Moving To Cm - Tips Appreciated

[MattyElms]

Hello all,

First off let me say thank you for all of your contributions in making this forum an excellent resource of information... especially for a newbie like myself. I look forward to contributing and eventually meeting this community very soon!

My plan is to move to CM in the next couple of months. I seem to have most of my questions sorted out, except related to a) where to live and which ISP to use. I've dug around on the forums but thought perhaps it would be easiest to ask my questions to you all as they pertain to my situation.

1) Any recommendations on where to rent?

• I'm 33 years old
  
• Love being surrounded by energy and activity
  
• Enjoy practicing yoga (so I'm thinking in or near Old Town since thats where the studios seem to be)
  
• Would ideally like to spend between 6000 and 9000 per month in rent
  
• Plan on taking language classes for the student visa
  
• Would like to be near a gym
  

2) Based on the above recommendation, whats the best ISP? My work is internet based so speed and connection stability are key. (the secret to choosing an ISP seems like black magic, so any help would be appreciated).

3) Any recommendations on where to take my language classes? I hear AUA is good and CM university. I'm thinking that the university might also have a gym which would be an added bonus.

Thanks so much in advance!

Regards,

Matt

[15Peter20]

As far as the best ISP to go for is concerned, first move in to your abode, then find the nearest internet cafe and ask them who they use. After 2 years of getting absolutely crap bandwidth from TOT in my area (100Kb/s) I did this and found the internet cafe around the corner using Maxnet (3B). Changed to them and now get over ten times the bandwidth for no more than what I was paying before. This is not a recommendation for 3B in your area - it depends where you live.

The only other thing I'll say is what always ticks me off, which is that there is practically no public transport in Chiang Mai. If you want to get around town often, either be ready to buy a bike/car or make sure you live near everywhere you want to go, otherwise you could end up paying through the nose daily for songtaews.

Good luck.

Edited September 20, 2012 by 15Peter20

[CMweb]

Hi Matt,

We use TOT for I-net and I’m happy with the speed.

The best option would be to rent a studio or apartment for you, most have a pool and a GYM so you don’t need to go anywhere. You can look thru our website http://www.buyrentchiangmai.com maybe you find a place you like, please note the listings with available date.

Now some TV members will criticize my profession again as they hate agencies in general, just ignore them

[DaBloodyMess]

I wont criticise agencies but I will say have a look around town yourself before going through one. CM has rental places coming out of its ears.

As for internet, you wont know who is best for your area till you find a place. If downtime is a big issue consider getting connections from 2 different companies run into your house. It might seem overkill, but it could save you if one service starts to act up.

Also on the internet front, be aware that in some Condos having separate internet just for your place isn't an option and you are expected to pay for access to the buildings service- obviously avoid this.

Good luck.

[jackr]

For 'energy and activity', get yourself up along Nimbleheadman (west of town) which has digs, gyms, a million cafes and probably yoga places. CM uni is close by (thus, hot students obligatory), as is the mountain, and you're away from the touristy areas of the town--a la Thapae, Loi Kroh (awful totty) and Bazaar. Bearing in mind--with few exceptions--gyms within condos are rubbish. BBB, formerly Maxnet, has the best rep, but if you need the internet for work avoid the cheap packages with high contention ratios.

However, I suggest avoiding rip-off Thailand altogether and head for Cambodia.

[CMSteve]

As for schools, AUA is a great choice. Stay far away from Chiang Mai University as they have a history of taking money, starting classes, then dropping all visas and classes without refunds.

[PETDCAT]

When you get here you will most likely be getting a motorbike. They are cheap, starting at about 10,000THB. One thing you might consider if space allows is to buy a helmet in your home country. The ones available here are very poor quality. I have T.O.T. fibre optic internet service at my house that I am very satisfied with, but my previous house had a T.O.T DSL connection which sucked. If you rent a house here you can have any internet service that is available in your area, but if you rent an apartment very often you can not have internet installed in your name. You must use the apartments service. Some might even limit or block your downloading abilities. My advice to you would be, when you get here try to find a hotel or apartment where you can get a monthly rate,rent or buy a motorbike or bicycle and spend a few weeks looking around before you sign a lease to live anywhere. Also be aware that certain areas are more prone to flooding than others.

Enjoy Chiang Mai

[market trader]

I would recommend that for the first week or two you stay in a hotel or guest house until you can gather your bearings and develop a feeling for what area you like the best. However that being said I think that you will end up somewhere around CM university considering your age. Now internet is another story. I also need reliable fast speed for overseas business. However even though I pay for the best service available it is nowhere near what you receive in your home country. Servers here crash consistantly and it seems to happen just when you need it the most. In addition to my regular server I also have an AIS air card which even though it is not the fastest gets me through difficult times when my primary server goes brain dead. For those of you who might like jackr's suggestion of Cambodia. www.khmer440.com this site will give you an idea of life in Cambodia.

[jackr]

^^ Thanks.

To be fair, am on 3BB premier and it's been quite solid the last few months.

