Is Anything Cheap In Thailand?

[smokie36]

I always ask people coming from the states to bring socks.

Are you selling them to German tourists? I've never worn a pair of socks in Thailand one of the pleasures of life here imo.

[somtampet]

most of those items you mentioned are one off items,and dont really relate to the cost of living day to day

you might want to compare the following

electricity

water

house rates

rent

houses

restaurants food prices

fruit

veges

That was easy wasnt it,doesnt the op know these things

[Donnyboy]

most of those items you mentioned are one off items,and dont really relate to the cost of living day to day

you might want to compare the following

electricity

water

house rates

rent

houses

restaurants food prices

fruit

veges

That was easy wasnt it,doesnt the op know these things

well im sure he does now, so to sum up, bring extra pair of socks when coming to live here

[kevozman1]

Bargains= Hotels

Restaurants

Chix of the night

Transportation

[crazyswede]

Fuel , travel , food and booze etc. is alot cheaper in Los then here in Falangland , i can also choise if i want to live cheap or not in Los .. that i can NOT here in Sweden!

[padfoot]

Just curious, what kind of house do you get for 1.7 million? I live in a 3 million bht house and find it to be very small with very little land. Is this the kind of house you would get in the UK for the 12,000,000 baht you described? For the equivalent of 3 million baht in the uSA I would get a much larger house and better designed house with a large garden. What I generally understand from the posts so far on this topic is if you want to live like a Thai that makes 10,000 baht a month and eat pork balls at food stalls life is cheap. However, If I want a Denon receiver that is made in Japan I should import it from the USA for a cheaper price. Apparently Thailand is not about middle class existence. You have to be rich using Thai standards to afford what our home countries offered for a basic middle class lifestyle .

Western style 3 bedroom bungalow with 1 en suite, 1 separate shower room, western interior kitchen, Thai outside kitchen, open plan living room, included 2 air con units and most furniture. Garden 2x floor area of house, outside covered dining area, car port and tiled drive for 2 cars, nice moobaan outside ChiangMai.

I didn't buy for the offered price of 1.7 million, but rented for 7,000bht a month. Pretty much what I had in the UK for 12million bht, but closer to a big city.

But take a look at some of the ads on Thai Visa

1.9 million

3 million 4 bed house with moat

1.2 million 2 houses 4 beds + 2 beds

Again, this all depends on where you live. I had a friend over here visiting from Rochester, NY. He was astounded at the housing prices. Where he is at, 3 million baht gets you well over 1 rai of land and a 2500 sq. ft. house. Here, 3 million baht hardly gets you a shack on a postage stamp size of land, even when you head well out past Rangsit and commute an hour and a half to work each day. Of course, you can always find cheap houses on farm land, as the post above shows. But then again, good farmland is alot cheaper in the US than it is here too. 50,000 baht for a rai of kaolin laden clay in the middle of Buriram with no road access? Some people here are nuts.

Depending on what you want to compare I suppose you could find some housing cheaper in Thailand. But when rating Bangkok against most other cities in the states you find the housing purchase prices in the suburbs of BKK substantially higher. Renting is still a little less, but that gap is closing fast as the USD falls and the THB rises.

Housing is definitely NOT cheap in Bangkok. Not by a long shot.

Food you buy at the market, service industry items like haircuts, and some types (not all types) of clothing are about the only cheap things left in Thailand. Just try buying a good pair of socks here in Thailand at a reasonable price. Walmart has them for 1/3 the price. I always ask people coming from the states to bring socks.

In Seattle you cannot find any place in any part of the city or it's suburbs for 3 million baht period, end of story.

[Kilgore Trout]

Electricity prices can vary whilst it may be true that in some cases it could b argued that on the whole Electricity is half the price of that in the west taking in to account that the normal rate for many house holds per unit is around 2,5 to 3 bht per unit, i would imagine that if like many condo owners are paying 7 bht a unit then the half price electricity compared to the west would be very questionable.

