Home Sweet Home

Finally, got around to taking some pictures of our new place.

Here's a brief tour.

This is the small street where our building is located. It's lined with Thai vendors who have all the local delicacies and cheap eats. There is also a Starbucks, Subway, and Western restaurant called Charlie Browns for the times when rice just doesn't cut it anymore.

This is the other side of the street where there are some more serviced apartments and an international school. I took this picture because unlike the rest of Bangkok, this sidewalk is in good repair and two people can actually walk side by side instead of single file while dodging open sewage holes.

Here's our building. I'm standing at the first guard gate. There's another guard post just ahead that takes a photo of your car as you enter.

Here's the view from the front of the building looking back. All those other buildings are condos or serviced apartments, so the area has a fairly residential feel.

This is the lobby entrance.

and just to the left is the Nara Cuisine restaurant where we get our breakfast.

Here's our place. This is taken from the door.

This is taken from the balcony-side of the living room. On the right is the front door, then the kitchen and the guest bathroom to the far left.

Gotta love the fact that you can still watch tv while in the bathroom.

This was taken from inside the kitchen looking into the living room.

No oven, but a nice stove and microwave.

Here's the other side of the kitchen. Around the corner and to the left is a pantry, and then, a door out to the laundry room (open area) where you can hang clothes to dry or use it as storage.

Here's the guest bathroom.

and guest bedroom.

Master bathroom.

and finally, the master bedroom.

The front wall of the master bedroom is all glass and looks out over Eastern Bangkok - unfortunately, it's a great view, but of Bangkok's least attractive district.

The room is all nice, but the big attraction for me were the facilities. Along with daily breakfast, daily made, complete furnishings (including towels, linens, and kitchenware) free Internet, free cable , and free utilities (not really free, but included in the the monthly fee), there's are also...

Two pools.

This is the big one that is shared with the neighboring condominium.

The fish water fountains are a nice touch.

This is the 2nd pool, which is only for residents of my apartment. It's partly covered for all the Asians that value light skin opposed to a healthy tan.

This is where I usually spend a couple hours each weekend. Because the area is surrounded by 20+ story buildings, there's only a 3 hour stretch in the late morning when you can catch direct sunlight.

Here's the fitness center

which I've used for exactly 60 minutes over the past month.

There's also a sauna and steam room. The best part of all is the apartment provides towels and lockers for swims or workouts.

Here are the tennis courts.

and a resident's lounge that serves coffee and has two full-body massage chairs.

Throughout the building are little gardens where you can rest outside and enjoy some fresh air - as long as you don't mind a full-body sweat.

There's also a roof top garden with picnic tables, where you can have parties or have lunch.

Southern view from the rooftop garden

Eastern View. You can just make out the river in the background. That patch of green on the far side of the river is where Aunt Linda, Uncle Doug, and I took our bike tour.

Finally, the Northwestern View - where most of downtown is.

To finish off the tour, here's a short video. Enjoy.