Cost of living in Chiang Mai: how much $$ is needed per year?

[JB300]

It's expensive to be me. I have a personal trainer 2x every day... yoga stretching after swim and strength training in the afternoon. I download books. I read one every day. I don't care about cheese and wine but I eat out one meal per day. I get a massage almost every day. My puppy has her groomer once a week. I have a maid and a gardener 2x per week. If you add HOA and lawyer fees I spend $5,000 US every month.I am not counting rent. I scuba dive so that costs money to get a dog sitter, fly to Phuket and take a boat. If this is your life style, you save on food and trainers but spend on air fare.

Being expensive is the least of your issues. You might want to work on that vanity affliction you possess. But on the other hand, say hey, whatever flips your fern.

I don't spend $5,000 per month at my home in the US. And when living at my home in Thailand it is far less as food is far less expensive, and I rarely eat anything apart from Thai food and only drink Thai booze with soda water. I reckon I live comfortably for just under $1,200 per month. And that is including my housing and vehicle costs extended over time as well.

I only used to spend s$8,000 (approx $6,000US / 200,000 THB ) when I lived in Singapore & 1/2 that was for rent, so my budget for Thailand (as a single guy who likes to travel around) is 1/2 that at 100,000 THB (or 105,542 THB to be precise ).

Edit: Echo the comments about having an emergency nest egg so have a reasonable amount of money stashed away in my bank account in Singapore for a rainy day & help offset some of the currency risk with my income currency (GBP £)

Edited June 17, 2015 by JB300

[TheAppletons]

An extremely important and good point.

Anyone considering staying in Thailand for the long term or perhaps for the remainder of their lives, should have at least a minimum of 2 or even better 3 million baht saved in a Thai bank. I would never feel secure just living on a monthly or yearly income only being one pay cheque away from disaster. Quite frankly I couldn`t live like that on a hope and prayer that all works out and I never become ill or involved in a serious accident or Immigration decides to up the ante to obtain a visa.

Another point is; for those who obtain their incomes from abroad, is to base the bahts rates on the lowest bank foreign exchanged rates and not on the present day rates, meaning they can ride out the storm if the rates go down.

This is one of the best bits of advice ever posted on this forum , please take note everyone.

If you say so.

Certainly, people should have savings. Does it necessarily have to be in the millions of Thai baht in a Thai bank account? Why?

You can transfer money from most first world countries into a Thai bank account in a day or two. That works for me, particularly as I have significantly greater banking consumer rights/protections in my home country than I do in this country.

[Lowriesuzanne]

I'm 72 and diabetic. Swimming for two hours in the morning then stretching with a trainer is all about health. I am so, so far past vanity. The trainer returns in the afternoon for strength training so the next day I can get up at 4 a.m. and repeat the same grueling routine. For me, living in Chiang Mai is all about paying $20 dollars per hour for trainers instead of $80 which is the California price. Cheap health insurance stops at age 70. After that the price is astronomical. I'm lucky to have DAN travel insurance. I can't afford to stop scuba diving. The health insurance costs would kill me. How long will I live in Chiang Mai? Depends on the flu vaccines. The 2015 vaccine was not good. I got flattened for 5 weeks and I am barely recovering. Yes I can swim 2 miles every morning, no I can't do much else. Good thing I like to swim and that the Thai don't get up until 8 a.m. By that time, I've finished 2-3 miles. I love my CM pool. Salt water, over-flow. Still, I have to take my chlorine kit to the pool and test the water. I don't want to get sick and the Thai don't understand pool maintenance.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

The words "International School" in the OP throws everything off. 150K minimum.

Ditch those words, or get schooling included in whatever deal you're looking at, then there's more to talk about.

As it stands through, 150K minimum.

