Neighborhood/Building Recommendations?

[nikster]

I must travel 30 minutes on public transportation to visit somewhere with a variety of foods, eg, Siam Paragon food court.

Generally a problem with BKK. Unless you live next to the BTS / Metro, you have to travel a long time to get anywhere. At my in-law's house, it's not a bad area, and is in fact booming, but it's FAR from downtown - 30 minutes if no traffic, normally an hour by car to get anywhere. There's a recently upgraded mall nearby but for anything that can't be found in that mall... get used to long car / taxi rides!

Not an issue in Chiang Mai, this place is small and everything is within a 10 minute motorbike ride.

[foxontherun]

I agree that Nimman is an area with character & lots of shops and restaurants. But for some months it is terribly congested with visitors & the traffic is a real pain. I like Punna but like many a condo in the area it is close to Prasertland where there are regular outdoor food fairs etc, so you have loud music & fireworks until midnight to contend with. I have a townhouse 4 kms away and over the festive season could hear the music even though the television was on in our lounge.

I'm extremely nocturnal, so nighttime noise is probably a bit less of an issue for me than it would be for most--within reason, of course. I probably wouldn't rule out an area due to a moderate level of noise from nightlife, as long as it's not bad karaoke.

I'm still trying to figure out whether this will be doable. The visa situation is my only stumbling block. I don't really qualify for anything other than a tourist visa, and the thought of having to leave the country every 90 days, with no guarantee of being allowed back in, doesn't appeal to me. Also, an acquaintance of mine who has lived in Chiang Mai for years (and has a Thai wife and child) said that he just experienced his first shakedown by the immigration police, which is kind of scary. A common occurrence?

[machans88]

I agree that Nimman is an area with character & lots of shops and restaurants. But for some months it is terribly congested with visitors & the traffic is a real pain. I like Punna but like many a condo in the area it is close to Prasertland where there are regular outdoor food fairs etc, so you have loud music & fireworks until midnight to contend with. I have a townhouse 4 kms away and over the festive season could hear the music even though the television was on in our lounge.

I'm extremely nocturnal, so nighttime noise is probably a bit less of an issue for me than it would be for most--within reason, of course. I probably wouldn't rule out an area due to a moderate level of noise from nightlife, as long as it's not bad karaoke.

I'm still trying to figure out whether this will be doable. The visa situation is my only stumbling block. I don't really qualify for anything other than a tourist visa, and the thought of having to leave the country every 90 days, with no guarantee of being allowed back in, doesn't appeal to me. Also, an acquaintance of mine who has lived in Chiang Mai for years (and has a Thai wife and child) said that he just experienced his first shakedown by the immigration police, which is kind of scary. A common occurrence?

Apply for education visa thru one of the schools like walen or pro language,you need no qualifications,as long as you study a language,it can be french,german,the obvious choice would be thai.You can stay in the kingdom up to 3years and only have to visit immigration every ninety days,no visa runs,i am 43 yo and this is what i have

[Jawnie]

I visited Punna on Soi 6 today and got somewhat different information. I was told they have a six month minimum rental period and that units start at 30,000. Of course, I was somewhat surprised by this; I even had my suspicion that they were quoting this to scare me off. In any case, they referred me to Baan Thai which fronts Nimman. Road but has an entrance on Soi 6 as well so is within walking distance of Punna. Because the lease was too long and too expensive, I didn't even look at a Punna room. Maybe I'll go back to see what they look like, anyway.

Baan Thai is the opposite of Punna in that they rent for a minimum of one month and units are priced between 3,000 - 5,200 bht. All units are furnished, except for linens. I looked at a unit which was on the sixth (of eight) floors. It would be completely adequate for me for one month even though quite spartan, as is the entire building interior. Wifi is available throughout the building but there are no laundry facilities on-site. If I decide to make the move to CM, this is probably were I'll land first.

One other place I stopped at but did not see a room was the Green Palace Hotel. It was recommended to me and is about a 10 minute walk from Punna/Baan Thai and across Nimmen. Road. They rent daily only for 460 bht a day, so ten days is 4,600, etc., and would rent for one month at 12,000. They didn't have any rooms available but I'll go look at one sometime. I liked the immediate neighborhood as it's two blocks away from Nimman. Road and thus doesn't feel so chaotic.

I think this area would be a great place for Foxontherun to land, frankly. I understand the poster who said to avoid Huey Kaew Road as it is a busy thoroughfare with zero curb appeal. There are large residential buildings on HK Road where she might rent, but would probably find herself walking around the corner to Nimman. Road to hangout. Nimman. Road, as others have said, is a walkable, pedestrian- friendly street with tons of shops and restaurants - I even saw two Starbucks along one relatively short stretch. It is highly commercialize and was very congested when I visited, which may be way some people object to it; one could easily forget how deep you are into Thailand because there are so many foreigners and western- style accommodations. But, I also noticed that once you get off on Nimman. Road a block or two, the neighborhoods become much more appealing, the pace slows down, and there's lots of great looking, open-air restaurants, large and small, tucked away in the neighborhoods.

