Is Thailand Really Cheaper For You ?

[GarryP]

No one is saying it's "can't" be cheaper ..... I was asking if it ended up cheaper and if people felt it was worth it. I don't spend any less than in the USA just spend it on different things is all.

Maybe I just don't understand what your spending more or the same on??? Yes, there are a few import items that cost more.... But my rent is 60% cheaper. All my utilities are cheaper, going to the movies is half.... Hell, I spend 12 bucks on a haircut at Supercuts or GreatClips in the States, here 90thb.

I guess you can spend more on other things if you save on other things here. If I made more money in the US, I would most likely spend more money too........

If you can't spend less money here than in AUS, UK, or USA then you need help. JMHOIME

But you could get cheaper than that in a cardboard box in atlanta.

90baht for a haircut in thailand? well that means you're getting it from a cheap barber. You'd get it at the same price at a hair cutting school in atlanta. Most people in bangkok pay 300-500baht for a GOOD haircut. even thais. It's not cheaper, you're just getting a cheaper quality service because its easier to find them in thailand.

take pictures of your building and inside your room and compare it here with your atlanta place. your place will be 60% to 100% worse.

That is just silly on so many levels. Most people in Bangkok pay 60 baht or less for a haircut to begin with. Also most people in Thailand don't live in Bangkok. Face it pilgrim. You don't have much experience in Thailand.

My local barber upped his prices and a hair cut is now 75 Baht. People who ride motorbikes to those who drive Mercedes Benzes use the same barber. I agree with Kerry, you don't have a clue.

[Hostile17]

But you could get cheaper than that in a cardboard box in atlanta.

You can not compare a clean, comfortable room with bath to a cardboard box. Your comparisons are ridiculous. One can live very cheaply in Thailand and still be somewhat sabai, sabai. That is not easy in the West.

You can not compare a clean, comfortable room with a bath to four rotten walls with ratpiss pouring out of a hole on top of a toilet filled with cockroaches.

[Hostile17]

No one is saying it's "can't" be cheaper ..... I was asking if it ended up cheaper and if people felt it was worth it. I don't spend any less than in the USA just spend it on different things is all.

Maybe I just don't understand what your spending more or the same on??? Yes, there are a few import items that cost more.... But my rent is 60% cheaper. All my utilities are cheaper, going to the movies is half.... Hell, I spend 12 bucks on a haircut at Supercuts or GreatClips in the States, here 90thb.

I guess you can spend more on other things if you save on other things here. If I made more money in the US, I would most likely spend more money too........

If you can't spend less money here than in AUS, UK, or USA then you need help. JMHOIME

But you could get cheaper than that in a cardboard box in atlanta.

90baht for a haircut in thailand? well that means you're getting it from a cheap barber. You'd get it at the same price at a hair cutting school in atlanta. Most people in bangkok pay 300-500baht for a GOOD haircut. even thais. It's not cheaper, you're just getting a cheaper quality service because its easier to find them in thailand.

take pictures of your building and inside your room and compare it here with your atlanta place. your place will be 60% to 100% worse.

That is just silly on so many levels. Most people in Bangkok pay 60 baht or less for a haircut to begin with. Also most people in Thailand don't live in Bangkok. Face it pilgrim. You don't have much experience in Thailand.

Buzzing an ugly army haircut isnt getting your haircut, you can do this for free at home. A real haircut is minimum 180baht in small shops and usualy 300baht+ for something decent. Not everyone wants to look like crap.

living like a homeless person would does not qualify you as knowing thailand.

Edited June 12, 2012 by Hostile17

[MB1]

I'm certainly not arguing about how expensive rates and taxes are ln the UK, I'm just amused that most people who have mentioned the cost of them seem to pay the higher end of the bands.

Is it just a Thai Visa thing and everyone is rich or do they just pretend to be.

Those who have the funds to retire to a foreign country usually have a bit more cash than the average person.

So they wouldn't have been living in a council flat. How hard is that to understand?

Whoa easy tiger and steady on, you mention council flats. Well if you did live in one don't blame me and as a point I"d say many a person in the UK have made a nice tidy profit by buying and selling their council flats by taking their right to buy.

A lot of people in the UK probably would have not got on the property ladder if it had not of been for the scheme.

You said "usually have a bit more cash".

Well maybe so but me thinks that many expats especially the older ones just don't have enough cash or investments anymore to be able to stay and are going home to their home countries, I do actually talk to expats when in Thailand and it's a familiar story.

