why people don't come to Thailand instead to struggle in their home country?

[CrypticBob]

So al you so called internet warriors making the big bucks from youre shoe box condos will have nothing to show for in the future when you get to my age except the clothes that are in youre lugage and on youre back.

What a stupid thing to say. <deleted> do you know about everyone else's spending or saving habits?? You sound just like Harry Enfield's Loadsamoney character. know guys making as much as £50-100,000 a month trading online from their "shoeboxes" on the top floors of BKK's finest condo buildings and hey, they ain't risking life and limb on a bloody oil rig in the middle of the <deleted>' ocean so wind your neck back in, ease off the throttle and gently apply the brakes. It's fine to be skeptical about those making money from the internet but don't make an idiot out of yourself by talking crap when you really don't have a clue

Hit a nerve did i buddy ,i think you don't have a <deleted> clue and are talkin out of youre arse .

Hit a nerve?

Don't be ridiculous.

I'm sitting here laughing because I just know that when you come to Thailand, you walk around waving your wad in the locals' faces sayin' "Oi, Oi. Look at 'at! Eh? Eh? Git sum. Look at my wad. I got loadsaaaaaaaah"

Well that makes me look a right arse, doesn't it?

[Kudel]

So al you so called internet warriors making the big bucks from youre shoe box condos will have nothing to show for in the future when you get to my age except the clothes that are in youre lugage and on youre back.

What a stupid thing to say. <deleted> do you know about everyone else's spending or saving habits?? You sound just like Harry Enfield's Loadsamoney character. know guys making as much as £50-100,000 a month trading online from their "shoeboxes" on the top floors of BKK's finest condo buildings and hey, they ain't risking life and limb on a bloody oil rig in the middle of the <deleted>' ocean so wind your neck back in, ease off the throttle and gently apply the brakes. It's fine to be skeptical about those making money from the internet but don't make an idiot out of yourself by talking crap when you really don't have a clue

Hit a nerve did i buddy ,i think you don't have a <deleted> clue and are talkin out of youre arse .

Hit a nerve?

Don't be ridiculous.

I'm sitting here laughing because I just know that when you come to Thailand, you walk around waving your wad in the locals' faces sayin' "Oi, Oi. Look at 'at! Eh? Eh? Git sum. Look at my wad. I got loadsaaaaaaaah"

Looks like i have hit a nerve and youre speaking from own experience judging from youre quote above.

[CrypticBob]

...

Looks like i have hit a nerve and youre speaking from own experience judging from youre quote above.

You can fall back on your experience or your arse.

I'd rather talk from experience

[HardenedSoul]

Hit a nerve?

Don't be ridiculous.

I'm sitting here laughing because I just know that when you come to Thailand, you walk around waving your wad in the locals' faces sayin' "Oi, Oi. Look at 'at! Eh? Eh? Git sum. Look at my wad. I got loadsaaaaaaaah"

Looks like i have hit a nerve and youre speaking from own experience judging from youre quote above.

I take my hat off to you, Kudel because clearly, if brains were dynamite, you wouldn't be able to blow the wax out of your ears but despite that crippling handicap, you've still managed to set yourself up financially.

Pity you didn't spend some time working on your attitude, though.

[Kudel]

Hit a nerve?

Don't be ridiculous.

I'm sitting here laughing because I just know that when you come to Thailand, you walk around waving your wad in the locals' faces sayin' "Oi, Oi. Look at 'at! Eh? Eh? Git sum. Look at my wad. I got loadsaaaaaaaah"

Looks like i have hit a nerve and youre speaking from own experience judging from youre quote above.

I take my hat off to you, Kudel because clearly, if brains were dynamite, you wouldn't be able to blow the wax out of your ears but despite that crippling handicap, you've still managed to set yourself up financially.

Pity you didn't spend some time working on your attitude, though.

thx i will work on my attitude in the temple where the jet set monk hails from,but you should work on yours to:-)

Ps:If you dont have an attitude in my line of work and life you would not last long .

Edited July 9, 2013 by Kudel

[Kudel]

And For the life of me i do not understand why so called guys saying they have a masters or bacholers degree want to waste there life behind a computer screen in some crappy condo in Thailand saying there making loads a money whilst every multinational company is represented in Thailand and has people working for them on a nice expat package with very nice benefits ,so why dont these guys try to get a job at one of these companys instead of blah blah ....

Thailand is one of the fastest growing economys in the region and every foreign company wants a piece of the action if i understand correctly.

