The Living Place

Before I left Chiang Mai on Saturday evening, I went to see 2 Guns with my friend. This isn't a review but you should check it out if you like Buddy Cop movies.

Instead I'll be reviewing the guesthouse I crashed at ages ago: The Living Place.

I really loved this guest house.The atmosphere was amazing; both owners are abstract artists and their work is all over the place. I spaced out looking at at some for about half an hour. One of the owners also does sketches of certain guests too. Apparently he'll go out some nights and grab some extra cash doing this to fill the beer fridge and it takes him a 10-15 minutes to complete one.

Sleeping

The living place has dorms as well as tents set up inside. The dorms fit 4-6 and the tents are all one-person, if you're under 5"10', comfortably. You also get your own fan that shoots cool air right at you. I slept in a tent each night. It's like having your own room and privacy is something I always appreciate especially after a 17-hour train ride. 

Lounge

On the main floor there're are plenty of floor seats with pillows you can nap on or patiently wait for a cabbie to pick you up for any kind of adventure. The lounge also has a fridge that runs on the honour system. They've got a house guitar (which was nice to handle once and a while), decks of cards, guide books, and lots of drums. Plenty of stuff for those days and nights where you're stuck inside because of the weather. 

Trip Selection

There's lots of stuff to do in the Chiang Mai area. TLP has tons of brochures, as you can see. One of the owners selects them based off of Trip Adviser and throws out ones that dip in quality. They've got all the bases covered from Trekking to Tigers!

The People

Ari and Vi are both super cool people in there own special way.

Vi always tries to organize bonding activities at night like dinners and Thai Boxing matches in the area. He knows the city really well and can show you where the best of the best is or the cheapest of the cheap. Sometimes it works out that it's both! He's a chill guy who has a three-hour Neil Young playlist for when he paints. 

Ari is the book keeper of the two. She's significantly louder than her counterpart. She runs a very organized ship cleaning, tidying the hostel, and organizing everybody's trips like nobody's business. She seemed very hot-headed when I arrived but she's just naturally loud and excited from 10am to 8pm. 

They also have a miniature puppy named Winnie (I think) who's adorable. She's got a doberman's colouring, and big brown eyes. Bless her protective heart but she couldn't win a fight with a mouse. There was a stray kitten, or under-nourished tom it's a tough call in this part of the world, who frequented the main floor of the hostel and it was twice the size of Winnie.

Location

The place is in a prime location just outside of the old city and going the other way is the Night Bazaar. There's a little restaurant up the Soi (laneway) that serves really good curries and fruit juices. The guest house is also right by two really nice temples one of which has the super-cheap and soothing massages.

Trash and Treasure

Like most guesthouses and hostels TLP has many people coming and going, at times people will leave things they don't need because of poor impulse buys, or a lack of space in their packs. Regardless, The Living Place has a good collection of books, clothes, hats, and umbrellas and many more things. They also loan out towels free of charge.

All in all it's a great place and I'll stay there when I presumably return to the lovely city of Chiang Mai. Just a tip of advice though: watch your head on the first flight of stairs.