A Room With a View

October 4th -

Miracle of miracles, I had an empty seat next to me for the long stretch from LA to Tokyo.  It made the trip just a little bit more bearable.  After the marathon day of flying, I arrived back in Thailand near midnight.  Less than twenty-four hours later, Tim was on his way to India for a two-week stay.  I'm afraid we didn't plan that very well.

But I think it turned out to be a good thing, since I promptly fell ill the day after he left.  I probably picked up some cooties on the plane, and it really knocked me out; so I would have been no good for anyone around me.  With my sleep schedule all out of whack and the stuffy, scratchy, achy "creeping crud," as my grandma would call it, I was definitely AWOL.  I finally went out to buy food, but then slept the rest of the day.

By the end of the week, I was up to go look at some potential condos for us.  Our lease here is ending at the end of November, and while it is in many ways an idyllic spot, the surrounding area has very little to offer.  We first toyed with the idea of moving when we learned another condo in our building was just finishing a complete makeover and would be available.  We took a look and really liked what we saw - beautiful teak wood floors, all new kitchen appliances and bathroom fixtures.  They had added a new master bedroom on the gulf side of the building.  With the same square footage as our place, this third bedroom shrunk the living area and kitchen somewhat, but it was still an attractive option.

We thought it wouldn't hurt to look at some other locations, once we decided we might like to try something new.  The construction across the road from us seems like it will be continuing for quite some time, and the lot next door to us is showing some pre-building activity.  We contacted the relocation company that helped us with our initial search, and they lined up a few new places to look.  I was interested in looking specifically in the south end of the city, where many of the best restaurants are located.  Many times when we wanted to go to dinner, we would have to battle the middle-of-the-city traffic to get there.  And our driver lives south of the city, so it would make an easier commute for him as well.

The first place we saw, Royal Cliff, is a group of four buildings on Pratumnak Hill.  This hill used to be the site of one of the royal residences until the 1970s.  The grounds are beautiful, and the location is quite nice - a park across the street, the gulf out one side, and the Sheraton next door.  The units here are nearly twice the size of our current place, with a third room that would be great for an office for Tim.  The inside is not nearly as fancy as ours, but they do have beautiful parquet wood floors and big door walls on either side to allow for a nice cross breeze.  The view of the water is not as beautiful as our current one, with some obstruction, but a nice view of the islands.  A fitness room, squash court and sauna are a few of the amenities we don't currently have.

The second place, Reflection, was further south in Jomtien, and really not to my liking.  Quite modern, with tile floors throughout, and about the same size as our current place.  Also not excited about living twenty-three stories up.

The last place, Golden Sandy Beach, was even further south.  I did like the interior - the bigger kitchen and master bedroom overlooking the gulf, but the fixtures were quite dated, and the surrounding area didn't offer anything more than what we have.  It did have a beautiful view of the gulf, but really felt more like a hotel than a residence - very busy and noisy.

I would have to try to remember as many details as possible to share with Tim when he got back.  Really torn about which way to go, but excited about the possibilities.  Stay tuned...