Dolphin99

1 hour ago, villagefarang said:

Sadly, things are drifting in that direction here as well.  Becoming more mechanized each year as it becomes harder to find people to work the fields.

Machine grown crops from industrial countries are often cheaper than from countries that pay farm workers a dollar a day.  I am sure a lot of then would still be able to work the fields if they weren't getting undercut by predatory farming exports from America/Canada/Europe.

Thailand has a lot of problems, but I think this one is largely our fault.  We have managed to even outcompete African farm wages, and they make a dollar a day.  It is a race to the bottom

2 hours ago, Jimbo2014 said:

My statement is largely true - for the vast majority of Thais.  Unfortunately the government is very slow to do anything.  'Light' awareness campaigns have started but they are not backed by any form of action or policy.  Its always kick the can down the road in Thailand.  If the government was serious they would implement strict measures.  A concerted public awareness campaign backed by severe fines enforced by police that actually do something.  Companies and resorts guilty of dumping would be subject to criminal and civil charges.  Low hanging fruit like plastic straws and cups would be banned.  I dont see this happening.

Industrial fines cannot even be properly levied in Europe, so I think your skepticism is warranted.  I think that indicates that fines are not the appropriate solution though.

FWIW industrial pollution is probably the bigger threat, though people here dont seem as keen on the issue as plastics. I suppose I should plan to stay far south.

9 hours ago, uhuh said:

Why should i say anything bad about black people? I don't know any!

But i know a lot of Chinese,  and speak their language maybe better than English.

 

My source is not a book,  my source is decades of immersion in China.

 

Yes, Bo Yangs book is old,  and young Chinese do not always fit his description.  But when I read the book, and told my Chinese friends that I didn't agree with Bo Yang, it was they who told me that his description was still valid. I still feel things are improving,  though. 

 

BTW I am certainly not clapping to the likes of Trump or Bolton. 

Not that I support Trump but he is the only president since Carter that has rejected wholescale military escalation, and has been derided by the "anti war left" for it.  Obama oversaw the invasion of libya fyi.

No country is even remotely the same as 50 years ago. You sound woefully out of touch, like the pathetic dying boomers talking about how good the economy is today, because it was good 50 years ago.  Should we use Thailand's environment from 50 years ago as evidence that no heavy metals pollution is destroying Rayong?

China has its share of problems, and they certainly arent going to go away any time soon, but all of this open hatred towards Chinese is just talk from cowards who feel empowered by the military sponsored media to racistly attack people who won't fight back.

There are plenty of other groups of people more selfish than the Chinese, but you are a coward, and you know it is verboten to criticize them.

22 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

From my afternoon walk today here in Hua Hin. 

This is a resort town? Jesus Flapjack Flippin' Christ. 

4 hours ago, uhuh said:

Quite wrong. 

I lived with the Chinese long enough (not just a couple of years) to know what i am talking about, and to know that they think the same as me.

 

Google Bo Yang, "The Ugly Chinaman".

If you are not Chinese get a Chinese gf and learn from her. 

Not that I have any intention to mount a defense of the eternal virtues of Chinese civilization, but frankly, I can count the number of foreigners I have met that speak Chinese better than an epileptic deafmute on a single hand.  The fact that your "source" is a 50 year old book is also not doing your case any wonders.

I reiterate, people like you are very rarely complaining about the problems blacks, muslims, or latinos are causing in our societies.  But you are all plenty happy to clap to war hawks talking about fighting the Chinese government, or occasionally bombing one of Israel's enemies like Syria or Iran.

Chinese are about the only ethnic group you can openly call evil and predatory on television.  They are far from perfect, but again, I challenge you to say the same sort of thing about blacks. Feel free to try and restore my faith you are an honest person.

7 hours ago, khunPer said:

A 20-year rule is unfortunately not working that well anymore, the last 20 years it has been 40-50 percent up, and during the past decade only 10+15 percent up – whilst in the 70ies it was merely doubled in 10-year – you need to compare with a price index, for example consumer price index.

 

But you are right, looked from a dollar economy side of view, that $5 in 1971 equals some $35 now (in consumer price equivalent), and $35 converts to about 1,000 baht today in currency exchange. However 100 baht equals around 700 baht if same consumer price equivalent is used.

 

So the same things are relative becoming more expensive for a dollar-alien, than for a native; i.e. 1000 baht vs. 700 baht, and the difference might be even greater for some Europeans.

 

Now comes the room location into the picture, because you can find fan room for both 299 bah,t and 700-800 baht, where I stay in Thailand. If it was a circa 700 baht today location in 1971, then it fits quite well.

 

But didn't user @Thaidream talk about "small hotel with air and fridge"?

Again depending of location, you can find air & fridge rooms for 700-800 baht today, and you can also easily pay a lot more, also more than equivalent to $30-$35, i.e. in the 1,000 baht range. Where I live 1,500 baht and up is merely the going rate.

 

The official Thai consumer price index is here, but maximum period runs from 1976, with index number around 30, and today index is about 103.

????

Yes, doing an actual CPI calculation, it looks like most spending power comes out slightly ahead in Thailand except for individual cases of economies weakening like the euro.  but properly atated thatvis europe becoming weak, not Thailand becoming expensive.  You are right that location is everything though, and I have no doubt Pattaya or Patong are more expensive these days.  CPI does a poor job of capturing that.  Thank god most people don't like in Pattaya.

15 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

The problem is Thailand used to be so cheap they spent all their money. Now they live on a pension that hasn't changed since they came here. 

Sounds like a common problem.  Many of their pensions are higher than the full time wage of their children back home.  It is hard to feel sorry for someone in that position.

