FruitPudding

No, somtum every day is a Thai minimum wage or an Isaan less than minimum wage earner. On a farang teacher's salary you can afford to eat international food a few times a week (eating out too, na)! Actually, cooking at home, you can make international food cheaper than Thai food made at the market. I make Indian curry, Lebanese hummus, European soup, muesli, Scots porridge oats, spaghetti pesto or carbonara, and it is FAR cheaper per portion than, for example, a prawn fried rice or papaya salad meal bought from the market. I mean 500 grams of lentils, chickpeas, oats, or pasta costs less than a single serving of fried rice or noodle soup from the street.

Exactly, I earn about 50k. I support myself, my child, and my GF. We stay in a spacious, modern condo close to BTS. My child studies in a top-tier Thai school. We have a few holidays within Thailand every year. I waste money on luxury food items regularly and drink more beer than I should. We all have our luxuries, in fact. We are all covered with appropriate health insurance. Admittedly, I would struggle to afford a family holiday abroad regularly - but that isn't important to us.

If you care about appearances buy a Rolex. If you care about mechanics buy Seiko.

Saigon, Vietnam Phnom Penh, Cambodia Bali, Indonesia Perhaps, if I were to leave SE Asia, I'd perhaps consider somewhere in Greece, Croatia, Northern India, or many even somewhere in the Caribbean like Jamaica. For me it's a blend of cost of living and things to do. I come from a boring place so I like novelty and adventure and of course I don't want to spend too much. I may answer differently if I were 65. I'd probably be happy to live in my home country then.

How about pristine beaches and swimmable waters like around the Mediterranean? Scuba diving like Indonesia (or like it was 10 years ago)? Beer that doesn't taste like <deleted> for 120 baht a small bottle? Perhaps crack down on all the filthy scammers involved in the tourist industry?