Costs

[perkinwarbeck]

Hello!

Firstly, apologies if this has been posted in an incorrect area of the forum, or has been asked recently. It has been some years (over a decade) since my first and only visit to SEA. Back then, Burma was closed-off to foreigners; meaning, instead, I spent most of my trip in Laos and Vietnam.

I have browsed through various guidebooks; but they only disclose limited information. I'll be posting a few more threads in the coming days, but first, i'm welcome answers to this vague/tourist post.

How much, in both urban and rural environments should I expect to pay for the following goods:

A 1L bottle of water

A cup of green tea

A bottle of beer

A simple meal from a street vendor

A packet of cigarettes (local brand)

A single non-A/C room in a guesthouse

Thank you.

Edited December 31, 2012 by perkinwarbeck

[Kiggs]

Hello mate.

I cant tell you anything first hand as i have never been but i move there in 25days for work.

I have been told from guys that live there that your looking about 30USD a day tops. As for Digs im not sure as this is all paid for but from what i have seen its not that cheap... The hotel that my work is paying for is 90 a night.

Im sure once these boys stop drinking they will tell you everything you need to know.

Should say that 30bucks is living and working not holidaying

There is this http://www.thaivisa....owntown-yangon/ $5 a night Supplies Soap, Towels and Clean Bedsheets and Pillowcases

Edited December 31, 2012 by Kiggs

[householder]

A 1L bottle of water - on the street, circa 250-400 kyat.

A cup of green tea - at most of the tea shops you get free Chinese tea; they hope you'll buy coffeemix/deep fried pastries/cooked food to go with it. Pick up a pack of green tea leaves in a supermarket for around 1100 kyat.

A bottle of beer - supermarket, around 1100+; in a restaurant, upwards of 1500. Cans are smaller and cheaper: < 1000.

A simple meal from a street vendor - between 300-800 kyat for some sort of noddle dish without/with meat. This isn't Thailand or Malaysia; personally I'm loathe to eat from most of the street vendors.

A packet of cigarettes (local brand) - can't help here, sorry. Maybe you should get started on betel nut!

A single non-A/C room in a guesthouse - $30+ for functional quality.

Don't forget taxis - minimum of 1500 kyat to go anywhere. If it's raining or bad traffic (more than the default level of perpetual congestion), they'll charge you more. If it's a 'nice car' (i.e. the windows and air-conditioning work and the floor isn't rusted through and they don't have to turn the engine off at every traffic light or it doesn't stall when they drop to a crawl through Yangon's traffic; i.e. a 'car' by any other name in the rest of the world), some drivers try to charge you even more. If you're staying in Yangon, learn the bus routes and the numbers in Myanmar script and save yourself a fortune. 50-200 kyat per journey but not for the faint-hearted, those with a poor sense of balance or who really value their sense of personal space.

In the tourist areas you'll get overcharged for everything. In the rural areas, not so much. You'll also encounter a selective dual-pricing system, especially for services; some locals are greedy bastards, others are much more equitable. Not sure there's much of a price variation between urban and rural areas - my budget was about the same in a village in Pyin U Lwin as it was in Yangon for food and drink.

Ignore the guidebooks, they're worse than useless and can give you unrealistic expectations. They'll also take you to boring or overpatronised places. Half the fun is avoiding all things touristy and forging your own path, especially through interactions with the locals. Wander around Hledan, Sanchuang, anywhere. Check out the local night markets. My local tea shop has low-slung children's street furniture but a widescreen TV that shows Premier League games. When I go there at night I'm the only foreigner. Much rather watch it there than a tourist pub!

Also, learn a few words of Myanmar and you'll have an incredible time; they really, REALLY appreciate it! Get yourself a longyi too - the first few months (before tourist season) I was actually stopped in the street on several occasions and complimented for wearing it!

Edited January 1, 2013 by householder

[Kiggs]

Thanks for that householder.

You can tell me to find my own place to watch the football I don't mind but that place you have sounds like my cup of tea. Can you pm me and direct please.

Cheers Dan

[householder]

Thanks for that householder.

You can tell me to find my own place to watch the football I don't mind but that place you have sounds like my cup of tea. Can you pm me and direct please.

Cheers Dan

They're everywhere now!

[Kiggs]

Thats good,will have to find a little place to hang my hat

Cant wait to get over there tbh. I have had more than enough of England. Want some sun on my head!

[householder]

Thats good,will have to find a little place to hang my hat

Cant wait to get over there tbh. I have had more than enough of England. Want some sun on my head!

You won't be saying that come March... Enjoy the constant supply of running water - I had two days with interrupted supplies (a few hours each time) last week; but that's what I get for being cheap and refusing to pay out for an overpriced serviced apartment!