[HardenedSoul]

For the simple reason that there are some people who prefer to dictate the terms and the tempo of their own lives.

Working for corporates has its appeal but it demands a lot in return like commitment, time, loyalty, obligation, responsibility . . . all things that some people would rather give to building something for themselves.

I did that corporate crap for years back in the City - surrounded by clones who actually introduced each other by name, bank and division. "Hey Rupert, meet Ginny, She heads up European Credit Risk at Deutsche" (I'm serious). Getting up at the crack of dawn, commuting, gathering around the lunch trough between 12pm and 1pm then struggling home again after?? Nah.

Personally, I'd rather wake up in my "crappy condo" at 1pm, saunter down to Starbucks or have some breakfast croissants delivered, switch on the screens, trade a little when London opens while watching a documentary, then afternoon tea followed by the gym.

That's been my M.O. for the last 5 years. I've got no wrinkles, good health, a full head of hair and I'm completely solvent both here and back in London.

[Kudel]

For the simple reason that there are some people who prefer to dictate the terms and the tempo of their own lives.

Working for corporates has its appeal but it demands a lot in return like commitment, time, loyalty, obligation, responsibility . . . all things that some people would rather give to building something for themselves.

I did that corporate crap for years back in the City - surrounded by clones who actually introduced each other by name, bank and division. "Hey Rupert, meet Ginny, She heads up European Credit Risk at Deutsche" (I'm serious). Getting up at the crack of dawn, commuting, gathering around the lunch trough between 12pm and 1pm then struggling home again after?? Nah.

Personally, I'd rather wake up in my "crappy condo" at 1pm, saunter down to Starbucks or have some breakfast croissants delivered, switch on the screens, trade a little when London opens while watching a documentary, then afternoon tea followed by the gym.

That's been my M.O. for the last 5 years. I've got no wrinkles, good health, a full head of hair and I'm completely solvent both here and back in London.

good for you and i really mean that .

But Thailand and the rest of the world are sadly enough moving in the same direction as the western world and you had the chance to extract yourself from that kind of life ,but soon there will be no more escape from that kind of life even in developing nations so wake up and smell the starbucks coffee .

[NeverSure]

Things must be incredibly expensive in London. Yesterday I put 95 liters of gasoline in my pickup for US$90 (2800 baht.) That's 25 US gallons. I think you Londoners get the crap taxed out of you. Electronics of all kinds are cheap as are cars and pickups. Housing in the more rural areas is cheap.

Thailand isn't cheaper than where I am in the US unless I want to significantly lower my lifestyle.

Also as a young person, you can buy a home and have it paid for by the time you're 50 easily, and sell or rent it for income to retire. Or you can just live in it. And no, the taxes on it aren't high.

If you spend your life in Thailand, unless you hit the jackpot and really figure out a way to make a lot of money and are smart enough to save it, you will retire broke.

[HardenedSoul]

Things must be incredibly expensive in London. Yesterday I put 95 liters of gasoline in my pickup for US$90 (2800 baht.) That's 25 US gallons. I think you Londoners get the crap taxed out of you. Electronics of all kinds are cheap as are cars and pickups. Housing in the more rural areas is cheap.

Thailand isn't cheaper than where I am in the US unless I want to significantly lower my lifestyle.

Also as a young person, you can buy a home and have it paid for by the time you're 50 easily, and sell or rent it for income to retire. Or you can just live in it. And no, the taxes on it aren't high.

If you spend your life in Thailand, unless you hit the jackpot and really figure out a way to make a lot of money and are smart enough to save it, you will retire broke.

Well that 95 liters would cost you 6000 baht in London so yes things are incredibly expensive in London.

[Kudel]

Things must be incredibly expensive in London. Yesterday I put 95 liters of gasoline in my pickup for US$90 (2800 baht.) That's 25 US gallons. I think you Londoners get the crap taxed out of you. Electronics of all kinds are cheap as are cars and pickups. Housing in the more rural areas is cheap.

Thailand isn't cheaper than where I am in the US unless I want to significantly lower my lifestyle.

Also as a young person, you can buy a home and have it paid for by the time you're 50 easily, and sell or rent it for income to retire. Or you can just live in it. And no, the taxes on it aren't high.

If you spend your life in Thailand, unless you hit the jackpot and really figure out a way to make a lot of money and are smart enough to save it, you will retire broke.

You driving a humvee or something ?

