NewbieInBangkok 14 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 Hello, My husband and I are moving to Thailand soon and we are trying to decide where in Bangkok we should live. The condo we like best is The River but I will be taking Thai language and art lessons (probably around Phrom Phong and Thong Lor) and I wondered if living out at the riverside is too inconvenient? We don’t have kids so don’t have to consider schools. My husband will be driven to work out towards the airport. We like to go out for meals but don’t really go for drinks after dinner except maybe a couple of cocktails. Weekends we will both be golfing and exploring Bangkok mainly. Most of his coworkers live in Phrom Phong or Thong Lor. Is this a better place for us to live rather than The River? The cons as I see them are that there are so many buildings on top of and facing into each other. The size of the condo apartments within our budget (healthy) are on the small side compared to The River. The pools all seem overlooked and void of privacy whilst The River has 5 pools iirc. The condos we like the look of here are The XXXIX, The Diplomat, Quattro, Ivy Thonglor, Eight Thinglor. We also looked (only on internet so far) at Silom and the Ratchadamri/Chidlom/Ploenchit areas. So, what are your thoughts and recommendations? Thanks in advance. Link to post Share on other sites
PatOngo 41,195 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 Consider the traffic, from the River to near the airport everyday will be excruciating! Consider Bang Na. Link to post Share on other sites
wordchild 735 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 I think you will find it a bit isolated, given what you have said. The river views are stunning , i can understand why you like the condo. I have friends who live there and some who have now moved on, BUT 1) it’s a long way from everywhere it sounds like you want to be, transport links from down there are not great, and then there is the traffic. They also keep saying the BTS station there will close, but I don’t know when that will be. 2) shopping , and I don’t just mean the big department stores (ok iconsiam) I mean even for the basics eg food, is more limited in that area. It’s a bit of a desert outside that condo. 3) social life: I suspect you will find that friends and new acquaintances will tend to prefer to meet a bit more uptown, so you will be spending all your time in taxis. Most long term expats (who want or can afford central Bangkok) tend to gravitate to the Asoke/Thonglor area. There are many different reasons for this, but I guess you will realise this more depending on your lifestyle Link to post Share on other sites
NewbieInBangkok 14 Posted October 10, 2019 Author Share Posted October 10, 2019 It’s not quite near the airport where he’ll be working but north west of there. 40-60 mins according to google maps depending of time of day. Only 4-10 mins longer than from Phrom Phong. We are only considering the areas I’ve mentioned for various reasons. Most of his coworkers live in Phrom Phong-Thong Lor so the 40 min commute is normal for them. I just wondering if it’s worth a bit extra time to live at the Riverside. But thank you....I appreciate your input. Link to post Share on other sites
wordchild 735 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 Have you looked at Athenee residence Ploenchit? Or Domus soi 18, Maybe worth a look if you haven’t Link to post Share on other sites
NewbieInBangkok 14 Posted October 10, 2019 Author Share Posted October 10, 2019 3 minutes ago, wordchild said: I think you will find it a bit isolated, given what you have said. The river views are stunning , i can understand why you like the condo. I have friends who live there and some who have now moved on, BUT 1) it’s a long way from everywhere it sounds like you want to be, transport links from down there are not great, and then there is the traffic. They also keep saying the BTS station there will close, but I don’t know when that will be. 2) shopping , and I don’t just mean the big department stores (ok iconsiam) I mean even for the basics eg food, is more limited in that area. It’s a bit of a desert outside that condo. 3) social life: I suspect you will find that friends and new acquaintances will tend to prefer to meet a bit more uptown, so you will be spending all your time in taxis. Most long term expats (who want or can afford central Bangkok) tend to gravitate to the Asoke/Thonglor area. There are many different reasons for this, but I guess you will realise this more depending on your lifestyle Thank you! You’ve basically confirmed most of my concerns. And I also didn’t know about the BTS closing down there. We will likely only live in Bkk 2-3 years but if the BTS closed then we’d have to go everywhere by car. Link to post Share on other sites
