Cost Of Living

[jdinasia]

You know something , people like myself do not care how 'The Thais ' live , too many of them live in shacks and go in the jungle to dig a hole as a toilet , many do not know what a decent wholesome , vitamin filled meal is .

<snip>

The food is low quality because they never leave land 'In fallow ' to recover , they just simply spray all kinds of garbage fertilisers on them . They do not use aircon in the sticks because they cannot afford to and they were born into the hot sticky humudity any way , but because they eat such a healthy diet , <snip>

as soon as the teperature drops 10 degrees ,there are all kinds of them getting sick and dieing from flue and lung ailments , read that on TV .

i want a LIFE . I moved to Thailand <snip>

you are whom you are and what you are able to do in life BECAUSE of your heritage and good education etc , why knock it continuosly ?

<snip>

, so please do not get on your high horse about how fantastic the place you live in is when you had to compromise your life style to live it .

I assume you are telling us all that your life in CAMBODIA (not Thailand) is not filled with "compromise"?

[sassienie]

This is something i forgot, thailand's food is definately not good for your body.

Been here over a year, im in my young 20's and keep in shape.. yet for the past 6months i have energy only 5hours a day.

I did some bloodtest. Iron levels, non existant, vitamin deficiency, creatinine levels non existant. list goes on and on..

No red meat here and the vegetables dont bring in enough nutriments that my far from frail body was used to in the west, even the milk doesnt give me enough calciums, my elbows and knees are killing me i have to spend over 5000baht a month in supplements here to have close to survival levels... and i eat tons of veggies, pork, chicken and drink 400baht of milk a week.

im also lacking all the minerals from the water.

so thats 5k on top of everything, since i didnt need that in canada.

As far as having fresh seafood near a resort.. well of course u dont get that for 20$ in the USA. but who the F wants to eat seafood everyday? It's far from healthy and what? you think seafood is clean in thailand? most of it is frozen and imported from places where theres no waste regulation.. so all your seafood is full of toxic products, so its definately not an 'advantage' over western countries.. although you can live in a sea province(cape code usa, new bruinswik canada) and get cheap seafood all year round without toxic waste embeded in it

Anyways i give up, you cant talk about standards of living when half the forum are poor and trying to condition themselves to like living like an homeless person... They try to make normal people feel bad about getting high-end products..

Yes live one life the cheapest you can, dont enjoy soft bath towels you just want to remove the water right?, dont enjoy quality tasty food(rice and chicken is enough right?), dont enjoy LCD tv's.. burn your kid's eyes with the old round TV.. its just images right? list goes on and on.

what a load of nonsense you come out with monkey boy......i have read some of your posts and i ask myself why the &lt;deleted&gt; do you stay in los?

your sentiments about seafood being unhealthy.....off course seafood is healthy, Its one of the best sources of protein, essential oils (fatty acids), and health-boosting nutrients. Shellfish is also v.good for you its low in fat and high in protein and minerals too. Thats probably why your feeling tired as you dont eat enough of it. you moan about lack of minerals in water, the water in los i can not comment on but you can get minerals from other sources other than water.

your vegetables sentiments - well i aint even going to waste my time on a knob like you because i think you post nonsense on here just to get a response from other bm. go back home you sad &lt;deleted&gt; wit

You’re the one who should go back to where you came from, as obviously you haven’t got rid of your Western aggression.

You are just a foul mouthed ignoramus and judging by your lack of communication skills, I wager you are from England, someone who would be better placed in a Dagenham council estate rather than the LOS.

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

I'll bet some of those people who were saying rent, rent, rent, now wish they had bought when the Exchange was at 65 or 70 to one. If you consider the exchange rate rent has gone up 25-40% depending on where you are from. (other than US or Japan). You'd would have been way ahead buying assuming you are staying in LOS.

[jdinasia]

I'll bet some of those people who were saying rent, rent, rent, now wish they had bought when the Exchange was at 65 or 70 to one. If you consider the exchange rate rent has gone up 25-40% depending on where you are from. (other than US or Japan). You'd would have been way ahead buying assuming you are staying in LOS.

Nah .. not at all ... considering property is still overvalued and rent is still cheap.

I KNOW you want everyone to buy but your arguments have been proven faulty every time!

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

I'll bet some of those people who were saying rent, rent, rent, now wish they had bought when the Exchange was at 65 or 70 to one. If you consider the exchange rate rent has gone up 25-40% depending on where you are from. (other than US or Japan). You'd would have been way ahead buying assuming you are staying in LOS.

