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Things Which Are More Expensive In Thailand Than In Your Home Country?


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Posted

The classic cold rice and rat meat dishes would probably run you substantially more in your home country. You must squat while you eat it here though, and wear one of those vietnam hats.

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Posted

Like Jim Rogers said, 1807 was the time to move to London, 1907 to NYC and 2007 Asia.wai2.gif

He didn't mean Thailand. He doesn't buy Thailand. He meant the thriving international exporters like Singapore and China and S. Korea.

Thailand still has far to go in producing an educated and willing workforce, and working international trade laws. The wealth in Thailand is for the few.

I think one of the best examples of a super successful 3rd world country rising from the ashes is Hong Kong. When they got their new government apart from China, that government existed to protect private property and to do little else. People were free to do as it suited them and that strange word capitalism took off. Hong Kong may just be the richest place per capita on the globe.

Time to fess up NeverSure. You'all don't know Jim Rogers and have no idea what he means.

Jim Rogers and Marc Farber debate a lot.

They are both rich guys who live in Asia. Marc lives in Chiang Mai and thinks China is not the bees knees any more.

But again you missed my point. Thailand is in Asia unless geography has changed in the last few minutes. The US Dollar has crashed vs the Thai Baht in the past few years. People who had converted made a lot of money. If you had sold your condo in Texas in 2005 and bought one in Bangkok now you would not be singing the blues. smile.png

Posted

Like Jim Rogers said, 1807 was the time to move to London, 1907 to NYC and 2007 Asia.wai2.gif

He didn't mean Thailand. He doesn't buy Thailand. He meant the thriving international exporters like Singapore and China and S. Korea.

Thailand still has far to go in producing an educated and willing workforce, and working international trade laws. The wealth in Thailand is for the few.

I think one of the best examples of a super successful 3rd world country rising from the ashes is Hong Kong. When they got their new government apart from China, that government existed to protect private property and to do little else. People were free to do as it suited them and that strange word capitalism took off. Hong Kong may just be the richest place per capita on the globe.

Time to fess up NeverSure. You'all don't know Jim Rogers and have no idea what he means.

Jim Rogers and Marc Farber debate a lot.

They are both rich guys who live in Asia. Marc lives in Chiang Mai and thinks China is not the bees knees any more.

But again you missed my point. Thailand is in Asia unless geography has changed in the last few minutes. The US Dollar has crashed vs the Thai Baht in the past few years. People who had converted made a lot of money. If you had sold your condo in Texas in 2005 and bought one in Bangkok now you would not be singing the blues. smile.png

Well, Rogers had his on show on Fox News and he's still a regular contributor on there. Especially, he's regularly on the Neil Cavuto show, and Neil is the head of Fox News. I don't always agree with him but hey, he's the rich one. I just don't get his relationship with George Soros.

Now, about currencies. You cannot guess the future based on the past. See, just 15 years ago the baht was worth 25 to the dollar. Then it crashed and went to more like 50 and has only done well enough to get back to about 31. So it's still way behind what it was 15 years ago. If you bought baht 15 years ago you lost your ass. If you bought Thai real estate 15 years ago you lost your ass.

Cycles come and go, are manipulated by those in power, and the little guy has little chance to guess the future. The future is always a gamble.

Anyway, the US dollar, the Pound, the Australian and Canadian dollars are all WAY ahead of the baht over the past 15 years, so let's use that time frame instead, OK?

Why be so myopic as to only be able to see the past 5 or 10 years? That does NOT a historian make.

Posted

Like Jim Rogers said, 1807 was the time to move to London, 1907 to NYC and 2007 Asia.wai2.gif

He didn't mean Thailand. He doesn't buy Thailand. He meant the thriving international exporters like Singapore and China and S. Korea.

Thailand still has far to go in producing an educated and willing workforce, and working international trade laws. The wealth in Thailand is for the few.

I think one of the best examples of a super successful 3rd world country rising from the ashes is Hong Kong. When they got their new government apart from China, that government existed to protect private property and to do little else. People were free to do as it suited them and that strange word capitalism took off. Hong Kong may just be the richest place per capita on the globe.

When was Hong Kong a 3rd world country ? You mean when if was hardly populated at all island, or when it was a British Outpost ? i don't get it.

