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[BigJohnnyBKK]

Hmm $5000 is about 154,000 baht per month. I would certainly have to work to live like that and not dip into savings. I've read alot about Phuket and Koh Samui and they sound...great. I have a thai friend from Samui who owns a restaurant in Seattle so I've talked to him alot about life on Samui. He has married a nice young Australian lady and she met him on Samui. Phuket looks very cool too. I constantly read those forums here on ThaiVisa.

Lately I'm thinking about Bangkok as it might be better so far as engineering work. One thing that has always sucked about being an engineer is that you have to live where the work is and it isn't usually on a tropical island lol. I once ran a tracking station for the Japanese National Space Agency on Kiribati Island (Christmas Island) in the south Pacific but it was actually a pretty difficult place to live and the native women were as ugly as you can imagine eheh.

Sounds like you want to keep working even if you don't "need" to. The ideal is telecommuting via the Internet - I'd advise shooting for the latter, all set up before you come over if possible. Otherwise BKK is definitely the place, try to then get a gig that gives a lot of time off, perhaps project-based stuff to allow you to travel around.

The only wildcard is your own stupidity wrt girls, otherwise if you're careful, you should be set up to live like a king.

I'd advise you pretend your budget is say B60K, try to bank the 40K for a rainy day and/or specialy projects, trips, sin sot whatever.

Don't scale up from that until you've satisfied yourself that you're not dipping into your savings. Much easier to scale up than down, terrible to **have to** scale down, and usually in times of trouble otherwise. . .

[bbradsby]

OP: don't assume that just because it's a university that it'll pay above a tinker's dam_n. I turned down a Bangkok univ's full-time position as it was offering the stellar rate of Bht. 26k per month. Caveat emptor. Thailand has too many ESL teachers IMHO already, so salary ranges will reflect this. Compare that to the supply in LoS of, for instance, aeronautical engineers... Your best pay will be for exercising your specialized areas of brainpower.

And before you buy a bike here, read the motorcycling forum thoroughly. At it's worst, rush-hour on the 405's got nothing on biking Thailand. Stuff hits the fan in the blink of an eye here...

[NaMah]

Sounds like you want to keep working even if you don't "need" to. The ideal is telecommuting via the Internet - I'd advise shooting for the latter, all set up before you come over if possible. Otherwise BKK is definitely the place, try to then get a gig that gives a lot of time off, perhaps project-based stuff to allow you to travel around.

The only wildcard is your own stupidity wrt girls, otherwise if you're careful, you should be set up to live like a king.

I'd advise you pretend your budget is say B60K, try to bank the 40K for a rainy day and/or specialy projects, trips, sin sot whatever.

Don't scale up from that until you've satisfied yourself that you're not dipping into your savings. Much easier to scale up than down, terrible to **have to** scale down, and usually in times of trouble otherwise. . .

OP: don't assume that just because it's a university that it'll pay above a tinker's dam_n. I turned down a Bangkok univ's full-time position as it was offering the stellar rate of Bht. 26k per month. Caveat emptor. Thailand has too many ESL teachers IMHO already, so salary ranges will reflect this. Compare that to the supply in LoS of, for instance, aeronautical engineers... Your best pay will be for exercising your specialized areas of brainpower.

And before you buy a bike here, read the motorcycling forum thoroughly. At it's worst, rush-hour on the 405's got nothing on biking Thailand. Stuff hits the fan in the blink of an eye here...

BigJohnnyBKK, I'm trying to setup some online businesses that might bring in some income. I've got a few ideas and some of them only require a few hundred dollars to implement so I'l try those.

As far as girls, I won't conceal that fact that I am attracted to beautiful Thai women and I've had many TGFs here in the states so I'm hoping that those experiences will help me. Moving to Thailand is like visiting the mothership lol. At my age I can rule out having children and that probably eliminates many potential partners for me because most younger women want kids. I'm corresponding with a 41 year old Thai woman in Udon Thani who is a government worker with a thai bachelors degree. She has been very nice, hasn't asked me for anything and doesn't have children so I make take up with her if all is what it seems. I won't rule out marriage but I've become used to living on my own and am very independent. I plan on staying very mobile, that is, I'm not going to accumulate stuff given the trouble I've had getting rid of all of my stuff here in the USA. I should be able to leave any place within a few hours and I'm going to try to keep that mobility because its become something quite valuable.

My current budget is 63k baht so that aligns with your statement pretty well. That means a small but clean apartment, motorcycle and gym membership with relatively generous budget for dining and entertainment. I would be saving 40k baht per month on that budget with no job. Not a lot but better than what I could do in the USA on my pension. Some discipline is required and that means not losing my head over a woman.

bbradsby, your post is *very* interesting. I would have to say, given that I have a small pension I would certainly be inclined to accept 26k baht per month for a full-time teaching position particularly if it were math or engineering. That would be enough to cover my rent and then some. I would work very hard and try to become somebody they viewed as indispensible as best as that could be accomplished by a foreigner. Of course I would like a high-paying engineering job but I would definitely consider a teaching position at that pay grade but only because I have supplemental income. What did you end up doing for a living if I may ask?

