Apartment Hunting!

Apartment hunting, I have learned, is serious and tiring business. I have spent the last few days and nights hunting all over Bangkok for the best deal and have learned so much about life in Bangkok. For example, last night I wondered over a few streets from where I live to a side soi or laneway that appeared to have a bunch of townhouses. I went into one thinking that because it looked so rundown I could get the house for 10,000 baht or 300 a month. Instead, I was invited in by a bunch of women, was poured a beer ( I hate beer) and shown a room which they apologetically offered me at 6,000 baht a moth or about $200 which was actually quite nice, if you like basic. It was very large, had a bathroom, bed, table, chair and the other things you would expect to find in a room.

What I found interesting was the various stages of undress the ladies were in. I think there was something like seven rooms in the house and six were occupied by women, or I assume, at were women but you can never tell in Bangkok without looking at their hands. When they asked me if I was going to be living there alone and I said yes, they told me I could bring in a woman whenever I wanted, but if I was going to bring in a man, they said I would have to find another apartment! I cannot understand that reasoning at all, except to say that this is Bangkok.

This morning, I went to a lovely condominium apartment near the last BTS stop on the way to the airport. This is the area I want to live in since it is close to the golf courses in the south east of Bangkok and close to the airport. When I told the owner the actual apartment was too small and too expensive for what I was getting and I would not even have room for my golf clubs he told me his mother owned Green Valley Golf Course, a very swanky course that I used to play all the time last year. I couldn’t believe it. I told him I would take the apartment right then and there if he could get me on to the course for half price whenever I wanted to play. He phoned his mother immediately and the best she was willing to offer was $50 which included caddie fees instead of the usual $66. Ummm, what to do? I do love the course and this apartment did have a covered swimming pool.

I also went to another apartment nearby which also had the aura of being very tranquil. I would have to put my name on a waiting list to get in and the first available apartment is a two bedroom on December 1st. She promised to move me to a one bedroom March 1st It is tempting because my clubs, believe it or not, take up a lot of space. I also have boxes of books which are not easy to display in a small place.

I also walked down lots of dirty laneways all over Bangkok and looked at rooms only the Thais live in. Even I noticed the floors and walls were filthy, beds rickety, walls covered with dirt from layers and layers of carbon dioxide emissions and lots of noise. You cannot even turn on the air conditioning to drown out the sound of the cars outside and children playing because there is no air-conditioning. The attraction for me is a personal challenge. How would I make out really living like Thais people and secondly learning Thai. One old man (the owner) of a little two story house told me he was looking forward to speaking with me. Another attraction is, of course, the price. A Thai apartment, like the one I described, rents for about $100 a month in really excellent locations. You can virtually find an apartment in any area of the city if you are willing to walk down some dark and dusty soi just behind the elegant stores and department buildings to find them!

I am going to Myanmar in the next few days for a few weeks so I would like to get this settled before I go. Any ideas on what I should do?