Posted

Like Jim Rogers said, 1807 was the time to move to London, 1907 to NYC and 2007 Asia.wai2.gif

He didn't mean Thailand. He doesn't buy Thailand. He meant the thriving international exporters like Singapore and China and S. Korea.

Thailand still has far to go in producing an educated and willing workforce, and working international trade laws. The wealth in Thailand is for the few.

I think one of the best examples of a super successful 3rd world country rising from the ashes is Hong Kong. When they got their new government apart from China, that government existed to protect private property and to do little else. People were free to do as it suited them and that strange word capitalism took off. Hong Kong may just be the richest place per capita on the globe.

Time to fess up NeverSure. You'all don't know Jim Rogers and have no idea what he means.

Jim Rogers and Marc Farber debate a lot.

They are both rich guys who live in Asia. Marc lives in Chiang Mai and thinks China is not the bees knees any more.

But again you missed my point. Thailand is in Asia unless geography has changed in the last few minutes. The US Dollar has crashed vs the Thai Baht in the past few years. People who had converted made a lot of money. If you had sold your condo in Texas in 2005 and bought one in Bangkok now you would not be singing the blues. smile.png

Well, Rogers had his on show on Fox News and he's still a regular contributor on there. Especially, he's regularly on the Neil Cavuto show, and Neil is the head of Fox News. I don't always agree with him but hey, he's the rich one. I just don't get his relationship with George Soros.

Now, about currencies. You cannot guess the future based on the past. See, just 15 years ago the baht was worth 25 to the dollar. Then it crashed and went to more like 50 and has only done well enough to get back to about 31. So it's still way behind what it was 15 years ago. If you bought baht 15 years ago you lost your ass. If you bought Thai real estate 15 years ago you lost your ass.

Cycles come and go, are manipulated by those in power, and the little guy has little chance to guess the future. The future is always a gamble.

Anyway, the US dollar, the Pound, the Australian and Canadian dollars are all WAY ahead of the baht over the past 15 years, so let's use that time frame instead, OK?

Why be so myopic as to only be able to see the past 5 or 10 years? That does NOT a historian make.

You wrote, “You cannot guess the future based on the past.” Nonsense. That is why people study history. That is why people study the Great Depression. The future is always based on the past. Too much rain, no drainage and the place floods. The only things that don't learn from the past are geese. You have heard the expression, “Goose in a new world.”

You wrote, "See, just 15 years ago the baht was worth 25 to the dollar. Then it crashed and went to more like 50 and has only done well enough to get back to about 31." No that is false. The Western currencies with few exceptions crashed against the baht, Aussie dollar and other currencies for a variety of reasons.

You wrote, “If you bought Thai real estate 15 years ago you lost your ass.” That is perhaps the most foolish and wrong thing you have posted here today.

Posted

<p>As always, it's horses for courses.

I'm only able to compare UK and Thailand prices, but renting a house in Thailand is far cheaper than renting in the UK, so - local fruit and veg are far cheaper, chicken and pork are far cheaper too. Plus, no council tax.

IMO, the true basics - housing and food are far cheaper in Thailand (as long as you don't expect the same food). Not sure whether elec is more expensive or not and if you want Western food, it is far more expensive.

'Buying' land is cheaper (outside the popular areas), as is house construction costs for a basic house. But the house is likely to be sub-standard (compared to the UK).

Food in Thailand has gone up a lot over the past few years and so have petrol and houses. Petrol in the UK is £1.37/ltr (67 baht). Renting a house in South East England is very expensive, 60,000+ baht/month and that's for a small 4 bed detached house with a double garage and a small garden, nothing special. Buying local food in England is also expensive unless you shop at Lidl or similar while house and car insurance are a total rip off. Then you have council tax on average >£1,000/year, electricity is on average also over £1,000/year, gas another £1,000/year and water about £500/year. Yes you can drink the water straight out of the tap if you like the taste of chlorine. Bottled water is the choice of many and that's expensive too. So you want to drive into London that will be £5 sir! Parking well in every town or city the chances of finding somewhere within walking distance that is free and not limited to an hour at most is difficult. Parking meters abound as do traffic wardens! Then you have lots of large stores but most do not offer free parking or any parking and if you need to park at your local hospital then again you have to pay the same as at all town centre car parks. I could go on and on................... Yes I do own my house and LAND in England and I don't have to fill in a TM7 or extend my stay every year and nor do Thais with leave to stay in England. However, if you decide to live abroad you weigh up the pro's and con's first.

