#mint house

[With Nui & Thai, the warm and friendly staff of Mint House]

Not to sound too new age-y or self-help-y, but sometimes, failed attempts at getting to a certain point really can be what bring you to better things, things that you really need instead.

First Time Dorming

Since the dorm wasn't co-ed, I decided it would be safe enough, and while there were no lockers for belongings, I did have a lock for my bag (which I always secured upon leaving). I would also later find out that my roommates didn't really care much for my stuff, and we can be overly paranoid about these things (but better to be overly paranoid than otherwise). But I think people really opt not to touch other people's stuff out of respect and desire for their own stuff not to be touched either (rules of karma at work).

I forgot to take a picture of the room before leaving :| Suffice it to stay that it was a very basic room, but clean, with decent mattresses and pillows. And the dorm's shared bathroom was really clean too. (And they provide 1 roll of toilet paper every day - the little things matter)

Living Cheaply in Chiang Mai

Saw the above photo? Yep, those are the prices for Mint House's rooms, and as you now know, I chose the cheapest one. FYI, it's 30THB to $1 and 1THB to 1.33PHP. So, my 100THB room can be converted to $3.33 or 133PHP. Because I stayed about a week, I was even able to haggle it down to 90THB. :D

They also provide hot and cold drinking water (which 1.5L of costs 13THB at 7-11), and a common fridge you can keep stuff in.

About a minute away from Mint House, you can also score unbelievably cheap vegetarian meals from here:

How cheap? 20THB - 1 viand + 1 rice ~ yep, that's $0.66 or 26PHP 25THB - 2 viands + 1 rice ~ WTF

If you want to "splurge", you can also get a 50THB breakfast across the above cheap-ass Chinese resto.

Productivity-conducive workspace

They didn't pay me for this post, but I could really picture myself staying there a while especially for my airy and green rooftop workspace...

...where I also opted to do cost-free yoga instead with my Made for Movement yoga travel mat (because I was usually the only one maximizing the rooftop - I found this hard to believe, but appreciated the fact).

I also met a few people there, who I sadly didn't get to talk to until the latter part of my stay.

[My Chinese roommate April]

[Neil, Nui's english tutor :)]

So yeah, great price, clean rooms and facilities, hospitable staff (unlike the unpleasant woman at my previous Chiang Mai guesthouse), free water, tour/bus arrangements (they took care of booking my trip to Pai), awesome workspace, proximity to cheap eateries and other "places to go"...and a really soft and fluffy house cat, Latte. There's absolutely no way you could go wrong here.

When I pay Chiang Mai another visit, Mint House will be my obvious choice for accommodations. And I hope to be witness to Nui's improved english by then. :)

Missing the people at Mint House, Jen

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