Have you rented a condo in Bangkok? Was it a good or bad experience?

I've done the 7k to 12k thing twice and honestly the biggest issue isn't the room, it's the noise and the neighbors. First spot was a walk-up near Lat Phrao MRT, 9k, looked fine in photos but sat right next to a karaoke bar that cranked up til 2am every night. second one off Bang Chak BTS for 11k was way better, quiet soi, but the building had a cockroach thing in the wet season that nobody warned me about.

on the deposit from abroad, just don't. book 5 nights somewhere cheap like a guesthouse on Sukhumvit Soi 22 area for around 600 to 900 a night and spend 2 or 3 days walking the sois near whichever BTS stop you like. the agents on renthub will show you stuff same day, often within an hour, and you can smell the room, check the water pressure, see if teh security guy is a jerk. that price range has so much vacancy you can negotiate the deposit down to 1 month sometimes if you pay a bit more upfront.

one thing nobody mentions, ask about the common area fee and whether electric is billed at government rate or a markup. some places charge 7 or 8 baht per unit instead of the real 4ish and that adds up fast with AC running all night.

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7k to 12k is doable but you're basically looking at older walk-ups or far-flung BTS stops, not the modern studios near malls that you see on renthub. i rented a studio off On Nut, about 900m down Soi 44, for 8500 a month, and the catch was no lift and the juristic office wanted 2 months deposit plus 1 advance. the deposit-from-abroad thing is the real trap though, i'd never send money sight unseen here. book a cheap hotel or hostel for your first week and go look in person, that price range has tons of vacant rooms so you have leverage, just walk into the office and ask.

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Something nobody's touched yet: the agent. In that 7k to 12k range, most of the renthub listings you see are posted by agents, not owners, and the agent fee is usually one month's rent, which is a big chunk when you're on a budget. You can filter for "owner post" listings or just walk into the juristic office of a building you like directly, they'll often show you vacant units themselves and skip the middleman entirely. I found my place off Phra Khanong that way, saved the agent fee, and the office manager was the same person I dealt with for every repair the whole year.

On the deposit from abroad, one more angle: even if you find an owner willing to hold a room, ask for a video call walkthrough where they show the room live, not a video file. A file can be old. Live, you can ask them to pan to the bathroom, run the tap, show the meter. If they refuse, that tells you plenty.

Also worth knowing, the BTS and MRT proximity claim on listings is often generous. "Near BTS" can mean a 20 minute walk or a motorbike taxi ride. Use Google Maps street view to check the actual soi before you commit, or just do what I did and stay somewhere central for a week and test the walk yourself at rush hour.

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Krua Dok Mai Kao is solid but I've always found their som tam a bit tame on the pla ra. If you want the real funky version, try the shophouse spots along Soi Udomsuk 26, near the night market end. They pound it fresh with fermented fish that'll clear your sinuses, and it's like 60 baht. Different style from the On Nut places, more Lao-leaning.

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for som tam specifically i'd say the Isaan spots in Chatuchak are underrated, weekdays only though since the weekend crowd ruins the vibe. there's a stall near gate 2 that does tam pa with fermented bamboo shoots, super sour and funky, not something you see much in On Nut. if you're already heading north for Or Tor Kor anyway its worth the detour.

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honestly the som tam at Krua Dok Mai Kao is good but what got me hooked is their nam prik pla raa dip with the raw veggies, that funk hits way harder than the papaya does. think most people sleep on it cuz they just order the som tam and gai yang. also pro tip, go before noon on weekdays, after that teh pla ra gets milder cuz they batch it for the lunch rush

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