Doing one...

[Cinders]

How long do you think £50,000 would last you in Thailand?...

If you lived sensibly?  ie. Single Room apartment (with thai bathroom) in Chiang Mai, Cheap Thai Food and No Bar Girls?...

I'm so tempted to sell up and just bugger of there to live, I'm 26, been working since I was 18 and have had enough of living in this country - sick of the rat race, keeping up with the Jones's - my tv's bigger than yours life, etc.....

[lopburi3]

Understand your feeling at 26 and might have felt the same but think ahead a bit.  If you want an easy going life you need money.  Money is not easy to make here unless you lose that easy going life (and even then there is much less chance to make a good living here than in your homeland).  So what happens after the money is gone and your brain/ambition is mush?  Just another down and out foreigner trying to make a baht teaching?  No keeping up the Jones's in that case.  But if you think real life here does not include keeping up take a look around at the BMWs, Mercs, Rolex etc etc.  It may take a slightly different form but it is just as real here as there.  Think long and hard before you jump into something you are not prepared for.

Sorry to be such a preacher but it really is you life at stake.

[Cinders]

I'm just really bored with my life, I work 9-5 in the same office (for 7 years), same people, in front of same PC and I'm bored to tears...

I loved living in Thailand with my mate, even if it has only been twice (once for a month, last trip 2 weeks) - We didn't do the bar girl thing the 2nd time, I just looked around the place, I don't need a woman next to me every night, I'd never pay another bar fine again (I learnt my first trip!)

Maybe I need to take a year or two out instead?  I wonder if £10K could me in Thailand for a year

[cofession]

I think 10k is more than enough for a year,you could chill out some where for ages on that i think,it's the partying and girls that spend your money if you want to just chill out go out a couple of times a week thats fine,i am going september for maybe 1 year with 8k.....Ben

[taxexile]

dont burn your bridges,leave some options open in blighty,bring 10 grand  and think of it as 6 to 12 months chill out,gap year,time to take stock, whatever.

be careful about getting into any business/marriage here until you can speak some thai and you really know and understand the family background of any people you are dealing with. lots of westerners become sad casualties out here because they enter into things that they wouldnt dream of back home with characters that they would not be associating with back home.the thais can see a green falang coming from a great distance, dont be blinded by the easygoing friendliness of it all.try and get to know thai people that do not come from the bar background.the bars can be fun and the girls persuasive but before you know it your money will be gone and so will your friends.the bars are not what thailand is all about.(thats not to say never enjoy whats on offer).come and have a great trip.

[Cinders]

thanks for the reply guys - no don't worry i'm not going to burn my bridges in Blighty, I've got a house, I've just had it decorated so I'm going to be sensible and rent it out while I go away, it should make me £100 a month, which will easily pay for my accomodation in Thailand - I know I'll have to come back some time.

My friend did a runner with £30K last year and went over there, I've been out twice to see him.  The first time I went I fell for the "illusion" and blew money on women like no-one's business, coming back from Thailand was a downer, but getting my credit card bill later that month pissed me off even more, never again I swore!

Anyway my mate got mixed up with a bar girl who he married to put the business in her name, it all went tits up and now he's got nothing, he's learn the hard way and I've learnt from his mistakes.

I went over in December for a month (1st trip), had a whale of a time, but after I got back I have spent everyday reading this forum and listening to my mates misfortunes...  I've also read Private Dancer by Stephen Leather, which is so true it's unbeleivable - I think EVERYONE should read it.

My 2nd trip I have just come back from was spent with my mate and his thai wife, they have no money and are living in a block of flats where all the bar girls live, the goings on in that place was amazing, they're like trained Russian Commando's those women and they stick together like the KGB.  Luckily I met a girl there who'd quit the bar for her boyfriend and had been living there with him for 6 months (all paid for by him - of course!) anyway he'd just gone back to Blighty to work for a few months to come back for her.  It's a long story but basically I ended up staying the 2 weeks with her, paying her nothing and sleeping in her aircon room (thank god for aircon) - she didn't want a penny from me (amazing) because she liked me.  It caused a big stink, all the bar girls there took the piss out of her because she wasn't getting or conning me out of any money.  She was a nice girl and didn't ask me for a thing, so don't taint them all with the same brush.  Finding a girl like that is very rare, however, you can't trust them (well I can't) and I haven't been in touch with her since because I know one day I'll probably get an email "My mother is ill, I need 10,000 baht..."  It's all about the money, and I know that.

I just want to spend a year or two away from 7 years in the the same 9-5 office job, bored, whilst I'm young, this time however no bars and definately no bargirl girlfriends - I'm goign to see a bit of Thailand this time!.......

Thanks again,

Matt.

[chonabot]

Go for it mate!

I did similar about 10 years ago, stayed on Koh Tao , for 18 months had a 'kin great time.

It sorted my head out, gave me a differnt persepective on life.

Good luck to you :cool:

btw Private Dancer= Excellent book!

[Cinders]

yeah everyone has to read Private Dancer, it helps dispel the illusion of the bar girl...

I'm going to do it, my mate comes back shortly, so when he goes back I'll be going with him.  He lives in Chiang Mai, very beautiful place.