NewbieInBangkok 14 Posted October 10, 2019 Author Share Posted October 10, 2019 6 minutes ago, wordchild said: Have you looked at Athenee residence Ploenchit? Or Domus soi 18, Maybe worth a look if you haven’t I haven’t seen Domus on the list of condos that the company realtor uses but I’ll check again. i did make a mental note of Athenee that there was something I didn’t like about it but I can’t remember what so I’ll take another look. Do you recommend those 2 instead of Diplomat, XXXIX and the Thong Lor ones I mentioned? In what ways do they compare more favourably? Link to post Share on other sites
Airalee 3,486 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 If I had buckets of money, one complex that always looked interesting was the millennium residence (Asoke area)Don’t know how it compares to the other luxury condos but the floor plans aren’t as wonky as many I have seen elsewhere. Link to post Share on other sites
NewbieInBangkok 14 Posted October 10, 2019 Author Share Posted October 10, 2019 17 minutes ago, wordchild said: Have you looked at Athenee residence Ploenchit? Or Domus soi 18, Maybe worth a look if you haven’t I just checked the list of condos we can choose from and the cheapest Domus one they have is 130k so a bit over budget. The only Athenee one they have looks ok but nothing special. Worth taking a look maybe. The ones in that area that I liked the look of are in; Magnolia Ratchadamri Oriental Residence The Rajdamri The Park Chidlom Millenium Link to post Share on other sites
wordchild 735 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 I don’t really know the Thong Lor ones, but the Diplomat and the others on soi 39 are a bit crowded in so I know what you meant in your original post. And anything built in Bangkok in the last 5 years or so will feel cramped compared to the River. There are many that might be worth a look , and I am not a realtor so I have limited knowledge, my comments are only based on my experience and friends. FWIW , I would look at Athenee, Domus (probably best in Bangkok for kids) , Royce, Millenium (not for everyone but good facilities) Park Lane, ficus Lane, and many others. I would focus on slightly older but well maintained with good space. Link to post Share on other sites
NewbieInBangkok 14 Posted October 10, 2019 Author Share Posted October 10, 2019 Just now, Airalee said: If I had buckets of money, one complex that always looked interesting was the millennium residence (Asoke area)Don’t know how it compares to the other luxury condos but the floor plans aren’t as wonky as many I have seen elsewhere. The Millenium is on the list that I liked too but it seemed a bit far from the BTS. Link to post Share on other sites
wordchild 735 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 Park Chidlom is really nice, but in my opinion, unit layout poor esp compared to Domus or Athenee Link to post Share on other sites
wordchild 735 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 Millennium, location is not too bad, certainly will be more convenient than The River, Facilities are good but , my opinion the unit layout not great. Link to post Share on other sites
Airalee 3,486 Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 Just now, NewbieInBangkok said: The Millenium is on the list that I liked too but it seemed a bit far from the BTS. Ok....thanks for the info. Not sure what size place you’re looking for and how healthy your budget is, but Sky Walk has a sweet place for rent (100k for 250sqm) at the moment. Close to the Phra Khanong BTS. The value for money spent gets much better just a couple stops past Thonglor. https://www.hipflat.com/listings/bangkok-condo-chcgkhyp Link to post Share on other sites
NewbieInBangkok 14 Posted October 10, 2019 Author Share Posted October 10, 2019 3 minutes ago, wordchild said: I don’t really know the Thong Lor ones, but the Diplomat and the others on soi 39 are a bit crowded in so I know what you meant in your original post. And anything built in Bangkok in the last 5 years or so will feel cramped compared to the River. There are many that might be worth a look , and I am not a realtor so I have limited knowledge, my comments are only based on my experience and friends. FWIW , I would look at Athenee, Domus (probably best in Bangkok for kids) , Royce, Millenium (not for everyone but good facilities) Park Lane, ficus Lane, and many others. I would focus on slightly older but well maintained with good space. Thank you for taking so much time to give info. The problem we have is that we will have to decide on a few to view before we fly over to Bangkok. Once there we will have just 1.5 days to decide which of them we will live in. If I had longer to decide it would make things much easier. There are soooo many that would be completely fine and I’m glad that the company realtor we are dealing with does not have access to everything available so that has helped to narrow things down. Furnishings is important to me so I must admit I was tending to rule out the older condos because the furniture might be shabby but it is true that they have the larger rooms. Decisions, decisions... Link to post Share on other sites
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