Is There Anything Cheap In Thailand Now ?

[Seekingasylum]

stupid thread, Thailand is so much cheaper, come on be realistic.

Possibly but in terms of GBP Sterling renting something decent in Bangkok, Pattaya or Hua Hin is as expensive as the Home Counties, buying Falang food of any quality is exorbitant and spending a night out on the town is horrendous and on par with any place in Europe. That's simply because of the depreciation in curency, 30%, and explains why many are considering a return. Living with the Thai in intolerable heat and treated as "un- people " by rude officials is no longer an attractive proposition without the compensations of a cheap cost of living. Better to live with one's own kind even if the weather is crap.

Of course, one could live like a peasant in some ghastly Isaan dystopia but what would be the point?

Cyprus is looking good now and could be a steal.

[driedmango]

Just thought I would post out some recent prices from a local flyer in Calgary Alberta Canada (co-op) on a few items at random prices in canadian dollars (on par with us) for a reference. The price it costs using 29.5 as an exchange rate. Now if you know your market prices you can determine if the prices are high, the same as or lower here in Thailand.

pizza (dominos) 1 medium pepperoni + 2L Coke = 17.99 (537 baht)

pork loin chops = 8.99/kg (269baht/kg)

schneiders bacon 500g = 4.99 (149baht)

romaine hearts 3 per bag = 3.99 (119baht)

sweet potatoes = 1.08/kg (32baht/kg)

fresh mussels = .99/100g or 9.90/kg (297baht/kg)

wonder bread 570g = 2.99/ea (89baht)

no name instant coffee 326g = 4.99 (150baht)

cashews (in a can) 275g = 4.99 (149 baht)

mayo/miracle whip 650ml = 3.99 (119baht)

peanut butter 2kg = 8.99 (269baht)

broccoli crowns = 3.29/kg (98baht)

mangoes = $1/each (29.5baht)

baguette = 1.49/each(44baht)

Post cereals (shreddies, honey o's) = 1.1-1.24/kg box 6.99 (209baht)

toilet tissue 24 rolls (double) = 5.99 (180baht)

Tylenol 40-60's = 9.99 (299baht)

Jack Daniels single malt 750ml = 39.99 (1199 baht)

Coors Light 24 pack cans = 32.99 (989baht or 41 baht per can)

Canadian Club whisky 750ml = 18.99(569baht)

Skyy Vodka 750ml = 19.99(599baht)

RENT - average rent in Calgary (does not include water, electric or cable T.V.) based on 1-2 bedroom apartments average size 600sq feet.

$1.587(47,610baht) lowest I could find in a decent neighbor hood was $985 (29,550baht)

Average cost to buy or build a home under 2,000sq feet

to buy = $372,000(11,160,000)

to build = $589,000(17,670,000baht)

Peter's Drive In - best burgers in town!

Burgers

3.40

CHEESE BURGER

3.80

DOUBLE BURGER

4.20

DOUBLE CHEESE

4.60

TRIPLE BURGER

5.00

TRIPLE CHEESE

5.40

& More

HOT DOG

3.00

CHEESE DOG

3.40

SMALL FRY

3.50

LARGE FRY

7.50

ONION RINGS

4.50

GRAVY

1.50

So for me one of the glaring differences is owning or renting your own property. Food items can be slightly more depends where you buy and what you buy.

Calgary a big city (by canadian standards 1,000,000 people - oil and gas driven - good economy) good infrastructure, transit system and major league sporting teams (hockey, baseball).

those prices aren't for good food, mostly junk food, start looking at fruit and veg, good coffee.. prices go way up.

[smokie36]

Always amuses me when posters consider Tylenol to be a staple of normal life. I think I took a paracetamol in 1998.

[MrWorldwide]

Where does the 'middle class' start in Thailand ? My guess is that it's somewhere around the 100K baht combined household income per month - before dismissing that figure, feel free to provide your own. It's not that long ago that 100K per month was considered quite a good expat salary in BKK - again, feel free to laugh, but that figure was routinely thrown around on another board in 2002. You could double that now and some would still mock you - seems that BKK is full of expat zillionaires !

Yes, I know there are Western-style billionaires in Bangkok - I read the same lists you do - but for the 'average' Thai 100K a month must seem like a complete fantasy. Happy to hear otherwise.

(btw, I consider anyone who can afford to buy a BMW outright in Thailand 'rich' - if that is where your middle-class starts, then clearly 100K just isnt going to cut it ...)

No way do the middle class earn 100k per month.. I have 2 Teachers as my neighbours and their combined salary wont be anymore than 60k..

