Can't afford to live in Thailand anymore

[AYJAYDEE]

Generalizations are much more helpful than bringing up exceptions to the rule. Most normal Thai girls (i.e., those not just interested in your money) want to live near their family, friends, food, language, culture, etc. Thai girls are not like Filipino girls, many of whom are desperate to leave the PI. Thai girls born and raised overseas are different and are probably more farang than Thai. But if your thing is to try and find a Thai girl who'd prefer to live overseas, go for it. Knowing how most Thais love their families more than life, I'd be just a little curious to know why they'd want to leave them.

well if youre curious I suggest you try and get to know people a little better. there are literally dozens of thai women that i know in my country who prefer to live there and visit their families every year or two. you should get out more pal!

[chris2004]

Is it really cheaper to live in canada? i can't really believe that. Can you buy a detached house for $100,000? My costs living here in LoS are far below what i would pay in the UK.

Can't say about Canada but in the US, yes. LINK

In the UK that wouldn't even buy you an outside toilet. Minimum in London @$700,000 in some Muslim ghetto.

[teebe]

Cheap or expensive? Ask to a Thai, listen exactly what they say. Foreigner find good location at relatively low price but have no owner rights, if this rule is fine then they can forget all about oriental culture differences. Is the kind of game that last right until your wallet is full. As happen in any other country of the world dominated by external culture, your skin color is respected until your are rich and if by disgrace this fade out you are the worst animal of the universe. Not Thailand only, is everywhere. The rate of exchange is dominated by WTO and US politics, the low exchange rate is made to subsidize exportation and clear production surplus, not because your country has a smaller gun or a shorter sword, if Thais prefer to be free in any scenario they will pay with exportation imbalance, social turmoil, coups, monarchy. If someone ask to me, I think this is a maximality behavior, like a noisy child does. There's always something to understand, even driving is high traffic areas could teach, the western concept of danger is absent and you can find in place the order concept, the harmony as Thais call. Driving a scooter with three passengers of which one is a standing kid, full throttle, on highway is normal - no one will claim, if they die is their karma, next life they will be worms, dogs, flies. Nothing to say as foreigner, this is not my place. So happy living in Thailand is possible in restricted areas where your mother language is understood, your country food is available, satellite and internet is there and you can make conversation on last sport events, a real buen retiro placement. It will cost same as you are in the west, but this is life. At least there are no heater bills to pay

[strabel23]

Quote: " The exchange rate for Canadian dollar has never been lower. "

1993 exchange rate fluctuated between 19 and 20 bht. until 1997.

Considering where the Cdn. exchange rate is now and where it has been goods have been selling at a discount price for a long time now even when taking inflation into consideration.

Prepare for more downside.

[IAMHERE]

Unless you have the funds to support your wife, then let her keep the job she has devoted her life to. It would be near impossible for her to quit that position and expect it to be open for her if Canada or you don't work out.

Cut back on your spending if you have to. Stay in Thailand or dump the GF.

[recycler]

The past few years Thailand has become rapidly more expensive and the end is not in view. I anticipated that Europe and North America would become cheaper than here in 5 to 10 years, but that moment is there now already because the exchange rates development.

If you come here to retire it could still be OK, but if you anticipate on a family with kids your best bet would probably be Canada.

Some things that are hell expensive here are education, mortgages, cars and many daily groceries are at the same level already and going up.

Take in to account things like (near) free education, child support (not sure about Canada), cheaper mortgages and tax deductions etc.

Everything in Thailand at a western quality level is only for the rich and generally more expensive than in the west.

[mogandave]

The bigger issue is that I have nothing in common with a typical Canadian woman.

What do you have in common with a typical Thai woman?

[John1thru10]

I can relate to this.

For years I've hung on to the idea that living in Thailand was practical because it was the cheapest and most welcoming. I could tour across EU/UK with my music half the year, and know that I had a safe and welcoming place to come back to, where the money I'd made went farther. It seemed that everyone else was the fool in that way, and it was a magical 5 years.

