Chiang Mai

[Thaiquila]

A friend and I will be visiting Chiang Mai soon. I have been several times as a tourist and my friend is a newbie. We are both looking into Chiang Mai as a place to move to (on retirement visas).

Any locals have any ideas about neighborhoods or AREAS of town (including outskirts) to look at that would be good places for farangs to rent (either condos or houses). So we don't need any basic tourist info.

I have noticed before the area on the Riverside Restaurant side of town has some pleasant looking (and expensive looking) housing, and also lots of stray dogs. I also once saw an area kind of near the snake show outside of town reputed to have lots of farangs living there in houses (anyone know the name of this neighborhood)?

We are not looking for Farangtown per se, more like an area where there are at least some farangs, and housing available for rent that would not be 100 percent culture shock (western toilets, etc.).

Aside from neighborhoods to look at, other insider expat info would be helpful. For example, my friend wants to look at Chiang Mai Ram hospital to get an idea of the health care available; do you recommend this or other hospitals?

Thanks in advance for any edification.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Send an email on here to ######. He's an expat living in Chiang Mai, and knows the area well.

[KevinN]

Go to CM and get a room in a guest house,then get up in the mornings and find a Tuk Tuk that runs well with a good muffler,Hire him for the day and have him take you around, I found a nice house on the San Sai side of town,out aways that was fairly new and at a good price.

Or you could go to the Mc Cormack hospital,in the back at building 11 there is AA meetings 0900 and 1800 daily,there you will find farangs that are sober and most have lived in CM for a good number of years, a world of info there.and some of them own places that they rent out.

[francois]

KevinN has said it all

san sai district is pretty quiet and not far from town, also mae rim could be a place to look at, only 16kms from town.

I have a friend living in san sai, he has got a nice house for a 5,000B / month, in a very quiet residential place. just 15mn from town.

the AA is a gold mine, nice guys and helpful

and if ... I live in chaing mai too, so if you need .. just PM me

francois

[khunphilip]

I live in the Sansai area 8kms. from town 1kms from super highway great area own my house but there are places for rent the guy oppisite pays 5000bart amonth rents off agent HTT Property Management Sirdonchai road where I made my buy very helpful and speak good english so you might like to take a look

Happy Hunting

Phil.

[Larry]

I love Chiangmai. I visit about four time a year, and maintain an apartment there. CM, i my opinion, has the best climate, great people, fine cultural tradiitons, less pollution, tastiest food and most beautiful women. In addition, there is a fine infrastructure for the expat community and a surfeit of fascinating individuals.

As to CM Ram Hospital, it is first class. The dental care is great as well. Dr. Darede, the Professor of Periodontics at CMU saved my teeth, charging me about 300 USD for about ten visits and the best treatment you could ask for.

As to neighborhoods, check them out with a local broker (not one specializing in tourists, though). http://www.chiangmairealty.com/rent.htm is a site that gives you an idea of prices. You can easily rent a nice house a few km out of town for about 8 to 10 K baht a month. There are some lovely estates, safe and convenient.

Doi Suthep, Mae Rim, Mae Jo and of course the nicer areas in town around Nimanheimen Road and out toward the university are definite opitions. I would eschew the areas near the tourist hangouts. When you learn to take the Red Cars (Rot Daeng), you will see how easy it is to get around town for 10 baht.

Good luck in your search.

[Thaiquila]

Thanks folks. These are some gem tips and should be enough to get us started.

I would have never thought to check out an AA meeting, but that sounds really brilliant. I do wonder if we would be welcome there as we both are lighter social drinkers without a problem with it. (Might be hard to believe with my handle Thaiquila.)

[Jeepz]

Thanks for the info everyone! I am also looking at Chiang Mai when I retire, at least for a good part of the year. I haven't been there yet, but I've seen so many great reports about it, some from personal friends that have spent time there. I hope to kick back and explore the place later next year.

I noticed on a different thread that there is some dispute about non-residents posting. I can understand that some expats really want to discuss somethings between themselves without a lot of intrusion from outsiders. But it is just this sort thread that really helps the "wannabe expats" residing outside Thailand. I hope that insightful threads like this continue to be available to us!

Jeepz

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Jeepz you can post here to your hearts content. Wannabe's are welcome on Thai Visa. .

[Thaiquila]

Regarding the issue about whether expat wannabes are welcome to post on this board, well, I find the notion that they would not be welcome to be patently absurd.

The board is about VISAS! Meaning we are almost all foreign (as in non-Thai) nationals, whether we wish to move to Thailand in 20 years, or have lived in Thailand 30 years.

As long as we are concerned about VISAS, we are in Thailand (when we are in Thailand) based on the laws of the Thai nation. And tourist visas are visas too; and 30 day stamps are a type of ersatz visa, so there!

[KevinN]

Everyone is always welcome at an AA meeting as long as the meeting is an OPEN meeting and very few in CM are closed meetings,

As to people other than expats posting,,I think that what is the trouble is that some folks feel that they don't need advise from or hashing of subjects that pertain to living here from people that know nothing about the problems faced by expats.which seems to be the case.

I do know that I feel that information on a subject of moving or what to expect when I get there is very important to a person,especially if said person is not used to moving around the world,just like if I wanted to move to new york city,I would ###### sure need some advise.

Now about my take on CM., I would not live there again unless I could stay out at San Sai and never have to come into town,it is getting as bad as BKK as far as I am concerned,the pollution is getting bad and when I left there the air was so full of smoke and gas that I had not seen Dio Suthep in 2 weeks and I didn't live that far from it and you could hardly breath the air even at San Sai.

