zierf1

This is why you should never burn your bridges with family. Family is so important. If I run out of money in Thailand, I can always move back home with my mother rent free. Room over my head in Thailand = $100 a month. Roof over my head in America: $0 (for me anyways). I returned to Thailand and I was able to get a $40k a year job almost immediately after I returned after 5 years living in Thailand. Never needed to rent an expensive hotel or anything.

That's more money than I've made in my entire lifetime(I'm 34 now). I guess I could make it last the rest of my life if I spent about 30,000 baht a month. I currently only spend about $10(300 baht) per day.

There are a lot of expats out there who would kill to have a job offer that pays 65,000b/m.

I'm guessing a lot of westerners would kill for that in their own countries as well.

Are you in IT? Are you a "westerner" or just spouting off?

You realize how 65,000 baht breaks down. 65k/34k baht to the dollar = 1,911 baht per month. Divide that say 40 hours a week at 4 weeks = $11.94 an hour.

Do you know that you can work stock shelves at a Home Depot for that much.

I know not a single decent developer that would work for those scrappings. Even freelancers on sideline gigs would be around that with no deadlines or promises how the code would look.

I think his employer is a fool for paying him that much. 30k a month would be a good amount for that line of work considering most Thais will work very hard for 7-8k a month. Not hard at all to learn how to write a few lines of code. That stuff can be learned in a few months tops. In fact, you could hire some unskilled monkeys off the street and teach them how to code. Start them off at 7-8k a month and then pay them 20-30k after a few years on the job. His employer is flushing baht down the drain. Must be another dumb foreigner who thinks 65k a month is a good deal.

Comeon man. Stealing good jobs from Thai people. Shame on you! And I'm sure a Thai would work for less money than that.

I don't know why people are so afraid to return to their home countries. Your home country is not going to bite you if you return(unless you have some sort of serious legal problem).

Are you that guy that asked a question about overstaying his visa 10+ years?

I don't even spend that much in the US, which is a VERY expensive country to live in. I've always figured that about half of a typical net wage in the West would be enough to live on in Thailand due to the lower living costs. That would be about US$1250 a month. Remember, it's only "cheap" when you're spending a western currency. If you have to make a living in Thailand, it's not so "cheap".

Speaking just for Chiang Mai...

• It's cheap
• It's warm
• People smile at you
• You can get by speaking just English
• The food is excellent
• Thai massage is like $4 for an hour
• The laws are lax
• Visas are easy to get
• The girls are pretty
• The expat community is large and fairly diverse

If Chiang Mai don't make you happy, probly ain't nowhere gonna make you happy.

Just for comparison:

I can live in the US for about the same. I can live in a warm area. People smile at me. Virtually everyone speaks English. Food is varied and excellent. Can't outdo the Thai massage, but I don't like massages anyways. The only "lax" I see about laws is that if anything happens, you're always at fault. Oh, and you can speed. I don't need a visa. Maybe not quite as many, but still a lot of pretty girls. The expat community is pretty much everyone I meet. And let's see, you can actually walk down the sidewalks, people stop at red lights, the geographical scenery is much more diverse (really, when I travel through Thailand it's pretty much rice fields, corn fields, a village, repeat as needed). So although I agree with you, I point out that much of what we have here we can have in other places, and perhaps in many areas even better.

What are you smoking, sir? You can only polish a turd so much. America has a lot of pretty girls? That's ridiculous! Unless you are into "BBWs"..

In Thailand I feel truly free. In America, it's just a bunch of political rhetoric.

In America I don't even bother chat up a female. It's as if I don't even exist to them. I get to Thailand and the girls are all over me. It's an upside down world.

Get a wife or live in to handle the finances.

basically 20'000 baths a month.

that should cover

room or small condo

food

health insurance

visa

and some pocket money to buy cigarette , candies, and a few toys

20,000

You will be pinching pennies.

