At long last... the apartment search! I want to just preface this by saying that this was not really what I expected when I was told I was going to be getting an apartment. All of the places I saw were a bedroom with a bathroom attached. That's it. No living room, no kitchen, just a bedroom with a bathroom. I'm happy with the place I've chosen, but yeah, just warning you. Also, I am going to list the prices of the apartments I looked at - I know talking about money makes some people uncomfortable but that's why I'm giving you this preface.
Also, for those who are actually interested in how one finds an apartment in a foreign country I can't be of much help. But I will tell you how I came by these places. Option 1 G helped me find. We just walked into the office and asked the woman there if there were any available rooms and she gave us a break down of the different room availabilities and when I could move in. Options 2 and 3 my TA found for me and she, the other TA, and the other TA's boyfriend took me to see them. Option 4 G's coffee shop friend found and took us to see. So basically I used the connections I have here (and G has) to find a place. If I were on my own I'm pretty sure my strategy would have been to walk around and every time I found a place I would have gone in and asked about availability which means I never would have found Options 2 and 3 (read below)!
So, Option 1.
Option 1 is the closest to the school. In fact, its on the same street! Remember that photo I showed you of the dry road to school, well the edge of that picture is the apartment building! Here's the picture again, in case you forgot.
The pros of this apartment include:
Option 2:
This time we'll start with the pictures...
The pros of Option 2:
Unfortunately, I only got this picture so you'll just have to bear with my descriptions. You should know that the bathroom was comparable to Option 2 and on the opposite wall there is a desk and a medium sized refrigerator (bigger than any of the others).
The pros of Option 4:
Also, for those who are actually interested in how one finds an apartment in a foreign country I can't be of much help. But I will tell you how I came by these places. Option 1 G helped me find. We just walked into the office and asked the woman there if there were any available rooms and she gave us a break down of the different room availabilities and when I could move in. Options 2 and 3 my TA found for me and she, the other TA, and the other TA's boyfriend took me to see them. Option 4 G's coffee shop friend found and took us to see. So basically I used the connections I have here (and G has) to find a place. If I were on my own I'm pretty sure my strategy would have been to walk around and every time I found a place I would have gone in and asked about availability which means I never would have found Options 2 and 3 (read below)!
So, Option 1.
Option 1 is the closest to the school. In fact, its on the same street! Remember that photo I showed you of the dry road to school, well the edge of that picture is the apartment building! Here's the picture again, in case you forgot.
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| The school is that white sign in the distance and the building is the one right in front |
- location (near to the school though that meant farther to the markets and Tesco compared to my hotel)
- price (this was the cheapest at just 2000 baht per month)
- air conditioning
- some furniture included (armoire thing, bed frame, what looked like a couch type thing)
- second floor room
The cons of this apartment were:
- I didn't get to actually look inside - just at pictures
- Mattress was not included
- No hot water
- ? on internet access
- No refrigerator included
Here's some more pictures of the outside just so you get a better idea of what it looked like.
Option 2:
This time we'll start with the pictures...
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| bathroom |
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| bedroom with refrigerator |
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| armoire thing + desk! fancy... |
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| the outside |
- air conditioning
- hot water
- furniture (including mattress!)
- pretty courtyard in the building
- very clean
- price (3500 baht per month)
- internet included
The cons of Option 2:
- location - we drove about 20 minutes away from town to get to the neighborhood and then spent another 5 minutes just getting through the neighborhood and to the building. It also was on the far side of this large pond which I am convinced would have taken me 5 minutes just to walk around. Now, you might be thinking "Oh, a pond? In a nice, quiet, secluded area? What's not to like?" Well, I'll tell you. Mosquitoes. That's whats not to like. The pond did not appear to have a fountain which means that it is a mosquito breeding ground heaven which means I don't want to be anywhere near it. Oops, am I giving it away? Well, while I'm giving it away I might as well also say that being 20 minutes by car means being at least 30 minutes away by samlaw (tuk-tuk) and that was just from the school. The markets and Tesco and town in general are even farther and I felt like that would negatively impact my social life. Was it possible to walk? Yes. Would I have ever wanted to walk? Probably not.
- Happily, location was the only con on this place. Unhappily, location is a major issue for me. For those who know my parents and where they moved last year this fact should not surprise you. The apple does not fall far from the tree...
Option 3:
Again, we'll start with the pictures...
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| shower - I couldn't get a good picture of the bathroom because when you opened the door it hit the end of the toilet. So this is the view from the doorway. |
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| bedroom/main room - note the TV console, desk/mirror area and there is also a fridge, just not in the picture |
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| armoire (you can see the TV console in the mirror) |
The pros of Option 3:
- air conditioning
- hot water
- furniture (including mattress!)