[TheSpade]

And For the life of me i do not understand why so called guys saying they have a masters or bacholers degree want to waste there life behind a computer screen in some crappy condo in Thailand saying there making loads a money whilst every multinational company is represented in Thailand and has people working for them on a nice expat package with very nice benefits ,so why dont these guys try to get a job at one of these companys instead of blah blah ....

Thailand is one of the fastest growing economys in the region and every foreign company wants a piece of the action if i understand correctly.

You just don't get it do you?

For economic and location independence. The fact that you can work from anywhere in the world as long as you have a laptop.

The fact that when you're bored with BKK you <deleted> off to Rio to live there for a year instead and when you're done with that you bugger off somewhere else.

You can spend all day sitting in front of your own computer in your own apartment setting your own work hours, doing as much as little as you like, put some music on, take a day off when you feel like it or you can spend all day sat in front of a computer at your employers office and be told what time you have to start and leave at every day, when you can take a break, what you have to do and so on.

You can do what you want when you want and no one tells you what to do. If you fancy going for a swim, using the gym, hitting the coffee shop, drinking a beer whilst you work or going off to meet a bird you can do it....try doing that when you work for a company.

I know what sounds better to me.

That's why people choose to work from their "crappy condos" and sit at their computers 'waste their life'.

Jobs are for people who need to be told what to do because they don't have the ability to think properly for themselves.

For the simple reason that there are some people who prefer to dictate the terms and the tempo of their own lives.

Working for corporates has its appeal but it demands a lot in return like commitment, time, loyalty, obligation, responsibility . . . all things that some people would rather give to building something for themselves.

I did that corporate crap for years back in the City - surrounded by clones who actually introduced each other by name, bank and division. "Hey Rupert, meet Ginny, She heads up European Credit Risk at Deutsche" (I'm serious). Getting up at the crack of dawn, commuting, gathering around the lunch trough between 12pm and 1pm then struggling home again after?? Nah.

Personally, I'd rather wake up in my "crappy condo" at 1pm, saunter down to Starbucks or have some breakfast croissants delivered, switch on the screens, trade a little when London opens while watching a documentary, then afternoon tea followed by the gym.

That's been my M.O. for the last 5 years. I've got no wrinkles, good health, a full head of hair and I'm completely solvent both here and back in London.

Indeed.

Can't imagine having to commute to work and back in Bangkok would be much fun.

good for you and i really mean that .

But Thailand and the rest of the world are sadly enough moving in the same direction as the western world and you had the chance to extract yourself from that kind of life ,but soon there will be no more escape from that kind of life even in developing nations so wake up and smell the starbucks coffee .

What are you even on about?

You don't have to escape your life when you're already living your dream.

Thailand isn't cheaper than where I am in the US unless I want to significantly lower my lifestyle.

So what things are cheaper where you are in the US?

I can't see how the USA can be more expensive than Thailand where all the basics like rent, bills, food, drinks, transport are considerably cheaper than the West.

[JLCrab]

Sometimes it seems to me there are so many making money online I wonder how there are enough left for them to sell to.

Well one of the biggest niches to make money online is by selling make money online information for those who want to make money online.

There's a lot of people who make their money solely from telling others how to make money eve though before that they never made a penny.

Ironic I know.

Sounds like Don Lapre ( 1964-2011) who was "able to make $50,000 a week from [his] tiny one-bedroom apartment" -- suicide awaiting trial for fraud.

Or as Tom Vu put it about attending one of his seminars: Don't listen to your friends. They're losers!

Edited July 9, 2013 by JLCrab

[Forethat]

when thai people tell me i am lucky to be able to live in Thailand, I say they can do the same, move to India and their 8000 bahts/month will suddenly become like 80'000 bahts. but they say they don't want to move...

and i say you have not the faintest idea about living cost in India

Dont tell me...multilingual gardeners too pricey over there...?

[Kudel]

And For the life of me i do not understand why so called guys saying they have a masters or bacholers degree want to waste there life behind a computer screen in some crappy condo in Thailand saying there making loads a money whilst every multinational company is represented in Thailand and has people working for them on a nice expat package with very nice benefits ,so why dont these guys try to get a job at one of these companys instead of blah blah ....Thailand is one of the fastest growing economys in the region and every foreign company wants a piece of the action if i understand correctly.

