I can remember myself complaining incessantly about my home country some years ago after having travelled around a small part of Southeast Asia. I became besotted with just about everything that is different from the home land. Call it a crush, infatuation. I went back to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam again and again. The thrill of returning never got old. I loved it. And I still felt my life in the home land was a pale imitation.
Food, beer and accommodation were cheaper; some of the expats I met seemed worldly and far more interesting than the people I knew; the girls were stunningly beautiful; the way of life was completely different and wonderfully easy-going; regulations and laws were routinely ignored and that felt liberating; life was intense and exciting, and proceeded day and night; information on Southeast Asia was freely available and voluminous, making keeping up as easy as clicking on a link or bookmark.
Ahh, the bliss of ignorance!
It became clear to me at the end of winter 2005 trip that I wanted to spend more time there. Not for a moment did I consider simply quitting work and throwing my lot to the winds. I’m just too risk averse (read: gai mahk mahk!) for that. Also I was a bit too cash poor, too, since I was (and am still) paying a mortgage by myself. And last but by no means least important, I was nearing the 55-65 retirement zone. I wanted that pension. As you’ll remember, there was a world economic collapse in 2008 -- it would have killed me if I’d folded my cards at home and left. I’ll explain in a moment.
In early 2006, I signed up for a company leave program. In two years I would have enough money to be off work for an extended period in Thailand. In September, 2008 I arrived for six months of bliss in Bangkok. This would be the test. Happy I did that for I discovered the real cost of living there, both cultural and financial. In a nutshell, I was deficient in both.
Reality sucks. The global economic collapse didn’t help. Before arriving in late 2008, I went there in May, thanks to a great airfare, looking for a job. Two interviews and I had a tentative job offer. Amazing. When I got to Bangkok the following October, I was to call and do a job tryout for two weeks, all paid. And the pay would have injected 60,000 baht into my bank account for 10 days work. Within two weeks of arriving, the undercurrent of the downward spiralling world economy dragged the job offer into the toilet.
I also learned that if your finances are just adequate for general living, any surprise hit -- sudden need to have that new iPhone 3G (17,000 bt), theft (5000 baht), language classes (10,000 baht), a scam (7500 baht), airline ticket swallowed due to poor planning (about 5,000 baht) -- is going to hurt one’s options. And my daily living costs were a little too expensively western.
If you live like a westerner, your Bangkok cost of living will skyrocket. On a single day, I have spent: Breakfast noodle soup 30 baht, Chinese-Thai lunch of 100 (250 would not be out of range), dinner could be 200 (although I frequently cheaped out on dinner, cost 30 baht); Skytrain/MRT trip 20 baht each way, plus motorcycle taxi 20 baht (double normal rate of 10) each way; cigs 90 baht for premium Japanese brand; coffee 100 baht at fancy coffee shop; beer 160 baht for craft-brewed pint of beer (500 baht); whiskeys and beer elsewhere (320 baht). Studio or 1-bedroom apartment 12,000/month (400 a day). Total westerner daily costs: 1790 baht (or $57 Canadian, including rent). That would tend to be a rather rich day of spending, but easily doable. That's 53,700 baht ($1,725) in one month.
What you could easily get away with is: 30 bt breakfast; 50 lunch; dinner treat of 150 for Burger King burger, fries and cola; transit two-way trip 40; walk instead of moto taxi; 65 bt regular cigs; street iced coffee 15; happy hour beers 3x65=195; studio or 1-bedroom apartment for 8000/month (267 a day). Total westerner cost: 812 baht, or 24,000 ($770) a month. Difference? About 30,000 baht or $965.
If you remove one of the drink sessions from the "rich day of spending," you’ll spend the 500 baht on something else. One time I paid 2700 baht for a backup Li-Ion camera battery, or a one-way train trip to Ubon for 780 baht. Stuff like that.
The high and low figures exclude the need for savings for an air trip home or insurance of any kind, or sudden hospital bill or intercity trip or visa fees, or other stuff.
During those six months of 2008-09, I had a wonderful time but burned a lot of cash.
All the foregoing is simply nuts and bolts, important though they may be. They do set the foundation from which you conduct your activities. Know your financial situation.
Or they might simply be a way of avoiding the important question: Why move to Thailand? And further, Why leave Canada? Why now? Why not somewhere else? Don't know whether I can answer all these questions now, or next year or ever. They may not even be important. If I try to answer any of these questions over the next while, I'll report. I have a feeling, though, I'll only be able to touch the surface because I'm not done living. As I head toward retirement near-term, I have no plan to simply rest. And this might very well answer the big question. Until next time . . .
LINK:
- Thread on cost of living in Isaan, imporverished northeastern Thailand, at Thaivisa.com
- Thread on the cost of living in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand, at Thaivisa.com