Nah .. not at all ... considering property is still overvalued and rent is still cheap.

I KNOW you want everyone to buy but your arguments have been proven faulty every time!

And why should I care if people buy or not?

[jdinasia]

I'll bet some of those people who were saying rent, rent, rent, now wish they had bought when the Exchange was at 65 or 70 to one. If you consider the exchange rate rent has gone up 25-40% depending on where you are from. (other than US or Japan). You'd would have been way ahead buying assuming you are staying in LOS.

Nah .. not at all ... considering property is still overvalued and rent is still cheap.

I KNOW you want everyone to buy but your arguments have been proven faulty every time!

And why should I care if people buy or not?

I don't know ... but you have been doing it for a long time

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

I'll bet some of those people who were saying rent, rent, rent, now wish they had bought when the Exchange was at 65 or 70 to one. If you consider the exchange rate rent has gone up 25-40% depending on where you are from. (other than US or Japan). You'd would have been way ahead buying assuming you are staying in LOS.

Nah .. not at all ... considering property is still overvalued and rent is still cheap.

I KNOW you want everyone to buy but your arguments have been proven faulty every time!

And why should I care if people buy or not?

I don't know ... but you have been doing it for a long time

Well I have nothing to do with real estate, or construction and have nothing for sale. So you quite obviously don't know what you are talking about.

[PeaceBlondie]

people talking about A/C, you realise that in the west. you can run your A/C 3hours and the house will stay cold for a long while.

In thailand you have to run it for 10hours before it settles due to lack of knowledge in isolation.

The funniest thing i found in my house is, all shower floors are tilting towards the backwall instead of the drain... That's so clever, makes the floor rot.i live in a upscalish development.

So far the only people who've said thailand is cheaper have used the word compromise...

Why compromise? Why should you cut on your joys? This is a third world country and companies are overpricing their stuff by 3-4x just to look cool and westernized which resulsts in thailand being WAY more expensive than many western countries, canada being one of them.

What part of Canada are you from, monkey? Inuvit or Whitehorse? I thought you had relatives in Florida. None of the 4 places I have lived in had incorrectly slanted toilet floors, all seven toilets. Besides, they were all tiled, no rotten wood.

I said it was far cheaper here, and I said nothing about compromise. This rapidly undeveloping country is not overpriced and I do not have to cut out any of my joys. I prefer my old Hua Hin a/c bill to the cost of heating a bungalow in Smithers, British Columbia.

[patklang]

Renting is still cheap?????

I think that rental properties have increased over the last 3 years,and land has increased in value so properties in Pattaya have also increased.i didnt purchase to make profit but i did see that rentlas were increasing.

[jdinasia]

Renting is still cheap?????

I think that rental properties have increased over the last 3 years,and land has increased in value so properties in Pattaya have also increased.i didnt purchase to make profit but i did see that rentlas were increasing.

yes renting is still cheap You can still rent a house in the pattaya area for less than 10k a month .. or a condo near the beach for less than that. That is CHEAP!

[BEENTHEREDONETHAT]

Renting is still cheap?????

I think that rental properties have increased over the last 3 years,and land has increased in value so properties in Pattaya have also increased.i didnt purchase to make profit but i did see that rentlas were increasing.

yes renting is still cheap You can still rent a house in the pattaya area for less than 10k a month .. or a condo near the beach for less than that. That is CHEAP!

Not everyone prides themself on having the cheapest place around.

[PeaceBlondie]

Renting is still cheap?????

I think that rental properties have increased over the last 3 years,and land has increased in value so properties in Pattaya have also increased.i didnt purchase to make profit but i did see that rentlas were increasing.

yes renting is still cheap You can still rent a house in the pattaya area for less than 10k a month .. or a condo near the beach for less than that. That is CHEAP!

Not everyone prides themself on having the cheapest place around.

I do!!

The cheapest price for high value.

[patklang]

Renting is still cheap?????

I think that rental properties have increased over the last 3 years,and land has increased in value so properties in Pattaya have also increased.i didnt purchase to make profit but i did see that rentlas were increasing.

yes renting is still cheap You can still rent a house in the pattaya area for less than 10k a month .. or a condo near the beach for less than that. That is CHEAP!

Not everyone prides themself on having the cheapest place around.

value for money is the best way to think.i agree that some houses are about 10k a month

but they are getting less now

[canadianmonkey]

there we go CAD to baht dropped from .29 to .27

As far as internet go, again thailand is INSANELY more expensive.