[elektrified]

We forgot insurance. Car insurance, house insurance, health insurance. I scuba so I have DAN insurance for diving and DAN insurance for traveling. That's cheap. $1,000 dollars per year. If you have a child, you need really good insurance. You can't scrape by with DAN. What is the bill? $1000 dollars per year for house and car. Health insurance can be brutal. You need $10,000 dollars in savings for emergencies and up to $1,000 dollars for the insurance monthly payment. Also, we forgot the child's recreation. How many trips to the beach? How many rides on elephants? How many private lessons: swim, piano, gymnastics. How much for school teams? Soccer, swim, dance. God forbid the child takes up golf to be with his/her friends. Horseback riding. Some kids love horses. You may plan on living modestly but having a child in Chiang Mai can be a major expense. Why would your child want to weed your vegetables when his/her friends are on a swim team and ride horses? If my two grandchildren lived with me, I would be plunged into poverty. Between the school fees and the sports fees I would be hard-pressed to find food money and gasoline money. I would have to give up all my recreation. I would be broke.

So true. My kid costs me a fortune...and it's always something. As far as the child's health insurance is concerned, that's cheap; 9,600 Baht per year and that covers everything up to a couple of million Baht (inpatient only).

[elektrified]

I'm 72 and diabetic. Swimming for two hours in the morning then stretching with a trainer is all about health. I am so, so far past vanity. The trainer returns in the afternoon for strength training so the next day I can get up at 4 a.m. and repeat the same grueling routine. For me, living in Chiang Mai is all about paying $20 dollars per hour for trainers instead of $80 which is the California price. Cheap health insurance stops at age 70. After that the price is astronomical. I'm lucky to have DAN travel insurance. I can't afford to stop scuba diving. The health insurance costs would kill me. How long will I live in Chiang Mai? Depends on the flu vaccines. The 2015 vaccine was not good. I got flattened for 5 weeks and I am barely recovering. Yes I can swim 2 miles every morning, no I can't do much else. Good thing I like to swim and that the Thai don't get up until 8 a.m. By that time, I've finished 2-3 miles. I love my CM pool. Salt water, over-flow. Still, I have to take my chlorine kit to the pool and test the water. I don't want to get sick and the Thai don't understand pool maintenance.

"How long will I live in Chiang Mai? Depends on the flu vaccines."

[Ilario]

Thank you all for the replies and sharing your insights!

Very helpful in making my plans. It would seem with 40 to 50K USD annually, I am "in the ballpark". International school - PREM is the biggest, non elective expense. I am not aware of any other, IB diploma schools in Chaing Mai, although I have heard good things about Monfort. Any thoughts here?

To sum up -- if we have a home, car ( probably a double-cab Toyota as someone suggested ) and furnishings all bought and paid for, plus 5 million baht in reserve AND 40-50K in annual income, we should be fine. Also my wife wants to work, but realistically we don't expect much $$ .

And to further clarify "fine" ( lifestyles are so subjective !) I'd characterize it this way: Occassionally - 2 -3 times a month eating out - Thai crusine. Grow much of our veggies. We love to cook, bake, can, etc. (Its therapy ) High-speed internet, cable TV ( i am addicted to BBC ) and local wine (mostly) . Kindle books. Every two or three years an overseas trip. One trip to the beach yearly. Health insurance for the three of us. No drivers, no maids. Movies once or twice. We don't go to bars or nightclubs, but do like musicals and dance performances -- not sure how much of that is available in CM. Little to no Air conditioning -- we would like to live higher up, north of the city ( how far and where ?? I'm open to suggestions? ! )

A simple, clean life, hopefully attainable at 1.5 million baht or less per year. ;-) !

Ilario

[bangmai]

wine is a joke here, probably even worse than the cheese situation. But those are two good examples of things you can a) simply do without, and save $$$$ or pay 300% more than you would in the US. If everyone refused to pay; they might consider at least lowering the excise taxes.

[DLang]

200b p/d is all you need.

Anymore is a waste, really.

[MaeJoMTB]

wine is a joke here, probably even worse than the cheese situation. But those are two good examples of things you can a) simply do without, and save $$$$ or pay 300% more than you would in the US. If everyone refused to pay; they might consider at least lowering the excise taxes.

