I've been in Chiang Mai for while and if there is one thing I regret then it's not acquiring property in the 1990s when you could still find land or a house in the downtown / Old City area, or the (then) suburbs of Nimmanhaemin for a sensible amount of money.
We all know what happened next, and even with some property bubbles bursting now and then and the odd economic crises, the overall trend remains straight up towards the stratosphere. Most Thai middle class families who want to own something will buy in one of the commercial developments out of town. Lots of good things about those but they are, well, out of town.
In or near the Old City area, affordable options are mostly condominium units in older buildings, or a unit in a typical townhouse block. This topic will be about the latter, something like this. (Or actually exactly this. ) :
As you can see there isn't actually a front or even a front door.. Just a shophouse/garage metal shutter. Literally the only thing going for it is the location, it's a 4 minute walk to the Old City. (And in a very interesting area generally.)
As you might imagine, it's not much to look at inside, and it's SMALL.
There is just one bathroom. This is it.
And the kitchen.. not really Western Style.
Upstairs we have two bedrooms. This one in front:
And this one at the back:
The front one has a small balcony, overlooking the dead-end soi. (Which is good, I realized from another place. It really sucks when you have motorbikes and tuktuks going way too fast right past your front door all the time.)
But we have a plan!
First draft of the downstairs area.
And upstairs. Can you make sense of it?
To Be Continued.