smooth expat

They have been trying to archive this for years and the experiment has failed.

It began in Chiang Mai where today adult entertainments, night social and the social scene has been eroded almost down to nothing. Then of course there was the bright idea of the 1 million baht elite card, another huge flop.

The bread and butter of the tourist industries are the average working class holiday makers, who save all year round, and then go abroad for a couple of weeks to spend, spend, spend and have fun.

Even if the TiT is aiming it`s sites at the South East Asian clienteles, these people will still refuse to pay the exorbitant prices at expensive hotels, expensive restaurants and expensive tours. There are better deals to be had elsewhere. Thailand`s loss will be another country`s gain.

At 1000usd for a ticket, it is never ever going to be a working class family destination.

Single guys, young couples. What they can't understand is that the uber rich want quiet idyll, immaculate surroundings and a reasonable bottle of wine.

Does that sound like anywhere in Thailand?

True. The cost of the flight here from NA & Europe is expensive. But plenty of guys on low wages make it here. And when you realize that an *ehem* rental costs 10k baht in farangland for just one shot they are way out ahead after just a couple days in the LOS.

Only 3,000 baht a day? I should point out that the cost of living and traveling in most developed countries is FAR more than 3,000 baht a day. That 3,000 baht a day is just about equivalent to 5,000 baht a day or more.

It's like there's no impulse control with these people. No fear of anything.

Well I have been back in England since 26^th April 2013 all I can say is wow it has changed a lot in the 11 years been away ..

Culture shock is the right word I’m looking also price of living these days over here is very expansive compared to living in Asia for a number of years I would say since back I have spent around £5000.

Smoking has become a very expensive habit £8.30 a pint of beer these days is £3.80 or a night out your taking around £100 also just to do some basic shopping these days for a few days work out something like £50 a time.. A week bus pass these days work out around £14.50 plus getting a job isn't easy as when apply for a job there a huge turnout for the job you maybe applying for plus minimum wage hours at £6.20 also signing on works out at £71 a week ..

Even looking for a return flight back to Thailand works out over here around £700 compared to £500 booking in Thailand for a one way ticket plus I should be back in the land of smile around the end of august ..

Guess it's always greener on the other side until you get to the other side.

my 40 m2 rental studio electric bill has never been less than 3000, usually it is 4000 in February, March. When you rent from Thai, the landlord will charge you 7 to 10 baht per unit. Last April I payed 7000 baht.

If you to rent a condo long term from fellow farang, you will probably get government rate

Oh my. You're getting raped. Have you broken my record, 8k?

No problem, for around 7K a Month plus expenses there are plenty of apartments (in fact only rooms) around the Pattaya Klang area. Has all of the above except pool Try sois 14 and 16....further up at soi 9 Klang there are those pink coloured apartments all within your price range, again no pool. Very quiet and safe, I stay there now.

Thank you for your recommendation.

How much do you guys find you spend each month on utilities expenses? Mainly elec. I'd say I'd run AC a moderate amount, I just really have no idea what to expect with prices. I'm assuming 500-1K b/MO...maybe 2k if I ran it 24/7?

Last studio apartment I averaged about 2,000 for electric. I used the aircon sparingly throughout the day and night. If you run it all day and night expect BIG bills. Electric here is EXPENSIVE.

A Swedish "prison" cell below. I'm sure he won't be suffering much even if he gets sentenced in Sweden.

Come on. I'm a liberal but even I fail to see the racism in this story. People are right to be outraged but they're outraged for the wrong reason. They should be upset about the gun laws in Florida that allowed this to happen.

Perhaps you should give it a try for a day just to see how much money you get. That would be pretty revealing.

Everybody's got to make a living..

Think about it. If marriage isn't based on money then what is it based on? Women don't like sex. They pretty much only do *that* sort of thing if they're compensated in some way because it isn't pleasurable to them.

I don't think we should be ashamed of our wonderful city here in Thailand. Tell them the truth and don't be shy. If they have an "issue" with sex or people having sex that is THEIR problem not ours.

Hitler was not really a white supremacist. He was a German nationalist.

Anyways, I don't think Thais expect foreigners to see this sort of stuff. I'm sure they don' mean to offend Jews or anybody else the Nazis killed. To them he's some kind of cool superhero farang dictator.