And then I realized recently, that it's now as expensive as living in Berlin - not to mention how very UNwelcoming Thai immigration has become; every trip a crap shoot now. All of Eastern Europe is cheaper than Bangkok now, and so much closer to opportunities - fly from one country to another very cheaply, and no hassles! My friend from America asked me the other day why I stayed, and when I mentioned my rent I expected the traditional 'Wow, that's so cheap!', and she said 'Wow, that's way more than renting a whole house here.'

Cambodia will build up now, slowly. Vietnam, for sure. But for me, I think I'm going to Amsterdam, or some cool city in EU, where I have freedom of movement. EU immigration is a thousand times more friendly, really don't care about minor infractions, and....oh yeah, AREN'T under martial law. There's that, too.

Edited January 31, 2015 by John1thru10

[mogandave]

It is worth noting that the minimum wage has doubled here in the last two years, so is it any surprise that prices are going up?

Also, isn't the VAT going up to 10% this year?

[Jay Sata]

Is it really cheaper to live in canada? i can't really believe that. Can you buy a detached house for $100,000? My costs living here in LoS are far below what i would pay in the UK.

Can't say about Canada but in the US, yes. LINK

In the UK that wouldn't even buy you an outside toilet. Minimum in London @$700,000 in some Muslim ghetto.

There are plenty of places in the UK where £35k buys you a house such as this end terrace in Hull.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48184627.html

Maybe not Mayfair but you can own it outright and not worry about visa runs. Some may say they would not want to live in the north of England but in my opinion better than eking out a life in a dirt poor Thai village.

Food and cars are also much cheaper in the UK. A decent little mid sized car can be bought for under a £1,000.

I see a lot of Farangs just wasting their days sitting in expat bars.

Everywhere is nice while you have money.

Edited January 31, 2015 by Jay Sata

[John1thru10]

The bigger issue is that I have nothing in common with a typical Canadian woman.

What do you have in common with a typical Thai woman?

That's another thing. I've been in love a few times here, but I miss real conversation, beyond the basics. I miss western humor, or an understanding of working as an artist. Thailand can be a great adventure, but if you're not ready to retire, it's still a big world out there.

[Tchooptip]

Live in Canada and find a Canadian GF/wife?

Possible, but it would be an ass thing to do.

The bigger issue is that I have nothing in common with a typical Canadian woman.

Not judging, but it is what it is.

Can you believe it... you'r not alone could have replaced Canadian women by Western woman(sorry ladies)

[samuibeachcomber]

Live in Canada and find a Canadian GF/wife?

so you do have a sense of humour berkshire

[samuibeachcomber]

Is it really cheaper to live in canada? i can't really believe that. Can you buy a detached house for $100,000? My costs living here in LoS are far below what i would pay in the UK.

Can't say about Canada but in the US, yes. LINK

In the UK that wouldn't even buy you an outside toilet. Minimum in London @$700,000 in some Muslim ghetto.

There are plenty of places in the UK where £35k buys you a house such as this end terrace in Hull.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48184627.html

Maybe not. Mayfair but you can own it outright and not worry about visa runs.

Food and cars are also much cheaper in the UK.

is n't living in hull like living in isaan

[whaleboneman]

The bigger issue is that I have nothing in common with a typical Canadian woman.

What do you have in common with a typical Thai woman?

They both go like bunnies?

[impulse]

The bigger issue is that I have nothing in common with a typical Canadian woman.

What do you have in common with a typical Thai woman?

That's another thing. I've been in love a few times here, but I miss real conversation, beyond the basics. I miss western humor, or an understanding of working as an artist. Thailand can be a great adventure, but if you're not ready to retire, it's still a big world out there.

I'm like most guys. For the first few months, if she's gorgeous- it doesn't matter what words come out of her mouth. I find them fascinating. (Something about the little head acting as interpreter)

In the second and subsequent years, not so much. But by that time, the seeds have already been sown and the hook has been set.

Edited January 31, 2015 by impulse

[samuibeachcomber]

Sounds like many that while living in Thailand you never ate Thai food. Lived on over priced expensive crap foreign food. Thailand too expensive ? Yea if your diet is booze and foreign food.

sure thailand is cheap if you want to live in a rural backwater eat thai food at the market and drink chang...but its not for everyone,some have higher aspirations!

