Briton Cuts Living Costs With Move to Chiang Mai

2 hours ago, sandyf said:

I would like to know the towns and villages in the UK that have a Weatherspoons on every corner.

People choose where they live and where they frequent.

Cant beat Witherspoon's breakfast just after arriving home from long trip away , coffee refill and change out of 7 Quid , all the sauces as well

2 hours ago, Nick Carter icp said:

Cant beat Witherspoon's breakfast just after arriving home from long trip away , coffee refill and change out of 7 Quid , all the sauces as well

I was back a couple of weeks ago, I go for the freedom breakfast with a sausage and the coffee, not into toast. Again just under £7, can't fault it.

13 hours ago, sandyf said:

I would like to know the towns and villages in the UK that have a Weatherspoons on every corner.

People choose where they live and where they frequent.

I'd like to know the towns and villages in Thailand that have a market on every corner selling 75 baht a bottle? my nearest market in the town i live in in Thailand that does that is 10 minutes away on a motorbike, my nearest spoons in my hometown in the UK is 5 min walk. We can both play that game. That wasn't my point. My point is he's exaggerating how cheap it is here. It's cheaper than the uk on that there is no doubt, but to imply that 2quid pints is the norm is nonsense.

12 hours ago, Pompeygeezer said:

I'd like to know the towns and villages in Thailand that have a market on every corner selling 75 baht a bottle? my nearest market in the town i live in in Thailand that does that is 10 minutes away on a motorbike, my nearest spoons in my hometown in the UK is 5 min walk. We can both play that game. That wasn't my point. My point is he's exaggerating how cheap it is here. It's cheaper than the uk on that there is no doubt, but to imply that 2quid pints is the norm is nonsense.

In 27 years I have seen enough of Thailand to know who is exaggerating. Learned a long time ago to stay away from venues that add tax and expat bars outside Pattaya. Some have the audacity to change the price later in the day.

Pattaya probably has more competition and I am aware of a few that sell large Chang at 75.

I live in the sticks so there are no corners but plenty of venues in the 65-80 range and the norm away from expat influence. Bit of a bonus at the moment with the 50/50 scheme.

On 6/17/2026 at 11:29 AM, Nick Carter icp said:

Cant beat Witherspoon's breakfast just after arriving home from long trip away , coffee refill and change out of 7 Quid , all the sauces as well

I don't consider 300bht for breakfast to be either 'cheap' or 'good value'

13 hours ago, Pompeygeezer said:

I'd like to know the towns and villages in Thailand that have a market on every corner selling 75 baht a bottle? my nearest market in the town i live in in Thailand that does that is 10 minutes away on a motorbike, my nearest spoons in my hometown in the UK is 5 min walk. We can both play that game. That wasn't my point. My point is he's exaggerating how cheap it is here. It's cheaper than the uk on that there is no doubt, but to imply that 2quid pints is the norm is nonsense.

69bht for a large Leo at any 7-11 in Thailand, plenty of seating around to drink it in.

Same price in most 'mom and pop' stores, most have seats and tables outside, usually they'll provide a glass and ice at no extra charge.

8 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I don't consider 300bht for breakfast to be either 'cheap' or 'good value'

Not when you can get a chicken sausage , ham disguised as bacon , a boiled egg and a cup of tea for a home made fry up for 29 Baht

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

69bht for a large Leo at any 7-11 in Thailand, plenty of seating around to drink it in.

Same price in most 'mom and pop' stores, most have seats and tables outside, usually they'll provide a glass and ice at no extra charge.

A main complaint about Eastern European immigrants to the UK is that the older men just hang around the streets drinking alcohol

On 6/16/2026 at 4:02 PM, flaming dragon said:

Based on the assumption that a person on £836 is going to be driving a car? Come now. They'll be riding a scooter and spending 1k baht per month on fuel, at most.

The house in the first video was horrifying, the second is tiny but looks new. If you're involved in real estate you know that there are around 1.3 million empty housing units in the country and a fair number are in CM. These guys aren't taking housing away from anyone and the landlords are delighted to be able to rent them out.

