Where To Live?

[pumi23]

hello,

its my first time posting something in this forum.

i found lots of information already, but now my own special case:

me and my husband are planning to move to thailand at the end of this year.

we have our own company. we want to expand to thailand and open a 2nd office there.

now, the question is: where shall we live?

we are living in hong kong now, but getting tired of the tiny appartments and the horrible air pollution coming from china (and HK itself). so we are looking for a spacious nice appartment (around 120-150 squaremetres) which is easily accessible by skytrain and MRT.

we prefer to live in a more quite area with more green around us and hopefully better air.

bangkok sounds interesting to us because supermarkets, gyms etc. are closeby.

also, our suppliers are in bangkok, around pratunam area, we need to go there at least

once a week.

i heard that the Thonburi area could be nice.

we will also need to have an office and employ a few people. it would be great if they office is very nearby, may even be in the same building or neighbour building.

where would you guys suggest us to live? if in bangkok, which area?

if outside of bangkok, where exactly?

we dont have a car in hong kong, the public transportation system here is great. do we need to buy a car in thailand? is there any need for it?

i appreciate your help and ideas.

thanks,

pumi23

[jumnien]

Buy a studio apartment in the Pratunam area. Set up your office with people you can trust. Buy a nice condo in seaside Hua Hin and commute to BKK (2 hours) for a couple days a week. You will have the best of both worlds and save a ton of money over Hong Kong.

[londonthai]

yes, thonburi is green and peaceful but because it's on the other side of the river it hasn't got skytrain or mrt - if you decide to live here you would rather need a car. It's 30 - 45 minutes driving to Prathunam or faster by the boat through the sam sen kanal.

apartments of that size you are looking for would be rather in the luxury range, for foreigners, and might be expensive - cheaper and giving you more independence would be a villa or a town house. I would locate an office downstairs and have bedrooms and private area upstairs (that't what many businesses in Bangkok do).

[samtam]

Depends how long you spend in the office. Traffic can be a pain, especially during peak hours. Condos are about 1/5 the price of Hong Kong, so that a 250 sqm condo in central business district, (Sathorn) is about HKD4-5m. Further out is much cheaper. Your best bet is to live in a serviced apartment for about three months to get a feel for the city and how you move around. Personally I much prefer the Sathorn area to Sukhumvit, the latter much liked by many foreigners. I knew that before I moved here and I still feel that after living here for 4 years. Sukhumvit is like living in Kowloon, Sathorn like the Island. (But then again I lived on the latter and many prefer Kowloon.)

[bkkmei]

Depends how long you spend in the office. Traffic can be a pain, especially during peak hours. Condos are about 1/5 the price of Hong Kong, so that a 250 sqm condo in central business district, (Sathorn) is about HKD4-5m. Further out is much cheaper. Your best bet is to live in a serviced apartment for about three months to get a feel for the city and how you move around. Personally I much prefer the Sathorn area to Sukhumvit, the latter much liked by many foreigners. I knew that before I moved here and I still feel that after living here for 4 years. Sukhumvit is like living in Kowloon, Sathorn like the Island. (But then again I lived on the latter and many prefer Kowloon.)

Hi

I agree with samtam in that you should get a serviced apartment first. (But I prefer Suk to Sathorn!) We moved from HK and found we were getting twice the floor space for half the price!

Another area besides those mentioned which I think is interesting is Aree - v. quiet on the backstreets, some gorgeous houses. BTS line. But never lived there so don't really know a great deal about it.

[samtam]

pumi23 the problem with Bangkok is that there is no zoning, and therefore no "residential area". There may be clusters, but they could be next to slum areas, offices, markets etc. What I Like about Sathorn is that by and large it's a much smarter area than Sukhumvit (sorry bkkmei). Equally, my preference is for a condo well above the street (noise), and the higher you go, the better the view. Remember Bangkok is flat, unlike Hong Kong, so there is little or no interesting topography, so you have to "create" that from the city view...a high view. To some people views are unimportant, but having lived in Hong Kong, they are essential for me.

Edited January 15, 2007 by samtam

[The Skipper]

Several Farang friendly areas to consider in Bangkok.

Lang Suan / Chitlom.

Sathorn / Silom.

Sukhumvit, Soi 23 to 63.

[gjones]

Due to the sky train expansion which should be completed in a few years there are sveral new greener areas to consider.

A couple of good green areas with access to expressways, airport is allong the new sky train on the airport route east of Srinakarin road another area would be Bang Na or even Samut Prakan which is outside Bangkok and therefore has better pay structure for employment and businesses

[samtam]

I'm sure that's right about the effect of the extensions to the BTS, but you don't always want to use it, so my preference is to avoid troublesome traffic spots, of which Saphan Taksin is one. I acknowledge that the BTS extension will alleviate some of that problem, but it will be interesting to see to what degree. I drove past the new station on the other side of the river, and the construction is moving ahead very quickly, which is encouraging. (I suppose a lot of it was already built, so it's a question of putting in the track, and building the station; perhaps their contractors could give a few tips to the builders of the airport express [sic] railway.)

