unbiasbob

Exactly where, and on what planet, do you live?

“You can so say!”

However I shall admit that to say everything is 5-10 times less expensive in Thailand than in the west not always will hold stand, because its also a great price range in many western countries.

But my personal experience from Thailand for near eight years is that I up to this day not have found one simple thing which is near the cost of what the same thing cost in my home country and most thing I use daily,monthly is around five times less expensive here than home, and sometimes up to ten times

That includes food, drinks, water, electricity, apartment, transport, and gasoline and many more things++

BTW. I did not post because I live from 30000, - Baht a month. No unfortunately not. But I know people who do and they are not local Thais.

Some things are cheaper and some more expensive. Beer and Liquor are far more expensive here than in the USA as are most grocery items. Variety is not the spice of life here either. I can buy clothing and electronics cheaper in the states and no doubt autos. OK so a bus ride, rent and water are cheaper but not electric. If it were not for rent, life here would be more expensive than USA. I cannot speak for UK. I suspect UK is wildly expensive

Average income in Thailand 2003 was US 7400, -

Which is approximately 307,000, - Baht. Divide that with twelve months and you get around 25500, - Baht.

If your budget is 30,000, - Baht you are almost 20% over the average income so

You should manage it.

In comparison the average income in many western countries is around US 30-38000, -

The expenses are also 5-10 times higher than in Thailand. Can people live from

US 30-38000, - in a western country annually + 20%? Sure they can.

But if the bills go up here I guess the difference is the way we live and spend money here and how we spend it home. It’s costly both here and in the west if on a long, long holiday.

It is very easy to talk about what Thais make and how farangs can just live off that. However a Thais lifestyle is radically different from farang. Such as having multiple family members living in a single room apt and having no furnishings among other things we have never experienced. Now a few farangs can handle this life style but I'd say not many

All this talk about name changing and all i think is nuts. The only thing you should do is try and get off the blacklist somehow. Contact an attorney over here

kiwibird seems to have disapeared, I wonder where he is?

He's trolling around somewhere else. sheeesh

Do you really expect anyone to believe this one? Here's another from out of the woodwork. gimme a break

yes this dude is right out of comedy central, like a few others we get around here

here's another newbie making the mae sai claim. no one of any credibility here has made such claim

Let me also point out that this is a potentially dangerous troll possibly spreading a false rumor that a wad of cash is needed to accompany a visa runner to mae sai. If true, this could be the deed of a criminal mind. To all, beware. A lot of Newbies reporting on this so called mae sai new rule. Likely the act of one sick mind (Joe Joe, Love and Laughter)

Right , wont bore you with the trip details...........had a quick word with immigration at Poipet, theyve never heard of any such rule coming in to force.....looks like Mai Sai are pulling a fast one! An aside....... did my quickest trip ever today left Pattaya at 7am back at 2.30pm.......the border was deserted not one person queued both exiting and re-entering. Went with Luxury Visa runs 3rd road.....Pattaya.

Nice simple and easy. Either Mae Sai is pulling fast one or a troll is obsessed with rumor spreading

YO KIWI BRO

Go to your country or any country, loose your passport loose your id whatever, then create a NEW id NEW passport NEW identity and then Behave.

sorry man thats the only advice i can give you or you can give your selfup and hope you dont get a buttfucI<er in ur cell.

this teaches us ((FOLLOW THE RULES OR GET A THAI BANANA.))

Peaceout.

No need to get a new passport. All his info is in the system. That is if this guy is for real and not a troll. I think troll personally.

Problem with this thread is that everyone is right. You can live on 30k or 300k. Just as you can live at different levels anywhere.

The big thing that many forget is that we are likely to be here more than a few months or years and with no support system to fall back on our ability to save will be very important. For those living at the low end it is going to be a very large problem as they age I fear.

Understand many may disagree with me but please think it through carefully.

outstanding point

the only other expenses is travel (bus, sawng taeo, rot duu) and entertainment, just movies for me, about 2000 baht a month

you left out 1 huge monumental expense, pal. transport!

no i didnt. transport is cheap for me since, as i said, i take buses, rot duu, sawng taeo etc. fortunately i can walk to work, but if you get taxis everywhere, or have a car and you need to pay for petrol, tollways, etc. then sure, transport costs will be much more. make it 6000 baht a month, and you still get under 30,000 baht a month.

but the fact is, biasbob, you might believe "it [living under 3ok a month] is a pipe dream even if you live in a closet ", but im telling you, i live on less than that a month and live a modest and comforatble, but by no means primitive and unbearable, lifestyle eg 14th floor condo with 3 air con, ubc. there are more places to live and eat in bkk than sukhumvit.

oh I'm sure it can be done but I wouldn't be able to do it. I tried to change to that lifestyle and lasted about 4 days

I reckon you are the exception not the norm. I f you think that 30k per month is a fantasy then there are a ###### of a lot of people in fantasy land.

The amount you spend in Thailand, the same as many things "It's up to you"

You gotta be pretty streamlined and disciplined to live off 30k. I personally think it is a pipe dream even if you live in a closet

I am off to Poipet in the morning will let everyone know what the score is there tommorow night when i return.........

We know that TF here is a reliable source. look forward to your poipet report

Here's a new one. Posters have gone up at Mae sai advising that at some point soon you will need to show evidence of funds of 20,000 baht to make another monthly stamp.

I haven't seen this for myself when I was there a week ago but friends who were there this weekend told us about this.

Anyone seen the same or knows anymore about this?