In bangkok its acceptable because TRUE gives you AWESOME service for third world. but when you have to deal with TOT, TT&T. WOW

Of course some cheapstakes will say, ohh i pay 500baht a month. Well yes good job, you pay 500baht a month for a overshared slow service with terrific international speeds. and 500baht a month is expensive for broadband anyways..

So here i pay 3000baht a month for a cheap 1mbit connection... 1 &lt;deleted&gt; mbit but with good international speeds at all time(business) and about 20hours a week of offline time.

the ccrappy 500/1k baht tiers are definitely not enough if you do more than read emails and browse your pension in online banking.

In canada, i pay 500baht for a 4mbit/1mbit dsl no offline time and awesome speed all around the world.. premium tech support in 3languages.

Could get better speeds with cable too same price. no timeouts

TV: UBC.. totally horrific, 3000baht a month for an AVERAGE package with the same movies over and over and mosts shows being in thai.. besides sports, theres nothing.

or u get cheap cable with 3 acceptable movie channel, but you never know whats playing. 2 terrific news channel(CNN,fox) BBC world: they screwed the sound u cannot hear anything.

U get a million thai channel, nothing interesting plus bad image quality on my 50" LCD.. and worse on my 40" in my bedroom.

The only entertainment that is cheap here, is the cinemas.. I do love those.. but again, its the only entertainment venture in Thailand that isnt overly expensive. i still LOL @ the 3000-4000baht VTT rides in the jungle.. i could do that for 300baht for a full day in dominican republic, not 2 hours for 4000baht.

These are just observations btw, i can afford all my luxury. im Just stating that everything i do here ends up costing me as much or more than in canada.

[Heng]

There are benefits to renting and buying, funny how folks think they need to make a contest out of it.

If you raise kids in a rented house, if they ever want to see where they grew up, you're likely going to have to drive by someone else's house and indeed they will only get to look at it.

If you're locked into a property because you bought, you might have limited your options if you suddenly need to move or leave the country.

Works both ways.

[jdinasia]

Renting is still cheap?????

I think that rental properties have increased over the last 3 years,and land has increased in value so properties in Pattaya have also increased.i didnt purchase to make profit but i did see that rentlas were increasing.

yes renting is still cheap You can still rent a house in the pattaya area for less than 10k a month .. or a condo near the beach for less than that. That is CHEAP!

Not everyone prides themself on having the cheapest place around.

I do!!

The cheapest price for high value.

Again --- comparing value to price. It is always a better deal here in anything but the top end market.

[fredfromalaska]

nothing i do in los cost me more than amerika!

except maybe eating peenut butter and jelly sandwich!

maybe monkey is a scare monger, want los all to himself!

[jdinasia]

nothing i do in los cost me more than amerika!

except maybe eating peenut butter and jelly sandwich!

maybe monkey is a scare monger, want los all to himself!

Actually good cable TV (not available) and Internet at really high speed are his only valid arguments that I have seen so far (though he does exaggerate the internet and cable prices)

[fredfromalaska]

ill give him that too......lol. but there r great internet cafes in bkk that charge 10-25 baht an hour. and being in los and expecting espn american style and west style t v programming is asking too mut.

Edited December 5, 2008 by fredfromalaska

[patklang]

monkey is acting like an ape.

ubc platinum- 2300 baht

tot broadand 2mb- 1000 baht and good

where does he get these costs from

[khunandy]

In 2003 I built a small 800 Sq. foot house for around $12,000 US on my wife's family's land in our hometown about 90 minutes from Bangkok. It was built by our brother-in-law and is plenty comfortable for the two of us until death do us part. It was our plan upon my retirement to live 6 months in each the USA and Thailand but recently having my job taken away after more than 22 years of service has caused us to rethink the overall plan.

My wife just arrived back at our house and I will be joining her in the near future to embark on some training and then to a local government school for a go at teaching. I sure am happy that my wife convinced me to build the house when she did because it has proven to be a real relief for her and for me to have a place of our own to retreat to, especially in the situation we find ourselves. She now wishes she wouldn't have built it right beside her family's house (as I recommended NOT doing) but it is where it is.

I have set up and placed the two of us on a budget that is slightly less than my teaching salary and although it won't allow a "western" level of living, we will be comfortable and have everything we need to live and be happy. If one is prudent about spending, doesn't require a large amount of luxury and can generally eat the local cuisine and be healthy/happy then Thailand absolutely has a far lower cost of living than the west.