Tops, at Central Festival,

Have the most extensive cheese collection I have ever seen (outside of France).

Expensive, yes, but a huge selection.

[Briggsy]

They use baht not dollars in Chiang Mai.

[bangmai]

It is also prudent to factor in medical care. How much is a personal thing depending on how healthy you are but for someone in their 60's for example Sheryl on the Health Forum has said that you should have 2m in the bank to allow for medical emergencies. A heart attack and subsequent care can eat this amount up very quickly unless you have adequate medical insurance

An extremely important and good point.

Anyone considering staying in Thailand for the long term or perhaps for the remainder of their lives, should have at least a minimum of 2 or even better 3 million baht saved in a Thai bank. I would never feel secure just living on a monthly or yearly income only being one pay cheque away from disaster. Quite frankly I couldn`t live like that on a hope and prayer that all works out and I never become ill or involved in a serious accident or Immigration decides to up the ante to obtain a visa.

Another point is; for those who obtain their incomes from abroad, is to base the bahts rates on the lowest bank foreign exchanged rates and not on the present day rates, meaning they can ride out the storm if the rates go down.

Yes, great suggestion, but easier said than done. Of the people that pay 1700 to the Consulate for their "letter;" I would say quite a few, maybe half, are doing it because bringing over even 800K is not an option. 60% of Americans state they would have a tough time coming up with 2000 USD...most dentist charge more than that for a root canal/crown. I don't think the economic demographics of Americans living here is going to be much different than back home. Since many are living in a place known for affordable retirement; the income/savings numbers would likely be less. Many were zeroed out, when real estate crashed in 2007. Their house represented their retirement savings; now gone. 15% of homeowners are still underwater....and that includes people, who own their houses outright. Median net worth of the Millennials is negative.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

They use baht not dollars in Chiang Mai.

Yes, this threw me also. I read the OP as 40K (Baht) per month. But it was 40K USD per year.

Which is still low-ish, but in the OP's latest post he's at 50K USD per year, which is [ Google ... (50000 USD in THB) / 12 ] = 140K Baht per month, when house and car are paid for. So that really should be just fine.

Prem takes an almighty chunk out of that one though. It almost defeats the purpose of living in a reasonably priced town when hemorrhaging money on a reasonable school.

So say you're at 40K USD/Year, or 112K Baht/Month in real money, then be prepared to lose 50,000 Baht just on Prem, every, single, month. (you pay quarterly though I think).

So with Prem in the picture on 40K USD/Year you now have 62,000 Baht left each month. Doable of course, but on that equation Prem will be happier than you on your stay.

[Tywais]

Prem's cost - http://www.ptis.ac.th/admissions

Note the 130,000B/child non-refundable 'foundation fee'.

[Lowriesuzanne]

Prem has a swim team (cheap) but the kids at Prem ride horses and play golf. Think about how much you want to spend on your child and what university you want him/her to attend. You can rent a house near Prem or on the Middle Ring Road or the third Ring Road. If you are OK with Payap University then everything is doable. If you want your child to attend a US university he/she will have to live with a relative the last two years of high school to establish residency and get in-state tuition. There are so many pros and cons. Only 10% of the Thai graduate from law school, for example, at Payap. Giving up your child to establish residency (I did that) might work. Good luck.

[northernjohn]

An extremely important and good point.

Anyone considering staying in Thailand for the long term or perhaps for the remainder of their lives, should have at least a minimum of 2 or even better 3 million baht saved in a Thai bank. I would never feel secure just living on a monthly or yearly income only being one pay cheque away from disaster. Quite frankly I couldn`t live like that on a hope and prayer that all works out and I never become ill or involved in a serious accident or Immigration decides to up the ante to obtain a visa.

Another point is; for those who obtain their incomes from abroad, is to base the bahts rates on the lowest bank foreign exchanged rates and not on the present day rates, meaning they can ride out the storm if the rates go down.

This is one of the best bits of advice ever posted on this forum , please take note everyone.

If you say so.

