As you know, Chiang Mai Thailand is our home base for the next few months and that means we don’t need to live in a hotel or guesthouse! We have a kitchen, and space to stretch out. We each have a backpack and a carry on, so we were unpacked in about 20 minutes! We will do a post in the future the process of our hunt, but we keep receiving requests for more info on our apartment. So, let me tell you a bit more about what we selected.
Flashback to 2014:
We are in a condo off of a Nimmanhemin Road (Nimman for short), on the northwest side of Chiang Mai. This is a trendy part of town, full of coffee shops, cafés, restaurants and boutique shops. This is quite a treat for us, after living in small town Spain for the last 2 years. I wouldn’t say we were shooting for the traditional Thai experience for this move, but we do have it all around.
We will share more details about our neighborhood, as we discover more and take photos. Most things we need are within walking distance including a big mall, MAYA Lifestyle Shopping Center. Not that we need to buy much at the mall, but it is nice to visit and get some AC after a long walk. Not to mention the basement floor has a wonderful grocery store named Rimping.
Rimping Supermarket is a high-end market full of organic products and imported goodies. It’s a great find, but it is tough to pass up some of the expensive Western goodies. These are things we miss from the USA and didn’t always find in Spain either. So after 2 years away from the USA, they are a treat. These imports are a bit more expensive in Thailand. ($7 small jar of Tostitos Salsa, $10 jar of Nutella, $3 for six slices of American Cheese, $5 for hard taco shells, $5 small jar of JIF peanut butter). Not everything is expensive at Rimping, actually they have pretty good prices on Australian beef and chicken as well as other products.
Whooops, forgot about the apartment! That is what I am supposed to be sharing with you.
Our Chiang Mai Apartment
We have a 3 bedroom, 2 bath apartment on the 3rd floor of a high-rise condo. I think there are 11 floors in total. This isn’t quite a serviced apartment, but the building offers a gym and laundry service for a fee (about $.60 a pound to wash and dry). There is also a coffee shop in the lobby.
Our living area is spacious and open to the kitchen and dining area. Our kitchen isn’t ideal for me, but it will work for a few months. At least we have a partial western kitchen, with a stove. We also discovered a toaster oven in the cupboard too! Now we can bake / broil small things. Ovens are very uncommon in Thailand, so this is a treat.
Traditional Thai Kitchen – From what we have seen the kitchen is pretty sparse. It is pretty normal and fairly cheap to just eat out, so the kitchen isn’t as important. It usually consists of a counter with a sink. There is typically a portable stove with 2 gas burners, shaped to hold a wok. It also appears that cupboards aren’t too common. Dishes have often just been stacked on the counter and there is a small fridge.
Western Kitchen – The works! Cupboards, Sink, 4 burner built-in stove, oven, microwave and potentially more appliances. I don’t need to tell you, as it is likely your kitchen!
The bedrooms are pretty standard and spacious. This place is a bit dated and it is taking a while to get used to the interesting combo of wallpaper used throughout the apartment. The main thing is that it’s functional, has rooms for the kids to have space as well as the awesome location.
Master Suite with dressing area and bathroom.Oh ya, we also western toilets and showers in the bathrooms! Woohoo no squatting.
We are paying 23,000 baht ($719) a month plus utilities ($? depends on our AC usage) and internet ($30). The rent is very expensive for Thailand and Chiang Mai, but for a short-term rental with 3 bedrooms, that is a fair price. We looked at several others from 10,000 – 26,000 baht ($313 – $813) and this one worked for us. A big reason it worked for us is the three bedrooms. It’s difficult to find a place that’s not far from the city that has three bedrooms. The kids are getting too old to share a bedroom and/or a bed. Okay on to a brief video to show you the place.
Video Tour of our Chiang Mai Apartment
Alright, time to give us your feedback in the comments below.
What do you think of the apartment? Come on, honest opinion.
Are you surprised by anything? What were you expecting?
Do you just love our wallpaper and want us to send you the name of the pattern?
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