Just my $.02.

]d

quote name='nikster' timestamp='1297242396' post='4207517']

Hey - Punna is easy for 25k - definitely check it out!

There's a few other new condo developments in CM, but I don't know anything about those. Maybe somebody else can recommend them. A friend lived at Punna and he was pleased. He had a 2 bedroom for 20k I think.

Water costs very little.

Electric varies greatly though - when you rent, make sure to check the electric rate. The local rate is about 3 Baht but all condos add a bit to that. Some charge 4 baht (Kantary Hills for long term, for example). Others charge 7 baht or more. That's a bit of a trick IMO - they'll rent you a place with air con for cheap, but then charge 7 baht per unit (KWH) for Electricity so you end up paying a lot more in the end. One thing to watch out for.

We were in the Kantary Hills 2 bedroom apartment and made good use of 4 air con units, paid about 5000 baht / month at a rate of 4 Baht / unit. Depends on the time of the year though - now, in winter, it's hardly necessary.

[nikster]

^^ I guess you have to rent from condo owners in Punna, not from the front office.

One friend of mine stayed in the largest size 2 bedroom for 20k for a year. Another one was offered a nice corner unit - I believe also 2br - for 20k. There's many luxury condos in CM being built or already finished now so it's a renter's market.

I guess you need to find the listings which can be a bit of a challenge as there is no centralized online classifieds that everyone uses; instead there's 10 online classified sites, and hundreds of real estate agents.

That they would "start at 30k" is a bit weird. Or maybe that's the price for a fully serviced apartment - hotel style like the Kantary Hills - then it'd make sense.

Baan Thai is a bit of a hole, though you can't argue with the location.

Green Palace Hotel - I stayed in that hotel once about 7 years ago, back then it was very old and your standard crappy hotel room complete with old, stained carpet et cetera. I kind of doubt they restored it meanwhile... this is Asia. Clearly fails the age rule - a place that's too old is not going to be nice. Asian style is to build a place cheap, then run it down for all it's worth, then build a new one after 10, 15 years. It's not like Europe where we have gorgeous buildings that are hundreds of years old.

There's plenty of brand new places that are nice and clean.

PS did a quick search and found a 2br in Punna for 25k and that's at a real estate agent, and certainly not the best price you could get. I don't think I am allowed to post links to real estate sites but I can PM this one... but like I said I don't think they're the cheapest; they just have one of the best websites...

Edited February 20, 2011 by nikster

[foxontherun]

Apply for education visa thru one of the schools like walen or pro language,you need no qualifications,as long as you study a language,it can be french,german,the obvious choice would be thai.You can stay in the kingdom up to 3years and only have to visit immigration every ninety days,no visa runs,i am 43 yo and this is what i have

Thank you so much for this! I had foolishly assumed that one would have to be more or less a full-time and/or university student to qualify for an education visa. The fact that a half-day of Thai language classes once a week would be enough is fantastic to know, and a far better option than doing the whole visa run thing. As a bonus, it would kill two birds with one stone by forcing me to dive right into learning the language.

Also, I think you guys are right about the Nimman area being the right fit for me, and will likely concentrate my search there, and close by on Huay Kaew Road (maybe not the perfect neighborhood in and of itself, but seems very well situated between the places I would want to go). Punna, Hillside 2/3/4, and Sky Breeze all seem promising. I will definitely look into some of the serviced apartment buildings, too, but the lack of an adequate kitchen seems to be a common issue with those. I'm not ready to let go of my quest for a real oven, as that does seem fairly attainable.

[Viking7113]

I would suggest you take a look at the Grand Napat Hotel in the Chang Pruek area. Its only about a ten minute walk to the Tesco on the SuperHighway. Its close to the JJ market area which has lots of restaurants. Its a student area and there are lots of cheap student rooms in the area. You could take a look at the Baan Srimongkol Mansion serviced apartments. at www.baansrimongkol.com I have seen the basic studio in the building and its a good looking place. You can get transport easily in this area as i live in the area.

[flying]

Here is 67 units.... wide price range though...but with pictures that may help

give you an idea of what you get for your money.

=2&condounittype=&rentalpricemonth-min=&rentalpricemonth-max=&bedrooms-min=&bathrooms-min=&action=searchresults&pclass[]="]Condos

Good Luck

Edited February 28, 2011 by flying