Is The River too far out to live?

[essox essox]

On 10/10/2019 at 8:27 PM, NewbieInBangkok said:

Thank you!  You’ve basically confirmed most of my concerns.  

And I also didn’t know about the BTS closing down there.

We will likely only live in Bkk 2-3 years but if the BTS closed then we’d have to go everywhere by car.

 

 

go everywhere BY CAR thats if you like driving/sitting in it for hour after hour waiting for traffic to move !!!

[NewbieInBangkok]

39 minutes ago, essox essox said:

go everywhere BY CAR thats if you like driving/sitting in it for hour after hour waiting for traffic to move !!!

That’s exactly why we decided NOT to live there!!!  I was speaking in the

hypothetical.

 

Please just don’t bother if all you can offer is a nasty, condescending attitude to someone who hasn’t stepped foot in Thailand in 25 years.  

[IvorLott]

If I could offer my pennysworth here, I'd say live as close to your husband's place of work as possible. The commute in Bangkok can really get a man down, regardless of how happy he is in his work. Cut that out and he's getting two hours of his day freed up, instead of sitting in traffic, or on the BTS.

[NewbieInBangkok]

1 hour ago, IvorLott said:

If I could offer my pennysworth here, I'd say live as close to your husband's place of work as possible. The commute in Bangkok can really get a man down, regardless of how happy he is in his work. Cut that out and he's getting two hours of his day freed up, instead of sitting in traffic, or on the BTS.

Mmm...some compromises to be made but he prefers to be in the city rather than out in the middle of nowhere.  The coworkers from his country all live in PP and TL so I think Thonglor is best for him.

 

But thank you for you input. ????  I think if it was someone else then your advice would be best but knowing him and that he’s had longer commutes with him doing the driving plus I know that on weekends he just wants to be able to shop, eat, drink right on his doorstep so TL sounds ideal.  Coworkers have confirmed the commute is about an hour most days.

[berybert]

Last condo I will mention is La Raffine on Sukhumvit soi 24. Been into one of the condos there a few years ago. They are a bit special. 

They all have private pools on the balcony plus a pool at the front of the building. Might be others but I didn't see them. 

Prices there are about 120.000 for a 3 bed but you could well get the price down. Its about a 10 to 15 minute walk to BTS Phrom Phong. 

 

[NewbieInBangkok]

1 hour ago, berybert said:

Last condo I will mention is La Raffine on Sukhumvit soi 24. Been into one of the condos there a few years ago. They are a bit special. 

They all have private pools on the balcony plus a pool at the front of the building. Might be others but I didn't see them. 

Prices there are about 120.000 for a 3 bed but you could well get the price down. Its about a 10 to 15 minute walk to BTS Phrom Phong. 

 

Yes, I’ve seen those but thought they were out of budget.  Plus I wondered if there would be a chlorine smell in the apartments?  And how do they get cleaned? Would maintenance need to traipse through the apartment every week with their equipment? ????. Not expecting you to know the answers...I’m just thinking aloud ????

 

We will see in a couple of weeks I guess when the company realtor gives us actual options and we will see how amenable they are to negotiating a lower price. It’s a Japanese company so they normally stick strictly to the corporate guidelines.  So far I’ve only been going off of their website and I’m not sure how up-to-date that is.  

A private pool on balcony would be lovely though.  

 

Thank you for that ????

[YT3k72Em]

Most places in Bangkok are rented furnished. Maybe it's different for the 100k executive places though. 

Most Japanese executives stay around Phrom Pong, Thong Lor area, so there is a big concentration of bars and restaurants catering to Japanese in that area.

 

In an ideal situation, you could come first for a few days.  Try out a couple of places, try out the commute at the time of day that you expect you will need to do it.

 

Check google maps at the time of day (in thailand) that you will need to commute too, travel times can change throughout the day.

 

I live near The River and commute everyday to Ploenchit. It's about 30-40 mins on the skytrain. The River is no further from the center of town (Siam) than Thong Lor is. You will have fireworks displays outside your window every couple of weeks, and the view is great. But it is in the wrong direction for your commute.

 

 

[NewbieInBangkok]

3 hours ago, YT3k72Em said:

Most places in Bangkok are rented furnished. Maybe it's different for the 100k executive places though. 

Most Japanese executives stay around Phrom Pong, Thong Lor area, so there is a big concentration of bars and restaurants catering to Japanese in that area.

 

In an ideal situation, you could come first for a few days.  Try out a couple of places, try out the commute at the time of day that you expect you will need to do it.

 

Check google maps at the time of day (in thailand) that you will need to commute too, travel times can change throughout the day.

 

I live near The River and commute everyday to Ploenchit. It's about 30-40 mins on the skytrain. The River is no further from the center of town (Siam) than Thong Lor is. You will have fireworks displays outside your window every couple of weeks, and the view is great. But it is in the wrong direction for your commute.

 

 

Yes, it’s a fully furnished place we are looking for.  We do still need to ship some things though.

 

We are coming over for 3 days (supposed to be 4 but husband chose the early morning flight rather than the midnight one) in a few weeks (about a month before the move).  We will have 1.5 days for viewing places and will have to decide then.  He will be visiting his company on the first day so he will be able to see the commute before we look at places.  Worst case scenario is that if we don’t like where we are living then we can always move again later on.

 

Yes, if he were working in the city centre then The River would be ideal but as he’ll be working out near Siam Amazing Park, sadly we have to rule out The River.  North Thong Lor seems to be one of the city centre areas that will give him the shortest commute.

 

Thank you for your advice ????

[RAZZELL]

Says 45 minutes from The River. Travel time is not only about location - it is about location and accessibility to the motorways.

 

You can be waiting 15 minutes at a junction or slip road.

 

 

 

Also, have a look on https://thinkofliving.com/

 

For condo reviews. It is in Thai but google translate works well. They also have a lot of pics and sometimes video reviews. 

 

Eg. https://thinkofliving.com/คอนโด/thin-ks-update-ep-70-อัปเดตโครงการ-the-bangkok-ทองหล่อ-จาก-land-houses-593166-วีดิโอ/

 

https://www.hipflat.com/projects/the-bangkok-thonglor-gaeujx

 

https://www.hipflat.com/listings/bangkok-condo-ikltpzqr

 

Fazwaz has a decent map function:

 

https://www.fazwaz.com/property-for-rent/thailand/bangkok