[Kiggs]

I know your right after 37 years in the cold its going to be hard dealing with the heat.

But needs must.

[perkinwarbeck]

Thanks, guys!

[Kiggs]

Perkinwarbeck: You going for a long trip or just a few weeks?

[perkinwarbeck]

Several months.

[CP3]

householder: are you staying at those walk up apartment?

[tombkk]

householder: are you staying at those walk up apartment?

What's a walk up apartment?

[BlackPuddingBertha]

A single non-A/C room in a guesthouse - $30+ for functional quality.

This seems absurdly expensive.

And judging by the other prices mentioned there is clearly something way out of kilter with the exchange rate.

[householder]

householder: are you staying at those walk up apartment?

If that means an apartment where you have to walk up the stairs because there's no elevator, then yes. If not, I don't know what you mean!

It's hard to make a choice in such a building - convenience yet noise of the first floor or the inconvenience yet quietness of the upper floors? My other place was on the first floor and I was punctually roused from sleep at 4am each morning by a minimum of two of the five roosters that were kept on the street below (for illegal cock-fighting). Despite decent gyms being Western prices (thus a rip-off by definition), I can't bring myself to live in anything above the fifth floor in an elevator-serviced building; ninth floor, forget it! Further, you pay an elevator service charge, which varies on the building.

So, torn between laziness, stinginess and the need for a good night's sleep, I opted for an all-round compromise of a fourth floor place and am pretty happy with it!

This seems absurdly expensive.

Most things in this country are. A case of greed, price inflation (due to greed) demand often outstripping supply, monopolies on everything (due to greed, i.e. a permanent sim card from the sole network provider = $235 but set to drop, was much more) and lots of money with nowhere else to go except into things with perceived value as a store of wealth (cars and land, and a lot of people may have lost a lot of money in the former after the import permit changes).

Rule of thumb for all things touristy = third world quality at first world prices (or slightly less). Especially for accommodation! Demand far outstrips supply on every front in that regard. Exception are the inter-city buses, which have an inverse relationship. Even in rainy (low) season in Mandalay I was advised I'd struggle to get a room.

And judging by the other prices mentioned there is clearly something way out of kilter with the exchange rate.

No it's just the way things are here. You want a cheap holiday at passable standards, pick anywhere but here.

Edited January 3, 2013 by householder

[householder]

Despite whinging about the cost of everything, I still love living here most days, except on the days when power and water go out, or just water or I try to go anywhere in the traffic.

[Kiggs]

As long as beer fags and food are cheep I'm happy.

Edited January 3, 2013 by Kiggs

[householder]

As long as beer fags and food are cheep I'm happy.

Food isn't as cheap as neighbouring countries. Also buy ear plugs - it's National Day, 8.20am and for the past 45 minutes it's been nothing but Gangnam Style remixes blasted out of loudspeakers. There's always an excuse to use a loudspeaker here, fixed or mobile!

Edited January 4, 2013 by householder

[BlackPuddingBertha]

As long as beer fags and food are cheep I'm happy.

From the prices quoted they seem to be much more expensive in Burma than in Thailand (with the possible exception of cigarettes about which I know nothing). And beer in Thailand isnt exactly cheap in the first place.

When I see any country where just about everything is overpriced and where the local currency has no international value, I'm inclined to suspect that the exchange rate is completely artificial. This is very common in third-world and "developing" countries.

Edited January 4, 2013 by BlackPuddingBertha

[simon43]

you pay an elevator service charge..

You have an elevator?? Luxury!!

I live in a walk-up apartment in Latha Township, top floor and no lift, since the building was constructed many decades ago. I'm paying the equivalent of $211 a month in rent for a 1-bedroom apartment with living room, bathrom, toilet and kitchen. Of course at that price, the standard is very 'basic'.

When I came to Yangon last year I opted not to buy a SIM card. It is sheer bliss not being at the 'mercy' of a mobile phone. If anyone wants to contact me, then they have to send an email. In an emergency, they can call my employer.

I've done a calculation on the average total amount that I spend each month, on rent, food, visas, entertainment etc.It totals out at about 11,000 baht a month, eating out every day for all meals, with beer every day. The only extra is 3,000 baht a month on medical+evacuation insurance. So my salary of $2,600 is going a long, (LONG!) way over here.

Of course, I avoid the overpriced tourist areas such as 50th Street Bar etc. Mixing with expats is not really to my liking

Simon

Edited January 4, 2013 by simon43

[householder]

you pay an elevator service charge..

No I was too stingy to pay for one! My rent is around $176 per month.