Regarding motorcycles, yeah I've got serious trepidation. I've owned many street bikes including big bikes and used to commute daily from Pasadena to El Segundo across Los Angeles but I'm more concerned about driving on the left than I am about my reaction to congestion and dangerous traffic. I'm concerned that my reactions will be all wrong and will get me killed or hurt someone else. I will probably be very reluctant to carry a passenger for a good long time until I'm sure that I've adjusted to left-side driving. I'll also likely start with a very very small motorcycle, probably a Thai style bike. I'll always wear a helmet and never ride in flip-flops. I know it is a dangerous proposition and the first month or so I'll probably use taxis while I evaluate the traffic and determine if I'm going to survive or not lol. I do appreciate your warning though and you can tell I'm giving it alot of thought.

Edited March 26, 2012 by NaMah

[bbradsby]

[snip]...What did you end up doing for a living if I may ask?

Regarding motorcycles, yeah I've got serious trepidation. I've owned many street bikes including big bikes and used to commute daily from Pasadena to El Segundo across Los Angeles but I'm more concerned about driving on the left than I am about my reaction to congestion and dangerous traffic. I'm concerned that my reactions will be all wrong and will get me killed or hurt someone else. I will probably be very reluctant to carry a passenger for a good long time until I'm sure that I've adjusted to left-side driving. I'll also likely start with a very very small motorcycle, probably a Thai style bike. I'll always wear a helmet and never ride in flip-flops. I know it is a dangerous proposition and the first month or so I'll probably use taxis while I evaluate the traffic and determine if I'm going to survive or not lol. I do appreciate your warning though and you can tell I'm giving it alot of thought.

I ended up consulting in my area of expertise - architecture, liaising & construction/project management for expats. I've taught some Workplace English as well, and will say that is satisfying as well.

As to the bike thing, driving on the 'other' side of the road becomes natural surprisingly quickly. The Problem is if you try to ride during periodic visits back home... daydreaming in the turn lane at a long red light; light turns green, and off ya go into oncoming traffic But IMHO, that part is easy compared to the random & lethal, often multi-ton risks thrown across a biker's path with but a blink's reaction time allowed for survival, pretty much continuously in urban traffic in LoS. You may see 18-Wheelers literally dart into your lane w/o warning as you check your sixes in beginning a lane split beside him. One can be made Dead very quickly here. Ride like youre invisible, all cagers & scooterists alike are drunken & homicidal idiots and you'll have a fighting chance.

Edited March 27, 2012 by bbradsby

[NaMah]

[snip]...What did you end up doing for a living if I may ask?

Regarding motorcycles, yeah I've got serious trepidation. I've owned many street bikes including big bikes and used to commute daily from Pasadena to El Segundo across Los Angeles but I'm more concerned about driving on the left than I am about my reaction to congestion and dangerous traffic. I'm concerned that my reactions will be all wrong and will get me killed or hurt someone else. I will probably be very reluctant to carry a passenger for a good long time until I'm sure that I've adjusted to left-side driving. I'll also likely start with a very very small motorcycle, probably a Thai style bike. I'll always wear a helmet and never ride in flip-flops. I know it is a dangerous proposition and the first month or so I'll probably use taxis while I evaluate the traffic and determine if I'm going to survive or not lol. I do appreciate your warning though and you can tell I'm giving it alot of thought.

I ended up consulting in my area of expertise - architecture, liaising & construction/project management for expats. I've taught some Workplace English as well, and will say that is satisfying as well.

As to the bike thing, driving on the 'other' side of the road becomes natural surprisingly quickly. The Problem is if you try to ride during periodic visits back home... daydreaming in the turn lane at a long red light; light turns green, and off ya go into oncoming traffic But IMHO, that part is easy compared to the random & lethal, often multi-ton risks thrown across a biker's path with but a blink's reaction time allowed for survival, pretty much continuously in urban traffic in LoS. You may see 18-Wheelers literally dart into your lane w/o warning as you check your sixes in beginning a lane split beside him. One can be made Dead very quickly here. Ride like youre invisible, all cagers & scooterists alike are drunken & homicidal idiots and you'll have a fighting chance.

I marvel at those who are able to make a living in Thailand and I'm determined to do the same. I'm going to enroll in a language course and live on a student visa. During that first year I'll look for work in my profession and also get a certificate that when combined with my bachelors degree will make me legal to teach.

I'll be taking taxi rides and use public transportation for awhile before I buy a motorcycle or car. I'm pretty sure I'll start out in Bangkok. I'm pretty excited to make the move and hope it works out.

[4evermaat]

Hi Kawaiimomo and some clarification on the AUD$5K Phuket monthly overhead.

> Honda Jazz THB17,000 Electricity THB1,400

> Villa (1 b/room / sep kitchen & lounge/veranda) in small 7 villa complex with community pool THB18,000

> Gym membership THB2,400

> Live in Thai girlfriend allowance THB10,000

> Gasoline, food, drink (for myself and girlfriend) THB90,000

> Misc expenses THB15,000

MONTHLY EXPENSES TOTAL THB154,000

And that doesn't include buying clothing or a quick trip to somewhere. After 12 month reconciliation of expenses the monthly overhead is probaly more like THB200,000

boy, you eat GOOD. either that, or a lot of meat, alcohol, or imported goods

"2nd best time to plant a tree is today." Sent from TV android app.