My water, electricity and gas heating bill in the west can almost pay for my basic needs (not including optional choices) in Thailand. This is considering I already have my house, which is plenty big enough and comfortable enough for the two of us. All I need is a decent speed internet connection and basic transportation and I am happy. Simple living in Thailand is not for everyone and unless you can live simply and be happy, you will spend much more in Thailand than you need to.

It is an individual thing, I guess. I'm not going to Thailand to live a "western" existence, I'm going to experience a moderate Thai existence.

Regards to all!

Martian

Nice post, life can throw us some curve balls and it seems you were in a position where it hasnt knocked you about too much. Good luck in the future to you and your wife.

I had family coming to visit for a few weeks and spent 9000 baht in Macro to give them western food and a few luxuries while they were here. Most of it is still in the freezer and a lot of it went past its use by date...wont be doing that again.

[MJP]

monkey is acting like an ape.

ubc platinum- 2300 baht

tot broadand 2mb- 1000 baht and good

where does he get these costs from

Hey patklang,

Reckon you can get that in the sticks? Or am I consigned to 2G hel_l for the rest of my life?

[canadianmonkey]

ill give him that too......lol. but there r great internet cafes in bkk that charge 10-25 baht an hour. and being in los and expecting espn american style and west style t v programming is asking too mut.

hardly, my friend for some unknown reason gets DSTV which is south african TV..

There's a million channels, all in english, all with new and GREAT movies and shows. + u get your old favorites on dedicated channels. and about 25 sports channels

only seen it in his building as of yet. costs him 500 baht a month.

[canadianmonkey]

monkey is acting like an ape.

ubc platinum- 2300 baht

tot broadand 2mb- 1000 baht and good

where does he get these costs from

i will bet you 1 mil baht that you cannot get anywhere close to half your 2mb after 5pm on a website outside thailand

[lioness]

It depends on where you live, in my home area many of the Westerners are renting nice quality homes for around 5,000 Baht per month, all the fresh produce at the local markets which is super fresh is very cheap, fruit and veg in season will be around 10 - 15 Baht a kilo, Fresh Chicken and Pork from the shops is between 65 - 110 Baht per kilo.

Compare those prices to back home.

[dave9988]

Cost of having a driver, housekeeper, and nanny... (not to mention just about any kind of employee there is) about 16,500 Baht a month (or about US$ $470). Our one Indonesian maid working illegally in Texas: about $1100 a month, and that was about 20 years ago!

Cost of living is not so different if your idea of 'cost of living' is only comparing baskets of processed/manufactured goods.

Try finding ways to "buy" time in many other countries in the world. It can be very very expensive if you compare to how much less it costs here.

so thats 16k each or for the set of 3?

It's for all three (although they didn't come in a set). 6,500 for my driver, 5,500 for our nanny, and 4,500 for our housekeeper... although we do have housekeepers that make a bit more (but no more than 6,000 a month) that take care of my folks and their folks place. It depends on whether they are Lao, Karen, Thai, etc.; how old they are; how long they've been with us, and how many responsibilities they have.

Thailand, or just about anywhere else in the world will of course seem more expensive if you have your income frozen at a certain level whether because of retirement or because you are barred from the local business or job market by local labor laws and quite often cultural barriers. I'd be whinging about the cost of Nutella as well if I was still making the 35-45,000 a month I was making back in 1997. It's easy to fall into the Jimmy Buffett syndrome and lose years to 'wines and cheeses + cool summer breezes.' But let's not forget that even while sipping margaritas and smoking Thai stick, Jimmy still grows his business empire each year.

At times I do feel like if I was Thai I could really be one easy street because the cost of labor is cheap here. I have many business ideas now that I am fairly confident would be successful, but how do you do business in Thailand when you are not fluent in Thai? There really are endless possibilities for those with the capital to fool around.

[dave9988]

I'll bet some of those people who were saying rent, rent, rent, now wish they had bought when the Exchange was at 65 or 70 to one. If you consider the exchange rate rent has gone up 25-40% depending on where you are from. (other than US or Japan). You'd would have been way ahead buying assuming you are staying in LOS.

you are using "after the results" type logic here

people should have bought because the thai baht is stronger well in that case they should have shorted the usd or bought starbucks or bet their life savings on the celtics --- essentially either people predicted a strong baht or they didnt but you cant logically pat yourself on the back for buying at a weaker baht unless you predicted that it would get stronger

[Bangyai]

. im Just stating that everything i do here ends up costing me as much or more than in canada.

