Condo Dreaming

[Buadhai]

I live in Korat. It's far from the beach. Diving requires a lot of advanced planning. This is especially tough for a guy who lived most of his adult life on Saipan where diving meant throwing a couple of tanks in the back of the truck and heading out; no boat required.

Now that my wife has finished law school and doesn't need to study 24/7 we're in a position to take more time off. I'd love to have a small, dive-convenient condo to which we could escape once a month or so and from which I could do spur-of-the-moment dives now and then.

Any thoughts from those of you who live and/or work in scuba zones?

 

[limbo]

For convenience and price, Pattaya should be a clear winner. Hardeep is almost always a good dive and there's other wrecks out there, like Kut and Khram.

Alternatively you're looking at Phuket, which would require flights. To me that would be the two best options from where you're located.

 

[Buadhai]

You're right. The two easiest places, travel-wise, are Chonburi and Phuket. Pattaya is five or six hours by car or bus, Phuket is about six hours by bus and air.

 

[Bowmouth]

Phuket is currently "enjoying" a building-boom of condominiums with starting prices as low as 790.000 Baht per unit. Depending on the size of your wallet, you could consider buying a cheap condo in Pattaya AND Phuket....

 

[Buadhai]

555! There's an idea! I think one will be enough. I can spend a bit more than that and was hoping for something either close to the beach or with a nice view.

To be honest, I haven't looked around much. I'm trying to whittle down locations before I get into too much detail.

Oddly, only of my favorite beach areas is that stretch just south of Cha Am, in the vicinity of The Regent, which is now, I think, a Holiday Inn. Of course, no diving anywhere near that area.

 

[Bowmouth]

555! There's an idea! I think one will be enough. I can spend a bit more than that and was hoping for something either close to the beach or with a nice view.

To be honest, I haven't looked around much. I'm trying to whittle down locations before I get into too much detail.

Oddly, only of my favorite beach areas is that stretch just south of Cha Am, in the vicinity of The Regent, which is now, I think, a Holiday Inn. Of course, no diving anywhere near that area.

I lived in Hua Hin / Cha-Am for about 6 months in 1991 and loved it. I moved to Chumpon and later Krabi and visited Hua Hin a few times up to 1996 or so and enjoyed each and every visit. Last December I took my family on a trip and stayed for 3 days in Hua Hin and was horrified by the amount of "development" that has been going on and completely and utterly had changed this once lovely beach resort. The railway station is still very nice and the night-market is quite good too but sadly I don't think I will be going back anytime soon....

 

[Buadhai]

I agree that Hua Hin isn't what it was. I first stayed there in 1991 when a friend and I were waiting on the Lao embassy for visas. (It took a lot longer then.) That same friend bought a condo about 20K north of Hua Hin right after the crash of 1997. Great place. Still lovely, without the overdevelopment and madness of Hua Hin. In fact, if it weren't for the lack of diving opportunities that's the place I'd buy. Of course, he paid less than two million back then. The same places (two bedroom) are going for five or six million now.

Another place I'm looking at is Ban Krut, about half way between Prachuap and Chumphon. Supposedly dive-able, but I've yet to actually see any first person reports.