Certainly, people should have savings. Does it necessarily have to be in the millions of Thai baht in a Thai bank account? Why?

You can transfer money from most first world countries into a Thai bank account in a day or two. That works for me, particularly as I have significantly greater banking consumer rights/protections in my home country than I do in this country.

Well I certainly am not wealthy. But I do have enough to live a good life here with a little bit extra. I also have accesses to a very large amount of money via my visa cards which I use once a month to get living expenses and immediately go to the computer and transfer the cash to pay them off. Seems like all I do is pay them off right away and the limit keeps going up. So push come to pull I can tap into a large amount of money. Having to have millions in the bank for security seems a little bit on the paranoid side to me. On the other hand if they made that a requirement to live here there would be a lot less ex pats.

[amexpat]

We hear it all the time.

People who don't have lots of money in retirement should move back to countries where the cost of living is much, much higher.

[bangmai]

The average over 65 American has 70,000 usd in assets, and that's mostly not in cash. http://www.kpho.com/story/28679125/report-on-average-people-ready-to-retire-dont-have-enough-savings

[kanook]

wine is a joke here, probably even worse than the cheese situation. But those are two good examples of things you can a) simply do without, and save $$$$ or pay 300% more than you would in the US. If everyone refused to pay; they might consider at least lowering the excise taxes.

I buy mozzarella at Yok and it's 300฿ per kilo, not much more than I used to pay wholesale in Canada.

[anonymouse]

Thank you all for the replies and sharing your insights!

Very helpful in making my plans. It would seem with 40 to 50K USD annually, I am "in the ballpark". International school - PREM is the biggest, non elective expense. I am not aware of any other, IB diploma schools in Chaing Mai, although I have heard good things about Monfort. Any thoughts here?

To sum up -- if we have a home, car ( probably a double-cab Toyota as someone suggested ) and furnishings all bought and paid for, plus 5 million baht in reserve AND 40-50K in annual income, we should be fine. Also my wife wants to work, but realistically we don't expect much $$ .

And to further clarify "fine" ( lifestyles are so subjective !) I'd characterize it this way: Occassionally - 2 -3 times a month eating out - Thai crusine. Grow much of our veggies. We love to cook, bake, can, etc. (Its therapy ) High-speed internet, cable TV ( i am addicted to BBC ) and local wine (mostly) . Kindle books. Every two or three years an overseas trip. One trip to the beach yearly. Health insurance for the three of us. No drivers, no maids. Movies once or twice. We don't go to bars or nightclubs, but do like musicals and dance performances -- not sure how much of that is available in CM. Little to no Air conditioning -- we would like to live higher up, north of the city ( how far and where ?? I'm open to suggestions? ! )

A simple, clean life, hopefully attainable at 1.5 million baht or less per year. ;-) !

Ilario

Regarding the lifestyle bit... eating out is cheap, even if you fancy something Western 2-3 times a month it won't break the bank. If you want UK-TV you can buy a set top box from Thai Expat TV for around 10,000 baht for the one year package which gives you all the main UK Channels and 7 day catch up. There are other cable options about but I find this does me. Local wine is nothing to write home about and isn't that different in price from the imported stuff. Making use of Kindle books is a lot cheaper than buying from the secondhand book shops or imported book shops in town and you will have a wider selection. Movies are a lot cheaper than the UK. There are musicals and dance performances in town from time to time, check out CM City News/ CityLife. Location will depend on where your kids are schooling, if you are looking at Prem, somewhere North of Chang Puak is where you really want to be.

Forgetting the school fees, insurance, car, trips etc, I'd say that your lifestyle BBC, kindle, eating out on occasion, movies a couple of times a month isn't going to be much different to mine though I do drink the gut rot cheap wine boxes. The wife cooks at home most days, if we eat out we normally eat Western or Japanese. We have the one air con which goes on when it really gets hot. Bills, food, Internet, entertainment and transport mainly public sets us back around 40-50,000 baht a month/ $1,500 for myself the wife and two kids.