Everything ??? Maybe you should get out more ?

[bonobo]

In the US, my home is San Diego. In Thailand, my home is Bangkok. So my own personal comparison is between those two places.

Internet, phone, cable tv, televisions, cars, gas, many food items (I just paid 389 baht for 500 g of imported cherries, but I am also including many Thai-grown food items), wine, computers--all are less expensive in the US.

Housing is about the same. I could rent on a budget something cheaper here in Bangkok than the cheapest in the US, but for mid-level or nicer places, Bangkok prices are about the same as those in San Diego.

Many other food items, medical care, silk, locally-made clothing, soft drinks, electricity, massages, movies--these are all cheaper in Thailand.

On one hand, if I want decent beef, western food, or Japanese food, I am going to pay much more in Bangkok than I would in San Diego. On the other hand, after I work out, I usually go to a little street-side restaurant for outstanding garlic pepper pork, fried rice, mixed vegetables, a pineapple shake and a lime/orange shake, all for 120 baht. I can't touch that anywhere in the US.

Bottom line, some things are cheaper, some things are more expensive. I would guess I spend the same overall in both places. But I am not here for cost-of-living reasons. My job is here, yes, but I just like it here. So I pay more for some things and less for others and leave it at that.

[Theyreallrubbish]

This is something i forgot, thailand's food is definately not good for your body.

Been here over a year, im in my young 20's and keep in shape.. yet for the past 6months i have energy only 5hours a day.

I did some bloodtest. Iron levels, non existant, vitamin deficiency, creatinine levels non existant. list goes on and on..

No red meat here and the vegetables dont bring in enough nutriments that my far from frail body was used to in the west, even the milk doesnt give me enough calciums, my elbows and knees are killing me i have to spend over 5000baht a month in supplements here to have close to survival levels... and i eat tons of veggies, pork, chicken and drink 400baht of milk a week.

im also lacking all the minerals from the water.

so thats 5k on top of everything, since i didnt need that in canada.

As far as having fresh seafood near a resort.. well of course u dont get that for 20$ in the USA. but who the F wants to eat seafood everyday? It's far from healthy and what? you think seafood is clean in thailand? most of it is frozen and imported from places where theres no waste regulation.. so all your seafood is full of toxic products, so its definately not an 'advantage' over western countries.. although you can live in a sea province(cape code usa, new bruinswik canada) and get cheap seafood all year round without toxic waste embeded in it

Anyways i give up, you cant talk about standards of living when half the forum are poor and trying to condition themselves to like living like an homeless person... They try to make normal people feel bad about getting high-end products..

Yes live one life the cheapest you can, dont enjoy soft bath towels you just want to remove the water right?, dont enjoy quality tasty food(rice and chicken is enough right?), dont enjoy LCD tv's.. burn your kid's eyes with the old round TV.. its just images right? list goes on and on.

what a load of nonsense you come out with monkey boy......i have read some of your posts and i ask myself why the &lt;deleted&gt; do you stay in los?

your sentiments about seafood being unhealthy.....off course seafood is healthy, Its one of the best sources of protein, essential oils (fatty acids), and health-boosting nutrients. Shellfish is also v.good for you its low in fat and high in protein and minerals too. Thats probably why your feeling tired as you dont eat enough of it. you moan about lack of minerals in water, the water in los i can not comment on but you can get minerals from other sources other than water.

your vegetables sentiments - well i aint even going to waste my time on a knob like you because i think you post nonsense on here just to get a response from other bm. go back home you sad &lt;deleted&gt; wit

You're the one who should go back to where you came from, as obviously you haven't got rid of your Western aggression.

You are just a foul mouthed ignoramus and judging by your lack of communication skills, I wager you are from England, someone who would be better placed in a Dagenham council estate rather than the LOS.

Monkey boy talks rubbish and i pointed that out to him so whats your problem?

Actually dont even bother replying because I am not even going to argue with you. Your probably some spotty little jumped up nerd who hides behind a pc.

If you really have a problem with me i land in Bangkok 1st Jan. We can meet and you can tell me to my face what you think of my communication skills and then we will see how big you are. jerk!!

Let me guess, he'll be able to recognise you by your shaved head, tattoos and Singha T-shirt?