[thejcb]

If Canada really is better, your wife ought to recognize the merit in moving there.

Give her plenty of chances to see what it has to offer, and make the decision together.

For me, leaving Thailand is hard to imagine. Once it's in your blood...and all that.

Best of luck.

Canada IS far better than Thailand, your girlfriend should understand that.

Take her there, she won't want to come back

Once you have had a bit of Thailand and the Far East in your blood then getting out of here is easy to imagine and even easier to do, I am so happy I left.

Nb. Original OP check the exchange rates in 1995, then make your comment again

Edited January 31, 2015 by thejcb

[umbanda]

Interesting. I've been back in my home country(US) for a while and doing some comparisons. I think most consumer prices are similar. Maybe a hair bit cheaper in the US due to WalMart. Only thing that in cheap in Thailand is the LOW monthly rent for studio apartments and the cheap restaurants. In the US I can't find any apartment for less than about $300 a month(10,000 baht) anywhere. But I can find good studio apartments for less than $150 a month in Thai. You can even find rooms for $50 a month in Thai still. So for me, Thai is still a bargain in the accomodation department. It's actually much for affordable to live in Thai for me. I've been priced out of my own country.

$300/month rent? Yap.....I can see that your US is not California.

[Mike West]

You can't wait a few weeks for it to improve? Or are you living on a couple of baht a day?

[samuibeachcomber]

Money isn't everything. Go wherever makes you happiest.

So wrong money is everything you would not be were you are if you had no money try and buy food with no money I just can't understand why people say money is everything

agree,its like saying "money does n't buy you happiness"...but try living with no money,being reliant on everyone to give you basic needs and see how happy you are.

[umbanda]

The bigger issue is that I have nothing in common with a typical Canadian woman.

What do you have in common with a typical Thai woman?

That's another thing. I've been in love a few times here, but I miss real conversation, beyond the basics. I miss western humor, or an understanding of working as an artist. Thailand can be a great adventure, but if you're not ready to retire, it's still a big world out there.

Agree....Even at 70 and retired...I miss a real conversation...but..it is the only thing bad about Thailand..and the only problem in my married life. Some times in life.... makes sense to give up not essentials..

[SoiBiker]

Sounds like many that while living in Thailand you never ate Thai food. Lived on over priced expensive crap foreign food. Thailand too expensive ? Yea if your diet is booze and foreign food.

sure thailand is cheap if you want to he'lin a rural backwater eat thai food at the market and drink chang...but its not for everyone,some have higher aspirations!

If you don't want to eat Thai food and drink Thai beer, why the hell would you come to Thailand?

[thurien]

If Canada really is better, your wife ought to recognize the merit in moving there

there is only one country a pure-bred (!) Thai can happily and voluntarily live in - that is Thailand. Any other place is a foul compromise for him / her, inescapably will lead to nasty mental irritations, too.

[Jungle Jim]

Thai women are no different than white women once either taken out of Thailand or exposed to western ideas which has totally screwed up their heads. Take Lao or Burmese women for example most still have their natural beauty. Once they get western thinking in their heads like most of the younger Thais have become their future is all down hill. Bhutan is a good example of keeping most of their values. Why ? Because they are not money hungry and not willing to give into mass tourism that has destroyed Thailand. In ten more years Thailand will have some serious bad karma coming its way. Look at any bar girl that hangs with a foreign. You can have them. Look like common western trailer trash. The bar foreigners taught them such great values.

Take your Thai wife to Canada and here are the possible, and only, results......

-She hates it especially the winter, and flies home.

-Under the pressure of massive change, she becomes Westernized and no longer recognizable.

-Under the pressure of massive change, she goes insane, requiring famous Canadian hospitalization.

Thai women are like some flowers that thrive only in one atmosphere. Take them out of that and they wither one way or the other. You came here to get a THAI wife, not just any woman, and now she is in your clumsy hands. Stay with her here where you made the marriage deal.

[Jungle Jim]

Answer: Cheap booze and cheap trashy bar girls. The majority that move here make no effort at learning Thai, eating Thai, or learning anything about Thai culture. The Thais to them are nothing more than either slaves, sex slaves or background noise. Ever wonder why the Thais have become to hate us ?