[MESmith]

wine is a joke here, probably even worse than the cheese situation. But those are two good examples of things you can a) simply do without, and save $$$$ or pay 300% more than you would in the US. If everyone refused to pay; they might consider at least lowering the excise taxes.

I buy mozzarella at Yok and it's 300฿ per kilo, not much more than I used to pay wholesale in Canada.

Mozzarella is produced incountry. Lot's of buffalo here

Cheese to enjoy with wine is more expensive

[uptheos]

Thank you all for the replies and sharing your insights!

Very helpful in making my plans. It would seem with 40 to 50K USD annually, I am "in the ballpark". International school - PREM is the biggest, non elective expense. I am not aware of any other, IB diploma schools in Chaing Mai, although I have heard good things about Monfort. Any thoughts here?

To sum up -- if we have a home, car ( probably a double-cab Toyota as someone suggested ) and furnishings all bought and paid for, plus 5 million baht in reserve AND 40-50K in annual income, we should be fine. Also my wife wants to work, but realistically we don't expect much $$ .

And to further clarify "fine" ( lifestyles are so subjective !) I'd characterize it this way: Occassionally - 2 -3 times a month eating out - Thai crusine. Grow much of our veggies. We love to cook, bake, can, etc. (Its therapy ) High-speed internet, cable TV ( i am addicted to BBC ) and local wine (mostly) . Kindle books. Every two or three years an overseas trip. One trip to the beach yearly. Health insurance for the three of us. No drivers, no maids. Movies once or twice. We don't go to bars or nightclubs, but do like musicals and dance performances -- not sure how much of that is available in CM. Little to no Air conditioning -- we would like to live higher up, north of the city ( how far and where ?? I'm open to suggestions? ! )

A simple, clean life, hopefully attainable at 1.5 million baht or less per year. ;-) !

Ilario

Regarding the lifestyle bit... eating out is cheap, even if you fancy something Western 2-3 times a month it won't break the bank. If you want UK-TV you can buy a set top box from Thai Expat TV for around 10,000 baht for the one year package which gives you all the main UK Channels and 7 day catch up. There are other cable options about but I find this does me. Local wine is nothing to write home about and isn't that different in price from the imported stuff. Making use of Kindle books is a lot cheaper than buying from the secondhand book shops or imported book shops in town and you will have a wider selection. Movies are a lot cheaper than the UK. There are musicals and dance performances in town from time to time, check out CM City News/ CityLife. Location will depend on where your kids are schooling, if you are looking at Prem, somewhere North of Chang Puak is where you really want to be.

Forgetting the school fees, insurance, car, trips etc, I'd say that your lifestyle BBC, kindle, eating out on occasion, movies a couple of times a month isn't going to be much different to mine though I do drink the gut rot cheap wine boxes. The wife cooks at home most days, if we eat out we normally eat Western or Japanese. We have the one air con which goes on when it really gets hot. Bills, food, Internet, entertainment and transport mainly public sets us back around 40-50,000 baht a month/ $1,500 for myself the wife and two kids.

I agree with most of your post, but ExPat TV doesn't give you anywhere near the amount of channels available on freeview in the UK.

[anonymouse]

Thank you all for the replies and sharing your insights!

Very helpful in making my plans. It would seem with 40 to 50K USD annually, I am "in the ballpark". International school - PREM is the biggest, non elective expense. I am not aware of any other, IB diploma schools in Chaing Mai, although I have heard good things about Monfort. Any thoughts here?

To sum up -- if we have a home, car ( probably a double-cab Toyota as someone suggested ) and furnishings all bought and paid for, plus 5 million baht in reserve AND 40-50K in annual income, we should be fine. Also my wife wants to work, but realistically we don't expect much $$ .

