Author: Melanie

Finding an Apartment in Chiang Mai

/ Melanie / 8 Comments

Mistake: Expecting Too Much out of our Chiang Mai Apartment Search

Finding an apartment or condo for rent can be tricky in Thailand, but here are a few good lessons we learned in our saga to find a new 7-month home in Chiang Mai.  Our apartment search began a couple weeks before we left Seattle.  We contacted Chiang Mai based property management company Perfect Homes, and connected with Noon.  She emailed us a few listings before we left Seattle, but warned us that apartments tend to come onto the market and get rented fairly quickly, so it’s best to wait until we arrive to see what’s available.

Before leaving Seattle, we came up with a list of our apartment must-haves:

  • Pool
  • Air conditioned gym
  • Hot water
  • Kitchen with fridge and hot plate
  • At least two separate work spaces, since we’ll be working on lots of projects here
  • Good natural light
  • Good walkability to restaurants and a fresh market (we won’t have a motorbike during our time here, so this was important!)
  • Budget: $700/month
  • 7-month lease

The Search

We looked at a dozen apartments, all shown on the map below.  Click on a pin to see more detail about a particular apartment.  Our search began in May 2014, which is considered the low season in Chiang Mai when apartment rent tends to be lower than the November-December High Season.

We focused our search in the Nimmanhaemin and Chang Klan areas.  The Nimman neighborhood is one of the trendiest areas in Chiang Mai, and is home to many expatriates from various other countries.  It’s hard to pop into one of Nimman’s MANY coffee shops without meeting someone from the US, Australia or New Zealand.  Over the course of our entire search, we looked at 3 apartments in Green Hill Place, 1 unit in Punna Residence, 1 unit in Hillside 2, 1 unit at One Plus Suan Dok, 1 unit in DD Park, 3 units at Twin Peaks, 1 unit in Peaks Garden, and 1 unit at Riverside.  A dozen units!  It was exhausting!

On Day 1 of our apartment search saga, we worked with Noon from Perfect Homes and saw 6 different apartments.  Unfortunately, Perfect Homes doesn’t provide transportation to and from apartment complexes.  We hadn’t quite figured out how to use the many transportation options in Chiang Mai yet, so we ended up walking over 11 miles in 95-degree weather!  I know I promised in my Beijing Post not to talk about my chapped ass unless the situation got extremely dire.  Let me tell you, 11 miles of walking in 95-degree weather was DIRE.  To top it all off, we got caught up in a thunderstorm on our way home when we had our laptops with us, and had to spring back to the hotel!  Lesson learned – use a Songathew or Tuk-Tuk to get from point A to point B, and carry a damn poncho!

Day 2 was a dud.  But we did get Thai phone numbers and spent some time at the pool!  Little victories.

On Day 3 of apartment searching, I was at anxiety level orange thinking we might not find a new home.  We decided to expand our search and meet with agents from Satihoga Properties and Chiang Mai Properties.  Between Noon and the two other companies, we saw six more units which were all at the very top of our budget.  The best thing about Chiang Mai Properties is that they provide free transportation service to and from apartment viewings.

On Day 4 of our saga, we decided to return to the One Plus Suan Dok unit with Noon, which was the very first apartment we saw in Chiang Mai.  This was one of the smallest apartments we viewed, coming in at 41 sq. meters, but it also had the lowest rent price of any apartments we viewed at just 14,000 Baht, or about $430 USD.  The larger units we saw mostly came in over 65 sq. meters, but cost at least $200 USD more per month in rent, and all that extra square footage wasn’t always utilized efficiently.  In the end, we decided to go with the cheap apartment and use that extra $200 USD to get more Thai Massages and spend more time at coffee shops.

Our New Home, The Winner

  • A 1-bedroom, 41 sq. m top floor corner apartment in the One Plus Suan Dok condominium.
  • Location, location location!  We have a gorgeous temple right in our front yard (see photo below).  Wat Suan Dok is home to beautiful gardens, ornate buildings, and our favorite Vegetarian restaurant, Pun Pun.  There is also a fresh market right down the street.
  • Onsite gym (with aircon!), pool, and sauna (HA, like I’d ever use a sauna in a place as hot as Chiang Mai… good one, guys…)
  • YOU CAN FLUSH TOILET PAPER DOWN THE TOILETS HERE.  Words can’t express how excited I am about this.  In most bathrooms in Thailand, including some upscale hotels, you throw tissues into a waste receptacle instead of flushing.  I like to call the waste receptacle the “bin of doom”.  Luckily, this apartment will not be filled with doom.
  • Security: there are several 24-hour security guards onsite, and our building is accessed by fingerprint scan.
  • One note about the One Plus Suan Dok free internet – it is unbearably slow and requires you to login through a secondary sign-in screen several times throughout the day when you’re connected via wifi.  To quote Kevin, “If I imagined internet in Hell, this would be what it’s like.”

