Where to Live Cheaply in Bangkok for Dating Thai Girls | Supalai Park

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I recently lived at Supalai Park condo on Phahon Yothin Soi 21. In the Ladprao area of Bangkok, it’s a good place for a digital nomad to live if you:

  • Prefer normal girls with jobs / university girls / mostly use online dating for free hookups
  • Don’t need to be that close to hooker bars / nightclubs
  • Mostly stay in and work online and do the digital nomad thing
  • Are interested in sports, gym, healthy living etc.

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The condo is right at the entrance of the soi

Location

On Phahon Yothin Soi 21, it’s 1km from the MRT station. From there the 8 stops to Sukhumvit takes 30 mins. A taxi home from Sukhumvit late at night without traffic costs 100 Baht, a little over 10km.

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Car park and walkway

So while it’s not crazy from the farang red light districts you might not like it if you want to hit up Nana or Cowboy several times a week. Some bargirls will complain ‘far’ when they hear Ladprao. There is the Thai Gogo scene nearby though in Saphan Khwai.

If you’re going to places like RCA or Khao San to hit on normal girls it’s a lot better located for that. It’s close to JJ Green too where tons of local Thai girls hang out (Chatuchak Park weekend market bars).

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Ground floor swimming pool

Prices

Studios are 8,500-11,000 Baht depending on how nice the furnishings are. I paid 8,500 ($240) the first year, then 10,000 in a different room the next year. Both were 44 sqm on the 26th floor. So ~$300 after bills.

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My first room, 8500 Baht

One, two and three bedroom units are also available for around 14k – 27k ($400 – $760).

Some rooms can be rented for 1-6 months at a higher price, it’s rarer though, and usually the 60 sqm one bedrooms – for example 18k for one month. Most studio unit owners want a one year lease. Units sell for around 2 million Baht.

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A Thaifriendly date

There are English speaking agents downstairs who can show you all the available rooms and tell you if you any do short term contracts. And there’s another Thai agent running a Facebook page, he speaks less English but posts lots of pics of room and prices.

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My second room, 10000 Baht

Or check the Prakard subforum for Supalai, with Google translate.

Facilities

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Power rack, leg press, cardio machines

The best thing about Supalai Park is the 11th floor sports centre, which includes:

  • Gym with squat rack, bench press, free weights up to 50lb, leg press, pull up bar, yoga classes
  • Tennis & Squash courts
  • Sauna
  • Pool
  • Running track / Punching bag

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Row machine and curl bar by the yoga room

The gym/pool is 30 Baht a time to use for residents and open to the public at a higher membership fee. They’re mostly empty though, especially on weekday afternoons, so I pretty much had the place to myself while people were at work.

There’s also a go-karting race track across the road. Good for a date.

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View of the pool from first room

Dating Thai Girls

Supalai Park condo is walking distance to three major malls all with cinemas – Central Ladprao, Union Mall, and The Avenue Ratchayothin. Tons of Thai girls flock to the area for cheap clothes shopping. Lots of buffet places, international restaurants etc. to take a date to.

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View of the tennis courts from second room

It’s also near Kasetsart university, and fairly close to others like Thammasat / Ramkamhaeng / Rangsit so you’ll see a lot of students.

Most of the farang that live around this area tend to be English teachers or other long-term expats. Not many tourists or sexpats (especially now I moved out).

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Korean buffet with a ThaiCupid date

Food / Supermarkets

There are 3 restaurants in the complex – one at the base at each of the three towers – that deliver healthy Thai food to your door for no charge, and 2-3 more on the main road by the 7/11.

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Rooms have a small kitchenette

There’s a Tesco Lotus nearby and a Villa Market by Major Ratchayothin. Central Ladprao has a Topsmarket.

It’s a 50 Baht cab ride to Huay Khwang night market for a soapy massage and Issan food.

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The running / cycling track and punchbag

Internet

The building is set up for True internet, you take your passport to the True shop at Central Ladprao, fill in the forms then a technician comes over to install your private wifi line. $25/month for a 20Mbps connection.

Mobile 3G works fine, as with anywhere in central Bangkok.

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Squash courts

Downsides

Ratchada road has heavy traffic during rush hour, if you work online at home and wake up mid-afternoon that’s not a problem though. The 15 min walk to the MRT can get a bit annoying. Bike taxis are 25 Baht.

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There’s a massage place in the building too

The building is over 10 years old and some rooms will be a bit rundown, some cracks in the paintwork, etc. It’s not as ‘hiso’ as more modern complexes in say, Thong Lo, or the nearby M Ladprao. I got lucky to find a room with nice furnishings.

