Moving to Chaing Mai

[WHYWHY]

Hi all i was wondering if any expats could give me some information on Chaing Mai.

We are thinking of buying a place 30ks from Chaing Mai in the Hills 

I've been told it can be quit bad with some in burning season.

I'm intrested in some views of people living there.

We are coming from Australia and any advice would be great 

Thanks for taking the time to read and respond 

[KhunMhee]

Buying a place? You ment leasing yes? CM is great as there are seasons. Depends on what you like if you're looking for a quiet place to hang your hat then its great. Good golf and when not burning the air is clean and refreshing. I have thought about moving there myself at times but have a few friends who live there and love it.

[WHYWHY]

Hi yeah buying company so have income and house to live 

[WHYWHY]

I understand the laws but still say buying i know foreigners cant buy outright 

 

[Ulysses G.]

The smokey season has almost never bothered me much and a lot of other expats feel the same. However, there are a lot of others who are really made uncomfortable during those months. The only way to know how you will react is to experience it.

[canuckamuck]

Smoke happens

[simoh1490]

We're 25 kms. North of CM, in the hills and it's great, the burning and bad air used to really bother us when we lived in the city but out here it doesn't - it helps a lot to be surrounded by trees rather than roads, cars and concrete. And the burning season is different things in different years, some years there's hardly any effect, other years it can be dire in places but it doesn't last very long, a lot depends on the amount of rain the previous year, wind direction and the temperature since the inversion layer plays a big part in things. I recall two years ago driving from home up to Chiang Rai and it was absolutely dire, we actually had to stop and buy face masks at a 7/11 because it was so bad - in Chiang Rai at the Dusit Hotel the whole place smelled of smoke and visibility was constantly very poor. But that was a one off that lasted only about a week and then things returned to normal.

 

FWIW I've noticed that things are improving year on year over the past 16 years but still some way to go.

[simoh1490]

Just to add: I've noticed in the past three years that local farmers are taking the government seriously when it comes to burning, not everyone abides by the law but some do and that was never obvious before. Two big problems that are difficult to resolve are the inversion layer and blown in pollution from surrounding countries, particularly from Myanmar, the best we can do in Thailand is to clean up our own act but that still leaves a significant problem that is outside our control.

[Rimmer]

Moved to Chiang Mai Forum for local input

[WHYWHY]

Thank you all appreciate your comment 

 

[1FinickyOne]

I think it is best to rent for a while - great advice above as there seems to be a difference of opinion on levels of dissatisfaction w/different things... people from Bkk think CM traffic is a breeze - others find it a big problem. 

 

The large red flag that you raise is buying a company?? This can have tremendous vulnerability in so many different ways.. You would not be the first to be taken in by false promises and misrepresentations and things you never were told or considered... you would simply be the next. For example - is there debt somewhere that you have not been told about that will pass to you with the company? 

 

Come and spend some time before investing in anything... the air quality that is no problem for some might bring on asthma in others... good luck and take your time.

[Dazinoz]

I have lived here 4 1/2 years. I also came from Oz. Personally I would not buy straight up. I would rent and look around. I am in my 5th rental now. Moved for a variety of reasons.

 

As far as the smoke goes, yes it can get bad and I know people with health problems can suffer. I bought a cheapish air purifier from Homepro and run it 24 Hours a day in the bedroom with the doors and windows closed, obviously with AC on when sleeping. You certainly notice the difference when we exit the bedroom in the morning, but is pleasant for us at night.

 

To me a lot of where you live depends on what you want to do and how often and what mode transport you will own. I own a car and refuse to ride and motorbike as I never did in Australia and see the traffic here and how they drive. Our first house was great but just too far for my wife to get anywhere as she won't drive here. Songthaews and tuk tuks were not really available where we were. So we moved.

 

Not sure what hills you plan to live in but the hills to the west of CM has the airport at their base. 95% or more of flights take off to the north but soon turn east and then south. A recent thread had someone complaining about the noise and he lived in the San Sai district which the aircraft are at around 5 to 8000 feet so noise not so great. Our 2nd, 3rd and 4th house were directly under the flight path probably only about 2 kms from the end of the runway. They passed over us at 2500 feet at take off thrust so was considerably loud but we found we got used to it. Worst was when we were watching TV and the noise would drown the TV out.

 

Hope this helps a bit.

[khunpa]

Our family have lived in CM for nearly 3 years now. Have not noticed any problems during the burning season.

 

The thing we love most about CM is the many places to visit, but you will need a car for that.

 

Also the price level in CM is pretty good compare to many other places in Thailand.

[WHYWHY]

Thank you all 

Yes thought of renting first but have 2 large dogs 2 cats 

So thought best option is to buy 

I've been to few places in Thailand and love Chaing Mai so thought good to buy 

Then everyones happy including the dogs 

[KKr]

Taking into account the widening of the CM-CR highway, you might look in that area as accessibility will make the property more liquid.
Great hill side landscape, and when I was looking about three years ago still reasonably priced.

Also on the CM-Samoeng road there are a few nice villages, beautiful land plots on hill side, but unfortunately some owners thought their land was worth much more than a reasonable price.

Being on the hill side, I think the smog does not stay around too long, but maybe that is just wishful thinking.
good luck with your search.

[tandor]

5 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

Smoke happens

...faeces occurs.