You just don't get it do you?yes i do the yobs youre talking about can be done by cheap indians via internet ,they call them call centers ,even the company i work for uses them if i have problems with my company laptop or creditcard or i get an indian guy or filipino on the line 24/7 its big world becoming smaller everyday .its you who doesnt get it . For economic and location independence. The fact that you can work from anywhere in the world as long as you have a laptop. The fact that when you're bored with BKK you fuc_k off to Rio to live there for a year instead and when you're done with that you bugger off somewhere else. You can spend all day sitting in front of your own computer in your own apartment setting your own work hours, doing as much as little as you like, put some music on, take a day off when you feel like it or you can spend all day sat in front of a computer at your employers office and be told what time you have to start and leave at every day, when you can take a break, what you have to do and so on. You can do what you want when you want and no one tells you what to do. If you fancy going for a swim, using the gym, hitting the coffee shop, drinking a beer whilst you work or going off to meet a bird you can do it....try doing that when you work for a company. I know what sounds better to me. That's why people choose to work from their "crappy condos" and sit at their computers 'waste their life'. Jobs are for people who need to be told what to do because they don't have the ability to think properly for themselves.

For the simple reason that there are some people who prefer to dictate the terms and the tempo of their own lives. Working for corporates has its appeal but it demands a lot in return like commitment, time, loyalty, obligation, responsibility . . . all things that some people would rather give to building something for themselves. I did that corporate crap for years back in the City - surrounded by clones who actually introduced each other by name, bank and division. "Hey Rupert, meet Ginny, She heads up European Credit Risk at Deutsche" (I'm serious). Getting up at the crack of dawn, commuting, gathering around the lunch trough between 12pm and 1pm then struggling home again after?? Nah. Personally, I'd rather wake up in my "crappy condo" at 1pm, saunter down to Starbucks or have some breakfast croissants delivered, switch on the screens, trade a little when London opens while watching a documentary, then afternoon tea followed by the gym. That's been my M.O. for the last 5 years. I've got no wrinkles, good health, a full head of hair and I'm completely solvent both here and back in London.

Indeed. Can't imagine having to commute to work and back in Bangkok would be much fun.

good for you and i really mean that .But Thailand and the rest of the world are sadly enough moving in the same direction as the western world and you had the chance to extract yourself from that kind of life ,but soon there will be no more escape from that kind of life even in developing nations so wake up and smell the starbucks coffee .

What are you even on about? You don't have to escape your life when you're already living your dream.

Thailand isn't cheaper than where I am in the US unless I want to significantly lower my lifestyle.

So what things are cheaper where you are in the US? I can't see how the USA can be more expensive than Thailand where all the basics like rent, bills, food, drinks, transport are considerably cheaper than the West.

i hear rio is in brazil a very economic boomer and wants to waist its third world status same like Thailand so maybe in the future guys like you wil have to move to congo.

You just dont get it do you?corporations rule the world internet man.

Edited July 9, 2013 by Kudel

[JLCrab]

So these days a guy make make a living doing a few trades when the market opens as long as the Thai bird isn't wooing him back to bed. Makes me fell glad sometimes that I'm old and I can just let someone else worry about it.

[Kudel]

So these days a guy make make a living doing a few trades when the market opens as long as the Thai bird isn't wooing him back to bed. Makes me fell glad sometimes that I'm old and I can just let someone else worry about it.

maybe soon it will be a congo bird,jack and i loved all youre movies.

[HardenedSoul]

So these days a guy make make a living doing a few trades when the market opens as long as the Thai bird isn't wooing him back to bed. Makes me fell glad sometimes that I'm old and I can just let someone else worry about it.

Yeah well one does have to have some discipline and self control or no work would ever get done.

Lot of guys who work at home can't control themselves when a woman or a beer comes calling.

[JLCrab]

I look at the raw discipline and steel nerves of Stevie Cohen the multi-billion dollar hedge fund manager at SAC doing multi-trades per second and when it all comes down to it, a good deal of his success may have been to insider trading data for which some have already pleaded guilty.

As per SAC trading culture it has been described on Wikipedia as "high-stress, pressure-packed... (and) ruthless". ... not the occasion peak at the computer & then off to the gym as described above.

Edited July 9, 2013 by JLCrab

[HardenedSoul]

I look at the raw discipline and steel nerves of Stevie Cohen the multi-billion dollar hedge fund manager at SAC doing multi-trades per second and when it all comes down to it, a good deal of his success may have been to insider trading data for which some have already pleaded guilty.

As per SAC trading culture it has been described on Wikipedia as "high-stress, pressure-packed... (and) ruthless". ... not the occasion peak at the computer & then off to the gym as described above.

Well those guys are playing with client money in the hundreds of millions+ and they're fighting to keep their seat on the trading desk.

