A Singaporean's guide to living in Thailand

[AhMeng]

It's bloody Isaan NE Thailand la

just snap lah... essan must have nice place and food too mah...never been there b4... so dunno... but i know a guy who went there to volunteer as a doctor and end up settling there...never seen him again...

 

[johnny333]

Thanks Joetys. Thinking of traveling to bangkok with family next week but haven't booked tickets and hotel. Not decided where to go. How far is Khao yai from bangkok.? Ticket from sin to bangkok is exp now, almost $400 plus..

Bros here can recommend nice but not too exp hotels in bangkok?tks

Would help if you provided more info e.g. what is your hotel budget per night, how many are in your family, how long do you want to stay. Is this your 1st visit to Bangkok?...

 

[Froggy]

In Thailand there are a few major roads or highways that connects the country. Simply name you 4:

Highway 1 is Paholyothin Road that starts at downtown Bangkok and ends nort after Chiangrai bordering Myanmar
Highway 2 is Mittraphap Road that starts at Sarabiri and ends in Nong Khai the most northern part of Isaan bordering Laos
Highway 3 is the famous Sukhumvit Road starting from downtown Bangkok ending at Chantaburi bordering Cambodia
Highway 4 is Phetkasem Road that starts at south western part of Bangkok and ends up after Hatyai in the south bordering Malaysia

Took HW2 to Nong Khai from Khon Karen this morning driving about 160km or 2hrs passing through Udonthani. Ending at the Mekong river.

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

wongwian yai railway station

 

[AhMeng]

In Thailand there are a few major roads or highways that connects the country. Simply name you 4:

Highway 1 is Paholyothin Road that starts at downtown Bangkok and ends nort after Chiangrai bordering Myanmar
Highway 2 is Mittraphap Road that starts at Sarabiri and ends in Nong Khai the most northern part of Isaan bordering Laos
Highway 3 is the famous Sukhumvit Road starting from downtown Bangkok ending at Chantaburi bordering Cambodia
Highway 4 is Phetkasem Road that starts at south western part of Bangkok and ends up after Hatyai in the south bordering Malaysia

Took HW2 to Nong Khai from Khon Karen this morning driving about 160km or 2hrs passing through Udonthani. Ending at the Mekong river.

Kena budget cut ah...why stay in guest house? hehehe

 

[Froggy]

 

[AhMeng]

what are those 2 guys doing in the river Mekong? fishing?

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

A few thai style structures

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

 

[Froggy]

Kena budget cut ah...why stay in guest house? hehehe

Along the river are many guest houses and budget hotels, the restaurant I came for lunch incidently operates a guest house upstairs

what are those 2 guys doing in the river Mekong? fishing?

Could be smuggling cross border no idea

 

[Froggy]

Since it's the Mekong River obviously lunch will be full of fresh water fishes. I am no fan of any fresh water fish but wanna try their local delicacies. So here it goes

The restaurant




Sangua thod samongpai - this is a very fat and ugly fish now in season


Pla kang patcha - delicious with the sweet and sour sauce


Pla kang luat - same fish as above but plain boiled


Pla nuea on - very very soft and sweet meat


Pla beuk tomyam - Pla beuk is another type of catfish ugly looking fella and gigantic, one of the best tomyam I'm eaten


Most have heard of laab moo, laab gai, laab ped, this is laab pla shiok


This is from a famous restaurant next door, Vietnamese


Fruit salad

 

[ctsbh]

Since it's the Mekong River obviously lunch will be full of fresh water fishes. I am no fan of any fresh water fish but wanna try their local delicacies. So here it goes

The restaurant




Sangua thod samongpai - this is a very fat and ugly fish now in season


Pla kang patcha - delicious with the sweet and sour sauce


Pla kang luat - same fish as above but plain boiled


Pla nuea on - very very soft and sweet meat



Very nice, thks for sharing.

 

[AhMeng]

Kup por.. the Laab Pla looks damn shiok...yummy yummy...

