Photo of Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai
Since our last update almost a month ago, we’ve had an interesting time here in Thailand!
Our place in Phuket was ideal for a couple but not so ideal for a couple plus young baby. It was a large (60 sqm) studio apartment with the bedroom area tucked away at one end. We thought it would be ok – but it wasn’t. Although it was brand new, modern and trendy it was actually pretty uncomfortable and stuck up a massively steep hill.
Plus we thought we didn’t like the fact that we basically had to have a car there, deciding that we weren’t cavalier (stupid?) enough to risk our lives on a moped – yes, that’d be all 3 of us on the one moped with only the driver wearing a helmet, as is the custom here in Thailand. So all in all we weren’t too sold on the idea of staying there in Phuket for 3 months and decided to head to Chiang Mai – a place where everybody raves about.
We soon found out that sometimes however, it’s better the devil you know…
As a treat and because I’d got a great deal online (like 70% off the regular rates – check out Wotif), we booked to stay in Le Meridien upon arrival in Chiang Mai. As we always do, we’d done some basic research about apartments & accommodation before we arrived but decided that, like many things in Thailand, it’s sometimes much easier to do things face to face. So we packed up all our stuff and off we flew to Chiang Mai.
It’s a lovely city; the climate is cooler than down south, the vibe is very laid back for a city (especially in comparison with Bangkok) and things are unbelievably cheap, even for Thailand. But could we find the accommodation we wanted? Not unless we can hang around until February or, in some cases April!!!
We’d had some recommendations from one of our lovely online friends who lives here (who we had lunch, coffee & great chat with the other day) and spent a morning traipsing round the Nimmanheim Road area (very nice) calling in at all the apartment blocks we had researched (and even those we hadn’t but came across on our walk). In most cases, they’re booked out until February and in some cases April. Hmmmmm, what to do?
We basically had 3 options:
- Extend our stay in a hotel (not Le Meridien since that would likely bankrupt us which meant moving to yet another new place) until our chosen places were available.
- Compromise and stay in an apartment in another part of the city.
- Head somewhere else.
We’re somewhat fussy (discerning?) when it comes to accommodation and have learned that if we try and make compromises, especially on location, we often end up unhappy and want to leave early. That’s just something we’ve learned about ourselves and while I sometimes wish we could “make do”, now we have Mali, it’s even more difficult to justify doing this.
So, what did we do? We headed back to what we know! Yep, that’s right, we’re now back in Phuket again but in different accommodation this time round.
Weighing everything up, we decided that while we would have been quite happy in Chiang Mai, the lifestyle in Phuket is much more fun for Mali. Here she can go swimming, to the beach, to the malls and to coffee shops & restaurants. In Chiang Mai, it’d pretty much have been coffee shops & restaurants – not so fun for a 6 month old. Not only that, the following were also good reasons to head back here:
- My Dad & stepmum (Mali’s grandparents) are here for another month
- The accommodation we’re now in is super cheap (£220 per month) but more suitable with a separate bedroom and a pool right outside our door
- While we thought we didn’t like having a car here, based upon our experiences in Chiang Mai, it’s infinitely easier than having to use our own baby car seat in taxis or risk her safety & not use one at all.
We’ve been back here for a week and I can safely say it was most definitely the *right* decision for us. Mali seems very happy & relaxed here, she’s sleeping brilliantly (11 hours every night & self-settling – which she’d fallen out of the habit of doing when we were in a studio and hotel room), really enjoying the pool and we’re all much happier…which, after all, is what this lifestyle is all about.
It’s been a very useful learning experience (yet again) and was great to check out a new place but we were reminded (yet again) that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side!
can you point us to that ‘location’? we’ll be looking for a good spot in May