You only need to go to somewhere like Pattaya and meet and talk to some of the expats there and see that their living on the bread line and living a crappy lifestyle but don't have the funds to have a better lifestyle but they refuse to go home and are prepared to live the cheapest way possible.

I met one in Family Bar Soi Diane in April who told me that he had done the bulk of his funds in, had no property in Thailand or the UK but had no intention of ever going home and would rather take a leap off a high rise.

That for some is the reality of Thailand.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Thaivisa Connect App

Edited June 12, 2012 by MB1

[TommoPhysicist]

You said "usually have a bit more cash".

Well maybe so but me thinks that many expats especially the older ones just don't have enough cash or investments anymore to be able to stay and are going home to their home countries, I do actually talk to expats when in Thailand and it's a familiar story.

I think they all had much more money than the average Joe ..... when they came here.

Thai girls don't leave much for you to take back.

But it's fun while it lasts.

[MB1]

You said "usually have a bit more cash".

Well maybe so but me thinks that many expats especially the older ones just don't have enough cash or investments anymore to be able to stay and are going home to their home countries, I do actually talk to expats when in Thailand and it's a familiar story.

I think they all had much more money than the average Joe ..... when they came here.

Thai girls don't leave much for you to take back.

But it's fun while it lasts.

Yeah Tommo to some it's fun while it lasts but when it's gone it's gone and some people have no way of earning large amounts of money anymore and go back home to work again for an average wage or live on benifits with their memories to keep them, happy or bitter whichever 1 it may be.

Or IMO the clever ones get out with some cash and investments left after they realise that if they spend it all, their up s**t creek without a paddle.

I don't know if I would want to live in Thailand full time and whilst I'm still making good money in the UK IMHO I'd be a fool to stop work now to come to Thailand and live which is why I choose to come over regular and spend what I spend.

I"d rather spend some of my money now on things I enjoy and people I enjoy being with and enjoy life whilst I"m a youngish 50 year old with no erectile disfunction problems, I'd hate to get to 60 or 65 lets say and have wads of cash to spend but was unable to function.

So for now whilst I'm able to do as I'm doing having fun It's cash well spent, for me anyway.

Just my opinions.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Thaivisa Connect App

[cooked]

well as always, questions about THAILAND are answered as if everyone lives in BANGKOK or PATTAYA. You guys should get out more.

You do not get a filthy piss stinking rat's nest for ฿5000.- in Isaan, you get a quite nice modern house. You get a good haircut for ฿30.-. I live very well with my wife on ฿45 000.- a month. I do not have pretensions to be be someone who 'simply must have the basic luxuries in life, my dear'.

Yes it is cheaper to live here for some people, probably for those that stay away from Bangkok and don't complain about the price of whores and beer. (I have a Thai wife and make my own beer).

[edwinclapham]

well as always, questions about THAILAND are answered as if everyone lives in BANGKOK or PATTAYA. You guys should get out more.

You do not get a filthy piss stinking rat's nest for ฿5000.- in Isaan, you get a quite nice modern house. You get a good haircut for ฿30.-. I live very well with my wife on ฿45 000.- a month. I do not have pretensions to be be someone who 'simply must have the basic luxuries in life, my dear'.

Yes it is cheaper to live here for some people, probably for those that stay away from Bangkok and don't complain about the price of whores and beer. (I have a Thai wife and make my own beer).

Totally agree there Cooked. My father lives a comfortable life on little In Isaan ... He would not be able to survive in his native land.

Edited June 12, 2012 by edwinclapham

[kokesaat]

My wife and I are living in 'assisted living' facilities. We're both 62, have 2.5 rai of land in the countryside. Our yard is manicured and landscaped as we desire by our full time gardener. His wife is our maid. She cleans our home spic and span, washes and feeds our dogs and parrots, washes, irons, and folds our clothes. She knows how to make a perfect cappuccino in my bialetti coffee maker and she prepares my morning breakfast without my asking. Both gardener and maid live in a furnished bungalow behind our home. We pay them well....by Isaan standards. For that luxury we dole out about 16,000 baht in wages and another 2000 in various benefits per month.

Sometimes when my wife and I are enjoying our morning coffee/tea (prepared by our maid), I can't help but think that most everyone I know back in the US, same age as us, are still working full time, paying many more bills than my wife and I ever pay over here.