Now anyone telling me it's more expensive to live in Thailand must have a very poor memory.

More and more I'm getting the impression that it must be very expensive to live in parts of the UK, just as it is in some major cities in the US. However, if I choose small town US, it all changes.

I could choose to live in a town small enough that I could get around on a scooter, and rent would be very affordable. Many other things would be cheaper tha LOS too, including as I've mentioned that I'd get full health ins. coverage for $125 per month via Medicare for seniors. Gas is still under $US4.00 a US gallon here, and good food is actually cheaper.

Some forget that at least in the US, we are bombarded daily with coupons in the newspaper for big sales. Buy one, get one free etc.

Cars and motorcycles are cheap here and I pay about $500 a year per vehicle for full coverage. I could get it on a scooter for more like $200.

Here is a link to rentals in Galveston Texas. I don't live near there, but I chose it for the warm weather and the low cost of living. If one moved to a very small town 30 miles from Galveston, it would get even cheaper. Live like some do in LOS, and I can't see how the cost would increase. Not only that, but the water and all food would be safe. There would also be safety nets for the low income people.

http://galveston.craigslist.org/apa/

I keep posting links to prices, and challenging people to post links to similar in LOS, but I get no takers.

Edit. Can you really beat this by a ton in LOS, full American style with central heat and air a given? All to US standards?

http://galveston.cra...3335919280.html

Who in God's name would want to live in Galveston??? And that's the problem with most of your cheap options. Yeah, you can buy a house in Missouri on several acres for $100,000 but I sure as hell would not want to live there.

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Posted

I keep posting links to prices, and challenging people to post links to similar in LOS, but I get no takers.

Thailand doesn't buy and sell everything by the internet, so impossible to do.

Any links we could find would be in Thai, so impossible for you to read.

Finally, those links in English are aimed at foreigners (considered fools by many in Thailand) and so would be 2x to 3x the normal asking prices.

I have never seen anywhere worth renting, in Thailand, advertised on the Internet, sign on the gate is usual.

Posted

I have no knowledge of the busses yet I possess a ticket to travel on Sunday,wake up and smell the coffee old chap

Old chap if you think busses are good and inexpensive in the UK you have never been on NakhonChai Air. How much to go 600k in the UK? How much by taxi, old chap? I go 60K in a new AC taxi for 250 baht.

Again mr genius you are comparing one small region of thailand. In phuket 250b is the price to SIT in the tuktuk(taxi starts higher)

Most small towns in thailand have NO transportation system. In the west you have buses in every little town.

And people comparing bangkok taxis and BTS to the subway in other country are not even considering monthly pass. Monthly pass in the west makes it cheaper than in thailand.

Absolute nonsense. Most small towns in the US have no public transportation. In some big cities like Detroit taxi drivers are afraid to go a lot of places. You are just spewing venom like a snake with a leak. What is your point? If you are that unhappy tell us all why on earth you stay? Maybe somewhere you can make sense of your attitude? Did they get the INTERNET in your wing at the Thai jail or something? Why, why would you go on about Canada? Who wants to go to Canada? Look at the population per square mile. No one wants to live in Canada. The poor people who do live there have to leave Thailand 6 months a year or loose their health insurance. If that was not the case the whole population would move to Thailand. So tell us BJ just why the heck are you here? A woman perhaps?

To stick up for Canada, and to state a fact, many, many people would love to Live In Canada, as many who would love to live in Australia, but you can just move to Canada, or even get a visa without good reason. The pop density per square mile is for the clueless, most of Canada, something like 90% is Water, and places up north where the weather is too hard, also all the good farmland is in the south. 80% of Canadians live in cities.

Good thinks about Canada :

Vancouver - voted near or #1 place to live on earth

Montreal - great city for arts, culture.

Toronto - the endless boomtown

Canada has one of the best arts scenes and music scenes in the world, as well as comedy, education, health care, employment, roads and airports.

Canada has the most educated people on the planet...

It is pretty much near the top of ever "freedom" index from economic to being able to trust the police.

That being said, I love Thailand.

Posted

Basically.... put "a good" in front of a noun and it will be more expensive (or not nearly as good) in Thailand.