Who are you even trying to fool with this? Just living 15KM outside of work, or even if it is closer, with one round trip a day, by a cheap Vios car, you talk already 1 liter per 15KM, just that alone is 60 liters a month already or around 2500 baht a month. Even for a bike that is today over 1000 a month. And that not even covers maintenance of a car itself.

This is obviously SIGNIFICANT money if a room central starts at 2-3K a month. Let alone if you are the retired person doing that twice a day, then it is exactly what i said, a realistic 4-5K a month. Most Thais do the twice a day purely for work and school drops alone already.

Then in terms of my assumption with who drives a car? How long have you been in Thailand, 2 weeks? Virtually every fresh office employee drives a brand new car worth 1M baht on a 20K wage. A car is one of the most important items to have after a phone and land. The majority of office thais in Bangkok even sacrifices living in a 2-3K room, on 40K salary, to show off their car arriving at work. Most debts are even for cars, even with farmers.

If one thing is sure that you unlocked hardcore ignorance, if believing this for real. In terms of housing, the elite controls land banks hence artificially high land prices that are nowhere near reality, only chinese parking capital and farang suckers, buy into that.

The vast majority of Thais are just tricked into renting forever on 30 year cheap mortgages by elite financing it directly in gated villages in chiang mai, while these houses need a rebuild by that time which means a new loan of the same value. That's not home ownership.

I dated a thai-chinese girl in bangkok once who spoke the same as you, she even would fight me for stating 7/11 employees for sure earn at least 20-30K a month and should not complain. I call it the Thai bubble ignorance.

Other example uncle in law with blood cancer, farmers never spend a lot, depended on a car for hospital treatments. Same most elderly. And in those cases the distances driven are even longer too.

20 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I don't consider 300bht for breakfast to be either 'cheap' or 'good value'

I don't consider your comment appropriate to people travelling.

Gatwick Travelodge or a free 10 minute bus to Wetherspoons in Horley is a no brainer.

21 hours ago, BritManToo said:

69bht for a large Leo at any 7-11 in Thailand, plenty of seating around to drink it in.

Same price in most 'mom and pop' stores, most have seats and tables outside, usually they'll provide a glass and ice at no extra charge.

So what does a can of beer cost in europe in grocery stores? a lot less than that. That is what you are comparing against. In fact in most of eastern europe and southern europe, that is the cost of a beer on a terrace, with high end places and real staff being paid 30K baht wages.

Which leaves the question, why is it the way it is in Thailand.. It is very obvious, but everyone likes to pretend and ignore it.

It is obviously always about context, I have a Tops too that now provides real terraces and it is right at the beach on top. It's a good enough deal but it not changes the price to still be way too high aside of businesses lacking to sell at proper prices.

It is compensating for what lacks to begin with, while still paying double the global grocery price. Bacardi breezers are even cheaper lol.

25 minutes ago, aseanexpat said:

Who are you even trying to fool with this? Just living 15KM outside of work, or even if it is closer, with one round trip a day, by a cheap Vios car, you talk already 1 liter per 15KM, just that alone is 60 liters a month already or around 2500 baht a month. Even for a bike that is today over 1000 a month. And that not even covers maintenance of a car itself.

This is obviously SIGNIFICANT money if a room central starts at 2-3K a month. Let alone if you are the retired person doing that twice a day, then it is exactly what i said, a realistic 4-5K a month. Most Thais do the twice a day purely for work and school drops alone already.

Then in terms of my assumption with who drives a car? How long have you been in Thailand, 2 weeks? Virtually every fresh office employee drives a brand new car worth 1M baht on a 20K wage. A car is one of the most important items to have after a phone and land. The majority of office thais in Bangkok even sacrifices living in a 2-3K room, on 40K salary, to show off their car arriving at work. Most debts are even for cars, even with farmers.

If one thing is sure that you unlocked hardcore ignorance, if believing this for real. In terms of housing, the elite controls land banks hence artificially high land prices that are nowhere near reality, only chinese parking capital and farang suckers, buy into that.

The vast majority of Thais are just tricked into renting forever on 30 year cheap mortgages by elite financing it directly in gated villages in chiang mai, while these houses need a rebuild by that time which means a new loan of the same value. That's not home ownership.