Nope, haven't heard a word about it. Just go up there with a wad of thousand baht notes and try not to get ripped off for god sakes

30 grand a month is about right. All depends on the beer situation really. On the p*ss quite a bit and eating western food all the time will take you over this amount. 80K seems a bit steep, unless you have that 25-30K condo etc, etc.

It's obvious from postings such as this that Thailand is attracting a very civilised type of Western resident, well attuned to the nuances of local culture and sensibilities.Clearly a regular at the Siam Society and an excellent ambassador for his country here.Sarcasm apart, he is probably a perfectly harmless little fellow but I wonder whether he has any idea how revealing his witless comments on the cost of living are.

My, you are a sarcastic one aren't you, BORIS! I'm not that civilised, partially attuned to local culture, never been to the 'kin Siam Society and certainly no ambassador for my country, and not entirely harmless. As regards revealing. Revealing what? that I don't have a 20 - 30k lady and a car to pay for.

8 grand on digs, 6-8 grand on food, 8 grand on g/f and whatever on p*ss, but not excessive...anymore. There, all is revealed. Not saying that I couldn't go over the 30k, which I reglarly do if I fancy a little sojourn to wherever. Just saying that it's fairly easy to get by in LOS without a huge bank balance.

Hey dude, I just spent 4 grand yesterday and didn't really buy anything other than a couple of beers and food. That kind of spending pace is not hard to keep up just going out with no transport. So there you have 30k/ month on nothing+30k on pad+20k on groceries+ 20k on g/f. I'm up to 100k already and I don't have transport nor did I include visa running or misc expense. This idea of living off 30k is a fantasy which I suppose you could pull off if you have the mindset where you could live out of a cardboard box on the street back in your home country. Thailand just aint that cheap.

i have a condo with 3 air con, phone, tv, fridge, washing machine, a little furniture. it's basic by western standards, but quite clean and livable, nice view (14th floor). i pay 7500 baht a month (farang landlord). ubc is 1800, power is 3000, phone 200 baht. i eat mostly farang food, but buy and cook it myself, dont go to farang restaurants. food is about 7000 baht a month.

the only other expenses is travel (bus, sawng taeo, rot duu) and entertainment, just movies for me, about 2000 baht a month and topping my mobile phone (1000 baht). same lifestyle as nz, except the condo is bigger and cheaper than my tiny room back at the student hostel in auckland. so all told, thats about 23000 baht, but i dont drink or smoke.

i think 30000 baht is adequate if you like to drink soically, and if you smoke, fags are cheap. 80000 would be SWEET, but i wouldnt want to live in bkk city even if 80000 meant a plush condo. too congested, polluted for me. id find a place thats quite nice, but much cheaper on the outskirts of bkk, but is near an expressway, so you can still get into bkk easily if you work there.

you left out 1 huge monumental expense, pal. transport!

Joe Joe is just passing through, and now joe joe has left the building.

I figured as much. thanks chingy

Thanks fellas

Had B30k in mind so looks like I may not be too far off

Fairly good at living on stuff all and don't drink so no booze requirements

Don't think I'll take the queer option, can get in enough shit with females

Robby

30k covers my rent and utilities.....barely

Hi Folks,

Does anyone know if it is currently possible to get a double entry tourist visa at the Thai embassy in Kuala Lumpur? I know that they have stopped giving them at Penang.

Thanks,

JJ

How do you know they stopped doing that in Penang?

sbk: thanks, thats interesting. for the last two years, ive been trying to get a business started with another farang, its been tough going, but now were a registred thai company, we have a small office, etc, so i can start doing all teh work permit paperwork. i will become legit and not make it harder for the law abiding folks like yourself, scouts honour. i just didnt want to stuff up now by going to singapore if it meant being banned just when things are starting to come together. like i said, i keep a real low profile, and dont think police or immigration are going to stop me in the street or something before i leave thailand.

unbiasbob: thanks, its hard for me to know whos serious and whos pulling my leg. i know ive exercissed poor judgement, although i felt i didnt ahve much option at the time, but if people just flame or post bs, well, its not helpful. i suppose clueless newbies like me are easy targets and maybe deserve some of the criticism we get.

Well look, if you did get banned, what could you say about it? No one would feel sorry for you. the only thing you can do is leave the country and see what happens. And don't think there is no way that immigration can catch you beforehand. It is in the realm of possibility. crazier things have happened. Any number of things can happen to you here that would require a presentation of your passport to authorities

thank you unbiasbob for calling me a poster - to which respect?!

just because I asked some naive questions about RP?

well, now I'm really out of here ... there are some helpful hands and souls in here, thank goodness.

I wasnt referring to you dude. it was the OP. sorry for confusion

why do honest people get punished for their honesty and such ignorant overstayers chances ... thailand is a tolerant place, but people like you make it more difficult for everybody, because rules with this and that have to be made.

the easiest way would be to "lose" your passport, but you will be asked questions anyway. and thats good.

show some more respect for your host country and its laws.

if this happens to you in singapore, which you want to visit, they'd cane you. without exepction.

some people may need it to being able to follow simple rules.

That lose your passport stuff is BS. Anytime you go for a visa, they print up your history regardless so why bother. this poster is a troll anyway.

I come her 2000 and I stay a long time with tourist visa.

This means all 3 months out and come back.

sometimes I justedd agens

sometimes I did It by my self

now finaly I got a company who give all the paperwork to get a real visa

but I had allreday once 486 Days overstay.

no problem

at don muang airport pay 20,000 THB and go.

but please do not try this

try to be clean

dieter

Come again?

Oh and I might point out that Tiger Air is no flipping bargain either. An r/t booking more than a month in advance is showing a fare of 4200 baht. this is a budget carrier? May as well pay a few grand more and fly thai for some freq miles and some service