Sounds like many that while living in Thailand you never ate Thai food. Lived on over priced expensive crap foreign food. Thailand too expensive ? Yea if your diet is booze and foreign food.

sure thailand is cheap if you want to he'lin a rural backwater eat thai food at the market and drink chang...but its not for everyone,some have higher aspirations!

If you don't want to eat Thai food and drink Thai beer, why the hell would you come to Thailand?

[2fishin2]

Thai women are no different than white women once either taken out of Thailand or exposed to western ideas which has totally screwed up their heads. Take Lao or Burmese women for example most still have their natural beauty. Once they get western thinking in their heads like most of the younger Thais have become their future is all down hill. Bhutan is a good example of keeping most of their values. Why ? Because they are not money hungry and not willing to give into mass tourism that has destroyed Thailand. In ten more years Thailand will have some serious bad karma coming its way. Look at any bar girl that hangs with a foreign. You can have them. Look like common western trailer trash. The bar foreigners taught them such great values.

Take your Thai wife to Canada and here are the possible, and only, results......

-She hates it especially the winter, and flies home.

-Under the pressure of massive change, she becomes Westernized and no longer recognizable.

-Under the pressure of massive change, she goes insane, requiring famous Canadian hospitalization.

Thai women are like some flowers that thrive only in one atmosphere. Take them out of that and they wither one way or the other. You came here to get a THAI wife, not just any woman, and now she is in your clumsy hands. Stay with her here where you made the marriage deal.

So Jungle what you are saying its better to have oppressed women with no education and have no financial awareness? Dude are you a cave man or something? Could you be anymore demeaning in your statements??

[Jungle Jim]

I have nothing in common with any American woman. STUCK UP! And the Thai women now think its cool to copy their bitch sisters.

The bigger issue is that I have nothing in common with a typical Canadian woman.

What do you have in common with a typical Thai woman?

That's another thing. I've been in love a few times here, but I miss real conversation, beyond the basics. I miss western humor, or an understanding of working as an artist. Thailand can be a great adventure, but if you're not ready to retire, it's still a big world out there.

Agree....Even at 70 and retired...I miss a real conversation...but..it is the only thing bad about Thailand..and the only problem in my married life. Some times in life.... makes sense to give up not essentials..

[Jungle Jim]

If you treat them if respect . How are they oppressed ? Western values have totally screwed them up. Does not mean they are not able to learn anything they wish.

Thai women are no different than white women once either taken out of Thailand or exposed to western ideas which has totally screwed up their heads. Take Lao or Burmese women for example most still have their natural beauty. Once they get western thinking in their heads like most of the younger Thais have become their future is all down hill. Bhutan is a good example of keeping most of their values. Why ? Because they are not money hungry and not willing to give into mass tourism that has destroyed Thailand. In ten more years Thailand will have some serious bad karma coming its way. Look at any bar girl that hangs with a foreign. You can have them. Look like common western trailer trash. The bar foreigners taught them such great values.

Take your Thai wife to Canada and here are the possible, and only, results......
-She hates it especially the winter, and flies home.
-Under the pressure of massive change, she becomes Westernized and no longer recognizable.
-Under the pressure of massive change, she goes insane, requiring famous Canadian hospitalization.

Thai women are like some flowers that thrive only in one atmosphere. Take them out of that and they wither one way or the other. You came here to get a THAI wife, not just any woman, and now she is in your clumsy hands. Stay with her here where you made the marriage deal.

So Jungle what you are saying its better to have oppressed women with no education and have no financial awareness? Dude are you a cave man or something? Could you be anymore demeaning in your statements??

[samuibeachcomber]

Sounds like many that while living in Thailand you never ate Thai food. Lived on over priced expensive crap foreign food. Thailand too expensive ? Yea if your diet is booze and foreign food.

sure thailand is cheap if you want to he'lin a rural backwater eat thai food at the market and drink chang...but its not for everyone,some have higher aspirations!

If you don't want to eat Thai food and drink Thai beer, why the hell would you come to Thailand?

because i sometimes like to eat western food and drink a decent beer.I came to thailand for the women,pure and simple.