1,000 baht a day is plenty if you eat Thai food. I eat at this small Thai restaurant everyday and the bill only comes to 50 baht with drink. I spend most of the rest on nightlife and travel.

You just don't get it do you?

For economic and location independence. The fact that you can work from anywhere in the world as long as you have a laptop.

The fact that when you're bored with BKK you fuc_k off to Rio to live there for a year instead and when you're done with that you bugger off somewhere else.

You can spend all day sitting in front of your own computer in your own apartment setting your own work hours, doing as much as little as you like, put some music on, take a day off when you feel like it or you can spend all day sat in front of a computer at your employers office and be told what time you have to start and leave at every day, when you can take a break, what you have to do and so on.

You can do what you want when you want and no one tells you what to do. If you fancy going for a swim, using the gym, hitting the coffee shop, drinking a beer whilst you work or going off to meet a bird you can do it....try doing that when you work for a company.

I know what sounds better to me.

That's why people choose to work from their "crappy condos" and sit at their computers 'waste their life'.

Jobs are for people who need to be told what to do because they don't have the ability to think properly for themselves.

Indeed.

Can't imagine having to commute to work and back in Bangkok would be much fun.

good for you and i really mean that .

But Thailand and the rest of the world are sadly enough moving in the same direction as the western world and you had the chance to extract yourself from that kind of life ,but soon there will be no more escape from that kind of life even in developing nations so wake up and smell the starbucks coffee .

What are you even on about?

You don't have to escape your life when you're already living your dream.

Thailand isn't cheaper than where I am in the US unless I want to significantly lower my lifestyle.

So what things are cheaper where you are in the US?

I can't see how the USA can be more expensive than Thailand where all the basics like rent, bills, food, drinks, transport are considerably cheaper than the West.

"Unless I want to lower my lifestyle." Food is definitely cheaper in the US as are all sundries from laundry soap to you name it. Transport cheaper? Not if you drive a decent 4x4 pickup. Mine happens to be a Ford F150 4x4 that cost me US$28,000 new. That's 875k baht. Gasoline is $3.60 a US gallon. I just bought 95 liters for 2800 baht. Far higher quality beef and chicken is cheaper. Almost any Western food is cheaper. Fast food like KFC, Burger King etc. is cheaper and the meat is better. Clothes are WAY cheaper. Electronics are way cheaper. Find a really good up to date laptop with a genuine copy of Windows 8 for $395 in Thailand. I could go out today and buy a new Camry LE with auto well equipped for $18,500 (575k baht) and you're telling me that transport is cheaper?

I pay no import taxes and no sales tax and anything I buy is net, out the door.

No, I can't live that lifestyle for the money in Thailand.

Agree. Thailand is expensive if you compare similar goods. If you're not living like a Thai(living in a dumpy room with no aircon, eating fried rice, and driving a motorbike), you're better off somewhere else.

I'm thinking of running something like this. Is this something a bored farang could do on their computer?

Don't encourage them. We've got too many cheap people here as it is. The other day an American was stabbed by a taxi driver because he was too cheap to pay a 50 baht fare. There are probably thousands like him here.

it's the education system. I don't think these people actually admire Hitler but it's possible the school history syllabus didn't cover what he did and the millions he murdered.

At least the chicken is pretty good...

My guess is they know but it's just they think he was a cool dictator. Nothing wrong with that. But kinda tacky.

BTW, I don't know why everybody gets "offended" by the sight of Hitler. He was a German nationalist. He did what he did. It's history and he's long dead now. I mean, would you be offended by the sight of a picture of Genghis Khan? I wouldn't.

Why can't people learn? If there is a customer there will be a supplier. No law is going to stop that paradigm.

Lesbianism doesn't exist.

I think you just notice them more because you are looking for them.

Beats the homeless shelter.

I moved to Pattaya full time when I was 27. I wish I came here sooner and lost the big V at 18 instead of at 25. I missed about 7 years of my life fooling around and not achieving anything. I was not so comfortable around women which is why I was still a virgin. I dropped out of college and mostly gambled money away during those years. Now I focus on relaxing in Pattaya and around SEA rather than doing the 9 to 5 thing(which I find incredibly boring).

Probably some jealousy.

I'm enjoying my life here and I don't have to worry about the 9 to 5 crap anymore. I'm sure they know about my sex life by now. Who cares.