We're going apartment hunting today!
*intro music*
If you don't know why we're going apartment hunting, then check out that video.
Not going to go into it any more. So I'm currently sat on my laptop and we've picked out a few places
which are quite popular, popular apartments to find here in Chiang Mai on a monthly basis.
And we're just gonna see where they are so we can go and see them.
*in an accent* Got a bit of Google Map action going on.
So we've picked out a few, but in Chiang Mai it's kind of a... before you ask, you don't
do this in advance, you don't prebook, you don't do anything like that.
It's... you kind of just rock up to an apartment and ask to see the room, make your decision.
That's all you have to do here, it's really simple. This is digital nomad central, because the price of living
for Westerners is very very low.
And it's a great area.
We love it. Great here! So - no more rambling. Let's go and have a look at some apartments.
So before we look at any apartments, we need to fuel up - look at me at all angles!
We need to fuel up, get some breakfast, because there's going to be a lot of walking.
It's going to be a long day.
So the apartment we're staying in at the moment
is pretty much bang on the main road, and has a 7/11, of course, immediately outside the apartments.
When you're walking around you'll see this sign... seriously. It's not difficult, just go in and ask.
But that's a guest house. But outside the apartments, they'll also have that, so.
Find an apartment block, go in, ask if they do short term rentals, yes or no?
Easy! So, this is a no.
Okay, so that was Huay Kaew, I don't know if that's how you pronounce it.
And we looked at three rooms, one for 5,500 and two for 12,000.
One with a kitchen, one without.
Scott: Both 13.
13, because if you're only staying a month you have to pay one thousand extra per month
because it's a very short term lease.
Not a problem. Okay. So we know that now. I preferred number two, the one without the kitchen.
And I kind of want to go for, if our budget will allow, if it's not then we'll just deal with it,
to have a separate bedroom because I'm going to be working so much in that space
you know, if you agree with me, if you kind of get that feeling, hello tuk-tuk!
If you kind of get what I mean, I need a separate space to walk out the bedroom where I relax
into a work environment.
But that was Huay Kaow. Next!
So we saw quite a few there, Pansook, which we saw from Chris the Freelancer, go and check him out.
Made an amazing blog, going to be way better than mine, about apartment hunting in Chiang Mai,
Pansook looks really really nice and that was Pansook 1
And there's Pansook 2. The only problem with that one is you can't get out onto the balcony.
They have a balcony and you're not allowed out on it.
Strange.
The Dome was really nice, it's quite pushing out of our budget, but
the people there are so nice. It was really clean and light and yeah, it's gonna be tough, man. Next!
Really liked that one... the second one, the second room. That's Pansook 2
we went to Pansook 1 earlier.
Scott: Is this one open?
I don't know... it has security.
Looks pretty dead.
That was like Huay Kaew luxury, and that's even more expensive, but - by 1,000 bhat a month
compared to Pansook 2, and it only opened in February. It's got a gym and a pool.
You see, it's better to see as many as possible, but it makes it so much harder!
Scott: This one?
Yeah?
*sounding it out* sak-oo-chai place
I didn't pronounce that right either, don't worry.
Ohhhh man this is difficult, they're all so beautiful!
So this one that we've just walked into - they're all, like, right next to each other. You can't go wrong.
Uh, this one's 15,000 a month. No deposit. And water, Internet, and electricity is all included.
And you just get to show yourself up to the open room up there.
Let's have a look.
Obviously it's unclean because they haven't cleaned it yet.
Alright, so we're gonna go - we've kind of circled back around now to the main road.
We're going to go to Bang Thai, which is probably one of the most popular apartments people get.
Because of the swimming pool and security or whatever.
But we're gonna circle back to that and then we're gonna get lunch and discuss.
We need to discuss. There's too many options now. See how far our budget will stretch.
But that's the thing. Like, going into that room that was uncleaned? That we just let ourselves into?
That was fifteen hundred. And the one before it, that luxury apartment? That was fifteen hundred.
Shop around - oh, you didn't have a deposit in the second one though.
And...
Scott: Just so you know - Aly, fifteen hundred...
Oh, sorry! Fifteen thousand! Fifteen thousand. So yeah, shop around to get more for your money.
This is how you eat for 50 bhat and 40 bhat. Spicy?
So we're currently back at our AirBNB apartment and we're going to have to go back out at around... 2 o clock
because we're on lunch so all the offices are closed. We've come back, we're chilling out, cooling down,
and we've just kind of - I've wrote down all the prices - I'll show you.
We've just gone through all the footage to kind of recap because they all kind of merge into one.
I am so sorry if the footage was really crappy. What I realized was that the first one we went into,
I was focusing more on the camera than I was on where we were.
And then when I left, I was like, "I can't even remember what that place looked like."
I didn't even really look at it because I was filming. So I'm really sorry if you didn't get the greatest
view, but I was in there and I just kept my camera low and did a few little pans.
Some of them were a bit quick, gonna try and edit the hell out of it
but I was just trying to focus and film at the same time
So I basically wrote down absolutely everything... one, two, three, four, and five.
Still have some more to see. I wrote down how much the room costs and the big selling points.
Got a pool and a gym... and how much electricity, water, water, and deposit is. For all of them.
Now, from a lot that we've read and watched, 5 bhat is like the government standard for electricity per unit.
So if they start charging you any more, like some of them's eight... em... yeah
And then your water, you apparently don't use much water, so not a stress, and
most deposits are one month in advance. However, the deposit on the last one was 20,000 bhat.