I just don't see anyone who relies on a government pay packet in Thailand as 'middle class', (other than politicians and top-level bureaucrats) - its one of the reasons there is so much corruption. By my definition of 'middle-class', we are talking management in private companies, doctors and folk with their own businesses - a very large chunk of Bangkok would fit into the group we term the 'working poor' in Australia, and that's based purely on how little disposable income one would have on 20K a month in a city like BKK. Even assuming 4K rent, its a pittance when you look at the cost of living in that city. Thais survive courtesy of the extended family and their ability to share : how many Farang will split a 120-baht meal 3 ways ? Private schools and universities pay teachers more, and married teachers in that market could well be pulling in that 100K combined figure, particularly if they have private students in addition to their monthly paypacket.

If the figure isn't 100K, its very close. Middle class families in most countries have a motor vehicle and, at the very least, some prospect of owning their own home : increasingly tough in cities like Sydney, but its one of the characteristics of the group I consider 'middle class'. I dont know that BKK needs too many more cars (!), but I'm sure its high on the 'want list' - you dont make the payments on a car on 30K a month income.

[meatballs]

Thailand is just not cheap anymore. Accommodation? It's only cheap because it's low quality and/or really small. Nothing is cheap here anymore.

Also, I just checked expatistan & numbeo and the costs are about the same now. The days of cheap Thailand are finished. This place is downright expensive.

Edited March 27, 2013 by meatballs

[Naam]

Thailand is just not cheap anymore. Accommodation? It's only cheap because it's low quality and/or really small. Nothing is cheap here anymore.

Also, I just checked expatistan & numbeo and the costs are about the same now. The days of cheap Thailand are finished. This place is downright expensive.

any place is expensive for people who don't have adequate money to pay for a lifestyle according their demands/expectations.

and those who use generalising expressions "only cheap because of low quality and/or really small" possess a wealth of no idea.

Edited March 27, 2013 by Naam

[JLCrab]

NS -- Are you writing this now from Wyoming?

[NeverSure]

OK because I know the area in Colorado just across the border and south from Laramie, WY. I used to stay (30 years ago) at a 3rd generation cattle ranch near Walden, CO. I also used to live (40 years ago) on a 1600 acre cattle ranch near the Marin County / Sonoma County line N of San Francisco. Also beautiful area near the Point Reyes National Seashore.

But all in all, at this stage of my life, I prefer the wilds of Isaan select groceries or not.

Those are nice areas, with salt of the earth people. At this point, due largely to these threads, I'm "unsure' as heck. I can afford to stay where I am which is upper middle class US. But I love Thailand.

I look at the dollar, and costs in the US vs Thailand, and there is no way I could have this home on this hill overlooking the world and the Cascade Mountains, on this acreage, and eat the way I do, and have the Medicare Advantage health insurance I do in LOS.

I'm more and more thinking of staying, maintaining residence here, and just traveling to LOS once a year for about 1/2 the year. The last two time I was there it was Chiang Mai for 3 months each, and I don't know if I can take the smog combined with the heat and humidity any more, in a year around way. Seriously.

I don't know.

[BahBahBoBo]

"Is there anything cheap in Thailand now?" ...

Yes... The Farangs :D

[NeverSure]

With an automobile, even the remotest parts of USA as mentioned above are accessible unless the roads are closed due to snow. But I think, in less than 2 weeks, any non-US citizen would be bored out of their skull in remote parts of USA and on the flight back to Frankfurt.

I don't know why. When in Rome do as the Romans do. Those people adapt to the circumstances. They ski, play golf, run a snowmobile, hang out in the local coffee shop or tavern (where people will actually talk to you) and hey, think of all of the rich widows who own big ranches all around hahaha.

<deleted> is there to do in rural Isaan, pray tell?

[JLCrab]

What do people in Isaan do? I really don't know. But for me I use the same line as regards life-fulfilling activities that I used when living is rural USA: If you didn't bring it with you, it ain't there.

[meatboy]

Everything is dirt cheap here compared to UK! Except for imported goods...

I came over from london.

Rent is now £200 per month compared to £900.

Meal with drinks in a restaurant £10 compared to £30.

Taxi £1-2 compared with £5-10.

Pint of Beer is £1.40 compared to £4.50.

I think people forget who have been here a while that UK prices rocket too...

it's bcz most people on TV are 60+, like to complain with alzheimer disease

its also called going senile oh sht what do i do now.

[jamhar]

"Is there anything cheap in Thailand now?" ...

Yes... The Farangs

BAMB!

I love a good dig! Even when its directed at me!

Hmm

If i look thai, am i still a farang?

I ask cause some of the workers talk about farangs in my presence.

almost like they accept me a bit, even thou i mangle pidgin.

[meatboy]

OK because I know the area in Colorado just across the border and south from Laramie, WY. I used to stay (30 years ago) at a 3rd generation cattle ranch near Walden, CO. I also used to live (40 years ago) on a 1600 acre cattle ranch near the Marin County / Sonoma County line N of San Francisco. Also beautiful area near the Point Reyes National Seashore.