- very clean
- price (3000 baht per month)
- internet included
- closer to the main road than Option 2
The cons of Option 3:
- location - Despite being slightly better than Option 2, Option 3 is still in the same general neighborhood and so still has many of the location problems that Option 2 has.
- the bathroom layout - First of all, did you see that bathroom tile?! Not my style. Also, the whole door hitting toilet issue was weird. Now, before you go thinking I am totally shallow, I just want to say that these bathrooms issues were not actually serious problems. This place is totally a contender because it is not by mosquito pond and is a better price than Option 2. I just wanted to say that in my perfect situation that bathroom tile would not be there and the layout would make sense.
Option 4:
Unfortunately, I only got this picture so you'll just have to bear with my descriptions. You should know that the bathroom was comparable to Option 2 and on the opposite wall there is a desk and a medium sized refrigerator (bigger than any of the others).
The pros of Option 4:
- air conditioning
- hot water
- furniture (including mattress!)
- very clean
- internet included
- location
- the landlady
The cons of Option 4:
- the price/situation - the price is 4000 baht per month, but unfortunately she doesn't have any of those rooms available right now. If I wanted this place I would have to stay in a room for 6000 baht per month until a 4000 baht per month room became available.
- location relative to school - this place is a little bit farther when it comes to getting to school. Probably far enough that I would take a samlaw in the morning but walk home in the afternoons (it will probably take about 30 minutes to walk home)
So... Which option did I choose?!?!?!?!?! *Drumroll*
Option 4!!!!!!!!!!!!!
While obviously the price/situation isn't ideal this was the only option with that extra special pro. Did you catch it? The landlady at this last place was so friendly and nice that its hard for me to imagine living anywhere else. She is definitely going to become my surrogate family while I'm here - I don't know what it was about me, but she took an instant liking to me and I think she is going to make living in that apartment feel like I'm coming home every day. She also really wants me to teach her English and since she's a former teacher herself I'm pretty sure I can finagle some Thai lessons out of the deal. Also, in terms of location, I think this was the best of the 4 options. While it is a little bit farther from the school than I would like, it is really close to the Tuesday market and not significantly farther from the Old Market/Tesco than my current hotel is. It is also really close to the hospital. And to put the price situation in more relative terms, 6000 baht per month is about 200 dollars per month. So even though it is twice as much as some of the other options, it is still only a fraction of my monthly paycheck (~30,000 baht per month) and it isn't a permanent price.
Just to break down the other options a little more, let me say this. Option 1 was a good option. Obviously, it was the cheapest option and that also showed in what was included. In the end, probably the main reason I didn't want Option 1 was not because of the internet situation but the hot water situation. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that paying the extra money for a place with hot water was really worth it to me. Option 2 was out almost from the get-go because of that pond. It was a beautiful apartment - definitely the nicest of all of them - but there is no way I'm living on the far side of a mosquito pond. It just isn't me. Option 3 I considered because I thought I could get a bike (not a motor bike, just a good old-fashioned bicycle) and bike to school/town. The road out to that place was pretty empty when we drove by and there is definitely enough of a shoulder and the road is wide enough that I would have felt totally comfortable on a bike. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that even though I wouldn't mind biking to school I wouldn't want to bike to the market or Tesco. I also like being able to go home after school to drop my stuff off (since I bring my laptop and things) and if I were to make plans with G or anyone else I probably wouldn't want to bike all the way home just to go back into town. So yeah, it definitely would have put a major dent in my social life.
Just to break down the other options a little more, let me say this. Option 1 was a good option. Obviously, it was the cheapest option and that also showed in what was included. In the end, probably the main reason I didn't want Option 1 was not because of the internet situation but the hot water situation. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that paying the extra money for a place with hot water was really worth it to me. Option 2 was out almost from the get-go because of that pond. It was a beautiful apartment - definitely the nicest of all of them - but there is no way I'm living on the far side of a mosquito pond. It just isn't me. Option 3 I considered because I thought I could get a bike (not a motor bike, just a good old-fashioned bicycle) and bike to school/town. The road out to that place was pretty empty when we drove by and there is definitely enough of a shoulder and the road is wide enough that I would have felt totally comfortable on a bike. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that even though I wouldn't mind biking to school I wouldn't want to bike to the market or Tesco. I also like being able to go home after school to drop my stuff off (since I bring my laptop and things) and if I were to make plans with G or anyone else I probably wouldn't want to bike all the way home just to go back into town. So yeah, it definitely would have put a major dent in my social life.
Unfortunately, I have not moved in yet. Hopefully that will happen this week - I'm probably going to go check with her tonight about when I can move in. When I do, I promise to post more pictures!
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