Looking through all of them like "hey, this one offers free WiFi, this one offers cheaper electricity but you have
to pay for that," you know it's just kind of like - you're kind of balancing what you want and, like,
trying to figure out in your head which is worth it. It's pretty tough, it's pretty tough. Not gonna lie.
I WANT ALL OF THEM!
I would totally recommend like, filming it and then coming back to it now
so helpful. So just get a GoPro or even your phone, because you're going to see so many, they will just
merge into one. Yeah, Scott was asking me while we walked down the road, like, "Oh, what'd you
think of that one?" I'm like, "Which one's that?! I don't even remember! We were just there."
Because they're so close together, down one road there'll be like nine apartment blocks.
I shit you not.
And you might go into four of them.
And, when you're jumping one to the next to the next to the next, all very similar prices
and all very similar bill prices, and it's a bit like "Ah!"
So take a camera, film the sign of the apartment so when you get home you've got the name,
you've got the footage. So you can recap. Oh yeah, Scott's got his lovely little thing here.
Oh, very nice. So we've just come out for a couple of coffees and I'm doing a do and don't on one of the
apartments. And I'm not going to tell you which one. It's getting a bit like - we're doing the money.
We're crunching so many numbers, it's absolutely ridiculous. So we've picked one that we love,
and we're really just balancing out in our heads now.
I'll explain later.
Okay, so we've picked an apartment.
So it is featured in this video, the one we picked, and what we did is - because the one we picked
was quite high on our budget. Like, we can afford it, but it was one of those where you really have to look
like three, four, five times into it and really do the math, crunch the numbers, do the pros and cons list
We did all of it! What's happening with my hair, people?
My goodness! I mean I know it's usually bad, but Jesus Christ.
What we did in that situation was we went to see other apartments on a similar price.
To see, were we getting our value for money? And there were different areas, like, near the main street
and away from the main street. And see what facilities they had and we had like a massive list,
we wrote down this huge thing... um, the pros and cons of all places that were on our short list.
And I think that's really good, because you can find a place and be like "Wow, that's a little bit at the top end
of our budget," so go and look at other places that are on the top end of your budget.
And if they compare, be like "Okay, let's look a bit more." And if they don't compare, mm.
I didn't vlog this part, but we went back after you saw those last couple of viewings.
To the place that we want, and we had a different viewing of a different room with a different view.
Because that was one of our things, we were like "If there's anything we could change,
it'd probably be the view." So we went back and we had another look and we kind of sat down.
I tested the Internet. I took my laptop and I threw up a video to upload. My normal, standard, 10 minute size
kind of HD video. And it was giving me like, a 10 minute upload time. It went up like 1... 2...
I was like, "Okay, cool." I knew in that instant that the Internet would be fine. I just needed to test it.
Scott: Someone just ran over a pigeon!!
What?!
Scott: Someone just ran over a pigeon! I just seen it with my own eyes! It flew down in the middle of the road
Scott: and the car just ran straight over it!
Is he deadsies?
Scott: No, he's alive. He got run over by a truck but he's still alive.
So we had one more look and it was more of a - it's always good to do a second look,
and we're only getting it for one month. It's a LOT cheaper if you do it for three months,
um, and that's something we're going to consider. Like, the price drops, like, it's a considerable price
to think about. But, for our first time, the Internet could be terrible! For all we know!
It could be a one-off when I tested it and that's a big thing for me.
Or we might not like it, but chances are - we looooove it. We love it!
We're having to pay more, plus I'm going to be here working as I said in my video yesterday.
I'm sorry, this is going to be a big ramble. If you don't like it, then you can cut it off here.
This is going to be huge for me working, so I have got to feel good. There are a lot of places in Chiang Mai
like Bang Thai was one place that we went to and they don't have one bedroom apartments.
They just have studio apartments. That's like, 5, 6,000 bhat a month. And then you've got all your bills on top
of that. So that's like a hundred pounds a month for rent. That's ridiculous, but I won't be able to work.
Now, I'll be going out to cafes and coworking spaces a lot to work, but
I really, really wanted a one bedroom apartment.
So I can leave Scott, because Scott doesn't work like I do. It's to have that separation.
Like I spoke about earlier. So yeah, we went, we saw, we're going back tomorrow to put down the deposit
and pay our first month of rent. It's going to be our first proper apartment. And it's bloody lush!
Oh my God! It's good just to get a one month thing instead of a three month thing because
if we don't like it or we can't afford it or whatever it may be, then we can just find somewhere else.
If we love it, we can go for the three month contract if we want to, we'll see how things play out.
That's the thing, we like a bit of flexibility. But then we can get the better deal.
I'm not going to tell you which one it is, what I want you to do from what I just said
is to comment down below and tell me what is your guess. What do you think we've gone for?
Let me know. Oh my god! This feels really surreal. Like really really surreal.
Like tomorrow we are gonna go sign it, pay it, and that's it! All will be revealed, guess down below
which one you think we went for. And I will see you tomorrow, if I don't see you tomorrow I'll see you
the next day but hopefully I'll see you tomorrow. I'm sure it'll be fine.
FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and all the PsychoTraveller links are down there.
And I can't even say my outro because I'm so excited.
And... I'll see you tomorrow!
Scott, in a high voice: yippee kaiyeah motherfucker!
*blows a kiss* Bye!