We Finally Got a Piece of the Pie

Fish don’t fry in the kitchen / Beans don’t burn on the grill. In between eating delicious food and exploring the various neighborhoods, Shiv and I actually did have a task to complete before the end of the week: finding a short-term apartment. To do that, we had to educate ourselves on the various districts and price points for renting, as well as cross our fingers for availability.

Districts

Chiang Mai has seven distinct districts, including the city center (Old Town). Each has its own micro-culture and attractions. We had to learn fast, which meant a lot of walking with a lot of quick assessment.

• Old Town: this is the historic city center where we first stayed in the hotel
• Chang Khlan: southeast of the city center, this is most famous for the Night Bazaar
• Chang Moi: northeast of the city center, this areas has the Warorot Market
• Chang Phueak: northwest of the city center, this area is very residential
• Nimmanhaemin: west of the city center, this area is a trendy, up-and-coming neighborhood
• Thapae: east of the city center, a sliver of land that is the ancient road into town
• Wat Ket: east of the Ping River, best way to see the area is by boat

Prices

Depends on what you want, really. We saw very clean hostels going for~$150/month to newly built condos for ~$600/month. Some had kitchenettes, some had air conditioning, some had high-rise views. The thing to note is that finding something is very easy and so very reasonably priced! Our San Francisco mindsets were initially baffled by this concept, but we eventually found the fun in the search. You can ask people at coffee shops, go online to real estate websites, or just hoof it and look for signs that say ‘serviced apartments.’ Airbnb is another option, but we found those prices to be way higher than what you could find by simply walking into the offices of the buildings and asking yourself.

Another item to note is that we got turned away from a lot of places since we were only renting for two months. Many places had 6 month minimums. Why? Couldn’t tell you.

Renting

After familiarizing ourselves with the neighborhoods, we settled on the Nimmanhaemin district because it has a lively restaurant and bar scene that was accessible right outside our front door — literally, our bedroom window looks down upon a funky, outdoor bar. Ours has a kitchenette, air conditioning, a patio, and an in-unit washer! Repeat: an in-unit washer. We don’t even have that at home in San Francisco – this is some honeymoon! While a little more than we budgeted for, we feel we got a lot of great amenities in a super fun location for about ~$500/month.

The process was very simple: fill out a form with your passport information and include a phone number, put down a small deposit (~$140), and you get the keys. That easy.

It feels nice to have a home away from home, a little slice of Chiang Mai pie. We even went grocery shopping to stock up on food and cleaning supplies. Just like home!