Trading one's own account is a completely different animal.

[JLCrab]

I look at the raw discipline and steel nerves of Stevie Cohen the multi-billion dollar hedge fund manager at SAC doing multi-trades per second and when it all comes down to it, a good deal of his success may have been to insider trading data for which some have already pleaded guilty.

As per SAC trading culture it has been described on Wikipedia as "high-stress, pressure-packed... (and) ruthless". ... not the occasion peak at the computer & then off to the gym as described above.

Well those guys are playing with client money in the hundreds of millions+ and they're fighting to keep their seat on the trading desk.

Trading one's own account is a completely different animal.

Maybe so but you're both trading in the same markets. Part of the rapid-fire trading scheme is to anticipate, notice, and sometimes even cause fluctuations in markets and then just as fast take advantage of those who are not in a position to just as rapidly respond.

Edited July 9, 2013 by JLCrab

[NeverSure]

Things must be incredibly expensive in London. Yesterday I put 95 liters of gasoline in my pickup for US$90 (2800 baht.) That's 25 US gallons. I think you Londoners get the crap taxed out of you. Electronics of all kinds are cheap as are cars and pickups. Housing in the more rural areas is cheap.

Thailand isn't cheaper than where I am in the US unless I want to significantly lower my lifestyle.

Also as a young person, you can buy a home and have it paid for by the time you're 50 easily, and sell or rent it for income to retire. Or you can just live in it. And no, the taxes on it aren't high.

If you spend your life in Thailand, unless you hit the jackpot and really figure out a way to make a lot of money and are smart enough to save it, you will retire broke.

You driving a humvee or something ?

No It's just a Ford F150 4x4 with a factory 27 gallon (102 ltr) gas tank.

[NeverSure]

You just don't get it do you?

For economic and location independence. The fact that you can work from anywhere in the world as long as you have a laptop.

The fact that when you're bored with BKK you fuc_k off to Rio to live there for a year instead and when you're done with that you bugger off somewhere else.

You can spend all day sitting in front of your own computer in your own apartment setting your own work hours, doing as much as little as you like, put some music on, take a day off when you feel like it or you can spend all day sat in front of a computer at your employers office and be told what time you have to start and leave at every day, when you can take a break, what you have to do and so on.

You can do what you want when you want and no one tells you what to do. If you fancy going for a swim, using the gym, hitting the coffee shop, drinking a beer whilst you work or going off to meet a bird you can do it....try doing that when you work for a company.

I know what sounds better to me.

That's why people choose to work from their "crappy condos" and sit at their computers 'waste their life'.

Jobs are for people who need to be told what to do because they don't have the ability to think properly for themselves.

Indeed.

Can't imagine having to commute to work and back in Bangkok would be much fun.

good for you and i really mean that .

But Thailand and the rest of the world are sadly enough moving in the same direction as the western world and you had the chance to extract yourself from that kind of life ,but soon there will be no more escape from that kind of life even in developing nations so wake up and smell the starbucks coffee .

What are you even on about?

You don't have to escape your life when you're already living your dream.

Thailand isn't cheaper than where I am in the US unless I want to significantly lower my lifestyle.

So what things are cheaper where you are in the US?

I can't see how the USA can be more expensive than Thailand where all the basics like rent, bills, food, drinks, transport are considerably cheaper than the West.

"Unless I want to lower my lifestyle." Food is definitely cheaper in the US as are all sundries from laundry soap to you name it. Transport cheaper? Not if you drive a decent 4x4 pickup. Mine happens to be a Ford F150 4x4 that cost me US$28,000 new. That's 875k baht. Gasoline is $3.60 a US gallon. I just bought 95 liters for 2800 baht. Far higher quality beef and chicken is cheaper. Almost any Western food is cheaper. Fast food like KFC, Burger King etc. is cheaper and the meat is better. Clothes are WAY cheaper. Electronics are way cheaper. Find a really good up to date laptop with a genuine copy of Windows 8 for $395 in Thailand. I could go out today and buy a new Camry LE with auto well equipped for $18,500 (575k baht) and you're telling me that transport is cheaper?

I pay no import taxes and no sales tax and anything I buy is net, out the door.

No, I can't live that lifestyle for the money in Thailand.

[smooth expat]

You just don't get it do you?

For economic and location independence. The fact that you can work from anywhere in the world as long as you have a laptop.

The fact that when you're bored with BKK you fuc_k off to Rio to live there for a year instead and when you're done with that you bugger off somewhere else.