[transam]

My wife and I are living in 'assisted living' facilities. We're both 62, have 2.5 rai of land in the countryside. Our yard is manicured and landscaped as we desire by our full time gardener. His wife is our maid. She cleans our home spic and span, washes and feeds our dogs and parrots, washes, irons, and folds our clothes. She knows how to make a perfect cappuccino in my bialetti coffee maker and she prepares my morning breakfast without my asking. Both gardener and maid live in a furnished bungalow behind our home. We pay them well....by Isaan standards. For that luxury we dole out about 16,000 baht in wages and another 2000 in various benefits per month.

Sometimes when my wife and I are enjoying our morning coffee/tea (prepared by our maid), I can't help but think that most everyone I know back in the US, same age as us, are still working full time, paying many more bills than my wife and I ever pay over here.

For sure, and the happy Thai couple are VERY happy. Always said here that if you have a little extra cash then you can have a near perfect life in LOS. Well done.

[edwinclapham]

My wife and I are living in 'assisted living' facilities. We're both 62, have 2.5 rai of land in the countryside. Our yard is manicured and landscaped as we desire by our full time gardener. His wife is our maid. She cleans our home spic and span, washes and feeds our dogs and parrots, washes, irons, and folds our clothes. She knows how to make a perfect cappuccino in my bialetti coffee maker and she prepares my morning breakfast without my asking. Both gardener and maid live in a furnished bungalow behind our home. We pay them well....by Isaan standards. For that luxury we dole out about 16,000 baht in wages and another 2000 in various benefits per month.

Sometimes when my wife and I are enjoying our morning coffee/tea (prepared by our maid), I can't help but think that most everyone I know back in the US, same age as us, are still working full time, paying many more bills than my wife and I ever pay over here.

I would imagine the benefits are felt both ways, and this is the sort of post I love seeing on TV. Long may it continue.

Eddie

[Soutpeel]

well as always, questions about THAILAND are answered as if everyone lives in BANGKOK or PATTAYA. You guys should get out more.

You do not get a filthy piss stinking rat's nest for ฿5000.- in Isaan, you get a quite nice modern house. You get a good haircut for ฿30.-. I live very well with my wife on ฿45 000.- a month. I do not have pretensions to be be someone who 'simply must have the basic luxuries in life, my dear'.

Yes it is cheaper to live here for some people, probably for those that stay away from Bangkok and don't complain about the price of whores and beer. (I have a Thai wife and make my own beer).

What happens if you dont want to live in the wilds of Issan because you find it too "rustic" ?

[edwinclapham]

well as always, questions about THAILAND are answered as if everyone lives in BANGKOK or PATTAYA. You guys should get out more.

You do not get a filthy piss stinking rat's nest for ฿5000.- in Isaan, you get a quite nice modern house. You get a good haircut for ฿30.-. I live very well with my wife on ฿45 000.- a month. I do not have pretensions to be be someone who 'simply must have the basic luxuries in life, my dear'.

Yes it is cheaper to live here for some people, probably for those that stay away from Bangkok and don't complain about the price of whores and beer. (I have a Thai wife and make my own beer).

What happens if you dont want to live in the wilds of Issan because you find it too "rustic" ?

Southpeel, my father lived for years in Bangkok. He did Bangkok so to speak.. Living in Issan has knocked years off him.. no traffic, a healthier way of life, better social contacts.. this suits him down to the ground and it is affordable.

He has his trips over to Laos and Vietnam which he loves...

I realise its not for everyone, but it is an affordable alternative lifestyle which is better than the west in many respects.

[Ulysses G.]

well as always, questions about THAILAND are answered as if everyone lives in BANGKOK or PATTAYA. You guys should get out more.

You do not get a filthy piss stinking rat's nest for ฿5000.- in Isaan, you get a quite nice modern house. You get a good haircut for ฿30.-. I live very well with my wife on ฿45 000.- a month. I do not have pretensions to be be someone who 'simply must have the basic luxuries in life, my dear'.

Yes it is cheaper to live here for some people, probably for those that stay away from Bangkok and don't complain about the price of whores and beer. (I have a Thai wife and make my own beer).

What happens if you dont want to live in the wilds of Issan because you find it too "rustic" ?

Try Chiang Mai. You can get a nice, clean room with aircon, cable TV and bath for 5,000 baht downtown and perhaps a house if you live in the suburbs. There is plenty of farang stuff to do and you can eat as cheaply as you need to if you are OK with Thai food.

