Phayao Here I Come!

[cm das]

My apologies if I'm posting this in the wrong place. After 3 years in Chiang Mai I'm ready for someplace smaller & quieter, & I'm taking a job at Naresuan University in Phayao. I know there are a few of you farang in Phayao & I thought I'd avail myself of your expertise. Mainly, I'd love any info on housing options in the NU area (15-20km south of town). Sure there are a ton of dorms but I'd much prefer to live in an actual house or maybe an apartment with a kitchen. Is this too much to ask? And here's a big one: are there any vegetarian restaurants in Phayao? I mean the typical Thai veggie places, nothing fancy. One more question for now: is there a public swmming facility in Phayao? Of course there's the lake but on my 3 visits I've never seen anyone swimming there.

OK, I'll leave it at that for now. Any other info or tips would be appreciated. And I'm sure I'll have more questions later. Thanks in advance for any replies.

[buddhafly]

sorry to have only a question here... but are boats alowed on phayao lake?

[lukamar]

someplace smaller & quieter, & I'm taking a job at Naresuan University in Phayao. I know there are a few of you farang in Phayao

Mainly, I'd love any info on housing options in the NU area (15-20km south of town).

prefer to live in an actual house or maybe an apartment with a kitchen. Is this too much to ask?

And here's a big one: are there any vegetarian restaurants in Phayao? I mean the typical Thai veggie places, nothing fancy. One more question for now: is there a public swmming facility in Phayao?

Of course there's the lake but on my 3 visits I've never seen anyone swimming there.

We have a house in Phayao but are not in Thailand at the moment so this may be a bit dated if you want PM me.

There are few farang in Phayao unless there was an influx since we left a couple of years ago. You can walk around the day market, park and town and never see any, except the odd backpacker, and yes it's small and very quiet. Most everyone also talk Northern, that takes some getting used to, and few people will actually engage in speaking English with you even though the younger ones all speak and understand some English. Thai culture is very strong in Phayao.

I don't know much about the rental housing situation, especially in the university area. House prices are about the same as in Chiang Rai to buy. You might want to stop at one of the banks they often have foreclosure properties they are willing to rent rather than have them sit vacant.

There are a number of very good restaurants along the waterfront where the new boardwalk is they will do anything you want, unless you are a strict Vegan. Most restaurants have Northern Thai food as well. There is a Muslim restaurant but we have never gone to it.

The gateway has a pool but I don't know if it's open to the public and the locals do swim in Kwan Phayao you will have to ask around for the best spots to swim.

And to answer buddhafly, boats are allowed on the lake, it's huge and so are some of the fish...

[cm das]

Thanks lukamar. Hadn't thought about the possibility of renting a house from a bank before. I'll check it out when I go there this week or next.

[lukamar]

Thanks lukamar. Hadn't thought about the possibility of renting a house from a bank before. I'll check it out when I go there this week or next.

If you have a problem finding something, send me a PM and I'll give you my Father-in-Law's phone number but he only speaks Thai and a very little English. On weekends there is normally someone that can speak English visiting. He may be able to put the word out for you or help you find something, he's quite well connected in the area.

[buddhafly]

i'd be curious to know if land is for sale bordering the lake.

it seemed kind of quiet on the lake last time i was there.

but it'd be nice to have a small cottage on a lake somewhere in thailand.

[lukamar]

i'd be curious to know if land is for sale bordering the lake.

it seemed kind of quiet on the lake last time i was there.

but it'd be nice to have a small cottage on a lake somewhere in thailand.

I've never seen any come up on the lake but then I've never really asked around either. I think that you would have to put the word out locally and if they find out you are a farang the price will double...LOL The lake is very quiet and the other side off 1183 is much quieter again but that's actually nice, find Wat Analayo and ask around to find the local roads to the lake. They aren't on any map I had...LOL

There was a property on the river that feeds into the north end of the lake a couple of years back, I kind or remember a couple of hundred WA, or maybe a Rai, at about 1.Mil. That would make an small expensive cottage....LOL

We had an option on 8 1/2 Rai at the south end of the lake but had to back out as we could not get any decent legal access to the property, it had a small lake fed from Kwan Phayao.