And to further clarify "fine" ( lifestyles are so subjective !) I'd characterize it this way: Occassionally - 2 -3 times a month eating out - Thai crusine. Grow much of our veggies. We love to cook, bake, can, etc. (Its therapy ) High-speed internet, cable TV ( i am addicted to BBC ) and local wine (mostly) . Kindle books. Every two or three years an overseas trip. One trip to the beach yearly. Health insurance for the three of us. No drivers, no maids. Movies once or twice. We don't go to bars or nightclubs, but do like musicals and dance performances -- not sure how much of that is available in CM. Little to no Air conditioning -- we would like to live higher up, north of the city ( how far and where ?? I'm open to suggestions? ! )

A simple, clean life, hopefully attainable at 1.5 million baht or less per year. ;-) !

Ilario

Regarding the lifestyle bit... eating out is cheap, even if you fancy something Western 2-3 times a month it won't break the bank. If you want UK-TV you can buy a set top box from Thai Expat TV for around 10,000 baht for the one year package which gives you all the main UK Channels and 7 day catch up. There are other cable options about but I find this does me. Local wine is nothing to write home about and isn't that different in price from the imported stuff. Making use of Kindle books is a lot cheaper than buying from the secondhand book shops or imported book shops in town and you will have a wider selection. Movies are a lot cheaper than the UK. There are musicals and dance performances in town from time to time, check out CM City News/ CityLife. Location will depend on where your kids are schooling, if you are looking at Prem, somewhere North of Chang Puak is where you really want to be.

Forgetting the school fees, insurance, car, trips etc, I'd say that your lifestyle BBC, kindle, eating out on occasion, movies a couple of times a month isn't going to be much different to mine though I do drink the gut rot cheap wine boxes. The wife cooks at home most days, if we eat out we normally eat Western or Japanese. We have the one air con which goes on when it really gets hot. Bills, food, Internet, entertainment and transport mainly public sets us back around 40-50,000 baht a month/ $1,500 for myself the wife and two kids.

I agree with most of your post, but ExPat TV doesn't give you anywhere near the amount of channels available on freeview in the UK.

Agreed, I know that there are other options with a much bigger range of channels but for me I find I only tend to watch the BBC and maybe 2 or 3 of the other channels on a weekly basis so it does the job. I'd certainly recommend looking around if you're a more avid TV watcher than myself.

[uptheos]

Thank you all for the replies and sharing your insights!

Very helpful in making my plans. It would seem with 40 to 50K USD annually, I am "in the ballpark". International school - PREM is the biggest, non elective expense. I am not aware of any other, IB diploma schools in Chaing Mai, although I have heard good things about Monfort. Any thoughts here?

To sum up -- if we have a home, car ( probably a double-cab Toyota as someone suggested ) and furnishings all bought and paid for, plus 5 million baht in reserve AND 40-50K in annual income, we should be fine. Also my wife wants to work, but realistically we don't expect much $$ .

And to further clarify "fine" ( lifestyles are so subjective !) I'd characterize it this way: Occassionally - 2 -3 times a month eating out - Thai crusine. Grow much of our veggies. We love to cook, bake, can, etc. (Its therapy ) High-speed internet, cable TV ( i am addicted to BBC ) and local wine (mostly) . Kindle books. Every two or three years an overseas trip. One trip to the beach yearly. Health insurance for the three of us. No drivers, no maids. Movies once or twice. We don't go to bars or nightclubs, but do like musicals and dance performances -- not sure how much of that is available in CM. Little to no Air conditioning -- we would like to live higher up, north of the city ( how far and where ?? I'm open to suggestions? ! )

A simple, clean life, hopefully attainable at 1.5 million baht or less per year. ;-) !

Ilario

Regarding the lifestyle bit... eating out is cheap, even if you fancy something Western 2-3 times a month it won't break the bank. If you want UK-TV you can buy a set top box from Thai Expat TV for around 10,000 baht for the one year package which gives you all the main UK Channels and 7 day catch up. There are other cable options about but I find this does me. Local wine is nothing to write home about and isn't that different in price from the imported stuff. Making use of Kindle books is a lot cheaper than buying from the secondhand book shops or imported book shops in town and you will have a wider selection. Movies are a lot cheaper than the UK. There are musicals and dance performances in town from time to time, check out CM City News/ CityLife. Location will depend on where your kids are schooling, if you are looking at Prem, somewhere North of Chang Puak is where you really want to be.