Hey if I wanted good Thai food I'd only get it in Thailand, not Singapore where I'm from. And at 30% of the price!

Posted
but you can just move to Canada...

only in your wet dreams!

Why would I care where you live.

fact is that you cannot "just move to Canada".

Posted

I am surprised this website hasn't been mentioned in this tread yet. Unless I missed it of course. Apologies if that's the case. I have done several comparisons so far and it seems to me that in most cases where it concerned everyday living in Thailand vs San Francisco and most other western city's, Thailand comes our Waaaaaaaaay less on terms of what it actually will cost in terms of lifestyles being similar. Actually a pretty broad demographic is represented and it's continually updated. With facts I presume. I hope it's ok to post the link here Mr Mod. My humble sorry if so. Please feel free to remove if so.

Cheers smile.png

http://www.numbeo.com/common/

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

Facts! We don't need Facts! We have opinions to counter your facts.

At the risk of interrupting a perfectly good thread of pointless comparisons, I humbly resubmit for your perusal.

http://www.numbeo.com/common/

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

Posted
At the risk of interrupting a perfectly good thread of pointless comparisons, I humbly resubmit for your perusal.

http://www.numbeo.com/common/

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

Well from that site it says that the median after tax salary is $US325.31 or 10,000 baht.

"We" don't like anec-total thoughts, but then again I have no clue how the median Thai can afford a car or a scooter on that, when the median cost for a small apartment outside city limits, stated on that same page is 5,000 baht, and the cost of a new basic car is 600,000 to 700,000B.

Anec-totally, I also don't believe that they have all Thais in those statistics. I'll never believe that the median person in the rural towns and villages in Isaan earns 10k B per month. I don't believe that anyone really knows any true numbers for all of LOS.

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/city_result.jsp?country=Thailand&city=Chiang+Mai&displayCurrency=USD

$.02

Posted
but you can just move to Canada...

only in your wet dreams!

Why would I care where you live.

fact is that you cannot "just move to Canada".

'just' means 'I have no idea about the issue, nor the problems involved'.

Why don't you just pay a fair wage. Why don;t you just stop lending to bad credit risks. Why don't you just....

SC

Posted
At the risk of interrupting a perfectly good thread of pointless comparisons, I humbly resubmit for your perusal.

http://www.numbeo.com/common/

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

Well from that site it says that the median after tax salary is $US325.31 or 10,000 baht.

"We" don't like anec-total thoughts, but then again I have no clue how the median Thai can afford a car or a scooter on that, when the median cost for a small apartment outside city limits, stated on that same page is 5,000 baht, and the cost of a new basic car is 600,000 to 700,000B.

Anec-totally, I also don't believe that they have all Thais in those statistics. I'll never believe that the median person in the rural towns and villages in Isaan earns 10k B per month. I don't believe that anyone really knows any true numbers for all of LOS.

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/city_result.jsp?country=Thailand&city=Chiang+Mai&displayCurrency=USD

$.02

Good points Neversure, but as far as the op's statement goes and actual cost of daily items compared,......I find the website very useful. I can do my own salary comparisons comparing to other farangs. But that's a different thread I'm sure. What daily stuff cost in Canada or Australia vs. Thailand holds no relevance to me. What those items cost in my Town vs Chiang Mai Thailand do. All things not necessarily being equal in that the milk here vs the milk there being somewhat different for example......is understandable. Its a completely different part of the world. Completely different culture. Precisely one of the reasons why I love Thailand. If I decide I can't stand the milk in the LOS, I can go back to my original milk but at a significantly higher cost. That's information I can use.

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

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Posted

If you simply maintain a foothold in at least two countries, you'll likely feel a lot less strongly about the prices of marmite, taxis, Dr. Pepper, or whatever else you guys are arguing about. It doesn't have to be a 6 bedroom 6 bath in each place either.... and with a little effort you can probably rebuild that bridge you have possibly already burned. Or maybe it's more fun to just be bitter about it for the rest of your lives....

:)

  • Like 1
Posted

'just' means 'I have no idea about the issue, nor the problems involved'.

Why don't you just pay a fair wage. Why don;t you just stop lending to bad credit risks. Why don't you just....

SC

why don't you just stop bullsh*tting me? tongue.png

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