Look at it this way. You can get a one room flat for 2k a month in CM so do the math. 10-15k a month is doable for a single person. Add another 10k for each family member. 15k + 10k + 10k = 35,000 baht x 12 months = 420,000 baht p/m or US$12,500 /year. Add school fees on top of that.

Chiang Mai is a cheap place to live during some of your life stages. Middle age and end stage are cheap here. Workouts for the elderly.... the down but not out yet...are expensive. Since California Wow! disappeared, there hasn't been a good workout place, aka gym, worthy of the name. However, you can buy professional grade workout equipment from Seara Sports in BKK. Pay online, then weep at the price. They bring the equipment to Chiang Mai and set it up in your home. I have a treadmill for slow walking and reading with a book holder/iPAD holder. I have a compact cross cable machine with two weight stacks. The free weights and bench I got in Chiang Mai. I have a cheap-o Airport Plaza vibration plate that wakes me up before the afternoon workout. I would like to have a professional elliptical but I'm not going to buy it. I HATE to pay 3x US prices. I'll just do laps in the pool with a kickboard. Now, all this "investment" sounds like a lot. At age 50 it is excessive. At age 72 it is what I need to stay vertical. Could I walk around my moo baan? Sure. But the mornings are for swim and stretching. I hate the sun after lunch and I am scared of snakes at dusk when I can't see what I'm stepping on. In my moo baan I walked over a pretty snake that was stretched out on the park path. I thought it was dead. I looked back at it. Oops. A banded krait in striking pose. Too close for comfort. RE Western meds and procedures. The Bumrungrad in BKK is cheaper than Ram-1. If you want SynVisc for your knees, visit the relatives in the U.S. for 3 weeks and get your 3 shots. Medicare will pay for it. In short, Chiang Mai is a great place until you start fighting the deterioration of age. Then Chiang Mai gets expensive during a 20 year period. When you finally give up and are wheelchair bound, Chiang Mai is cheap once again and a much better place to be than the U.S. The Thai nurses and caregivers are kind. In your home you retain your civil rights. You are not drugged into oblivion. The caregivers push you and your wheelchair around the moo baan. You are not shut away with the living dead.

Chiang Mai is a cheap place to live during some of your life stages. Middle age and end stage are cheap here. Workouts for the elderly.... the down but not out yet...are expensive. Since California Wow! disappeared, there hasn't been a good workout place, aka gym, worthy of the name.

Bicycles are cheap and there's a big mountain road.

You can also walk or run up it.

No membership fees.

Lowriesuzzane and MaeJoMTB seem to be in some sort of alternative Chiang Mai to me.

On 6/19/2015 at 8:43 AM, bangmai said:

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.

 

Snobby much?