But all in all, at this stage of my life, I prefer the wilds of Isaan select groceries or not.

i dont think my dog would like it there,so we will have to do with living in isaan.

[wellred]

Bottle of water 10 bhat

[longstebe]

Beer, food and clothes have pretty much stayed the same IMO. I remember paying 70 baht for a bottle of beer down walking street 10 years ago. 45 baht for spicy chicken n rice. The exchange rate has gone crap though.

Where is this enclave in Thailand where prices have stayed the same? What time warp have you dropped into? Food is double the price, or even more, that it was 10 years ago, beer is up by almost the same amount, etc. etc. What wonderland have you found?

You need to stay out of them Irish bars mate.

[MrWorldwide]

Thailand is just not cheap anymore. Accommodation? It's only cheap because it's low quality and/or really small. Nothing is cheap here anymore.

Also, I just checked expatistan & numbeo and the costs are about the same now. The days of cheap Thailand are finished. This place is downright expensive.

Then why the hell are you here on a board that is dedicated to life in Thailand ? I could argue much the same as you have for Malaysia and Indonesia (that goes double for Jakarta and KL), but what does that do to my retirement dream in 2014 ? Do I, lemming-like, rush off to Cambo only to find that prices are being pushed up by a sudden intake of Farang from Nakhon Nowhere ?

When you do find your 'Utopia' - whether its Burma (!) or Belize - my sincere advice is not to broadcast it to the rest of the world. As soon as they arrive, you can kiss that paradise goodbye. If anything, Thailand is a victim of its own success - if you want cheap, you need to find a backwater.

Summary - get on a plane, do it now, and stop bitching. Absolutely nothing will change simply because Thailand no longer suits some Farang who want cheap beer / food / women.

[kennedy]

Being blessed with a cheap wife, I get a daily rundown on rising costs. With me, it goes in one ear and out the other. I do my part by providing her with an abundance of empty beer cans for recycling as an offset.

[FunFon]

most farang "english teachers" dont make much more than 20k...either..

-

As long as you have a degree (and sometimes even if you don't), bottom of the barrel jobs pay 35K, and the better schools (still Thai, many government-funded) get up to 40-45.

Only Indians and Filipinas are working for 15-20K, and that's also a decent salary for Thai nationals, those saying Thai teachers make much more don't know what they're talking about, at least not in their official pay packet - tutoring can bring in more but not much, and of course those in charge of admissions at top schools make a fortune in corruption.

I think perhaps the best looking women in Isaan come from Buriram, Sisaket, Surin area. I saw more pretty lasses in Buriram than almost anywhere I went. It's just so danged hot there, at least when I was there.

-

Those are most likely the lovely Khmer genes you're appreciating and I fully agree, gotta love those cheekbones. . .

[muythai2013]

ever been to a 7/11 in Australia, that's expensive.

now with the carbon tax we are paying for the air we breath.

[Soutpeel]

most farang "english teachers" dont make much more than 20k...either..

-

As long as you have a degree (and sometimes even if you don't), bottom of the barrel jobs pay 35K, and the better schools (still Thai, many government-funded) get up to 40-45.

Only Indians and Filipinas are working for 15-20K, and that's also a decent salary for Thai nationals, those saying Thai teachers make much more don't know what they're talking about, at least not in their official pay packet - tutoring can bring in more but not much, and of course those in charge of admissions at top schools make a fortune in corruption.

>I think perhaps the best looking women in Isaan come from Buriram, Sisaket, Surin area. I saw more pretty lasses in Buriram than almost anywhere I went. It's just so danged hot there, at least when I was there.

-

Those are most likely the lovely Khmer genes you're appreciating and I fully agree, gotta love those cheekbones. . .

even 35-45k/m is still "slave labour" money if your living, (surviving) in BKK

[FunFon]

even 35-45k/m is still "slave labour" money if your living, (surviving) in BKK

-

A single person who doesn't have high expectations for entertainment or saving for the future can get by all right.

Not as if opportunities are that much better for most back home for those that don't want to bludge the dole, it's a different world nowadays, and young people are accepting that reality a lot more than us oldies.

Example from my own experience - twenty years ago $12 an hour was considered lousy wages, kids got that mowing lawns. Nowadays parents are scrambling for that kind of money trying to support their kids even as contract work, no benefits at all, thousands of people lining up to apply and very grateful if they get it.

[MrWorldwide]

FunFon, let a male teacher from PI hear you refer to him as a 'Filipina'. Please.