[markt]

Cinders,

I went over 10 years ago with £10,000.

At that time there was a whopping 37 baht to the £.

I managed to last for almost two years. Most of my money went in the first few months though.

Once i found the right place to stay, opened a bank account near me etc.  things were better.

Go for it!!  As Chonabot said earlier, it will sort your head out

and give you a better outlook on life.

[mrvietnam2001]

How bout investing a little of your money into an internet business and at the very least developing a mailiing list for future commerce?

I'll be the first one to tell you that the business ( web developers et'al) is like jumping into a pit of snakes and hoping you don't get bit, but really, you could buy a domain name, pay someone a little cash ( you don't need data base programming to start out with), start writing a newsletter, or WHATEVER interests you, and see if that will develop into something you can get a thousand or so a month on in a years time ( which would definitely put you in a position of making choices while in SE Asia). Or develop some contacts to buy ( you don't indicate enough $$ to do this but I'm throwing it out just in case you have more than you're divulging) some inexpensive products and re-sell to flea marketers etc for a few bucks a month.

Bottom line in explore your options and cover your back. The fact that you've admitted you're t the same job at your age indicates you don't have the entrpreneur spirit, and either you better start developing one or you're going to blow your money in Thailand or wherever, find out you have NO options, and maybe even have to beg, borrow and steal to get back to your home country sooner than you think.

Freedom doesn't come cheap. And you don't want to trade in one mundane life where at least you have the options of getting out for another life where you won't have that option so easily.

Do you at least have a certification to teach english ( just in case?) so you "might" puick up a few bucks along the way?

I'm going to start rambling here, but hopefully you get my drift.

Good luck in any case

Mr Vietnam  

[Thetyim]

Go for it Cinders

10k will see you thru a year OK.

The problem will be, you will get lonely and need company.

You then have the choice of boozing or getting yourself a gf.

No one wants to end up a drunk so choose the gf very carefully.  

Best of Luck

[Cinders]

I'll be living with my best mate, so getting bored won't be a problem, plus I won't be missing anything (TV etc) - I live on my own in the UK, so I'm used to being on my own, thats why I don't need a girl every night.

I like reading books and just chilling out, seeing places, my partying days are coming to a halt...

If I ever got a bargirl again, she'd be kicked out as soon as I'd finished, I've been there before, bad scene, never again. It's so easy to get attached, their perfect actors!...

Still I suppose you can meet non-bar-girls out there, my friend lived with a nurse for 3 months who never asked for anything.

I just want time out from Blighty, I hate Tony Blair, George Bush, I hate the people I work with who whinge 8 hours a day about their kids, their cars not fast enough, they don't earn enough, these people will never learn or be happy.

A year out will do me good!

[wilson steer]

You can live in Thailand on five thousand pounds a year, but you have to go easy, it's the things you don't notice that can make you overspend. I withdraw 7000 baht a week from the ATM, and when it's gone I stay in and eat rice till the next Sunday morning. Discipline with cash is essential. If you are first timer it would be safer to say 8 thousand for year 1.

Good luck, living in Thailand has been a good move for me, although the Philippines is also a good place to live.

[Bob Chittie]

take the 10k and come try it out for a year. I think most people around you who would discourage you from doing so find the idea a bit threatening to themselves and their mundane lifestlye which they've worked hard to justify. But what will you do? What about a car? What if you get sick? What about the terrorists? Where will you stay? Isn't is dangerous? What about AIDS? What about your job?

Just keep the contacts strong back home should you need to bail out and don't advertise to anyone here that you are worth more than a few thousand pounds. That is especially true about the girls if you want to find one who likes you for you. Buy your ticket and get on the plane!

[wolf5370]

How long do you think £50,000 would last you in Thailand?...

With interest rates in LOS being next to non-existant, I would put the cash in a 'secure' offshore tax free account (choose Costa Rica or Panama as they are much more stable than most and pay good %) - you can get 7%+ on an amount like that. You could probably live frugally on the interest from this, and encrouch on the principle as and when. Probably also depends where you choose to live. Cost of living is higher in BKK/Pattaya/Islands due to the tourist trade.

10K will be fine for a year as long as you budget - especially if you have no housing costs (or are sharing them). Agree, you should think of this as 8K and give yourselg a 2K+ safety barrier - and get Insurance.

If its your dream, then do it. You may never get the chance again and regrets can never be expunged.

[TRIPxCORE]

I just want time out from Blighty, I hate Tony Blair, George Bush, I hate the people I work with who whinge 8 hours a day about their kids, their cars not fast enough, they don't earn enough, these people will never learn or be happy.

A year out will do me good!

Certainly you couldnt be talking about England PM Tony Blair and my beloved President George W who are covertly trying to implement the globalist New World Order (Disorder) on everybody could you?

[mrvietnam2001]

Joey,

Yes, everyone's beloved power duo. I especially like the one where the little bastard clinton ( actually a physically large guy, 6ft 4?) wrote and congress passed the expat tax, and the current marx wannabe tried to implement the exclusion on 80K.

Debt is just a tad under 7 Trillion now. But people ( some) say Libertarians are a threat.

I'm a threat then.

Rgrds

Mr Vietnam