Also like many things that are cheaper in Thailand (supposedly) one often finds like in the case of electricity providers and even internet providers there is a constant problem with service, getting a constant supply, and getting what you actually paid for come to mind.

In general I do find things here cheaper but it comes at a price ...you pay for what you get or don't get as is many the case in Thailand.

We seem to wallow in the (supposedly) cheapness of things but the people of Thailand are the ones getting the raw deal giving the prices they have to pay if you take their wages in to account compared to the prices in the west and the wages people earn there.

Just an observation

Why would a condo "owner" be paying 7 baht for electricity? The only people who pay that are those that rent from "apartments" (not condos) where you pay electric to the building not the electric company and thus get over charged.

[Travel2003]

Is the OP talking about the prices compared to back in the west?

Or is he talking about the relative price level, based upon the average buying power the locals have here?

If just the prices, then absolutely everything is cheaper here than where Im from.

Maybe good red wine (imported of course), might be more pricy here.

[Ulysses G.]

In Seattle you cannot find any place in any part of the city or it's suburbs for 3 million baht period, end of story.

Besides that, he is not even right about the socks!

[ding]

Seattle would be 9-10 million Baht to enter, even now.

gregb, actually rents look like they're declining a bit, and as the Baht is essentially tied to the USD it's still cheap.

Renting seems like a better deal.

[wolf5370]

I think Brits find it heaper as housing, gas, electricity etc are down right expensive bak home. My lasy house before moving here was in the ountry, it had 4 beds, 2 receptions, breakfast room, conservatory, large kitchen (for the UK), double garage and a nice size garden (big enough for the kids etc - not big enough for a football match). It was worth just under half a million pounds just before the housing slump last year. I could get some serious house here for that sort of money! Living in CM, many houses for sale from half a millioj baht and up - a same size house with same size garden out of town as I was (which is actually better in the UK!) would cost me around 5 million baht up more or less (about 1/5 the price of the UK one!). Housing seems muh cheaper in the USA (I guess outside of pocket that are millioairesvilles and completely out of kilter).

Last time I rented in the UK was about 5 years ago (2 years between houses) - I rented a house similar to my house now (although I had an acre of land there, that I didn't really use much - exept for the odd garden party and target shooting). I paid 1500 pounds a month in the UK - here I have paid between 18,000 and 6,000 Baht a month (360 - 120 pounds) for similar places (the 18k was a 5 bed with a large garden - though no where near an acre - the 6k is a 4 bed house, but with small garden/yard).

Electricity always seems expensive to me here, but in the UK a lot of things run on gas - central heating, cooking etc - and no all for aircon or fans on all day. So, eletricity consisted of light, TV, DVD, Sat Box, computer, toaster/microwave/kettle - here its all that plus air con, fans, oven and hob, bug killers, etc. Just bought a gas bottle (my first here as I used electric up until now) and this is much cheaper, but means hanging bottles from time to time rather than coming via a main.

Food is double edged I find. If I shop for my own food to cook (i.e. not eating out) then I can easily eat cheaper in the UK. I can have a jaket potato, cheese and beans for less than 30p in the UK (tin of cheap beans from ADSA 9p, cheese slices about 4p/slice and potato comes in a 5kg bag for a couple of quid). Here I can have rice, fried veg et but buying fresh would cost me more. That's try to do like for like nrather than comparing western food in both places (which is unfair due to limited availablilty and export costs).

However, my monthly food shop here is the same as a week's back home cash-wise (though I buy little to none imported stuff - Nutella perhaps, or better dried pasta/tomato sauce). Thats is both a supermarkets - in both ountries I bought odds and ends from local stores (country living in the UK!) - like bread/eggs/salt/milk/water etc. Here I use the markets more, but only when I have guests or the mrs is here (and not abroad working).

Fuel is cheaper here than in the UK - but in Blighty its over 90% tax!

