In need of help with distances between areas...

[justus]

Hello,

We are possibly moving to Bangkok within the next few months and I have been researching housing extensively. What I am not sure about are the distances between these places and if it is reasonable to live in some areas considering international school and work location.

1. My daughter will most likely attend ISB.
2. My husband will work on wireless road at the Intel/Microsoft buildings
3. We would like to live in the suburbs in either Nichada or Bangna

Is it reasonable to do all 3? If not, are there other nice housing compound areas we should consider? Also, about how long would the commute be from the housing areas to Wireless Rd?

TIA!

[oddball]

There are some good maps available on the internet you can print off and work your problem over quite easily , i pieced them together and found that a good help when i first went to BKK . Taxis are very reasonable in cost but many do not speak or understand English well , nor can they read a map , i have a phone number somewhere for a lady driver which i will try to locate for you . Biggest problem with Bangkok ???? It becomes an instant car-park several times a day , at those times it pays to use a motor-cycle taxi should you be in a hurry . Hope this helps a little . Colin

[synthia]

If your husband's employer has brought other expats to Bangkok, ask if you can speak to someone they have relocated, someone who will be working in the same area, perhaps with a student in the same school.

[justus]

Thank you for the help. I would like to speak to some other recent expats to see how they went about searching.

[akshah]

My family and I lived in Thailand from 04 to 06. 2 of our kids went to ISB and I worked in Bang-na. We lived in Nichada and, if you have kids at ISB, I strongly feel this is the best choice unless you want to significantly to decrease the quality of life for your kids...the commute time from Central Bangkok or Bangna could range from 25 minutes (best case early morning from Central BKK) to 2 hours (if they get stuck in traffic, especially during a rainstorm, from either Bang-na or Central BKK), so after school activities and socialization will be limited as would be time available for things like doing homework and spending time with the family. The commute from Nichada to Wireless Road in the morning by car would average 45 min (but is very hard to predict and could be a 10-15 minutes faster or much, much longer depending on rain, construction, and traffic accidents) -- another option would be to travel part way by taxi to a train station (at Mo Chit or Sanam Pao) and hop on to a skytrain that could get you withing walking distance or motorcycle taxi of the final destination -- sounds complicated, but it will save time during bad traffic days and in BKK, it pays to know what your alternatives are.

By the way, the Patana school in Bang-na is great, however it is on the British system while ISB, another great school, is on the American system. Depending on where you are moving from (I am assuming US), picking the right system will allow for a better transition to and from Thailand for your kids.

I lived in Nichada and worked in Bang-na as it was better for me to have a longer commute if it meant no commute at all for the kids and peace of mind for my wife. We may be moving back to Thailand later this year and, if so, would make the same decisions on housing and school regardless of my where my work location is. A significant minority of ISB parents chose to live in Central Bangkok, but I would say that most of them were non-US citizens. Most Americans with kids at ISB, choose to live in Nichada or just outside its perimeter.

Have a great time in Thailand...once you adjust to it, it will be a great experience for the whole family.

[synthia]

Welcome to the expat forum, akshah, and thank you for the great information.

[aarontcp]

There is an English-language map of Thailand at a site called longdo [dot] com (apparently I can't post URLs until I've made 20 or more posts ^^)

I know that Google Maps also has one, but it is only in Thai...