I am a lot happier here at Phetchabun,but the stores do not have the assortment of farang consumables that are available in the larger towns and english reading matter is not to be had here,but I can make the trip a couple of times a year.and the fancy,nice places to rent are not here either,but we built what we wanted at a very reasonable price.

[Guest IT Manager]

I agree with everyone about everything (it's Wednesday). I live almost 20 Km out of town, work morning in town then go home to no pollution, noise only for funerals, 2 dogs that bark religiously every full moon for 4 minutes each.

Rent is cheap. Don't use an agent, get in a tuk tuk or rent a car and go looking around. After 8 yrs I never want to live anywhere else. Have a look at this for some ideas.

[p1p]

I add my agreement to that of IT-M. I live about 10K out of town to the south. Quiet, clean air and on a 10Baht bus route in. We have a little land and a great life.

Regular at Chiangmai Ram for the last several years with heart & other problems. Good doctors and all round good service. Sometimes wish for better inpatient food though, but order T/A from my restaurant! So no real problem.

I have been here full time since '98 and had a house here since '75. I would not live anywhere else.

Benefits of Chiang Mai:

Quieter than Bangkok without the traffic problems.

Farang infrastructure top class. (Food, books, company etc. etc. all easily available.)

The Raintree Resource Center, about two doors from the Police Station just to the East of Nawarat Bridge publish a very good free booklet for new arrivals. They are very Christian and can be a bit pushy, especially if you do not agree with their philosophy, but the book is very helpful. I believe they open mornings only.

I am also available to help if you wish to pm me.

Note to administrators. Would it be worth having guides to different areas available for download. Otherwise, publish links to organisations who publish guides. CIA, Anderson Consulting, and many international banks, law and accountancy firms all have guides available.

[Guest IT Manager]

Send me links for the guides and I will work out a way to do it P1P.

IT

[maerim]

I would most certainly consider Maerim as an option as some of the nicest people in Thailand live there, but there again I might be a bit biased.

[KevinN]

But then again, If you want to be surrounded by a bunch of farangs,why don't you just stay where you are and save the ticket price to Thailand,but if you want to come here and live here go to a smaller town where you don't have to put up with the penny ante shit. Just my Idea.

I know farangs that live here and spend all their time chasing around to find other farang to talk to and associate with.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I know farangs that live here and spend all their time chasing around to find other farang to talk to and associate with.

It is great to do that for a break...but assimilation is the name of the game.

[Khun ?]

I think something may be a little over looked on this subject. CMai may have what some look for but a farang that has spent most of his life working back home will find it a bit harder than someone who has been for years around the area. It could be hard for most to give up what they took for granted back home and yes

most do need to have the social life they grew up with even if limited a bit. Stimulation of the mind to most would be a must even if it was mainly just to complain about things to someone that speaks their lingo on the same level.

Either way many places to live at a reasonable price in thailand. Cmai may be for

the retiree that is on limted funds or the ones that can be a country type person.

It sure does sound appealing but I think the old saying of live there awhile before you buy would be wise. Plenty of foreigners happy with living around Surin on very limited funds so definetly CMai would be five steps up from there. I guess retiring does not mean living worry free. I myself am thinking of staying on the move different cities different countries until something makes the decision for me.

I have heard many people live year round in hotels in bkk.

[harpman88]

Hi to all! This is just great stuff!

Ive been coming to C.Mai for over 12 years now,and am currently waiting for my retirement to be finalized so I can make the move.I know the city quite well,and have several dear friends there,and have

the good fortune of having a great initial place to stay at a very "special" monthly rate. Anyway,as the postings

indicate,there is a lot of subjectivity

as to what people feel are the dominant factors for loving the area. I, for one, am in total agreemnt wiih Larry's posting.

Best climate,food choices,beautiful women

(My lady is from Yasothon,so I wont say most beautiful,lol) and I also love the C.Mai Univ/Huay Kaew area.

However,Im sure there are just as many who can relate more to KevinN's take on some of the drawbacks of being in the city proper.So I would say this:Be absolutely certain as to what your priorities are and your needs in C.Mai

can be met. It's got a little something for everyone! I can have HQ in the city,

and "head for the hills" for a break anytime,they're so conveniently located!

Of course,the opposite is true as well.

You have the best of both worlds,no matter where you want to spend the bulk of your time. Learned so much from this one thread! This is a great site!

A big Hello! to all my dear friends at the Top North,and to Rome: the 1st one's on me at the Brasserie next year! Im sure Took will be rockin' the house! Scotty

[Whiplash]

The Nonghoy and Siri Wattana areas are well represented by expats.

Been living there and renting now for over 2 years.

[Guest IT Manager]

I agree with Kevin. I had an office in Nong Hoi. Full of missionaries and so on. Nice place, well spoiled by that lot. If you ain't born again you is dead son. Crap.

Have a hunt round for a rental for a year or 2. Living with foreign residents can be a drag but having access to them now and then is OK, if you feel like letting off steam.

I call sriwattana a ghetto. Nice houses with a certain sameness about the residents. Rentals can be had for 3 or 4,000 per month if you don't go to agents and just look about yourself. I just got a Honda and went driving around until I saw a for rent sign. Take a Thai reader/speaker and a mobile phone.

[KevinN]

Righto;Nice to know where one is if you want to visit,but sure wouldn't want them around all the time,the closest one that I associate with is on the other side of Phetchabun,about 25 Kilometers from my house.the one here in the village is in over in the alps most of the time.he a suisser