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What We Learned

  • Lower your expectations before arriving – no one finds the perfect apartment without shelling out some serious cash.  We compromised on space, but spent way less than we anticipated.
  • Use Perfect Homes for your property search in Chiang Mai!  Noon has gone way above and beyond the call of duty.  After we signed the contract and moved in, we expected her to disappear.  Instead, she helped us upgrade to faster internet and helped us set up weekly drinking water delivery!  These two things would’ve been impossible for us to do ourselves because the only Thai we speak is “Hello”, “Thank You”, and “How much”.
  • Utilities: Ask how much utility costs are – some condos inflate the government rate of 4 baht/unit for electricity!  Electric bills can be paid at your neighborhood 7-11, water bill is paid to the condo administrative office.  Maybe in the U.S. you should be able to pay bills somewhere you can also buy beer, I think that would take the sting out of winter heating bills.
  • Apartment Deposits are paid in cash!  For this apartment, we had to pay 2 months security deposit plus 1st month’s rent at contract signing, or 42,000 THB (about $1300 USD).  That’s a lot of cash, so bring some along or spread your ATM withdrawals out over several days!
  • Rent is also paid in cash!  Every month, we’ll take 14,000 THB to the bank and deposit it into our landlord’s account.
  • If you have time several months before arriving in Thailand, start your search on websites such as airbnb, flipkey, or tripadvisor vacation rentals.  Send messages to apartment owners to ask if they offer a monthly rate – more often than not they will knock several thousand baht off of the listing.  We started doing this after we arrived, but found that everything was already booked up.

We don’t think we’ve made a huge mistake in picking the small apartment; our mistake was expecting to find a huge, modern apartment in an awesome building with a great location and mountain view for just $500/month.  Because of this, we strung our search out over 4 days instead of going with our gut and renting the first apartment we saw.  Only time will tell whether picking the small apartment was a mistake – if we’re still married in 6 months, I’m calling it a success.

Have you had any crazy experiences searching for lodging on your travels?  If so, leave us a comment – we’d love to hear about your experience!  Safe travels, friends.

 

Tuesday Tip: Always Carry a Poncho in Thailand

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Kevin Soaked

This week’s tip: Unexpected storms in Thailand will really rain on your parade, so carry a poncho!  We are trying out a new type of blogpost – Tuesday Tips.  Every Tuesday, we plan to post a small blurb with a tip for surviving successfully in Southeast Asia.

Everyone in Southeast Asia seems to carry around a cheap plastic poncho to throw on when a thunderstorm sneaks up on you.  We were out and about with our laptops when a thunderstorm rolled in and it started downpouring.  We had to run back to our Hotel so our laptops wouldn’t get wet!  After the storm, we picked up cheap plastic ponchos at the 7-11 (there is a 7-11 on nearly every corner in Chiang Mai) for less than $1.  We’ll never leave home without them again.

Mistake: Connecting in Beijing

/ Melanie / 13 Comments
Our Mistake

Kevin and I made a classic mistake when booking our flights to Thailand – we blindly picked the cheapest one-way tickets we could find.  We flew two legs on Hainan Air: First a 12-hour flight on a 787-8 to Beijing, then a 5-hour flight on to Bangkok.  Somehow, Hainan blew away our original stellar seat reservations, and it took some convincing to even get two seats together.  We ended up in the exit row, but that just meant close proximity to the lavatory, which is never awesome.  Flying on a 787-8 was certainly fun, but I somehow expected more; I think the everyday wear and tear on this airplane dulled the awesomeness of the 787.  The food on the flight was definitely better than our United Airlines food experience from our flights in 2013, but that’s a pretty low bar to begin with.

