Living Out Here

Where you would be

Baanpong Lodge is in the San Kamphaeng / Mae On area, about 25–30 km east of the old city. Chiang Mai International Airport is roughly 20–25 minutes away; the old city is 30–45 minutes depending on traffic.

That distance is the whole proposition. You get countryside, clean air and quiet, and the city is still an easy trip when you want a hospital, a market or a decent bookshop.

The three seasons, honestly

Cool and dry, November to February

The season everyone means when they talk about Chiang Mai. Daytime highs around 27–30°C, nights down to 15–18°C, low humidity and almost no rain. Mornings need a light jacket and the afternoons do not. It is the best time to walk the trails, play golf, or take the lanes slowly on two wheels.

Hot, March to May

No point pretending otherwise: highs of 34–37°C, April the worst of it, nights staying at 23–25°C. The bigger issue is the haze — agricultural burning in the valleys pushes smoke around from March to mid-April, and air quality in the city can get genuinely poor.

Out here it is more bearable than in town, and the pattern of the day changes: you do things early, you do things late, and in the middle you are in the pool or under a fan.

Green and wet, June to October

Most people hear "monsoon" and book elsewhere, which is a mistake for a long stay. Highs sit at 30–32°C, the rain usually arrives as short heavy afternoon bursts and is gone by evening, and the mornings are bright and washed clean. Humidity is high, around 80%. The countryside goes emerald and the waterfalls actually run.

It is also the cheapest and quietest time to be here.

Getting around without owning a car

You do not need your own vehicle, but you do need a plan.

• From the airport. We can arrange a private transfer in advance — met at arrivals, bags carried, air-conditioned car, roughly 800–1,200 THB depending on the vehicle. Grab usually runs 400–700 THB; an official airport taxi out to this area is about 600–900 THB. Avoid the touts outside the terminal.
• Into the city. Grab or Bolt to Tha Phae Gate or the Night Bazaar is typically 450–650 THB one way, air-conditioned, with the price agreed up front.
• Around here. A motorcycle is the normal way to cover the 10–20 minute trips to the hot springs, the reservoirs and Bo Sang, and we can arrange a rental for you.

Medical care

This is one of the real reasons people settle in Chiang Mai rather than somewhere cheaper. The city has private hospitals used to treating foreign patients — Chiangmai Ram Hospital and Bangkok Hospital Chiang Mai chief among them — with English-speaking staff and costs far below the equivalent in Europe, North America or Australia.

From here you are 30–45 minutes from either. That is worth thinking about honestly before committing to a rural base: close enough for planned care and for most emergencies, but it is not around the corner.

What it costs

Accommodation is the biggest line and the one where the countryside wins hardest. Food is cheap if you eat the way people here eat, and transport barely registers if you are not running a car.

The Stone Cottage is the one most long-stay guests end up in: 80 square metres, its own kitchen and pantry, a desk, fast Wi-Fi, and the restaurant 500 metres away for the nights you cannot be bothered to cook.

Markets and shopping

Warorot Market (Kad Luang) is the proper daytime market, the Night Bazaar and the Sunday Walking Street are the evening ones, and Chiang Mai's tailors will still make you a suit to measure for a fraction of what it costs at home. Closer to hand, our own district is the handicraft one — Bo Sang for the umbrellas and San Kamphaeng for silk and ceramics.

Buying land or building

A number of long-stay guests end up looking at property around here. Foreigners cannot hold land freehold in Thailand in their own name, and the structures that get used instead — leases, companies, Thai spouses — each carry real consequences. Northern soil and climate also make demands on a build that are not obvious from a brochure.

We are a lodge, not a law firm, and we will not pretend otherwise. What we can do is give you somewhere comfortable to be based while you take your time about it, and point you at the people we know locally.

Try it before you commit

The sensible way to find out whether living in the Chiang Mai countryside suits you is to come and do it for a few weeks, in the season you are least sure about. Book a month in April or in August rather than in January, and you will learn something a brochure cannot tell you.