Which Place/Area/Secure Estate To Live

[lovetotravel]

OP needs to get out in a car and drive around, then go back at night, then ask again when he has contenders.

School bus picks the kids up so no huge drama wherever you live. However, living out in the sticks with nothing around you will drive you mad. If the kids want a beach, then live near one, the best you can find, which is not Pattaya or Jomtien.

Reckon on what the kids need and work from that. If you need a maid, then factor in that for size. Way way less than 60k can get you a 5 bed with private pool whereas some real estate whallers will offer you some unsaleable condo or trophy house for 100k plus.

Well that's exactly what I want......garden and land for dogs to play in,pool for me and staff quartersfor maid and hubby,so where are these places at about 50k a month ? Obviously on Darkside.......but where?

Silk Road is a good place, as is Baan Balina 2. Lots of places on the dark side. Best to get an agent as they know many of the places. Or better yet, just drive around.

http://www.pattaya-property.net/

http://www.thaiproperty.com/

Also, get that property guide magazine that's sitting around in many places. Foodland always has it. It usually has a listing of the housing estates around town. Good for reference purposes.

Also, be sure to drive the various roads to your property at different times of the day and week. Some sois can be really busy around rush hour and even more so on weekends when the fresh markets are open.

[Darrel]

I've found most of these vendors and small restaurants can't cook anywhere near as good as my wife can. So even if they were a 5 minute walk away or less, I wouldn't use them. I guess I'm lucky that way?

I'm not married so I dont have that option, but even so I would have thought that as many of the vendors and small restaurants specialise in just one or two types of dish they probably make them fairly well, especially the busy ones. And of course 50 different vendors will make the same meal 50 different ways, whereas your wife may only make it one or two ways, so there's the easy benefit of variety there that you wouldnt get at home. Lots of Thais are married but they still eat out; presumably not all of them have wives who cant cook.

Sorry, but there's few places here in Pattaya that actually feel like Thailand. For sure nowhere West of Suk, and few places on the darkside either. Too many beer bars here on every corner in every part of town. And way too many foreigners, way too much traffic. Being a bit out of town is a good thing.

Even in downtown Pattaya, in between the bars and the farang fast-food joints you still find plenty of food vendors doing traditional Thai dishes. I actually choose to live in Jomtien which is much more like a regular Thai town than downtown Pattaya is. OK, there are farangs and pubs and bars etc. here as well, but the Thai places outnumber them.

[Darrel]

..... by far the most intelligent/sarcastic fellow giving sound advice with quips to follow. I salute your wisdom along with using some of your bank term tips.

A smile and higher interest rates. What more can one ask for?

[marstons]

12.950486,100.981264 google maps, Pong village,(Marbrachan) has plenty of nice villages around, tesco express 7/11. Walking Park, childrens play area around the lake. 5 minutes to Regent School. Junction to 36 and 7 express way so Sukumvit pattaya 10 minutes away, down the 36 maybe 40 minutes to some of the best beaches around, navy ownned. i am presently looking at 3 bed house, 3 bathrooms, 2 storeys shared pool at 12,000 per month. 60,000!!! not sure anything warants that but for a lot less you would get 4-5 beds, , private pool few rai of land etc etc. At your sort of money may have a few people have some coming vacant very soon suprisingly enough.

If you have a drive around the lanes off the village you will see the village complex's, also for let signs on large houses well within your budget.

Edited June 29, 2012 by marstons

[PattayaPhom]

Well that's exactly what I want......garden and land for dogs to play in,pool for me and staff quartersfor maid and hubby,so where are these places at about 50k a month ? Obviously on Darkside.......but where?

For 50K you can find that just a couple of minutes walk from the beach, and within striking distance of civilisation, if you put a bit of effort into it (and a bit of very necessary negotiation).

On the Darkside it should be half that price, or less.

You can rent a nice big detached place just outside London for 50KB/month, so why on earth should you spend so much here?