[hellodolly]

I would recommend that for the first week or two you stay in a hotel or guest house until you can gather your bearings and develop a feeling for what area you like the best. However that being said I think that you will end up somewhere around CM university considering your age. Now internet is another story. I also need reliable fast speed for overseas business. However even though I pay for the best service available it is nowhere near what you receive in your home country. Servers here crash consistantly and it seems to happen just when you need it the most. In addition to my regular server I also have an AIS air card which even though it is not the fastest gets me through difficult times when my primary server goes brain dead. For those of you who might like jackr's suggestion of Cambodia. www.khmer440.com this site will give you an idea of life in Cambodia.

I to have an AIS air card for a back up. You can only find out about the quality of the service by talking to people near to where you are going.

When I arrived here in Thailand I signed up for the AUA beginers class. I found my self in a class with about ten people. The class skipped througth the vowels very fast and there ia a lot of them. It seemed to me they were teaching Grammer rather than Thai. So I found myself in a class with about ten other people who had all lived in Thgailand for at least a year and some of them were taking the class foor the second time. There I was tryng to learn grammer in a language I coulden't speak and keep up with students who had a little bit of knowledge.

There is one teacher there who every one said was really good. I droped out of the clas after two weeks and traded down to single student time. went from about 40 hours of class time to 14 and it was still the same only this time the teacher could not race ahead of me. I later took a class with a private tutor and it was really helpful.

AUA ha a teacher who every one talks about as being really good. I talked to him about private lessons and he said check back with him in a few months. Needless to say I did not. But I will admit he impressed me. I am not a quick learner and he said he would only teach me for one hour a week. I really liked that idea. With my previous private tutor I had two hour lessons twice a week. I found myself looking at the clock after one hour. But she was a tremendous help in getting to the basics. She tought at my ability to learn and language never was my strong point.

As for where to live for energy you might want to check the university area or niemanhamin. Not sure what you can get in your price range. Remember there will also be an electrical bill added to the rent. That can be cheap or expensive. For public transportation piece of cake red songthals all over town most rides 20 baht. Some will try to jack you up a little just say no the next one will probably take you. If you are going a long way it would only be natural to expect to pay more. To the best of my knowledge the old city might be your best bet for yoga and if you do go to AUA it is in the old city. 20 baht ride. Or you can walk. Not sure about gyms when I was going to them I went to the Dongtawan close to the night bazaar. It was OK. but I am sure there are better ones around do a search here on Thai Visa for a thread on them you might find one.

Welcome to Chiang Mai

[MattyElms]

Thanks so much for the help, everyone. There's been some awesome bits of information in here that I wouldn't have had known about. Thanks again. Looking forward to possibly meeting you.

[sharktooth]

Your original post is one of the most betterer strukchoored grammatikkaly correct one ever seen on hear! And half the muppets living in chiang Mai claim to be 'teachers.'

Good luck son and welcome.

[MattyElms]

I guess this is more of a general question, rather than a CM-centric one:

What do most people do about banking? Do people forsake their homeland checking accounts in order to avoid those nasty ATM fees? If so, any preferred banks in Thailand?

[hellodolly]

^^ Thanks.

To be fair, am on 3BB premier and it's been quite solid the last few months.

Are you in Cambodia?

[hellodolly]

I guess this is more of a general question, rather than a CM-centric one:

What do most people do about banking? Do people forsake their homeland checking accounts in order to avoid those nasty ATM fees? If so, any preferred banks in Thailand?

Several different methods. I have a bank account at Bank of Siam. I have an ATM card for them that cost me nothing to use in their machines and they are all over town.

Once a month I go into the bank use my credit card to get enough money for the month pay the exchange rate plus a 150 baht cost for using the card and am done with it for the month. I then go to my cutter transfer the money from my savings account to my Visa account and am done with it for the month.

[zippydedodah]

I guess this is more of a general question, rather than a CM-centric one:

What do most people do about banking? Do people forsake their homeland checking accounts in order to avoid those nasty ATM fees? If so, any preferred banks in Thailand?

well, using AEON for your debit card removes the nasty (150 baht) fees. Then, if you are in a pinch, if you have the right kind of bank in USA.... some of them will still cover ATM charges in a foreign country (usually, only up to a point, like 10 or 15 USD/month)... so for the most part, it is not too difficult to avoid those ugly fees....

[dave2]

re .

Do people forsake their homeland checking accounts in order to avoid those nasty ATM fees? If so, any preferred banks in Thailand?

no no no ... whatever you do dont close or loose you homeland banks credit cards or

debit cards and if you only have one get another one quickly,

i didnt think id need to use my english banks until i needed to

transfer my pension in 2014 when im 65 but ive lost count of the times ive had to use

them in the last 7 years for things i hadnt thought of

thai bank accounts are easy to get once you have the first one , then get another

and another thats how i do it and spread my 800 odd thousand between six thai banks

coz if one debit card dies i have another ... and another ... the same as computers you

have to back up .... back up and again

dave2