• Bangkok

Hard to imagine when you’re stuck in traffic, but Bangkok was once a floating city. In the middle of the 19th century, three quarters of its people lived in floating houses on the Chao Phraya river, or stilt-houses on the banks of its canals. Though Bangkok is hardly the Venice of the East nowadays, the Chao Phraya is still a working river. Locals depend on the city’s waterways to transport merchandise and also get them around. Every morning and evening, ferries are packed solid with office workers, school-kids, and saffron-robed monks.

To be honest, you’ll either love Bangkok or hate it. If you find noise and crowds bothersome, it’s probably not for you. Much of the time, there’s not enough space to walk freely on the sidewalks—they’re spilling over with clothes stalls, food stalls, people doing outdoor cooking, women making flower garlands for the temples, people making clothes on sewing machines—it really is life lived on the street. 

Be warned that the pollution can be pretty fierce in summer. Even in winter, the street sweepers wear masks. And while Bangkok isn’t really a dirty city, it’s definitely not Switzerland. 

Condominium homes near a Skytrain, or subway stop, score high on the location factor for both expats and investors. Whether you plan to live or invest in Bangkok, traffic congestion needs to be taken into consideration. 

There’s no city center as such, but several busy and popular ones. They include the CBD (Central Business District), Sathorn, Central Lumpini, Sukhumvit Road, Pathumwan, and Riverside. They’re all areas which attract expat interest.

At the end of 2002, quality “Grade A” condos in the Central Business Districts ranged from $148 to $170 per square foot. Ongoing projects in the same area now sell for $193 to $273. Both expats and investors mostly seek two- and three-bedroom units.

But if you drop down from luxury to “decent” level, you’ll find plenty of resale properties in the $62 to $227 per square foot bracket. As in most cities, the smaller the property, the more expensive the cost of floor space. 

Rental houses can be more difficult to find. Unlike highrise buildings, they’re rarely situated on main roads. More often than not, the developments are a few miles out of the central area. Depending on location, four-bedroom houses mostly rent for between $1,350 and $2,930 monthly.

• Chiang Mai

Beyond the city, Chiang Mai province is a mosaic of whitewater rafting rivers, jungly mountains, and hill-tribe villages. This is the old kingdom of Lanna, a land of gabled teakwood houses, elephant work camps, and a million rice-fields.

With artisan traditions going back centuries, Chiang Mai is Thailand’s arts and crafts center. Major draw cards are hand-loomed fabrics, teak furniture, silver-smithing and metalwork, woodcarving, lacquerware, paper-making, and ceramics. It’s also good for hunting down genuine and replica antiques. 

Best known for its mammoth Night Bazaar, the city attracts scores of wholesale buyers—prices here are generally cheaper than elsewhere in Thailand. On average, wholesale discounts are 20% to 50% lower than retail. But even retail prices are substantially below what similar items cost back home. 

Chiang Mai’s name translates as “the new city.” All depends on how you qualify “new”—it was actually founded back in 1296. However, there’s a modern city outside the historic core and there are plenty of opportunities to buy a condo.

• Udon Thani

With 110,000 inhabitants, Udon Thani is Isaan’s largest city. The local airport (with flights to Bangkok and Chiang Mai) is built on the site of a former U.S. air base. From here, bombing raids were launched across into Laos and Vietnam. Udon Thani also provided U.S. forces with R&R. Finding the “recreation” side of things appealing, some guys returned...married local girlfriends...and settled.

Living costs are as cheap as you’ll find throughout Thailand. A teacher’s monthly income in Isaan is around $200 and that’s a professional’s salary. Under Thailand’s regional minimum wage structure, the daily minimum in Udon Thani province is only $3.40. For an Isaan farmer, average monthly income falls to $73. Rural families sometimes save up for years to make a shopping trip to the city’s mall.

Once you’ve rented or bought a property, expats say it’s easily possible to live here on $490 per month. It’s hard putting an exact figure on monthly grocery/eating out bills. Much depends on your tastes, how often you eat out, and also how much alcohol you drink. In the City Lodge, Farang food such as steak pie and fries is $4.40; full English fry-up breakfast served with toast, orange juice, tea or coffee is $2.93.

Thai food dishes are a lot cheaper—between $1.47 and $2.20. Menu choices include local favorites as Khow Tom Gung (shrimp rice porridge) and Pat Grapow (chicken or pork fried in basil and chili). “Eat street” and it’s even less—but be aware that some Isaan food might not tempt your tastebuds. Spicy toad stew is a rural staple.

The city itself is a melange of old and modern. Expat distractions include four nine-hole golf courses. Thirty miles away near Nong Khai, there’s also Victory Park, an 18-hole, par 72 course. Prices for a game range from $2.95 to $4.90 in Udon; $12.95 for Victory Park. Expats use the 50-meter pool of Udon’s Physical Education College for $0.73. There’s also tennis and badminton facilities; two bowling alleys; pool and darts in a number of bars. In the cooler evening air, hordes of joggers pound the paths around Nong Prajak Park and Nong Sim Lake.