We really need to stop comparing Thailand to London, USA Spain etc....apples and oranges. These places are crime ridden cesspits overun by scroungers from every corner of the world. Infastructure 50 years out of date, mass unemployment upto 25% and 50% in under 24s, useless health care and education, heavily taxed on income and almost every purchase, tittering on the brink of bankruptcy etc etc etc, whereas Asia is a real powerhouse, its the 21st Century and if anything London is a 3rd world country compared to Pattaya.....so paying 100K isnt that expensive, dont know where a 4 bed detached with pool could be found in the UK at 1,000 quid, it costs that for a 2 up 2 down terrace...look at Sedona Villas, close to Regents.

[Darrel]

We really need to stop comparing Thailand to London, USA Spain etc....apples and oranges. These places are crime ridden cesspits overun by scroungers from every corner of the world. Infastructure 50 years out of date, mass unemployment upto 25% and 50% in under 24s, useless health care and education, heavily taxed on income and almost every purchase,

Hmm. Let's compare with Pattaya: crime-ridden cesspit, scroungers from across the globe, beggars every few yards, addicts everywhere, huge holes in the sidewalks and drains that dont work, no health care unless you pay (lots of) cash for it, low taxes indeed but bizarrely high prices on just about everything that comes in a packet or a can or a box.

... tittering on the brink of bankruptcy etc etc etc,

Is that something like laughing whilst Rome burns?

whereas Asia is a real powerhouse, its the 21st Century and if anything London is a 3rd world country compared to Pattaya.....so paying 100K isnt that expensive, dont know where a 4 bed detached with pool could be found in the UK at 1,000 quid, it costs that for a 2 up 2 down terrace...look at Sedona Villas, close to Regents.

Not sure who would want a pool in the UK; I certainly wouldn't and of course they are quite rare. But perfectly decent 4-bed detached houses without pool can be rented just outside London for that price. And as a percentage of the value of the building the rental costs represent perhaps 3 or 4% max. I doubt very much that the same applies to these 120KB/month places around here, unless the value of the building has been plucked out of thin air (which wouldn't surprise me).

Another big difference, of course, is that the UK house will be rented out almost constantly but the Thai one will probably be empty for months or years on end.

[Spoonman]

Sorry, but there's few places here in Pattaya that actually feel like Thailand. For sure nowhere West of Suk, and few places on the darkside either. Too many beer bars here on every corner in every part of town. And way too many foreigners, way too much traffic. Being a bit out of town is a good thing.

I actually choose to live in Jomtien which is much more like a regular Thai town than downtown Pattaya is. OK, there are farangs and pubs and bars etc. here as well, but the Thai places outnumber them.

Darrel, Ive been to a few Thai towns and none seemed to be filled with pillow biter's like Jomtien.

[norrona]

yes Pattaya is traditionally Thai isn't it...good lord when are you going to move to Nakhon Nowhere?

No time soon. But today I can stagger out of my condo and within 5 minutes walk I can find 50 vendors and small restaurants selling 100% Thai food, at Thai prices with no fancy farang menu, no french fries or pasta or rib-eye steaks, no imported sauces and no ++.

So it feels pretty much like Thailand to me and is similar to every back-of-beyond place I have ever been in Thailand. The day that those vendors cease to exist Pattaya will no longer be Thai, and I won't be living here any more. Wong Amat is already there and guess what? I wont live there at any price.

lots of things feel like something else till the lights are switched on at the end of the night...I suggest you get a torch or get your eyes tested...possibly both

[Darrel]

lots of things feel like something else till the lights are switched on at the end of the night...I suggest you get a torch or get your eyes tested...possibly both

I never go out after midnight, and rarely after 9PM. Not my cup of tea at all.

So the Jomtien that I see seems pretty similar to other towns.

[PattayaParent]

There's no chemical plants around Ban Chang and the beaches there are much better than the ones in Pattaya.

Maybe "chemical plant" is the wrong word but what are they doing at the whole stretch from Ban Chang towards Rayong and beyond with smokestacks spewing out flames and other things?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Thaivisa Connect App

That is called Maptaput, which is full of chemical plants and has been evacuated a few times already for poisonous exhausts,including once a part of Ban chang.