[WHYWHY]

 Were looking around Maetang area 

 

[simoh1490]

35 minutes ago, KKr said:

Taking into account the widening of the CM-CR highway, you might look in that area as accessibility will make the property more liquid.
Great hill side landscape, and when I was looking about three years ago still reasonably priced.

Also on the CM-Samoeng road there are a few nice villages, beautiful land plots on hill side, but unfortunately some owners thought their land was worth much more than a reasonable price.

Being on the hill side, I think the smog does not stay around too long, but maybe that is just wishful thinking.
good luck with your search.

There's more than a smattering of THB 35 million houses on that road, a whole new complex of them built two years ago near Panmivan, USD 1 mill. each! And just next door to Pannmivan, THB 50 mill.!!!

[HungDonger]

Unless you know Chiang Mai (and surrounding areas) well I think it would be wise to rent first before buying.You will be able to rent a suitable place that allows dogs and cats.Depending on your requirements you may find Maetang does not provide everything you desire.

[1FinickyOne]

47 minutes ago, WHYWHY said:

 Were looking around Maetang area 

 

If you like going into town and availing yourself of what the city has to offer, you might find MaeTang just a little too far... for me, I would want to be within a 30 minute or so drive. That way, I would more function by mood. It is not a big deal to drive 30 minutes to meet friends or have a meal out... but, my guess is that Mae Tang is more than an hour and that would make a difference.

[simoh1490]

26 minutes ago, kenk24 said:

If you like going into town and availing yourself of what the city has to offer, you might find MaeTang just a little too far... for me, I would want to be within a 30 minute or so drive. That way, I would more function by mood. It is not a big deal to drive 30 minutes to meet friends or have a meal out... but, my guess is that Mae Tang is more than an hour and that would make a difference.

I'm 30 minutes out of town in good traffic, Mae Tang is another 30 minutes to my North - nice area, too far from town for me, nothing much there apart from the reservoir (Mae Ngat)and a small village, nothing remotely Western by way of supplies until South of me.

[bubba45]

FWIW, read up on the smoke pollution here from roughly late Jan - April.  The particulate matter is very small and settles in your lungs.  Dangerous?  Who knows; but I leave every year now after suffering a bout of severe bronchitis several years ago.  And I'd been here other years and it didn't bother me as much.  But burning eyes and respiratory issues spike during those months.  Just go into any hospital and look around.

 

Traffic in the city is very bad, too.  But I guess that's a matter of opinion, as you'll get many here that will tell you it's not.  

[WHYWHY]

The place im looking at is 30ks from Chaing Mai 

[simoh1490]

2 minutes ago, WHYWHY said:

The place im looking at is 30ks from Chaing Mai 

So not Mae Tang then, Mae Tang is about 70kms. 30 kms would put you in Mae Rim, near Prem perhaps?

[1FinickyOne]

1 hour ago, WHYWHY said:

The place im looking at is 30ks from Chaing Mai 

 

2 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

I'm 30 minutes out of town in good traffic, Mae Tang is another 30 minutes to my North - nice area, too far from town for me, nothing much there apart from the reservoir (Mae Ngat)and a small village, nothing remotely Western by way of supplies until South of me.

 

Simoh - So, how do you like it? - not sure why but the drive in from the north always seemed worse than the San Sai, Doi Saket area... 

 

why why - 30 kms is not too bad depending on the traffic but as mentioned above, 30k north has a feel of being further out due to traffic... 

[thaibeachlovers]

10 hours ago, WHYWHY said:

Hi yeah buying company so have income and house to live 

Do you understand that YOU don't own the house and the Thais on the company board can throw you out of it? Do you trust your board members?

 

Apparently you haven't lived in Thailand before ( tell me if your 67 posts is not an indication of how long you have lived here ), and IMO you are making the classic mistake of buying without trying. 

You can easily rent for a year till you decide if you in fact want to buy, or even live in that location.

[thaibeachlovers]

Obviously I don't know how old you are, or how well off, but if you were past 50 and had enough money, you could live in Thailand on retirement extensions and rent nice places wherever you choose, move if you want, without the hassles of potentially owning a place you no longer want to live in, or owning a company.

[thaibeachlovers]

3 hours ago, HungDonger said:

Unless you know Chiang Mai (and surrounding areas) well I think it would be wise to rent first before buying.You will be able to rent a suitable place that allows dogs and cats.Depending on your requirements you may find Maetang does not provide everything you desire.

Unless I were married to a Thai that owned property in Mae Tang, I'd rather not live somewhere so far from civilisation.

[simoh1490]

17 minutes ago, kenk24 said:

 

 

Simoh - So, how do you like it? - not sure why but the drive in from the north always seemed worse than the San Sai, Doi Saket area... 

 

why why - 30 kms is not too bad depending on the traffic but as mentioned above, 30k north has a feel of being further out due to traffic... 

There are two possible routes, straight down the 107 past the womens prison to the moat, or via MaeJo, either one is viable if not easy, outside of rush hour traffic. San Sai/Doi Saket catches the Chiang Rai traffic, the 107 is mostly farmers heading to/from market, tourists in the winter months and of course tourist vans headed to Pai.

 

We like it very much and we wouldn't change our choice, it suits us very well. And there are shortcuts to be had which I won't write about here.

[simoh1490]

12 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Unless I were married to a Thai that owned property in Mae Tang, I'd rather not live somewhere so far from civilisation.

If I was going to move out that far I'd move to Doi Tung which is further but much nicer all round.