House Sitting Experiences: House Sitting in Thailand

Thailand is where both Brittnay and I have house sat quite a few times.

We like going to Thailand for the food, street markets and the people. One of our go-to spots is Chiang Mai, which is in the North. It is (in our opinion) one of the best spots for foodies in Thailand.

Last year I had the pleasure of house sitting in Chiang Mai for 6 weeks – This is my experience while house sitting in Thailand.

I have written this post to give you an idea of what it is like to housesit in Thailand. No two houses the same, but it will provide you with a bit of insight if you have never been to Thailand or Chiang Mai before.

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How I Started House Sitting in Thailand 

Heading back to Thailand was never really planned; it all happened when I found a cheap flight from New Zealand to Thailand on New Year’s Eve. I was home for Christmas and had no house-sitting jobs until February in Malaysia. I did not want to spend that much time back home and was starting to get itchy feet.

One day, I got an email with a cheap deal on Air Asia to Bangkok. I couldn’t resist and booked it. From there, I started looking at several of our favorite house-sitting sites to see what was available in Thailand.

There were a few available house sits in Bangkok and some of the islands to the south. Then I saw the one! 3 cats in Chiang Mai! I got excited and sent in my application letter. The sit was for 6 weeks, slightly South of Chiang Mai – an area I was familiar with from previous trips.

The sit was looking after 3 cats, one of which had 3 legs and one who needed a little additional care. One had some big problems and needed to be taken to the vet every day for a check-up, medication, and to be fed through a tube. Because of this little bit of extra care, there were not many applicants for this house sitting assignment.

The homeowner messaged me right back, and I asked if we could jump on a Skype call and talk a little more in-depth about the tasks of the sit. It was interesting because she would also house sit and hire housesitters. I haven’t met anyone doing that before!

We chatted for an hour or so and then mutually agreed to lock in the sit while on the call.

I was excited to return to one of my favorite places in the world!

House Sitting Sick Animals

I won’t get into too much detail about the sick cat – it was an older cat who had some liver and kidney issues and it was heading to that stage of life where any day could be its last.

I talked with the homeowner and advised I was more than happy to administer the medication and feed her – however, she felt more comfortable if the vet took care of anything – that way if anything bad did happen, she would be in the right place with professionals monitoring her.

The vet was a 5-minute walk from home, so it was not a problem.

After feeding the other two cats each morning, I would load up the pet carrier and walk off to the vet. I became a bit of a spectacle every morning, and some locals were very confused about why I was taking my cat for a walk every morning.

I speak a little bit of Thai, so I could explain to some curious locals why I was doing what I was doing – I’m not too sure if they understood, though. I was just the weird foreigner walking my cat every day.

I became good friends with the folks at the vet and it did not take me long to start getting some excellent insider local knowledge about the best local food spots and markets.

Why I Was So Excited to House Sit in Chiang Mai

As mentioned above, Chiang Mai is one of the best food cities in Thailand. It’s to the North of Thailand and is positioned up in the mountains – which is great because it doesn’t get overly hot even in the middle of summer.

In general Thailand it great for markets and street food, however, Chiang Mai is on another level in my opinion.

The North of Thailand is home to some unique region-specific dishes famous in Chiang Mai. This is one reason I love going to Chiang Mai. The dish is called Khao Soi – a delicious coconut curry dish with egg noodles and chicken.

There are many food markets for fresh ingredients and street food throughout Chiang Mai and its surrounding areas. So, every day is a new food adventure for me.

My Schedule While House Sitting in Chiang Mai

This house sit was a little different than any other house sit since one of my tasks was taking the cat to the vet every day at 9 am. However, I just thought of it as if I were taking a dog for a walk for 45 minutes every day.

My daily schedule usually looked something like this:

• 6:00 AM: Wake up and play with the cats. There were 3 cats, they were all rescue cats and were still very new to the area so they were not allowed outside just yet so it was my duty to keep then entertained. They had a range of toys and looooooved playing! 
• 630 AM: Start work for the day.
• 9:00 AM: Head into the vet. The round vet trip would usually take 45 minutes to an hour. I would walk into the vet, talk with the vets, and, head out for iced coffee, and have some breakfast. There were some great little food stalls close, which I took full advantage of! 
• 10:00 AM: Head back home and get back to work. Between working I would play with the cats, – the homeowner loved all three so wanted lots of photos so every hour or so I would break up my workday by playing with them and sending her lots of photos. 
•  2:00 PM: Finish work for the day. I would then empty the cat’s 6 litter boxes and sweep the house. It as a traditional Thai house which only had tiles so as you could imagine with 3 ats and litter boxes it got messy.  
• 2:30 PM: Head off to the gym / pool. Then stop by the local market for lunch.
• 3:30 PM: Head back to the house and play with the cats. 
• 4:00 PM: Most days for dinner I would head out somewhere around Chiang Mai to explore a new night market. Chiang Mai has so many night markets its absolutely crazy! I would spend my evenings cruising around, eating, sampling new foods, and even visiting some old favorites. 
• 8:00 PM: Head back to the house, hang out with the cats and head off to bed.
  

Where to Find House-Sitting Jobs in Thailand

While looking for house-sitting opportunities in Thailand, I used Trusted House Sitters. They seemed to have the best range available at the time of looking. Click the logo below or click here to see all the house sits available in Thailand. Clicking that link will automatically apply 25% off if you decide to join.

Need Help Getting Started With House Sitting

Have we got you excited about house-sitting in Thailand? We love sharing our house-sitting experiences and teaching others how to become house-sitters and start their journeys. 

So, if you need help starting your house-sitting journey, see my resources here, and don’t hesitate to contact me and ask me any questions.

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