Ban Chang is 23kms away from Map Ta Phut industrial area and was not evacuated. The prevailing wind direction is away from Ban Chang towards Rayong but even in Map Ta Phut industrial estate we were not aware of any problem and there was no evacuation. Not even when a tank caught fire a few weeks ago on the plant next to the one I work at.

[marstons]

There's no chemical plants around Ban Chang and the beaches there are much better than the ones in Pattaya.

Maybe "chemical plant" is the wrong word but what are they doing at the whole stretch from Ban Chang towards Rayong and beyond with smokestacks spewing out flames and other things?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Thaivisa Connect App

That is called Maptaput, which is full of chemical plants and has been evacuated a few times already for poisonous exhausts,including once a part of Ban chang.

Ban Chang is 23kms away from Map Ta Phut industrial area and was not evacuated. The prevailing wind direction is away from Ban Chang towards Rayong but even in Map Ta Phut industrial estate we were not aware of any problem and there was no evacuation. Not even when a tank caught fire a few weeks ago on the plant next to the one I work at.

A tank caught fire on a plant next to where you working and no evacuation. Seems to me a justification to stay well away from the place, and usual thai health and safty in place. Wind direction changes with altitude so the prevaling wind on the ground may have been away but a few thousand feet up going a differnt direction. Just check out clouds often see travelling in differnt directions.

[Darrel]

The prevailing wind direction is away from Ban Chang towards Rayong but even in Map Ta Phut industrial estate we were not aware of any problem and there was no evacuation. Not even when a tank caught fire a few weeks ago on the plant next to the one I work at.

Just because there was no evacuation doesn't mean that one wasn't needed.

From my balcony I regularly see a guy fumigating the pool/garden area of a nearby hotel, presumably against mosquitoes. Great clouds of noxious white smoke billowing all over the place and all over the surrounding houses and buildings. Do you think he even wears a mask?

[PattayaParent]

The prevailing wind direction is away from Ban Chang towards Rayong but even in Map Ta Phut industrial estate we were not aware of any problem and there was no evacuation. Not even when a tank caught fire a few weeks ago on the plant next to the one I work at.

Just because there was no evacuation doesn't mean that one wasn't needed.

From my balcony I regularly see a guy fumigating the pool/garden area of a nearby hotel, presumably against mosquitoes. Great clouds of noxious white smoke billowing all over the place and all over the surrounding houses and buildings. Do you think he even wears a mask?

It would have been a bit silly us evacuating our plant as we would have had to pass close to the tank that was on fire to get out of the area.

Much safer where we were well away from the tank which was dealt with by the automatic fire systems and the emergency response teams.

Thailand isn't the only country to have fires in their hydrocarbon facilities by the way, happens in UK and USA all to often.

[Darrel]

It would have been a bit silly us evacuating our plant as we would have had to pass close to the tank that was on fire to get out of the area.

I'm sure that's true, but, as I said, just because safety measures aren't taken here doesn't mean they are not needed.

I can show you at least two restaurants with open-flame cooking facilities that are less than 3 metres from those gasoline tanks/pumps for motorbikes. The people responsible would be locked up in Europe, and the tanks removed immediately.

So I'm a bit wary of anything that might be toxic or otherwise dangerous as I'm not sure that reasonable precautions are always taken here.

Edited July 1, 2012 by Darrel

[mikebell]

I live near Bang Saray on a walled estate of 62 houses. The site has a pool and gym. It is four minutes from an unspoiled beach. We have 24 hour security: one robbery in the last two years. Houses are on 400 square metre plots. 3 bedroom bungalows/two bathrooms/3 showers (one outside.) Rents range from 15K to 30K per month.

[PattayaParent]

If anyone in Pattaya is really worried about the closeness of Ban Chang to Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate then you'd better pack your bags and move because Pattaya is as close to the Petrochemical facilities at Laem Chabang (where there was a tank explosion a few years ago) than Ban Chang is to the ones at Map Ta Phut.