You can spend all day sitting in front of your own computer in your own apartment setting your own work hours, doing as much as little as you like, put some music on, take a day off when you feel like it or you can spend all day sat in front of a computer at your employers office and be told what time you have to start and leave at every day, when you can take a break, what you have to do and so on.

You can do what you want when you want and no one tells you what to do. If you fancy going for a swim, using the gym, hitting the coffee shop, drinking a beer whilst you work or going off to meet a bird you can do it....try doing that when you work for a company.

I know what sounds better to me.

That's why people choose to work from their "crappy condos" and sit at their computers 'waste their life'.

Jobs are for people who need to be told what to do because they don't have the ability to think properly for themselves.

Indeed.

Can't imagine having to commute to work and back in Bangkok would be much fun.

good for you and i really mean that .

But Thailand and the rest of the world are sadly enough moving in the same direction as the western world and you had the chance to extract yourself from that kind of life ,but soon there will be no more escape from that kind of life even in developing nations so wake up and smell the starbucks coffee .

What are you even on about?

You don't have to escape your life when you're already living your dream.

Thailand isn't cheaper than where I am in the US unless I want to significantly lower my lifestyle.

So what things are cheaper where you are in the US?

I can't see how the USA can be more expensive than Thailand where all the basics like rent, bills, food, drinks, transport are considerably cheaper than the West.

"Unless I want to lower my lifestyle." Food is definitely cheaper in the US as are all sundries from laundry soap to you name it. Transport cheaper? Not if you drive a decent 4x4 pickup. Mine happens to be a Ford F150 4x4 that cost me US$28,000 new. That's 875k baht. Gasoline is $3.60 a US gallon. I just bought 95 liters for 2800 baht. Far higher quality beef and chicken is cheaper. Almost any Western food is cheaper. Fast food like KFC, Burger King etc. is cheaper and the meat is better. Clothes are WAY cheaper. Electronics are way cheaper. Find a really good up to date laptop with a genuine copy of Windows 8 for $395 in Thailand. I could go out today and buy a new Camry LE with auto well equipped for $18,500 (575k baht) and you're telling me that transport is cheaper?

I pay no import taxes and no sales tax and anything I buy is net, out the door.

No, I can't live that lifestyle for the money in Thailand.

Agree. Thailand is expensive if you compare similar goods. If you're not living like a Thai(living in a dumpy room with no aircon, eating fried rice, and driving a motorbike), you're better off somewhere else.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

"Unless I want to lower my lifestyle." Food is definitely cheaper in the US as are all sundries from laundry soap to you name it. Transport cheaper? Not if you drive a decent 4x4 pickup. Mine happens to be a Ford F150 4x4 that cost me US$28,000 new. That's 875k baht. Gasoline is $3.60 a US gallon. I just bought 95 liters for 2800 baht. Far higher quality beef and chicken is cheaper. Almost any Western food is cheaper. Fast food like KFC, Burger King etc. is cheaper and the meat is better. Clothes are WAY cheaper. Electronics are way cheaper. Find a really good up to date laptop with a genuine copy of Windows 8 for $395 in Thailand. I could go out today and buy a new Camry LE with auto well equipped for $18,500 (575k baht) and you're telling me that transport is cheaper?

I pay no import taxes and no sales tax and anything I buy is net, out the door.

No, I can't live that lifestyle for the money in Thailand.

Cars and electronics are cheaper in the USA than anywhere else in the world.

Much younger girlfriends, wives and rentals are cheaper in Thailand than most other places in the world.

You choose what is important in your life and you live in the appropriate country.

[JLCrab]

$5.49 lb. Club Price (Denver, Colorado)

Safeway -- Fresh Open Nature Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast

Or about 350 baht per kg -- I just paid 90 baht per kg this AM for same boneless chicken breast at TescoLotus in KK

Chicken thighs are about the same at roughly 790 baht per kg ($0.99/ pound

Edited July 10, 2013 by JLCrab

[cpofc]

I am guessing because most of the world see Thailand as a corrupt third world backwater full of hookers and pedos.

This is how the media portrays Thailand so why would they think any different?

A 6 day 7 night holiday in Phuket is cheap enough, but why would you want to actually live there?

Having spent the last 12 months back in Australia I have noticed how small minded most people are.

A fair bit of truth in what you say.