I dated a thai-chinese girl in bangkok once who spoke the same as you, she even would fight me for stating 7/11 employees for sure earn at least 20-30K a month and should not complain. I call it the Thai bubble ignorance.

Other example uncle in law with blood cancer, farmers never spend a lot, depended on a car for hospital treatments. Same most elderly. And in those cases the distances driven are even longer too.

Brother, your rage filled post is all over the map and irrelevant to the original story. It was full of many truths, none of which are pertinent to an Englishman living on 36,500 baht per month. He can't take out a car loan or mortgage, nor does he have an office to drive back and forth to.

The problem is the bouncing between Thais and foreigners, office workers and retirees. The one thing it doesn't address is the people who earn income online, which is not location dependent.

There's a Chiang Mai based Youtuber named 'Walkabout Wayne' who has been in CM for 7 years and lives on 27k baht/month. He gives a detailed breakdown of his expenses and confesses that he doesn't live an extravagant lifestyle on that sum, but all of his needs are met and he's happy.

I'm based in Pattaya. Don't drink, don't smoke, don't rent women and live a simple, happy life. I'd have no problem living on the budget I laid out. Sans car, of course.

On 6/18/2026 at 11:59 AM, sandyf said:

In 27 years I have seen enough of Thailand to know who is exaggerating. Learned a long time ago to stay away from venues that add tax and expat bars outside Pattaya. Some have the audacity to change the price later in the day.

Pattaya probably has more competition and I am aware of a few that sell large Chang at 75.

I live in the sticks so there are no corners but plenty of venues in the 65-80 range and the norm away from expat influence. Bit of a bonus at the moment with the 50/50 scheme.

We're not talking about in the sticks, we're talking about chiang mai. rolling out the how long ive been in Thailand chestnut that falangs do, Speaking like everyone else has only been here 5 mins.

10 hours ago, Pompeygeezer said:

We're not talking about in the sticks, we're talking about chiang mai. rolling out the how long ive been in Thailand chestnut that falangs do, Speaking like everyone else has only been here 5 mins.

Since when was Chaing Mai an island.

23 hours ago, flaming dragon said:

Brother, your rage filled post is all over the map and irrelevant to the original story. It was full of many truths, none of which are pertinent to an Englishman living on 36,500 baht per month. He can't take out a car loan or mortgage, nor does he have an office to drive back and forth to.

The problem is the bouncing between Thais and foreigners, office workers and retirees. The one thing it doesn't address is the people who earn income online, which is not location dependent.

There's a Chiang Mai based Youtuber named 'Walkabout Wayne' who has been in CM for 7 years and lives on 27k baht/month. He gives a detailed breakdown of his expenses and confesses that he doesn't live an extravagant lifestyle on that sum, but all of his needs are met and he's happy.

I'm based in Pattaya. Don't drink, don't smoke, don't rent women and live a simple, happy life. I'd have no problem living on the budget I laid out. Sans car, of course.

Living in CM on 50kbht a month.

Without the wife and kids I suspect I'd only be spending 25kbht/month.

And I'm not really lacking in anything I want.

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Living in CM on 50kbht a month.

Without the wife and kids I suspect I'd only be spending 25kbht/month.

And I'm not really lacking in anything I want.

H.P sauce ?

320 baht a bottle now .

Free in Witherspoon's in the UK

1 minute ago, Nick Carter icp said:

H.P sauce ?

320 baht a bottle now .

Free in Witherspoon's in the UK

I don't eat much chips ......... but did just buy a 450gm bottle Of HP sauce for 254bht.

Prefer baked potatoes, and just paid 325bht for 2x 300g GoldenFry gravy granules, which will last a year.

Baked potato, roast pork and gravy ....... can't beat it.

On 6/20/2026 at 9:10 AM, sandyf said:

Since when was Chaing Mai an island.

I think you've lost the plot of what i was originally talking about. My comment was about this article and the bloke was in Chiang mai. i never said Chiang mai was an island. why are you talking about "since when was chiang mai is an island?" I never mentioned that Chiang mai was an Island. I think you're confused and you've had too many of them cheap changs you was talking about