 

[Pillow]

Would help if you provided more info e.g. what is your hotel budget per night, how many are in your family, how long do you want to stay. Is this your 1st visit to Bangkok?...

Thanks bro Johnny.

I will be traveling with family of 3... Usually by star Virgo cruise but these 2 years, not been to bangkok. Just checked round tickets is around $400 for jerstar, . That's expensive but suppose this is the peak season..haven't check hotel yet...

Like to check if normally all my posting will go through moderator first...so when posted, there will be time lapse liao...

 

[Froggy]

Narrow streets of Nong Khai - its a small province and the provincial city is more like a small town


Another guest house


Tricycle


Also have a tiny walking street


Don't see this in Bangkok

 

[Froggy]

In Bangkok, due to the traffic middle income people may choose to live closer to the working place which is why many new condominiums had sprung up these past few years especially along the MRT or BTS lines. However for those who don't mind the traffic or when it does not affect them they may choose to live in townhouses which is equivalent to our terrace houses or single houses in a cluster housing project. Past 10 years saw a boom in this and the condo sector.

A typical cluster housing project consists of a big plot of land with standard designed houses, one may choose from like 6 or more different designs depending on the size, quality, number of rooms and of course affordability. Also the land allocated to a house may differ in size. The cluster housing project will also have a common club house with gym and swimming pool and other facility not unlike our condo projects.

Just to give you an idea this is a typical housing project not in Bangkok but in Khon Kaen city about 500km away from Bangkok however the idea is similar. I've been here two nights and will stay for another night.

[video=youtube;HRP4TZXUnCY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRP4TZXUnCY[/video]
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[Froggy]

So let's talk about a typical single house in Thailand within a cluster housing project. Thais call each project a mubaan or moobaan which means basically village. Many of these villages are named after flowers and trees by the developers.

Depending on the developers, some are high end but most are average ones. An average house price ranges from 4 million to 10 million in Bangkok, upcountry is cheaper obviously. Of course you can have a project with houses selling for 20 million to 120 million baht these are the really high end ones where not two houses are similar and buyers have the choice on the material etc etc.

So a typical house 4-10 mil in Bangkok, will come with with at least 3 bedrooms on two floors. Land where these houses sit on ranges from 60 square wa to say 90 sq wa, multiply by 4 you'll arrive at 240 sqm to 360 sqm for the land. Interior floor area should start from 170 sqm to around 300 sqm for this price range.

As I mentioned in the upcountry it is cheaper, an example is this, land is 80 sq wa 320 sqm and build-in 220 sqm which costs 5.5 mil baht or $220k. In Bangkok this will easily cost double at 8 million baht or $320k still very cheap at Singapore standard. However in Bangkok it is not easy to find a house with this size of land normally 70 sq wa (280 sqm).

by the way its freehold

[video=youtube;ZUptQPq-kqo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUptQPq-kqo[/video]
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[Froggy]

Morning breakfast at Khon Kaen's most popular breakfast coffeeshop serving our equivalent of pig organ soup, Aim-Od coffeeshop. This coffeeshop is also serve a popular breakfast dish known as khai-katak or egg on pan. The pig organ soup is known as tom-lerd-moo literally boiled-blood-pig.

Aim-Od coffee shop - very busy shop


The lady preparing the tom-lerd-moo


As I don't take organs mine is simply sliced pork and minced pork balls


This is the khai-katak


Street hawkers selling their goods in front of the coffeeshop




Saw a nice shop selling handicraft

 

[AhMeng]

The porky balls and pork slice with clear soup ... looks shiok shiok...yummylicious..

 

[Froggy]

The porky balls and pork slice with clear soup ... looks shiok shiok...yummylicious..

I actually had 2 bowls of it. Unlike Singapore's version which is sour with giam-chye the Thai version does not contain giam-chye but still taste very good as I believe they prepare the pork stock for a long time.