My Thai Wife and I returned and 'settled' into Melbourne Suburbia, almost 30 years ago. (mind you it was only ever going to be temporary)

She had not been in Australia very long before she blew up in a rage one day. Why can't they ever say anything good about my country, she complained. Everything she saw in the media was either about Drugs or Prostitution, or both. Take my word for it. It was a lot more narrow minded then, than it is now. All those travelogue TV shows and Doccos and infomercials we see today did not exist. Both Phuket and Samui were both still very much backpacker and 'traveller' territory, as yet unknown to much of the outside world pretty much. When she told the punters she was Thai, many thought she was from Taiwan.

it is not so much narrow-mindedness today. I have a few other terms that would be more appropriate.

So why don't more come to live? Because for many it is too damned hard.

A true life case. I'll try to keep it brief.

A couple of years ago an old 'mate' who had been promising me for years he would come up and visit me for a holiday after finally hitting a brick wall in Australia. Job not going well, a failed 'office romance', going nowhere. I am sure you get the picture. His Pension and Vet entitlements are equal to mine BTW.

He had two weeks holiday, living with me here. Then, shortly after he came back for another two weeks. He soon bragged that life was so good he stopped taking his Cholesterol medication as his blood pressure was finally in order. The first Thai words he learnt were Sabai Sabai.

Then, getting back home, he snatched his job, moved out of his rented premises in Canberra and headed here on a 2 x 60 Day Visa. It turned out to be very stressful for me. He rarely even got out of my Soi, let alone Bangkok. Never went anywhere in 4 months. I was his teacher, his interpreter, cupid, housekeeper, launderer, GPS, answering service, you name it, I was it. I gave him his own air conditioned room, flat screen tv, media centre, computer with Hi Speed Internet Connection, even many instant Thai friends, who were my friends,, the works. I won't bore you with it all but it was a full time job. I had lost my privacy and solitude and what's more it was costing me. Hard to believe but all the time he was here he did not even make himself a sandwich, nor pick up a broom, a mop and bucket, or pay for anything other than half the monthly rent and Electricity bill. Which I always had to ask for. Other than that. I was to pick up the tab for the lot. He ended up basically treating me with contempt.

it was like a great load being lifted off my shoulders the day he finally left.

But No! After going back home and realising how good he had it here and how miserable Australia was, for him - he then had the audacity to front up at my door a month later wanting to move in. When I told him he could not stay here, but I would do everything to help him set up in the LOS. A place near to me. Do his Visa, get an apartment for him, even give him furniture and appliances I could do without. Everything. I reckon I could have done the lot for him for as little as 2000 Australian Dollars at the time. Not a lot of money in Oz today, little more than a week's wages for many.

The next day, I went to his room and said, lets go and get stuck into it, we'll get you set up. He spat the dummy called a cab and left. I have never seen or heard from him since. That was a couple of years ago. He is now working in a dead end job, one that he said he would never do, earning crap money and commuting hours everyday to the city and back by train. (a brave act in Melbourne) Even if he works for another 10 years, he will never have anything more than he has now.

But. It was just all too damned hard for him. OK if he could use a mug like me. But face the challenges of daily life in Thailand as an illiterate farang? No way. All too hard.

too, too hard.

[hanno]

You just don't get it do you?

For economic and location independence. The fact that you can work from anywhere in the world as long as you have a laptop.

The fact that when you're bored with BKK you fuc_k off to Rio to live there for a year instead and when you're done with that you bugger off somewhere else.

You can spend all day sitting in front of your own computer in your own apartment setting your own work hours, doing as much as little as you like, put some music on, take a day off when you feel like it or you can spend all day sat in front of a computer at your employers office and be told what time you have to start and leave at every day, when you can take a break, what you have to do and so on.

You can do what you want when you want and no one tells you what to do. If you fancy going for a swim, using the gym, hitting the coffee shop, drinking a beer whilst you work or going off to meet a bird you can do it....try doing that when you work for a company.

I know what sounds better to me.

That's why people choose to work from their "crappy condos" and sit at their computers 'waste their life'.

Jobs are for people who need to be told what to do because they don't have the ability to think properly for themselves.

Indeed.

Can't imagine having to commute to work and back in Bangkok would be much fun.

good for you and i really mean that .

But Thailand and the rest of the world are sadly enough moving in the same direction as the western world and you had the chance to extract yourself from that kind of life ,but soon there will be no more escape from that kind of life even in developing nations so wake up and smell the starbucks coffee .

What are you even on about?

You don't have to escape your life when you're already living your dream.

Thailand isn't cheaper than where I am in the US unless I want to significantly lower my lifestyle.

So what things are cheaper where you are in the US?