[l4gtimes]

Just curious, what kind of house do you get for 1.7 million? I live in a 3 million bht house and find it to be very small with very little land. Is this the kind of house you would get in the UK for the 12,000,000 baht you described? For the equivalent of 3 million baht in the uSA I would get a much larger house and better designed house with a large garden. What I generally understand from the posts so far on this topic is if you want to live like a Thai that makes 10,000 baht a month and eat pork balls at food stalls life is cheap. However, If I want a Denon receiver that is made in Japan I should import it from the USA for a cheaper price. Apparently Thailand is not about middle class existence. You have to be rich using Thai standards to afford what our home countries offered for a basic middle class lifestyle .

Western style 3 bedroom bungalow with 1 en suite, 1 separate shower room, western interior kitchen, Thai outside kitchen, open plan living room, included 2 air con units and most furniture. Garden 2x floor area of house, outside covered dining area, car port and tiled drive for 2 cars, nice moobaan outside ChiangMai.

I didn't buy for the offered price of 1.7 million, but rented for 7,000bht a month. Pretty much what I had in the UK for 12million bht, but closer to a big city.

But take a look at some of the ads on Thai Visa

1.9 million

3 million 4 bed house with moat

1.2 million 2 houses 4 beds + 2 beds

Again, this all depends on where you live. I had a friend over here visiting from Rochester, NY. He was astounded at the housing prices. Where he is at, 3 million baht gets you well over 1 rai of land and a 2500 sq. ft. house. Here, 3 million baht hardly gets you a shack on a postage stamp size of land, even when you head well out past Rangsit and commute an hour and a half to work each day. Of course, you can always find cheap houses on farm land, as the post above shows. But then again, good farmland is alot cheaper in the US than it is here too. 50,000 baht for a rai of kaolin laden clay in the middle of Buriram with no road access? Some people here are nuts.

Depending on what you want to compare I suppose you could find some housing cheaper in Thailand. But when rating Bangkok against most other cities in the states you find the housing purchase prices in the suburbs of BKK substantially higher. Renting is still a little less, but that gap is closing fast as the USD falls and the THB rises.

Housing is definitely NOT cheap in Bangkok. Not by a long shot.

Food you buy at the market, service industry items like haircuts, and some types (not all types) of clothing are about the only cheap things left in Thailand. Just try buying a good pair of socks here in Thailand at a reasonable price. Walmart has them for 1/3 the price. I always ask people coming from the states to bring socks.

All that may be true, but the "GFC" brought about partly by irresponsible home lending practices in the USA appears to have resulted in a substantial drop in housing prices in many areas of the States. So much so that in Australia there is an emerging trend for investors to purchase homes for rental in the States, at times for one fifth the price of a similar house in most Aussie capital cities!

So yes, I can see your point regarding comparisons between property prices in Thailand and USA, but for us poor Aussies paying megabucks for mediocre houses, Thailand prices are a huge attraction.

[samran]

I've always maintained that if you want to have a similar standard of living in LOS with that you had in the west, then you'll end up paying the same, if not more in Thailand. Sure, somethings maybe cheaper, but others ain't.

[Ulysses G.]

My opinion is that you can have a much higher standard of living in Thailand for a cheaper price, but you have to adapt to being in a different country and not insist on the same products.

If I moved from San Francisco to Florida, but had to have fresh San Francisco sour dough bread every day, I might have to do an Elvis and pay for transportation and things would be expensive - even though Florida is cheaper.

I live on much less here and have a much better life.

[neverdie]

electricity

is certainty not cheap in Thailand, it is 2 to 3 as expensive as most industrialized countries due to the obvious and often mentioned on this site problems with procurement in large and often bloated capital budget projects.

electricity in Thailand is half the price of that in Germany.

p.s. i use infinitely less heating oil in Thailand than i did in Germany

what about for cooling, did you use less than 250,000 baht worth of electricity per year in Germany for cooling? :jap:

[neverdie]

theres alot of washing machines on the market here that sell for 8-10,000 baht (& cheaper). I can't believe that Washing machines sell for less than $200 US, in the states, I imagine that wouldnt even cover the taxes?

