is a con job in my estimation.

Something is wrong with Brad Pitt.

I couldn't agree with you more! Jennifer is a warm, classy and friendly woman and she's not full of herself. Angelina is the antithesis of warm and friendly and classy. She and Brad deserve each other and Jennifer didn't deserve to be treated by these two.

Try doing a search in this forum. This same topic has been covered many times. The suggestions are almost always the same. Have a nice time.

elektrified,

I just spent 2-3 hours yesterday going over various and sundry topics. I'm new to Thaivisa but I thought the 249 'pages' was a reasonable number to go through to look for threads on where to rent. Well it IS 249 pages but each page has 30 threads or topics. I made it to "page" 25 which means I viewed 750 different threads. Aside from one project that stirred up a bit of interest primarily because one farang was aggrieved about the noise, and several individuals offering up places and one thread mentioning districts in Chaing Mai that are meaningless to one who does't know Chiang Mai, I didn't see one thread where expats offered up opinions of what projects, complexes etc were available and desireable.

Now, having made it through 25 pages, that leaves me with a mere 224 pages which, given there are 30 threads per page, gives me "only" 6720 threads or subjects to go. How handy! Not to be deterred, I checked the ads on the banner at the top of each page. Yes, there are a LOT of units available but the ads are not geographic specific and most were for units, apartments, homes or condos in Bangkok. I was more interested in comments from expats and where to rent tha Then I said, "hey, maybe Thaivisa has a SEARCH ENGINE. Evidently not. That would have required some forethought by the owner of this site.

Like you, I think folks should spend some effort and try to help themselves before asking others for help - but having said that, isn't the purpose of this and other forums to

share information with one another? With 249 pages x 30 threads per page, viewing 7470 threads is a bit more than I want to tackle. Thanks for the help though.

Serendiipity2

Angelina Jolie is a dog! And she can't act either. But she DOES know how to poach other's husbands. You can have her!

Random-thread bumping is an art that you don't master yet.

Please condescend to teach us the art, oh great master . . . .

Well, I just did that.

Serenpidity2 bumped the thread at 10:30. Almost 5 hours later, nobody had reacted.

At 15:10, I decided to take over. 40 minutes later, I've generated 3 replies (and counting).

MonsieurHulot,

I don't exactly know what "bumping the thread' is supposed to mean but I was reading ALL of the comments on the thread and decided to put my oar in. I hope that's OK. The reason I'm late is there is this thing called an International Date Line. Are we only supposed to make the "next" comment from the prior comment? If so then this forum won't last too long. I thought it was to share ideas, comments and thoughts rather than to stick,chronologically, to being the "next" comment. If I've transgressed my apologies. But Angelina Jolie is still a dog.

I much prefer Jennifer Aniston to Angelina Jolie.

Aniston is pretty and feminine and nice, where Jolie is the attention seeking, slut type. All of the adopting children and "good works" is a con job in my estimation.

Something is wrong with Brad Pitt.

Both Jenifer and Angelina have great qualities and I'm available anytime for either one of them.

Why do you think that the adopting and 'good works ' is a con? It might well be, but it also might be a genuine act on her part....what leads you to think that it is a con?

Angelina is well fit, I'd rather do her than Aniston any day.

Lozfranco,

Angelina Jolie isn't attractive [at least to this expat] she can't act worth a farthing, she has no class and is probably a lousy lay to boot. She THINKS she's beautiful but the fact is she really isn't. There are hundreds of Hollywood actresses that could run rings around her.

Jennifer Aniston, on the other hand, IS a classy lady. And I do mean a lady! Pitt cheated on her and Angelina did the same. If you like shallow females then Angelina Jolie is your babe. I personally don't care for predatory females. Lets not forget that Brad Pitt is a pretty shallow guy too. I'm not surprised they aren't married - that's Hollywood - which is not the best role model.

Just saw her on the news, walking around in chiang mai. Apperently she´s been there some days already? Any lucky guy seen her?

Lucky? Angelina Jolie is a dog! And she can't act either. But she DOES know how to poach other's husbands. You can have her!

I just don't understand how can some people find gym expensive in Thailand. As I can recall, my university in Australia charged me more than 50000 baht for just a semester of gym.

I bought a 3 year membership two years ago at 24 Hour Fitness for $750 which translates to about 24 THB per day. It included 5 one hour personal trainer sessions and a bag of goodies including supplements, a T shirt and a towel. I gave the goodies away and the personal trainer was a waste but the overall cost was fine. 2000 THB per month seems REALLY high! A fair price would be about 1000 THB per month.

I cross my fingers for a legal casino in Thailand. Its the best way to stop the illegal gambling.

balo,

If the government doesn't make a profit from it then it's illegal. When the government makes a profit it's legal. Just like America! The problem with governments is that they don't like competition.

Serendipity2

Try doing a search in this forum. This same topic has been covered many times. The suggestions are almost always the same. Have a nice time.

elektrified,

I'll look again but I really didn't see much before. Thanks

Hi everyone! I'm looking for suggestions of a place to stay in Chiang Mai for a month or three that's reasonably quiet, furnished and has decent security - and not too expensive! Prefer around the night market or bazaar area. Thanks all for your suggestions!

Serendipity2

I cant believe you guys are complaining about the decor at Gohan Tei, I guess this forum is a little too "high-so" for me.

The sushi there is excellent and if you are afraid of its quality I can assure you the chef buys it at the same places the other 4star Japaense places do because he has worked for those places for many years himself.

If you are paranoid about it ,order the salmon because this is never served "raw", since it is a fresh water fish.

Actually nevermind. That place should just be left the local secret for expat Japanese and "in the know" locals...

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Mr.StickyRice,

"If you are paranoid about it ,order the salmon because this is never served "raw", since it is a fresh water fish."

What kind of salmon are you talking about? So far as I know NO salmon is a fresh water fish. They hatch as smolt in fresh water, as salmon fry they migrate downsteam to the ocean where they live for 3-5 years and then they return to the river they were 'born' in to spawn and die in fresh water. But virtually their entire lives are spent at sea living in salt water. Even salmon raised in enclosures live in salt water. Oddly enough, the meat is white rather than 'salmon pink', which probably has to do with the native salmon feeding on krill in the arctic. That's my guess since no one knows where salmon live during those years.

Serendipity2

Quite popular in other 3rd world countries.

Other 3rd world countries????

Thailand is not a third world country.

adjan,

If Thailand is not a third world country what is it? TIA

Serendipity2