Simple Thai-style houses with flat corrugated-iron roofs surface for under $10,000. While you wouldn’t want to live in one of these places full time, some Bangkok-based farangs buy them as vacation properties.

New developments have been built, and more are on the way. One development is four miles from Udon Thani city limits. The first phase (30 homes) is complete; phases two and three are still to be built. The developer has already put in roads and a communal swimming pool; plans are also underway for a steak-house. Most first-phase homes belong to foreigners. Houses range from $31,000 to $50,000. At the $50,000 end, you get 1,500 square feet of living space.

Renting could be the way to go if you have no Thai spouse, don’t wish to form a company, or arrange a long-term lease. Rental properties acceptable to western standards start at $125 monthly. One three-bedroom house in the above mentioned development is for rent at $391 monthly.

• Hua Hin

For much of its history, Hua Hin traditionally focused on domestic tourism rather than the international trade. But that’s changing fast. Proximity to Bangkok—new international standard hotels—restaurants built on stilts in the sea that now cater to foreign as well as Thai tastes. It’s not surprising that the developers have moved in. 

Hua Hin’s history as a resort goes back to the early 1920s when King Rama VII came here to escape Bangkok’s sultriness. He built a palace called Klai Kangwon (Far From Worries) Palace and it’s still an official royal residence. Naturally many of old Siam’s moneyed classes emulated their King and built their own beachfront homes.

• Koh Samui 

With over 30 top class spas, Koh Samui can keep even the most ardent health and wellness freak blissed out for weeks. The Chedi, one of the island’s best spas, is styled like a Thai village. In your own private wooden pavilion, you’ll pay $85 for a three-hour pampering session that includes a bergamot oil body massage, a Thai honey facial, and a herbal steam. On the beach, an hour’s foot reflexology or a traditional Thai massage costs $8 to $10.

Home to 40,000 people, Samui is dubbed Coconut Island. For good reason—along with tourism and fishing, coconuts form a major part of its economy. Around two million are exported to Bangkok and the Thai mainland each month, most of them picked by specially trained monkeys. Most go to make coconut oil and coconut cream, an ingredient in Thai green curry. 

Samui’s silver strands are its major draw. The sea is warm and mostly crystal-clear, with lots of opportunities for sea kayaking, sailing and boat excursions. Samui is just one of an archipelago of 80 smaller islands—those of Ang Thong National Marine Park are prime locations for scuba-diving and snorkeling. 

There are few “sights,” but if relaxation tops your priority list, it’s hard finding fault with the area. Beyond the beaches, the forested interior offers treks on foot or by elephant to waterfalls and natural rock bathing pools curtained with emerald ferns. There’s an 18-hole golf course and you can catch Muay Thai kick-boxing bouts twice weekly at Chaweng Stadium. Tickets start at $7.80.

Although dining out costs more than most other places in Thailand, you won’t be ripped off. Many restaurants display the day’s seafood catch—it’s sold by weight and you pick whatever takes your fancy. In Chaweng, at the Long Table restaurant, two people can have a sumptuous meal of grilled tiger prawns with a lemon and chili dip, spring rolls with plum sauce, then silver snapper in ginger and coconut for less than $20.

• Pattaya

Like neighboring Jomtien, Rayong, and other locations along the Chonburi coast, Pattaya is booming. High-end condo developments and business centers are going up everywhere. Prices have risen 20% in the last year. And the trend is likely to continue in the coming years.

Here’s the reason. When Bangkok’s new international airport comes into operation next spring, it will slash the current two-hour road journey between the capital and Pattaya by half. Frustrated by Bangkok’s pollution and traffic problems, Thai and international companies are already moving into Rayong’s industrial park, creating a big demand for rental property in nearby Pattaya and Jomtien. 

More and more people are also buying houses and condominiums as first homes, vacation homes, or retirement residences. The increased availability of retail outlets, recreational activities, health services, and international schools have combined to increase the area’s attractiveness to prospective long-term residents. 

The demand for new residential properties, especially quality condominiums, is huge. Very few Grade “A” condo developments were launched in the last decade, and this has resulted in a limited supply. 

Showing good capital appreciation, most of the activity over the last few years has been in resales. One example is the Royal Cliff condominiums. Until the end of 2003, it was possible to buy a 2,150-square-foot unit for $171,000. Today, that same unit sells for $244,000.

A more basic bolt-hole? At the bargain basement end, $16,000 to $25,000 buys small studios in the Jomtien Suites, the Majestic, and View Talay—the latter a pair of massive highrise condo residences on Jomtien’s outskirts. Practically a Pattaya suburb, Jomtien is only a 15-minute drive away. For these types of studio properties, annual maintenance fees come in at around $88.

Although Jomtien possesses some tawdry bars, it has more of a family feel than Pattaya. The British, Scandinavians, and Russians are here in sizable numbers, as couples or with their kiddies. But like in Pattaya, Jomtien beach isn’t great. The bay forms a magnificent blue horseshoe, but the coarse brown sands are very narrow.

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