I can't see how the USA can be more expensive than Thailand where all the basics like rent, bills, food, drinks, transport are considerably cheaper than the West.

"Unless I want to lower my lifestyle." Food is definitely cheaper in the US as are all sundries from laundry soap to you name it. Transport cheaper? Not if you drive a decent 4x4 pickup. Mine happens to be a Ford F150 4x4 that cost me US$28,000 new. That's 875k baht. Gasoline is $3.60 a US gallon. I just bought 95 liters for 2800 baht. Far higher quality beef and chicken is cheaper. Almost any Western food is cheaper. Fast food like KFC, Burger King etc. is cheaper and the meat is better. Clothes are WAY cheaper. Electronics are way cheaper. Find a really good up to date laptop with a genuine copy of Windows 8 for $395 in Thailand. I could go out today and buy a new Camry LE with auto well equipped for $18,500 (575k baht) and you're telling me that transport is cheaper?

I pay no import taxes and no sales tax and anything I buy is net, out the door.

No, I can't live that lifestyle for the money in Thailand.

I guess if you need the fast food then yes, the USA maybe cheaper.

But I do agree, people underestimate the expenses in this part of the world.

Nevertheless, my life in Cambodia is lots better. OK, my car was expensive but I don't pay taxes, I live, eat, and drink in the hotel that I work for (taxable benefits in most countries) and I can go out for a goo meal and a couple of beers for less than 20 Dollars. In Germany (I am German though I have been an expat for pretty much all my life) that would not get me much.

[TheSpade]

"Unless I want to lower my lifestyle." Food is definitely cheaper in the US as are all sundries from laundry soap to you name it. Transport cheaper? Not if you drive a decent 4x4 pickup. Mine happens to be a Ford F150 4x4 that cost me US$28,000 new. That's 875k baht. Gasoline is $3.60 a US gallon. I just bought 95 liters for 2800 baht. Far higher quality beef and chicken is cheaper. Almost any Western food is cheaper. Fast food like KFC, Burger King etc. is cheaper and the meat is better. Clothes are WAY cheaper. Electronics are way cheaper. Find a really good up to date laptop with a genuine copy of Windows 8 for $395 in Thailand. I could go out today and buy a new Camry LE with auto well equipped for $18,500 (575k baht) and you're telling me that transport is cheaper?

I pay no import taxes and no sales tax and anything I buy is net, out the door.

No, I can't live that lifestyle for the money in Thailand.

Not sure where you are buying all your food and other household items or just how dirt cheap things must be in the USA but nearly all of that stuff is much cheaper here than what I pay for it in the UK including food, toiletries and house hold items.

Western food cheaper in the West than in Thailand.....then maybe try eating the local food?

If you were in the USA you wouldn't eat Thai food all the time then moan it was more expensive than local food....of course it is!

Though McDonalds, BK, Subway etc here is a bit cheaper than in the UK or at worst it's around the same price. You can get sub of the day here for 80/90B and you defo can't get a Subway sandwhich back home for that price it's more like 175-200B.

And who needs it anyway when there's fast food on every street corner in Thailand?

Transport I meant public transport.

It doesn't make sense to come to another country then try and live the exact same lifestyle you lived back home.

A fair comparison would be a normal lifestyle back home versus a normal lifestyle here.

So eating local food, drinking local beer, buying local items etc would make living in Thailand much cheaper than the West.

You just dont get it do you?corporations rule the world internet man.

Good for them.

Doesn't change anything for me. What is your point?

Agree. Thailand is expensive if you compare similar goods. If you're not living like a Thai(living in a dumpy room with no aircon, eating fried rice, and driving a motorbike), you're better off somewhere else.

But you don't need to live in a room with no aircon, eat fried rice every day or drive a motorbike (though I'm sure some people like fried rice and having a motorbike) and you can still live here much cheaper and have a better life than back home.

It's not all about possessions and what you can own it's about quality of life. Most people back home pay so much on rent / mortgage, bills, travel expenses, food shopping and keeping up with the neighbours they can barely afford a night out a week or 7 days holiday a year.

Here you can eat out every night, party multiple times per week, date loads of new girls and have a lot of fun without breaking the bank.

All the people who came to Thailand and want / expected the exact same life as they had back home...why did you come here? Wouldn't you be better just staying at home and saving money?

[JLCrab]

So why did I come to Thailand? Aside what I get out of it for myself, the following, at least for me, became much easier here than there (Hit it!, Jimmy)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=jxF-FeOCxlg#t=0s