I live on less in America. Could do it on half that in Thailand(10k/month). 2k for a room, 4k for food, etc.

Freelance work aka "digital nomad".

Easy to get a job in the US now. But the pay will be lousy. I recently came back to my home in rustbelt Ohio and scored a $700/week job at an auto plant assembly line. No job experience required. Apartments here are about $450 a month which is a lot more than I was paying in Thailand. Winters are bleak in the midwest so ideally we'd come just for visits and to eat some American food . I really miss the food and don't want to leave just yet. I'm staying to save up some money for us to buy a nice condo when I return to Thailand. My wife could work in the US but no reason for that. Our basic living expenses are paid for.

I'm in a similar situation as you are. Chiang Mai is not only lower cost but there's less temptation to waste money at the bars. In Chiang Mai, I can find a nice studio(brand new with airconditioning) for 3,500 a month. Can't do that in Pattaya. Pattaya is a ripoff! On the other hand, Chiang Mai is a rather dull place. So pick your poison.

1. I couldn't get laid or find a wife in my own country, the US. (And they talk about China having a shortage of women... )

2. Weather in the midwest(where I'm from) is gloomy and cold.

3. US is a dull place generally speaking.

4. Cost of living is out of control.

5. + Many more reasons.

Below. A photo of one of my country's "beautiful" cities. I wonder why I would want to leave.

Safes are pointless. A thief will just take the entire safe and rip it open. Look into diversion safes.

The only way I've figured out how to get a job in Thailand is by creating a job for myself via self employment. Teaching is definitely not for me.

I would double the food budget.

10k ain t near enough.

Must be really fat if you eat that much. I rarely spend much more than 200 baht a day in Thailand and I'm a big eater. What on earth are you spending money on? Thai food is 35-50 baht a plate at BigC foodcourt, mom & pop eateries, and the open air markets.

My budget usually looks something like this:

rent including all utilities: 5000/month

food: 7500/month

nightlife : 15000/month

money for wife: 15000/month

other: 7500/month

total 50,000/month

Considering the difficulties of getting my money out of the world's largest police state(USA), how do American expats get money into Thailand? I'd like to do a wire transfer into a Thai bank account but I think it's too risky. They could seize it and demand that I "prove" that it's not illegal(which could freeze the money for months/years?). Taking more than a few thousand dollars through the airport is also too risky. $10,000(or even less) seems to be the amount when the police state goes into overdrive and you get all kinds of unwanted attention/freezes on bank accounts/suspended wire transfer abilities, etc. How can I get money into Thailand safely and without unwanted attention from these thugs? I wonder if you withdrawal more than $10,000 from an atm would they suspend your atm card now? How sad I can't even trust my own government with my own legitimately earned money anymore. I'm wondering if the USA has a defacto capital controls in place now. Wouldn't surprise me if that was the case.

Raise taxes and keep the currency overvalued. That's going to boost the economy. Yep.

Get your Thai lady to open an account so you don't have to put up with this crap.

Could it be that the Baht is seriously overvalued? Drop the Baht by 10 percent and watch exports grow again - and tourists flock back!

Definitely overvalued against the Ringgit. Thailand looks like an old ripoff now.

In Pattaya you will probably not find anything for 1MB that a normal human would want to live in. You could try the likes of Nirun, but rather you than me.

Go to Jomtien and you will find places for 1MB though I doubt you will find a good one in a VT building, even VT1 which is pretty down-market: they are simply too much in demand.

For something nice at 1MB you will have to do a lot of legwork and will need to find a desperate vendor. But they do exist and they will probably be increasing in numbers.

One thing's for sure: you will have to get off your ar*e and not rely on information gleaned for free on forums. Would I tell you about a bargain 1MB condo if I knew of one? Of course I would.

Wow if that's true then Pattaya is truly a ripoff. Can you say real estate bubble?

I overstayed 4-5 years and nothing happened to me. Just paid my 20k baht and left on the plane. 20 years is not very different than 5.