I think my costs may settle down to around yours - the last few months I've sunk a lot into rent, a decent mattress, furniture, electrical appliances and some services (plumber, electrician etc.) to get this place to a liveable standard. Plus I have RedLink internet which hikes the monthly utilities significantly. The monthly costs are decent though and I pay local price for utilities rather than the 10x or more foreigner prices!

Edited January 4, 2013 by householder

[tombkk]

As long as beer fags and food are cheep I'm happy.

From the prices quoted they seem to be much more expensive in Burma than in Thailand (with the possible exception of cigarettes about which I know nothing). And beer in Thailand isnt exactly cheap in the first place.

When I see any country where just about everything is overpriced and where the local currency has no international value, I'm inclined to suspect that the exchange rate is completely artificial. This is very common in third-world and "developing" countries.

The exchange rate was artificial - until the government recently changed it to follow the black-market rate (which I would call the real exchange rate). I think this step was quite unique.

[householder]

you pay an elevator service charge..

You have an elevator?? Luxury!!

I live in a walk-up apartment in Latha Township, top floor and no lift, since the building was constructed many decades ago. I'm paying the equivalent of $211 a month in rent for a 1-bedroom apartment with living room, bathrom, toilet and kitchen. Of course at that price, the standard is very 'basic'.

When I came to Yangon last year I opted not to buy a SIM card. It is sheer bliss not being at the 'mercy' of a mobile phone. If anyone wants to contact me, then they have to send an email. In an emergency, they can call my employer.

I've done a calculation on the average total amount that I spend each month, on rent, food, visas, entertainment etc.It totals out at about 11,000 baht a month, eating out every day for all meals, with beer every day. The only extra is 3,000 baht a month on medical+evacuation insurance. So my salary of $2,600 is going a long, (LONG!) way over here.

Of course, I avoid the overpriced tourist areas such as 50th Street Bar etc. Mixing with expats is not really to my liking

Simon

Hold up, 11,000 baht a month INCLUDES your rent? Impossible! That must be in addition to your rent, surely?

[simon43]

Hold up, 11,000 baht a month INCLUDES your rent? Impossible! That must be in addition to your rent, surely?

Let's see:

Rent = 180,000 kyat/month

Water bill = 0 (no idea why...)

Electricity bill = 3,500 kyat/month

Breakfast (sweet tea, Chinese tea, samosa, 2 bread rolls) = 450 kyat/day

Lunch = 500 kyat/day (fruit)

Evening meal (Chinese noodles and pork/chicken, oxtail soup, Chinese tea) = 700 kyat/day)

Myanmar beer = 1,400 kyat/day

Taxis = 0 (I like walking)

So those basics total about 275,000 kyat/month ==> 9,820 baht

Internet is free at work and I don't watch TV.

Add on extras like new clothes, household items etc and 11,000 baht/month is easily enough for me.

Note that I spend the paltry sum of 11,000 baht/month NOT because that is all I have, but because I do not need to spend any greater amount to enjoy life here. If I want to 'splash out' then I can certainly do so. I probably adhere to HM King's Sufficiency Economy concept, (spend what you need to spend, but don't waste your money on un-necessary items).

Simon

[householder]

Hold up, 11,000 baht a month INCLUDES your rent? Impossible! That must be in addition to your rent, surely?

Let's see:

Rent = 180,000 kyat/month

Water bill = 0 (no idea why...)

Electricity bill = 3,500 kyat/month

Breakfast (sweet tea, Chinese tea, samosa, 2 bread rolls) = 450 kyat/day

Lunch = 500 kyat/day (fruit)

Evening meal (Chinese noodles and pork/chicken, oxtail soup, Chinese tea) = 700 kyat/day)

Myanmar beer = 1,400 kyat/day

Taxis = 0 (I like walking)

So those basics total about 275,000 kyat/month ==> 9,820 baht

Internet is free at work and I don't watch TV.

Add on extras like new clothes, household items etc and 11,000 baht/month is easily enough for me.

Note that I spend the paltry sum of 11,000 baht/month NOT because that is all I have, but because I do not need to spend any greater amount to enjoy life here. If I want to 'splash out' then I can certainly do so. I probably adhere to HM King's Sufficiency Economy concept, (spend what you need to spend, but don't waste your money on un-necessary items).

Simon

Yeah I don't pay a water bill either; no idea why!

Mine's a bit higher due to use of taxis, food ingredient purchases as I home cook a lot (have been ill a few times here so prefer to cook my own stuff) and a bit of a DVD/video game vice (not that I have time to play or watch any for the next two months at least!) so is circa $500-$550 a month including rent.