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A less nicely furnished room

As said if you are going out clubbing at places like Insanity, Climax, Shock 39, etc. it might take a few taxis before one agrees to take you home, and girls might moan ‘glai maak maak’.

good-times

I really liked Supalai especially for the gym, room service food and having girls come over. $300/month condos like this are one of the best things about living in Thailand. In the Philippines a similar apartment would be around 50% more and less square metres.

At the moment I don’t see any listing for daily rentals on Airbnb but you can check there for other Bangkok apartments short term. There are some for Supalai Cute, a similar condo.

Sign up via this blog for $35 off your first booking. Once you join try a Google search site:airbnb.com supalai park phahon yothin 21.

16 Responses

  1. Rum and Coke Man says:

    What were you spending/month in budget for everything including dates back when you lived in those condos?

  2. jspill says:

    I think I average about $2000/month

  3. southernallstars says:

    nice write-up with photos, I personally would like to be closer to the bts, the gym is an absolute gem, though…

    • jspill says:

      Yeah that’d be nice. Mo Chit is the nearest BTS, 2km away, there are bike taxis right outside Supalai for 45 baht. Not great but doable.

  4. Rum and Coke Man says:

    Does the money come fairly easy as a online Entreprenuer/freelancer or is it rough to be location independent? How many hours/week do you have to work to get paid usually?

    • jspill says:

      Depends. The owner of Thaifriendly lives in Bangkok too. It’s a western entrepeneur that set up the site, he’s doing well for himself. And the guy behind Nichehacks, a site about working online, also lives in BKK. It’s a very popular spot (along with Chiang Mai) because rent is so cheap. The idea is to work less hours than a 9 to 5, but people are usually working on something they enjoy, so it doesn’t feel like work.

  5. Rum and Coke Man says:

    Man I bet the Thaifriendly guy has made some sizeable profits. I hear you-creating something cool that you love has got to be way better than grinding for some bs corporation to make them rich.

  6. abcdef says:

    Nice report!The healthy food that is delivered…whats the portions and price like?I was in the philippines for 4 months and almost starved to death.I gave up at the end and ate mcdonalds every day…

  7. Brockstar says:

    I live by Bang Wa and can live off 13,000 (rent, utilities, rabbit card, gym and food) and set aside another 20,000 for entertainment (booze, pussy, movies). I prefer mongering, so I just get a cheap charlie room on soi 4 and do that on Friday nights….unless I go to Pattaya. I don’t really prefer to live out here, but I can walk to work and to the bts station so it’s not that much of a nightmare.

    Bangkok really is a cheap place to live if you live outside of the farang hubs that are Sukhumvit and Silom.

  8. kick2dante says:

    ya for a capital city bangkok really is great value, freelancers charge to much imo but cheap rent negates that

  9. Skins says:

    Nice place. The gym is key. How’s the visa situation now? Still easy enough to stay one year or more by just doing the visa runs?

    • jspill says:

      Yeah Laos has streamlined their system where you just drop off and pick up same day, less queueing, and everyone’s getting approved, even with huge overstays. But it hasn’t been 9 months since that rule change yet so not sure if there’s a limit on 3 in a row or whatever.

      I’ve done 2 visa exemptions this year that were extended, so 4 months worth. I use an agent in BKK to do the extension, saves you going to Chaeng Wattana and getting funny looks. From what I hear you can do 6 months stay on visa exemptions per year.

      My plan is to do 1 more to take me up to 6 months. Cebu Pacific has cheap flights to Manila at the moment so I’ll head back there for a couple weeks, then Jakarta.

      Then after that do 3 visits to Laos. Should be good for 15 months then reassess. But I think it’s fine if you start using the other consulate in Laos instead to mix it up, or do 2 week stays in random countries. With a few visits to Cambodia and their full page visas my passport will be almost full at that point. Get a new one and start again from the beginning.

  10. kick2dante says:

    oh don’t stop yet jspill i was just about to cum………. please go on!

    • jspill says:

      Good job visas are easy in the Phils cos it’d take 30 mins to book a flight on 1.5mbps wifi that keeps cutting out then the whole street has a brownout when you finally get to the payment page

  11. -Cam says:

    Seems pretty great. The only problem is the distance from the BTS/MRT. I guess it would matter that much though because I probably wouldn’t be going to Nana everyday if I lived there long-term. Nice review!

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