[edwardandtubs]

If you eat the filthy, low-quality food on the street that wouldn't pass food safety regulations in any western country then yes Thailand in cheaper. If you actually want to cook a decent meal then Thailand is more expensive. A can of tomatoes from Tesco costs 33p in the UK but over £1 here in Thailand. Clothes seem a bit cheaper in the UK now compared to Thailand. At the lowest level you can pick up a Primark t-shirt for £3 (150 baht) which would be of higher quality that the crap they sell in Thai markets for the same price. At the higher levels, a shirt from Next would be cheaper in the UK than Thailand. Buying a car is much cheaper in the UK but running it is cheaper in Thailand. As for nightlife, a cheap bar in Thailand sells beer for the same price as a cheap pub in the UK, an expensive nightclub in the UK is about the same price as an expensive nightclub in Thailand. Accommodation is cheaper in Thailand but you can invest in the housing market in the UK with fewer hassles than in Thailand. I think anyone hoping to come to Thailand and save a lot of money will be disappointed.

[Ulysses G.]

There are plenty of clean, good quality restaurants selling very cheap Thai food all over the country and Thai bars (not tourist places) that sell a beer for much less than in the UK.. Rent is much, much cheaper and clothes are a similar price.

What you spend it Thailand mostly depends on where you live and how many imported luxury items that you need.

[maccaroni man]

If you eat the filthy, low-quality food on the street that wouldn't pass food safety regulations in any western country then yes Thailand in cheaper. If you actually want to cook a decent meal then Thailand is more expensive. A can of tomatoes from Tesco costs 33p in the UK but over £1 here in Thailand. Clothes seem a bit cheaper in the UK now compared to Thailand. At the lowest level you can pick up a Primark t-shirt for £3 (150 baht) which would be of higher quality that the crap they sell in Thai markets for the same price. At the higher levels, a shirt from Next would be cheaper in the UK than Thailand. Buying a car is much cheaper in the UK but running it is cheaper in Thailand. As for nightlife, a cheap bar in Thailand sells beer for the same price as a cheap pub in the UK, an expensive nightclub in the UK is about the same price as an expensive nightclub in Thailand. Accommodation is cheaper in Thailand but you can invest in the housing market in the UK with fewer hassles than in Thailand. I think anyone hoping to come to Thailand and save a lot of money will be disappointed.

I can never get my head around how clothes exported from thailand to the USA are more expencive to buy here. sunglasses at walmart for a buck here 100baht is cheap, T shirts walmart 1 dollars to 1.50 here 100 baht min. my toyota cost on par if not more than in the US, my ford suv was 35k dollars the same would be 28k max in the USA. shots of whiskey in the USA are at least 30 to 45ml here they seem to be 20ml which adds to the cost of the evening.

[HampiK]

If you eat the filthy, low-quality food on the street that wouldn't pass food safety regulations in any western country then yes Thailand in cheaper. If you actually want to cook a decent meal then Thailand is more expensive. A can of tomatoes from Tesco costs 33p in the UK but over £1 here in Thailand. Clothes seem a bit cheaper in the UK now compared to Thailand. At the lowest level you can pick up a Primark t-shirt for £3 (150 baht) which would be of higher quality that the crap they sell in Thai markets for the same price. At the higher levels, a shirt from Next would be cheaper in the UK than Thailand. Buying a car is much cheaper in the UK but running it is cheaper in Thailand. As for nightlife, a cheap bar in Thailand sells beer for the same price as a cheap pub in the UK, an expensive nightclub in the UK is about the same price as an expensive nightclub in Thailand. Accommodation is cheaper in Thailand but you can invest in the housing market in the UK with fewer hassles than in Thailand. I think anyone hoping to come to Thailand and save a lot of money will be disappointed.

But most what you wrote is cheaper in UK is because the £ is very bad in compare with Baht.

I'm a swiss gui, and in thailand almost everything is cheaper than here. Except cars and some luxury stuff.