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tudodude
Joined: 08 Mar 2007
Posts: 82
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 Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 6:02 pm Post subject: When did Bangkok get to be so MOD EDIT expensive |
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I recently returned after 2 years in Saudi Arabia expecting a life like before.... but then I saw prices here have gone up loads.
I used to live on 30000 a month in BKK 2,3 and 4 years ago but I can't see myself doing that now.... and apartment costs have ballooned too!!!
When did all this happen......... Tuna is more expensive here than in England!! |
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Master Shake
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1202
Location: Colorado, USA
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| Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 6:10 am Post subject: |
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It's a good thing I didn't come here to eat loads of tuna...or other expensive western imports.
If you make a few lifestyle changes, 30,000 a month can go a long way:
-Learn the bus routes and use them, as well as the BTS, MRT and ferries. Taxi fares add up.
-Don't eat western food so often.
-When you go out, go out to places that don't charge 100+ B for a small beer.
-Don't run the air-con all day at 17 C.
-Look for a cheaper place to live. There are deals to be found, especially if you venture out of the center a bit. (Making 30,000 B/ month isn't so bad if you are paying 5,000 B/month or less for a studio flat).
-Buy clothes at markets or discount wholesalers. |
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Junka
Joined: 15 Mar 2009
Posts: 14
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| Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 2:38 pm Post subject: |
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You may be converting prices to the USD, the rate just isn't as favorable as it was. Your tastes have changed and you're making more money now than before. All these things take there toll.
Although Master Shake isn't wrong, you may have changed too much. I know I have. |
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PattyFlipper
Joined: 14 Nov 2007
Posts: 572
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| Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 7:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
If you make a few lifestyle changes, 30,000 a month can go a long way:
-Learn the bus routes and use them, as well as the BTS, MRT and ferries. Taxi fares add up.
-Don't eat western food so often.
-When you go out, go out to places that don't charge 100+ B for a small beer.
-Don't run the air-con all day at 17 C.
-Look for a cheaper place to live. There are deals to be found, especially if you venture out of the center a bit. (Making 30,000 B/ month isn't so bad if you are paying 5,000 B/month or less for a studio flat).
-Buy clothes at markets or discount wholesalers. |
In other words, learn to live like a pauper or a lower-class Thai. Why any First-Country National would travel thousands of kilometres in order to live such a parsimonious existence is beyond me.
It is a myth that Thailand is cheap. Many of the comforts which, for the sake of your mental hygiene, you may like to indulge in now and again cost more than they would in most Western countries. The above advice (the essence of which is oft repeated on this and other boards related to teaching in Thailand) is fine if you are content to live like a perpetual student. It is perhaps not quite so fine if you aspire to something better.
Looks like the OP is going to be dipping into his savings from the Middle East on a regular basis. Been there. Done that. Got the Thai t-shirt to prove it. |
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Master Shake
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1202
Location: Colorado, USA
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| Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 3:20 am Post subject: |
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| PattyFlipper wrote: |
In other words, learn to live like a pauper or a lower-class Thai. Why any First-Country National would travel thousands of kilometres in order to live such a parsimonious existence is beyond me. |
Lower class Thai?? 30,000 B/mo. is an income 95% of Thais can only dream of.
A "lower-class Thai" shares a single room with two of his brothers, a wife, and a baby and transports them all on a Honda Wave. Even 10,000 B/mo. is well above the lower-class income bracket.
The fact remains that you CAN live better teaching ESL in Thailand than you can in many European countries, or in America (North or South). You may earn less money comparatively, but your money does go a lot further in Thailand, especially if you make a few small lifestyle changes (Who travells to a foreign country to live EXACTLY like they did in the west anyway?).
I don't know what marvelous place you're from PattyFlipper, but working back in the USA I couldn't afford to do many of the things we take for granted out here:
-eating out every meal
-living in an apartment with a balcony and a view
-travelling around the country for my 10 weeks of paid vacation each year
-taking taxis whenever I'm not in the mood to ride a bus or songthaew
-going to the cinema or IMAX whenever I feel like it |
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