I don't have staff or a driver (a few expats do) but I did splash out on a washing machine as I hate hand-washing. In terms of time saved, it's already paid for itself!

[Kiggs]

I'm on about the same as Simon but don't have rent to pay or transport as my employer foots those things . With the look of things I'm going to be about 300bucks a mth . I'm in the uk atm so these prices you are quoting even though they are a little more than Thailand (some cases) they are still a lot less than here.

I was paying £3:50/5:50 a bottle the other week and £7:50 for a packet fags!

Rent £790

The list goes on and stops about at about £1800mth

After all that's paid its still raining,dark and cold;)

[BlackPuddingBertha]

I live in a walk-up apartment in Latha Township, top floor and no lift, since the building was constructed many decades ago. I'm paying the equivalent of $211 a month in rent for a 1-bedroom apartment with living room, bathrom, toilet and kitchen. Of course at that price, the standard is very 'basic'.

Expensive indeed. I pay only about 50% more than that in Pattaya for a nice condo on a high floor (with several elevators!), big swimming pool, great view, air-con, washing machine, cable TV etc etc. The "standard" being not basic at all.

There must be some very rich landlords in Burma.

[DagonKhan]

Let's see:

Rent = 180,000 kyat/month

Water bill = 0 (no idea why...)

Electricity bill = 3,500 kyat/month

Breakfast (sweet tea, Chinese tea, samosa, 2 bread rolls) = 450 kyat/day

Lunch = 500 kyat/day (fruit)

Evening meal (Chinese noodles and pork/chicken, oxtail soup, Chinese tea) = 700 kyat/day)

Myanmar beer = 1,400 kyat/day

Taxis = 0 (I like walking)

So those basics total about 275,000 kyat/month ==> 9,820 baht

Internet is free at work and I don't watch TV.

Add on extras like new clothes, household items etc and 11,000 baht/month is easily enough for me.

Note that I spend the paltry sum of 11,000 baht/month NOT because that is all I have, but because I do not need to spend any greater amount to enjoy life here. If I want to 'splash out' then I can certainly do so. I probably adhere to HM King's Sufficiency Economy concept, (spend what you need to spend, but don't waste your money on un-necessary items).

Simon

Your water bill will come when the YCDC bill collector can be bothered to come and collect it! Expect to pay around Ks2,000 to 3,000/month. It is not unusual for them to come once a year, ours comes every six months. Their favourite ploy is to tell you that the bill hasn't been paid for 18 months, get you to pay and they pocket the difference...

Your electric bill sounds right if you don't use an air conditioner and don't cook using electric. Wife's family pay more like Ks10,000/month but no a/c, we pay Ks30,000 to Ks40,000 with a/c.

A bottle of gas will cost around Ks17,000 for 8 viss (I believe that's around 13Kg) for those who use a gas cooker/hob.

YCDC tax costs nothing, around Ks300/month.

Apartment to rent... how long is a piece of string? Location, location, location basically. Anywhere from Ks1 lakh (US$115) further out of town, to US$3,000 at a serviced apartment. I know foreigners who are paying as much as US$800/month for a 2 bedroom 'condo' to people who spend US$175/month and live very 'local'.

The wife has a 'basic' one bedroom apartment very close to down town on the 4th floor which has an a/c fitted in the living area, TV, satellite, fridge, western style toilet, basic furniture etc which she will be putting up for rent for US$300/month shortly in case anyone is interested?.

Kiggs asked about cigarettes. Marlboro red are Ks16,000 (US$18.60) at Minglarzay Market for a carton of 200. In a shop they're more like Ks2,000/pack (US$2.30), about £1.50 approx.

Edited January 5, 2013 by DagonKhan

[householder]

Kiggs asked about cigarettes. Marlboro red are Ks16,000 (US$18.60) at Minglarzay Market for a carton of 200. In a shop they're more like Ks2,000/pack (US$2.30), about £1.50 approx.

+1 for Mingalarzay Market. Take the price almost everywhere else in Yangon, halve it, and you'll find it in Mingalar Ze at that price. Only issues are dirt, crowds and informal service! But I got all my good-quality crockery as well as folding tables there at a mere fraction of any store I care to name, including Super One (which is normally good for prices).

My next big purchase, another chair...

Edited January 5, 2013 by householder

[DagonKhan]

My next big purchase, another chair...

Top floor of Yuzana plaza. Most of it they make to order, and if you don't mind waiting a few days they'll do whatever colour/size you want. If you want Teak, wander around Tamwe (near Tamwe Plaza), most of them all charge the same price and sometimes the bigger flashier places with the nicer stuff are actually cheaper (believe it or not!).