22 hours ago, thedemon said:

As a tourist it was definitely much cheaper in the early nineties even factoring in exchange rates and inflation. But for an expat, I think if you include the cost of setting up house, buying furniture, appliances etc. the equation would change. They were seriously expensive. Also expat level housing/condo rents in central Bangkok weren't cheap though the 97-98 crash sorted that out.

 

Want a new landline? That will be a THB30K (USD1200) bribe to TOT.

 

My first mobile phone was one of those Motorola bricks, cost ca THB100K (USD4K then). There was no choice.

 

No one bought electronics etc. in Thailand. It was much cheaper to fly to HK/Sing and smuggle them back in. Cars were relatively much more expensive too.

I'd be willing to believe it, but the prices people are providing dont seem to indicate this.

I think your money probably went further in terms of isolation, clean beaches, etc.  But in terms of pure costs for a room or a beer the prices people are providing indicate it has stayed the same.

19 hours ago, natway09 said:

The inflation rate has certainly been kinder to me in Thailand than in Australia

This has certainly been my experience. I was initially surprised to even find people complaining about rising prices.  My assumption is that they are simply bad at compounding inflation via math and are simply shocked that things ever go up at all.  But I thought I'd ask around for the prices to see for sure.

22 hours ago, Thaidream said:

There has definitely been inflation and of course the currency situation so much of the price fluctuation depends when you were in Thailand and what the exchange rate was.

 

For example- in 1971 when I  first arrived- a small hotel with air and fridge was 100 Baht and a large beer 17 Baht-  The exchange rate to the US Dollar was just over 20 Baht.  There was no Nana Plaza or Cowboy and I don't ever remember paying a bar fiine and the  honorarium for a lady was normally - 'up to you'  Arounf 1996- the US Dollar rate to Thai Baht was around 4o to 1 but the price of the same hotel was about 800 Baht per night and I believe a large beer around 35-40 Baht.  Bar fines then about 300-500 Baht with the honorarium around 500-700 Baht.

 

As of today- the US Dollar exchange is  30.5 to one Dollar and  the same hotel is 1500 Baht per night and  you can't find a large bottle of beer in Bangkok and the small ones go for around 90 Baht.    I don't know what the bar fines are  in most places but every now and then i stop in for a drink  on one of the more expensive Sois and the quote is around 1800 and the honorium around 3000.

 

I can also remember having my first visit to Pattaya in 1971- only one Western Hotel and  a plate of 10 large prawns could be had for 100 Baht. Thai style loding was arounf 50 Baht and the beer  very cheap.   Obviously Pattaya today is much more expensive- the seafood costly - those same prawns woulld probably cost around 200 Baht per.

 

 

Respectfully, it sounds like you dont understand inflation.  100 baht for a fan room at 20 baht to the dollar is 5 dollars. 5 1971 dollar is roughly equivalent to 30 2019 dollars.

30 dollars for a fan room is more than I think what you would normally pay.

Feel free to correct me, but it doesn't seem like you have actuallt accounted for inflation.  It will have only gotten more expensive for you if you are living on fixed income, but that is the fault of the fixed income, not prices rising faster than inflation.

I suspect prices for land specifically in Bangkok has outstripped inflation, but so far the other posters are also not demonstrating an understanding of inlfation.  In western countries given prevailing rates, you should expect inflation to double prices roughly every 20 years.

I never realized the problem was this bad until I started investigating places to live and maybe buy a condo.

I am a bit sad, but I suppose I will look elsewhere.  they could have made so much more money if they had simply protected themselves from heavy metals poisoning...

30 minutes ago, ben2talk said:

ROFL - well I'm an older guy - and I paid less for my iphoneSE than I did (relatively speaking) for a Nokia N70 back in the day - together with an ipad cost the same as the iphone 4s was when that came out, then out came the Kindle to sort out problems travelling around and buying books, internet and computers and LCD TV's make staying home more palatable - so I'm a very happy bunny.

 

Prices have changed, but then so do the habits of people who have brains and are not too rigid to live happily with their environment.

Yes, perhaps.  I think drastic inflation has definitely occurred in europe/america.  Crippling inflation that no lifestyle changes can possibly compensate for.

In contrast, going by what the above poster has stated (I was not alive then, and cannot seem to find thr information) inflation adjusted costs in Thailand seem to be about the same.  I simply have seen a lot of complaints about this issue and I was just curious if this was the case, or if I should dismiss them as groundless.

40 minutes ago, Naam said:

 

interesting.  people here complain that everything has gotten more expensive but that sounds roughly in line with what you would expect from inflation.  to me it sounds like prices have remained relatively the same in terms of purchasing power in usd/euros

I was curious, and Thailand in the 80s still looked significantly more developed than most ASEAN countries today, and I am suspecting Thailand has always been more expensive.

maybe the older guys just complain too much?

I see increasing reports of chemical runoff in small cities, cancer rates exploding, and hear that nearly all beaches have regular waves of debris that blanket the beach in rubbish due to the size of the garbage masses in the ocean.

Even in tiny islands in less developed areas of asia, I see people complaining about masses of garbage washing ashore and dying coral.

Is it becoming so bad that quickly?  My last time in the area was only a couple years ago, but I saw nearly no garbage (but it might have been cleaned) and the coral was only dead in populated areas.

My last visit to the Phils, remote areas were completely pristine.  That said, Thailand is much more developed than the Phils.

I have been working in China and the pollution is better hidden outside of Beijing than you might think given the coverage it gets.  I hope Thailand isn't turning into China...  I guess we can always flee to Indonesia or the Philippines... but in most other regards Thailand is much more pleasant.  I was planning on settling in Thailand, but the thought of all this getting worse bothers me.  Thoughts?

Not a topic to complain about rising costs.  I am just curious how much things cost in baht the 90's, things like local restauraunts, hostels, fan rooms, etc?