[mangoman007]

hello,

its my first time posting something in this forum.

i found lots of information already, but now my own special case:

me and my husband are planning to move to thailand at the end of this year.

we have our own company. we want to expand to thailand and open a 2nd office there.

now, the question is: where shall we live?

we are living in hong kong now, but getting tired of the tiny appartments and the horrible air pollution coming from china (and HK itself). so we are looking for a spacious nice appartment (around 120-150 squaremetres) which is easily accessible by skytrain and MRT.

we prefer to live in a more quite area with more green around us and hopefully better air.

bangkok sounds interesting to us because supermarkets, gyms etc. are closeby.

also, our suppliers are in bangkok, around pratunam area, we need to go there at least

once a week.

i heard that the Thonburi area could be nice.

we will also need to have an office and employ a few people. it would be great if they office is very nearby, may even be in the same building or neighbour building.

where would you guys suggest us to live? if in bangkok, which area?

if outside of bangkok, where exactly?

we dont have a car in hong kong, the public transportation system here is great. do we need to buy a car in thailand? is there any need for it?

i appreciate your help and ideas.

thanks,

pumi23

Get a condo in the Sukhumvit 21-39 area and an office anywhere along the BTS Skytrain. If you can organize your living and working space so you can easily access the BTS, you will (1) Not need a car (2) save a huge amount of time (3) Attract and retain staff.

[Tyree D.]

Patpong. Everybody is so nice and helpful. Low prices and good bargains. Great wholesome family entertainment.

[billaaa777]

Check out Soi 6 in Pattaya. It's a nice family area and I am sure your husband would love it!

[nonthaburial]

I also lived in hong kong for over 20 years. I understand the feeling of being fed up with show box sized apartmets costing horrific prices. When moving to BKK 5 years ago I decided that I wanted a new and fesher environment and joy of joys greenary and open skies around me.

I now rent a very pleasant 3 bedroom house, complete with garden and orchids etc for the sum of approx 2,700 HK$ per month.

Personally I see Sukhumvit as being worse that HK and I say the same about the other locations mentioned. I live out near Chaeng Wattana, right near the expressway and its the opposite to the HK feel factor.

As mentioned a house such as the one I rent is ideal for using as an office downstairs with private accomodation upstairs. And yes I do run a car as I like to get out of BKK quite often to walk the beaches etc

[popshirt]

I've lived in both Sukhumvit and Sathorn. Sathorn wins, hands down!

[londonthai]

that would be nonthaburi - I guess.

it's the province north and next to Bangkok - almost bangkok, some 30 minutes bus or boat ride

[khun_j]

if nonthaburi´s too far outside, try ramkamhaeng / minburi area. here are lots of very nice and green moobaans...you get a superb quiet house with a garden for a very good price.

you can very comfortably take the khlong saen sap rivertaxi directly to pratunam - about 45 minutes, 18 baht and no traffic jams.

[DragonQuest]

Pinklao is also a good area to live in, less farang, more thai, you have the grand palace, southern bus terminal, kao sarn road, and a few big malls in the area, plenty of temples too.

[DragonQuest]

Pinklao is also a good area to live in, less farang, more thai, you have the grand palace, southern bus terminal, kao sarn road, and a few big malls in the area, plenty of temples too.

[pumi23]

hello,

thank you so much for all this help. im sorry for my late reply, i was just too busy the last days.

i think we gonna stay in bangkok, preferably sukhumvit or sathorn and settle down first.

the idea about having the office downstairs sounds interesting but im afraid i will work too much then ;-)

thanks!

sandra

[retiredusn]

hello,

its my first time posting something in this forum.

i found lots of information already, but now my own special case:

me and my husband are planning to move to thailand at the end of this year.

we have our own company. we want to expand to thailand and open a 2nd office there.

now, the question is: where shall we live?

we are living in hong kong now, but getting tired of the tiny appartments and the horrible air pollution coming from china (and HK itself). so we are looking for a spacious nice appartment (around 120-150 squaremetres) which is easily accessible by skytrain and MRT.

we prefer to live in a more quite area with more green around us and hopefully better air.

bangkok sounds interesting to us because supermarkets, gyms etc. are closeby.

also, our suppliers are in bangkok, around pratunam area, we need to go there at least

once a week.

i heard that the Thonburi area could be nice.

we will also need to have an office and employ a few people. it would be great if they office is very nearby, may even be in the same building or neighbour building.

where would you guys suggest us to live? if in bangkok, which area?

if outside of bangkok, where exactly?

we dont have a car in hong kong, the public transportation system here is great. do we need to buy a car in thailand? is there any need for it?

i appreciate your help and ideas.

thanks,

pumi23

If you really want the best of two worlds take a look at CHANTHABURI. It is only two and a half hours from bangkok 20min from the beach and half the price, with a very nice house going for 3-6k baht you also have shopping, gyms ect.

[jetzie]

hi guys, i am looking @ a condo located @ soi 101 ladphrao. Nirand City.

Anyone living there ? would like to ask around if how accessible or how inconvient is that location ?

thanks,,!