Forgetting the school fees, insurance, car, trips etc, I'd say that your lifestyle BBC, kindle, eating out on occasion, movies a couple of times a month isn't going to be much different to mine though I do drink the gut rot cheap wine boxes. The wife cooks at home most days, if we eat out we normally eat Western or Japanese. We have the one air con which goes on when it really gets hot. Bills, food, Internet, entertainment and transport mainly public sets us back around 40-50,000 baht a month/ $1,500 for myself the wife and two kids.

I agree with most of your post, but ExPat TV doesn't give you anywhere near the amount of channels available on freeview in the UK.

Agreed, I know that there are other options with a much bigger range of channels but for me I find I only tend to watch the BBC and maybe 2 or 3 of the other channels on a weekly basis so it does the job. I'd certainly recommend looking around if you're a more avid TV watcher than myself.

No, I've got ExPat TV along with other TV, but I just wonder why their channels are so limited?

[Lowriesuzanne]

For me, massage is a must. It keeps my body from getting stiff and sore. I go to the down-scale massage place outside Big C+. There is a short man there that hardly anyone can endure. Too strong, hands are too hard.However, that guy takes away all stiffness. About $6 dollars. That's $18 for the three of you. Next you can eat at Black Canyon Coffee. Massage and a meal for $10dollars each. That's nice. A second-generation muay Thai fighter comes to my moo baan to help me yoga stretch. He's a black belt in Taekwondo also. $20. You need to budget for those wonderful Chiang Mai blessings that can't be duplicated at this price elsewhere. My health/body improves in Chiang Mai thanks to kind Thai people. Re cheese: Makro sometimes has Wisconsin cheese in huge amounts. Plus Italian parmesan. Rim Ping has brie. Wine is $30 a bottle at RimPing but it's good. NZ and Australian.

[bangmai]

wine is a joke here, probably even worse than the cheese situation. But those are two good examples of things you can a) simply do without, and save $$$$ or pay 300% more than you would in the US. If everyone refused to pay; they might consider at least lowering the excise taxes.

I buy mozzarella at Yok and it's 300฿ per kilo, not much more than I used to pay wholesale in Canada.

Canadians know a little about plywood; not much else. I bought a Kg of the Thai Mozzarella and giving it a "D" is being generous. Might be different if I lived in an arctic wasteland. AIDS started in Canada? Really, I didn't know that.

[Thakkar]

My $17k (45kbht/month) pays the home loan on a 3 bed 3 shower house 12km from the moat.

Runs 1 pickup, 3 scooters, 2 bicycles & feeds 5 people.

And I eat out at least once a day.

Not everyone gets drunk every night and buys hookers.

Same here, except we can afford to run just the one bicycle. Mrs. T has to ride on the back of mine. She doesn't like it, but it was either that or I'd have to give up the hookers.

T

[MaeJoMTB]

wine is a joke here, probably even worse than the cheese situation. But those are two good examples of things you can a) simply do without, and save $$$$ or pay 300% more than you would in the US. If everyone refused to pay; they might consider at least lowering the excise taxes.

Cheese,

Just found Australian Bega strong and Bitey Vintage 250g on special offer BOGOF for 245bht.

Didn't think that was too bad, same price as Oz.

[PHP87]

http://www.numbeo.com

[bangmai]

wine is a joke here, probably even worse than the cheese situation. But those are two good examples of things you can a) simply do without, and save $$$$ or pay 300% more than you would in the US. If everyone refused to pay; they might consider at least lowering the excise taxes.

Cheese,

Just found Australian Bega strong and Bitey Vintage 250g on special offer BOGOF for 245bht.

Didn't think that was too bad, same price as Oz.

first place I looked in the States...White American=220 thb per KG.http://www.garrettsiga.com/weeklyads