After arriving in Beijing, several things happened that really chapped my ass (not literally, of course. I wouldn’t typically write about that sort of thing on here unless the situation was especially dire…):
  1. The air conditioning was clearly broken in the entire airport. I’m talking 82+ degree Fahrenheit temperatures inside.
  2. The airport employees all seemed to disagree on where we should go to make our international connection.  Everyone we asked gave us different directions.  Eventually we found a few other Americans and realized we all needed to follow the “Domestic Transfers” sign rather than the “International Transfers” sign.  This meant we had to exit out through immigration and security, re-check in at the Hainan counter, then immediately re-enter through immigration and security.  Kevin and I both got full-on pat downs from security officers who weren’t wearing latex gloves, that can’t have been fun for them since we were sweating like crazy and hadn’t showered at that point for 24-hours!
  3. We were uncertain about what to do with our bags.  In Seattle, the check-in agent informed us that we would not need to pick our bags up at all in Beijing.  But when we reached Beijing, we saw our bags making the rounds on the baggage carousel!  We talked to a couple folks who said we could just leave them and they’d make it safely to Bangkok.  We waited in line to talk to an agent at the Hainan check-in counter, who took our baggage information from us in order to ensure the bags were transferred correctly.  Luckily, our bags safely made it to Bangkok!  Oh joy, we don’t have to walk around naked this week!  (Though that’s definitely tempting in these 100 degree temperatures.)
  4. I almost got quarantined!  Because the airport was so warm, and we had been awake for 24 hours, I was flushed and red, and an immigration agent pulled Kevin and I into a small room to take my temperature.  They had two broken electronic temperature readers, so I had to use an old school glass thermometer to make sure I wasn’t feverish and bringing in some sort of disease to China.  You’ll never guess where they stuck the therometer to take my temp!  My armpit!  (What were you thinking?  Please get your mind out of the gutter.)  I accidentally dropped one glass thermometer on the floor and it shattered, so that wasn’t helpful.  Luckily, I was running at about 98.9 degrees, and they let us go.
Our Recommendations
  1. Don’t fly through Beijing.  We haven’t flown through Seoul Incheon, but have a hunch that is the best option for travel to Bangkok from West Coast locations.  We flew through Tokyo Narita for our trip to SE Asia in 2013, and had a much better experience there than in Beijing.  There was no question about where we should go and what we should do in Tokyo, it was just easier.  However, all the food was SO EXPENSIVE there, and the airport was a little bit old.
  2. General international travel information – never ever unpack your liquids bag and don’t buy a large water you won’t be able to drink before reaching your second flight.  In both Beijing and Tokyo where we’ve connected en route to Thailand, we had to go through security again, which means complying with the liquids-in-a-ziplock-bag rule.
  3. Have you used Google Flights yet?  www.google.com/flights is our new favorite way to search for flights.  You can enter only your departure city, and use the map to see where you can travel most cheaply for your dates.  It’s also possible to enter your departure and arrival city, and look at a bar graph showing which departure date gives you the cheapest flight.  We also always use seatguru.com when selecting seats on our flights – it helps avoid missteps like sitting too near the lavatory or booking a seat that doesn’t recline.
  4. If you do fly through Beijing, here’s what we now realize we should’ve done (note: it’s possible there was just construction occurring which blocked the “international transfers” route in the airport – it’s always best to confirm with airport personnel where you need to go.):
    • When booking your flight, ensure you have ample transfer time in Beijing.  We had 4 hours, and would recommend you absolutely have at least 2 hours transfer time.
    • After arrival in Beijing, follow the signs for domestic transfers.
    • Try to stay cool!  Powder your face, try not to sweat, keep the redness at bay.  Whatever you do, don’t come here with a fever.  We may never see you again.
    • Exit out through immigration, proceeding to the baggage claim area.  At this point, you can pick up your bags if that makes you feel safer.  We wished we had just snagged our bags at the baggage claim and kept them with us since it would’ve been disastrous to lose them.  However, if you do leave them at the baggage carousel, they should magically reach your final destination.
    • As you’re exiting the baggage claim area, you may get stopped by customs so they can scan your bag.  We were waved through.  After exiting customs, take the escalator up to the second floor, and re-enter back into the international departures area.  You’ll have to show your passport and send your bags through a scanner.
    • After the scanner, check the sign to figure out which check-in counter you should use for your flight, then proceed there to queue up.
    • If you picked up your bags, re-check them with the agent at the counter.  If not, it’s a good idea to stand in line anyway to give them your baggage information.  Even if you didn’t check bags at all, it can be a good idea to check in at the counter to get your updated departure gate information.
    • Proceed towards your gate.  You’ll queue up, show your passport (again), get a thorough patdown at the security checkpoint, then you’re nearly home free.
This is the first real blog post at wevemadeahugemistake!  Now that you’ve heard so much about my chapped ass, we’d like to know a little about you.  Please leave us a comment letting us know who you are so we know who’s reading our blog.  Safe Travels!

A blog is born!

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photo (1)

Hello, friends, family, coworkers, and strangers!  Welcome to our blog, which will chronicle our travels over the next year or two.  We’ve decided to run away from our lives in Seattle in order to spend some quality time traveling and experiencing other cultures.  Visit our About Us page for more info on what spurred this adventure.