Thailand is a place that 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 in Chiang Mai, up 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 – Obviously, no two house sits are the same, but it will give you a little 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 lined up. Until February in Malaysia. I did not really 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 the best house sitting sites to see what was available in Thailand.
There was 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 that 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 what the tasks of the sit were. It was interesting because she would also house sit and hire housesitters. I haven’t met anymore 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 I was heading back 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 only a 5 minute walk from home so it was not a problem.
Each morning after feeding the other two cats I would load up the pet carrier and walk off to the vet. I became a little bit of a spectacle every morning and some of the 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 kind of explain to some curious locals why I was doing what I was doing – im not too sure if they totally 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 awesome 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 even in the middle of summer it doesn’t get overly hot.
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 special region specific dishes that are famous in Chiang Mai. This is one reason I love going to Chiang Mai. The dish is called Khao Soi – it’s a delicious coconut curry dish served with egg noodles and chicken.
There are lots of food markets for fresh ingredients and street food throughout Chiang Mai and its surrounding areas. So every day as 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 sits since one of my tasks was taking the cat to the vet every day at 9 am. However, I just thought of it like I was taking a dog for a walk for 45 minutes everyday.
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 trip to the vet would usually take around 45 minutes to an hour. I would walk into the vet, talk with the vets ten head out for ice coffee and 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 3 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 cats 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, 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 and sampling new foods and even visiting some old favourites.
- 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 3 main house sitting websites.
They seemed to have the best range of available its at the time of looking.
Does house sitting in Thailand sound like you!? Make sure you check out our detailed guide on how to become a house sitter! It breaks down each step which will help you become the perfect sitter!
If you need a little more help, we have also designed a house sitting course!
This course is aimed at those who need a little bit of extra help. It comes with loads of templates to help you create the perfect houses sitter profile, out proven application templates and lots of other helpful information as well as special discounts for house sitting websites! As well information about house sitting in the Caribbean.
For both existing and aspiring sitters head over to our Facebook community of house sitters to share stories, tips, and information.
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