The Green Place Condo

Green Place could be Phuket’s best condo, but the pool, gym, and rooftop areas have been left unused and neglected. Without those shared spaces, it’s basically somewhere to stay in your room. The owner or manager needs to restore the rooftop, repair the gym, and clean the pool. I came to regard it as the safest and healthiest condo in Samkong because I believe there are no 5G towers at or near Green Place. I’m concerned about the number of towers around Phuket, including ones on apartment buildings, on towers spaced about 50 metres apart in non-tech areas, and inside malls and grocery stores such as Tesco. I feel as if I’m living in a microwave oven. In my view, 5G is meant for advanced uses like self-driving cars and hospitals, rather than simply faster internet. I think the technology came to Thailand very cheaply from China during the pandemic, and that the whole country was covered in six months. I also feel Thai corporations and the government lack public health and safety knowledge about it. The internet here is fast, but you need to buy a router and connect it to the phone line. Turn down its Wi-Fi power, since a 6-metre condo room doesn’t need 100 metres of coverage. There’s a serious mold problem too. Phuket and southern Thailand have 80-90% humidity, compared with 40-60% in Western countries, and my belongings have grown white mold: leather shoes, a belt, bags, camera lenses, and the rubber parts of my drone. The mold gives me headaches, makes me irritable for no reason, and I’m getting chest pains. The hallways at Green Place are mopped weekly but still reek of mold. Construction is always going on and leaves white dust, and the hallways have no ventilation. My nose feels as if I’ve inhaled ammonia. I see this as a problem throughout Phuket. I think the condo was designed in a Western style rather than for the tropics. In every room, the bathroom is beside the front door on the hallway side. In Thailand, bathrooms are usually by the balcony door, with a narrow window for ventilation. Here, the wet, humid bathroom can grow black mold unless you leave its door open. That raises the room’s humidity and makes belongings mold faster. The only solution I can see is a dehumidifier and keeping doors shut. Effective ones cost 3,000-6,000 baht, not the fake 100-baht Xiaomi ones on Lazada, and they’ll raise the electricity bill a little.

There’s plenty of parking at this good-value apartment. It’s up on the mountain side with fresh air, close to Phuket Bangkok hospital, and a short motorbike ride from Phuket Town.

It’s a quiet, pleasant area with distant views of Patong. Tesco, Big C, and Central malls are close by. The residents seem to be about half Thai and half foreigners.

Nice apartments at good prices.