[SteeleJoe]

even 35-45k/m is still "slave labour" money if your living, (surviving) in BKK

My neighbor is single guy who makes about 50,000 as a teacher at a hi school and another 10 or so tutoring some evenings. He has a rather nice 2 bedroom house (rental), eats mostly fairy expensive western food from Sukhumvit supermarkets, drinks nightly, spends most weekends either at the beach or at a national park, has a first rate computer, iPhone, big HD TV, and spends a couple months of his 4 months annual holidays in Europe.

Yes, he is far from 45k a month but he VERY far from slave labor, or just surviving.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa ap

Edited March 28, 2013 by SteeleJoe

[Neeranam]

Where does the 'middle class' start in Thailand ? My guess is that it's somewhere around the 100K baht combined household income per month - before dismissing that figure, feel free to provide your own. It's not that long ago that 100K per month was considered quite a good expat salary in BKK - again, feel free to laugh, but that figure was routinely thrown around on another board in 2002. You could double that now and some would still mock you - seems that BKK is full of expat zillionaires !

Yes, I know there are Western-style billionaires in Bangkok - I read the same lists you do - but for the 'average' Thai 100K a month must seem like a complete fantasy. Happy to hear otherwise.

(btw, I consider anyone who can afford to buy a BMW outright in Thailand 'rich' - if that is where your middle-class starts, then clearly 100K just isnt going to cut it ...)

No way do the middle class earn 100k per month.. I have 2 Teachers as my neighbours and their combined salary wont be anymore than 60k..

-

Most Thai teachers don't make much more than 20K, bit more for corruption private tutoring.

But not many places in the world where being a teacher puts you into the "middle class" arbitrary as that is, maybe Finland. . .

I used to live in Bkk before I was married and earned 35-45,000. I saved 20k a month.

I got offered a job in Finland for about 180,000 baht a month so I gave it a go. My rent was 40,000 baht a month for a little,but nice) appt. Everything in Helsinki was a lot more expensive than Bkk. Funny thing was, at the end of the month I was skint, cooking mama in my appt. I got mama 'cheap' at a little Thai shop - 60 baht per bag! After 2 1/2 months I had a realization when driving to work in my car with chains around the tyres. I looked at the outside digital thermometer reading -15C and knew I was in the wrong place. I'd rather be in Bkk getting slave labour rates. Was getting rather dangerous too when falling asleep in the park ar 2am. I woke up once with my eys frozen shut. One thing I'll never understand is why all those beautiful blondes wanted to go home with a drunken Scotsman. Never experienced this anywhere else, even Thailand.

[FunFon]

FunFon, let a male teacher from PI hear you refer to him as a 'Filipina'. Please.

-

Thanks but I was specifically referring to females.

-

his 4 months annual holidays

-

Very sweet (and rare)

[Neeranam]

most farang "english teachers" dont make much more than 20k...either..

-

As long as you have a degree (and sometimes even if you don't), bottom of the barrel jobs pay 35K, and the better schools (still Thai, many government-funded) get up to 40-45.

Only Indians and Filipinas are working for 15-20K, and that's also a decent salary for Thai nationals, those saying Thai teachers make much more don't know what they're talking about, at least not in their official pay packet - tutoring can bring in more but not much, and of course those in charge of admissions at top schools make a fortune in corruption.

>I think perhaps the best looking women in Isaan come from Buriram, Sisaket, Surin area. I saw more pretty lasses in Buriram than almost anywhere I went. It's just so danged hot there, at least when I was there.

-

Those are most likely the lovely Khmer genes you're appreciating and I fully agree, gotta love those cheekbones. . .

even 35-45k/m is still "slave labour" money if your living, (surviving) in BKK

Total nonsense - 5k per month is slave labour. 1000 baht a day is good if you ask me.

I wish I had that much! Now, with a mortgage of over 20k a month, 2 kids at private school etc, I find 35k impossible so I do a bit of extra work which gets between 10k and no limit per month.

[Thanet]

Thailand is cheap by any measure: http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/

[SteeleJoe]

-his 4 months annual holidays-Very sweet (and rare)

If you include "summer" (now), a couple weeks break in October and a break for Christmas and assorted government and religious holidays it works out to be around that I believe. I didn't realize it was rare (for teachers).

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa ap

Edited March 28, 2013 by SteeleJoe

[Neeranam]

FunFon, let a male teacher from PI hear you refer to him as a 'Filipina'. Please.

-

Thanks but I was specifically referring to females.

-

his 4 months annual holidays

-

Very sweet (and rare)

Not that rare for teachers. 2-3 months t this time of year, 1 month in Oct. Couple of weeks at Xmas etc.

Last month, I was offered a job teaching at a local school. 40 k a month plus 2 months bonus at end of year.15 hours a week( 3 hours every morning).

4 months annual holiday.

I have a friend working in Harrow international school in BKK who gets 3 times that but he does about 60 hours a week plus 20 hours a week travelling. Maybe 2 months holiday. I know which job I'd prefer.