Edited June 12, 2012 by Ulysses G.

[transam]

well as always, questions about THAILAND are answered as if everyone lives in BANGKOK or PATTAYA. You guys should get out more.

You do not get a filthy piss stinking rat's nest for ฿5000.- in Isaan, you get a quite nice modern house. You get a good haircut for ฿30.-. I live very well with my wife on ฿45 000.- a month. I do not have pretensions to be be someone who 'simply must have the basic luxuries in life, my dear'.

Yes it is cheaper to live here for some people, probably for those that stay away from Bangkok and don't complain about the price of whores and beer. (I have a Thai wife and make my own beer).

What happens if you dont want to live in the wilds of Issan because you find it too "rustic" ?

Try Chiang Mai. You can get a nice, clean room with aircon, cable TV and bath for 5,000 baht downtown and perhaps a house if you live in the suburbs. There is plenty of farang stuff to do and you can eat as cheaply as you need to if you are OK with Thai food.

AND have McD's and BK.

[cooked]

well as always, questions about THAILAND are answered as if everyone lives in BANGKOK or PATTAYA. You guys should get out more.

You do not get a filthy piss stinking rat's nest for ฿5000.- in Isaan, you get a quite nice modern house. You get a good haircut for ฿30.-. I live very well with my wife on ฿45 000.- a month. I do not have pretensions to be be someone who 'simply must have the basic luxuries in life, my dear'.

Yes it is cheaper to live here for some people, probably for those that stay away from Bangkok and don't complain about the price of whores and beer. (I have a Thai wife and make my own beer).

What happens if you dont want to live in the wilds of Issan because you find it too "rustic" ?

Try Chiang Mai. You can get a nice, clean room with aircon, cable TV and bath for 5,000 baht downtown and perhaps a house if you live in the suburbs. There is plenty of farang stuff to do and you can eat as cheaply as you need to if you are OK with Thai food.

Chiang Mai: I have asthma and would probably die before my time if I lived there in the 'smoky season'. I would move there like a shot without that.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

90baht for a haircut in thailand? well that means you're getting it from a cheap barber.

. . .

Buzzing an ugly army haircut isnt getting your haircut, you can do this for free at home. A real haircut is minimum 180baht in small shops and usualy 300baht+ for something decent. Not everyone wants to look like crap.

What a crock.

There are dozens of hair salons and barber shops within a few blocks of me and not one of them charges more than 60 baht for a man's haircut, and many do an excellent job, from the fancy Korean styles to a traditional 50's short back and sides - I never let them use the buzzer except to clean up around the edges.

You sound like you've gotten infected with the face thing here, have to be at a fancy salon with beautiful-people staff and customers just to make yourself feel like a big shot.

And just compare apples to apples anyway - that sort of place was minimum $60 back home over ten years ago, probably $100+ now.

What happens if you dont want to live in the wilds of Issan because you find it too "rustic" ?

Then you have to pay more, just as you do to live in London or Brighton rather than [insert rustic northern village here].

[cooked]

mm... mr tjhorner... you will with time notice that certain posters are coming up again and again, some of them may be very annoying... and you find that you seem invariably in agreement with certain others. I think that you will find that the trolls go hide and start annoying someone else when they notice that they are being laughed at, so keep up the good work!

[kerryk]

mm... mr tjhorner... you will with time notice that certain posters are coming up again and again, some of them may be very annoying... and you find that you seem invariably in agreement with certain others. I think that you will find that the trolls go hide and start annoying someone else when they notice that they are being laughed at, so keep up the good work!

Most of us are somewhere in between but there are some who are always against Thailand or the current government or natives of a particular Western country. They never have mixed feelings or never find good and bad only one or the other. Sure they are trolls and something more than trolls actually. Trolls with a agenda.

[onionluke]

^

A blue rinse , or blonde and black streaks , will set you back considerably more than 300¬500 bhat . If you want leoperd skin spots , on the other hand , better to get a mate to do it . You can find all the gear commonly lying around in the back of the pantry .

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Btw a good haircut lasts 3-4months. A 70baht 'haircut' lasts 1week and you simply look like a thai kid from a cheap public school.

Feeding the troll.

My hair grows out well over a cm per month, so your recommendation was fine when I had it down past the middle of my back, but not these days - when I've got none on top I'd look like a real egghead-longhair.

If I get past three weeks my kids start to make fun of me. . .

[metisdead]

An inflammatory post and a reply have been removed.

[tjhorner]

Btw a good haircut lasts 3-4months. A 70baht 'haircut' lasts 1week and you simply look like a thai kid from a cheap public school.

Feeding the troll.

My hair grows out well over a cm per month, so your recommendation was fine when I had it down past the middle of my back, but not these days - when I've got none on top I'd look like a real egghead-longhair.

If I get past three weeks my kids start to make fun of me. . .

As to think the quality or the cost of a haircut determines the speed at which ones hair will grow..... Hmmm, sounds like an episode for Myth Busters.

dam_n it.... I told you not to feed him!!!!!

[Hostile17]

Btw a good haircut lasts 3-4months. A 70baht 'haircut' lasts 1week and you simply look like a thai kid from a cheap public school.

Feeding the troll.

My hair grows out well over a cm per month, so your recommendation was fine when I had it down past the middle of my back, but not these days - when I've got none on top I'd look like a real egghead-longhair.

If I get past three weeks my kids start to make fun of me. . .

As to think the quality or the cost of a haircut determines the speed at which ones hair will grow..... Hmmm, sounds like an episode for Myth Busters.

dam_n it.... I told you not to feed him!!!!!

Sorry sir genius, if you had not been drunk from trying to find a wife at nana you might have been able to do some research on google and learn that a good haircut allows the hair to grow into a manner where you'll still look good. A cheap haircut will be uneven and it will show as soon as the hair grows a bit.

[cooked]

...what's the opposite of a genius? Halfwit? Ok, sorry halfwit sir, I think you have been living too long in Thailand and place too much value on external appearances. I don't know what you look like, but the image that you present on this forum is certainly not a lovable one.

[OriginalPoster]

It definitely costs me more to live here than in the US, though I do know a lot of farangs who live on a fraction of what I could live on in either place and seem to be perfectly happy.

Edited June 12, 2012 by OriginalPoster

[edwinclapham]

It definitely costs me more to live here than in the US, though I do know a lot of farangs who live on a fraction of what I could live on in either place and seem to be perfectly happy.

I mean this without any malice at all..seriously! I am intrigued. Could you perhaps outline your expenditure in Thailand v the US a little more please.

[edwinclapham]

Btw a good haircut lasts 3-4months. A 70baht 'haircut' lasts 1week and you simply look like a thai kid from a cheap public school.

Feeding the troll.

My hair grows out well over a cm per month, so your recommendation was fine when I had it down past the middle of my back, but not these days - when I've got none on top I'd look like a real egghead-longhair.

If I get past three weeks my kids start to make fun of me. . .

As to think the quality or the cost of a haircut determines the speed at which ones hair will grow..... Hmmm, sounds like an episode for Myth Busters.

dam_n it.... I told you not to feed him!!!!!

Sorry sir genius, if you had not been drunk from trying to find a wife at nana you might have been able to do some research on google and learn that a good haircut allows the hair to grow into a manner where you'll still look good. A cheap haircut will be uneven and it will show as soon as the hair grows a bit.

Pathetic, really pathetic! why people have to let themselves down so badly I will never understand~

[Gary A]

Regarding the haircut remarks, the local village barber has raised his price to 25 baht and now to 30 baht. It hasn't affected me because I have always given him 40 baht and still do. Yes, I get a buzz cut and always go to him because I hate to sit in a barber's chair. It takes about ten minutes and I am on my way.

I guess that most posters are more cultured than me. On the few occasions when I/we travel I avoid fancy hotels and especially avoid fancy restaurants. I refuse to dress up when going to a restaurant. My standard seven days a week uniform is shorts, a T shirt and flip flops. I used to wear long pants and a collared shirt when I went to immigration but have since given that up too.

The bottom line is that I don't have to impress anyone and live exactly as I want to live. I do have a weakness for toys and have many expensive toys that I certainly don't need but it's my money and I spend it as I choose. My Thai wife uses no makeup, not even lipstick and does not own a dress. She is a simple farm girl and works hard. At 45 years of age, she is very fit.

[kerryk]

It definitely costs me more to live here than in the US, though I do know a lot of farangs who live on a fraction of what I could live on in either place and seem to be perfectly happy.

I mean this without any malice at all..seriously! I am intrigued. Could you perhaps outline your expenditure in Thailand v the US a little more please.

The altitude here makes his hair grow quicker.