Chiang Mai == Noobie Heaven?

schockergd said:
I don't see how $2500/mo is cheap by any means.
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Ohhh, you can definitely live cheaper. I know of studio apartments for $50/month, there's $1 plates of food available everywhere, I can get a liter of lao khao (horrid Thai whiskey) for I think $4, and so on.

But what's the point of working 80+ hour weeks if you're going to live like you're on welfare? As anyone who's lived here will attest to, you can definitely live on the cheap, but it gets tiresome quite quickly. Then if / when you decide you want a life comparable to the West, cost of living starts going up.

The only real difference here is, instead of living in a condo down town in some metropolis, I get a nice 3bdrm house with large yard. Oh, and I get better customer service than you. As rusvik said, labor here is cheap, so adding extra employees to the payroll is a non-issue. Due to this, everyone has come to expect / demand a much higher level of service than you get in the West, and they won't settle for less.

I have not once bought a piece of furniture or fridge or whatever, without it being delivered hours after leaving the store. If internet goes down, it's one phone call, and within a few hours I have someone at the house up the pole checking it out. Get pissed off one night, punch my laptop and break the screen? No problem, head into town, they'll start working on it straight away, and I'll have a new screen in my laptop within an hour or two. And so on... there's none of this, "let me check the schedule -- I can fit you in next Wednesday between 12 - 4" shit. If a company does that here, they go under.
 


schockergd said:
I don't see how $2500/mo is cheap by any means.

In my part of Ohio, I have properties as I've said. In one of my properties (What I want to do as a prototype of property) it's similar to most of these 1br units I'm seeing in SE Asia. In my case I'm cashflowing fantastic, and the unit(s) are rented for $300-$350 a month.

A person can easily sustain themselves for $600 per month or less (Including all utilities, food, so on and so forth). In this test unit, the tenant is employed by a local fast food joint, makes minimum wage and is able to comfortably afford housing, food and can still save (or blow) several hundred dollars a month on useless crap.

Thus my curiousity in these kinds of minimalist areas that are tech oriented.

The big difference between Thailand and here though is effective courts and contract enforcement. I've met many, many people who tell me the easiest way to get stuff done is by simple bribery. Whether it be getting out of a drunk driving arrest, or something more nefarious. I really don't like the idea of being in a place where bribes are the best way to get things done.
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There's also tax advantages for Americans and Canadians living down there. Not sure whether they pay Thai income tax or what the rate would be, though.

Those rents you mentioned do seem reasonable. What are the demographics of that area?
 
Kiopa_Matt said:
Nope. I want a few years in South America first. After that, I'll be happy with my travelling experiences, will have seen all the world I truly want to, and will settle back down in Canada. Parents are retired and getting older, so I want to take advantage of the next few years before they need help with basic shit -- lawn, groceries, laundry, etc. Already know the exact city I'll move to -- about 30 mins down the road from them. Close enough to take care, but not so close we're in each other's faces every day.

Been here long enough though. Time for a change, and Uruguay will be it. Soon, soon... :) Have the money saved, but... yeah, soon.
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Ok good luck dude. uruguay is awesome and nearby cities in brazil.

rusvik said:
I've just been a fortnight in Prague and the visual aestethics of a place like that is really underrated. It made me happy just to walk around in the city with so many great older residential buildings and cathedrals. No one has as good a sense of use of public space and aestethics as Europeans. As said, I don't understand how Asians can deal with cramped living conditions and lack of visual beauty day after day. Even Japan is pretty mundane and boring in architecture and city planning. Then you compare to HCM where the French built and they built incredible looking parks, boulevards with tall trees and awesome buildings. It's a very underrated aspect of livability.
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word. that city has communist blocks all around so you might've spent too much time in the old town. but it's still on par with paris and barcelona in a way. like that winery on a hill overlooking the whole city is beautiful
 
I love Chiang Mai. Hot climate, friendly people, great food, interesting culture, ball for $1,000, sideways pussy.

I worked at that Punspace for a month or so, wasn't really my scene. Started hanging around with a load of expats.

Will stop off on the way to Bali next year.
 
Scococo said:
I love Chiang Mai. Hot climate, friendly people, great food, interesting culture, ball for $1,000, sideways pussy.

I worked at that Punspace for a month or so, wasn't really my scene. Started hanging around with a load of expats.

Will stop off on the way to Bali next year.
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Bali is the best place I've ever been. I was with friends and we were meant to be there for about a month and then move on to Thailand.

Well to cut a long story short, my friends moved on and I cancelled my flight because I didn't wanna leave.

I got a fake visa and stayed there for another 2 months. Fucking love that place man. Hot springs, monkey forest, ride mopeds on the pavement, good clubs, hot chicks. Got Lombok and the Gilli islands next door.

I'm going there again soon. Fuck it.
 
James_Clarke said:
I read a bit about Chiang Mai and it looks like your studio (5000 Baht/mo) is on the cheap side, but your other spend ($1500/2 = $750 or 25000 Baht/mo) is pretty expensive.

Where do you spend the 25K per person if everything is so cheap there?
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I dunno, don't really keep track. Booze, visa extensions, electricity, food etc.. Imported food costs more, we hire motorbikes occasionally to explore countryside. I spend almost 100 baht a day just on fruit = 3,000 per month.
 
qualo said:
I dunno, don't really keep track. Booze, visa extensions, electricity, food etc.. Imported food costs more, we hire motorbikes occasionally to explore countryside. I spend almost 100 baht a day just on fruit = 3,000 per month.
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25k per person can only mean two things.... sex and drugs. Otherwise no fucking way could you spend that much in Thailand lol. Unless you live in like a top of the range condo or some shit and eat at expensive restaurants every day. Even with all those factors you mentioned, that is impossible.

Edit - per year or per month?
 
Scarecr0w said:
25k per person can only mean two things.... sex and drugs. Otherwise no fucking way could you spend that much in Thailand lol. Unless you live in like a top of the range condo or some shit and eat at expensive restaurants every day. Even with all those factors you mentioned, that is impossible.

Edit - per year or per month?
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25,000 Baht is around £500 which is around $750

I think you are getting currencies confused. I made this very clear in my post above where I said we live on $1500-$2000 per month. If you don't believe we can spend that much you are utterly deluded, I expect most expats spend more than this.
 
qualo said:
25,000 Baht is around £500 which is around $750

I think you are getting currencies confused. I made this very clear in my post above where I said we live on $1500-$2000 per month. If you don't believe we can spend that much you are utterly deluded, I expect most expats spend more than this.
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I thought that you meant you or the guy above were spending 25,000 dollars a month in Thailand lol. So no, I'm not utterly deluded bro, I haven't read the whole thread.

I have seen people spending that much on exactly what I just said - drugs and hookers.
 
Scarecr0w said:
It's like a current trend these days. Countless people I know have gone there in the past couple of years. Probably think they will "find themself" or some shit, and maybe they will...
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It worked for Steve Jobs.
 
Scarecr0w said:
It's like a current trend these days. Countless people I know have gone there in the past couple of years. Probably think they will "find themself" or some shit, and maybe they will...
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I would love to know their experiences, the good the bad, and what to look out for.
 
I have spent 4 months in India. It is a true 3rd world country and you are exposed to horrific scenes especially in tourist areas (deformity etc...). The people are generally not as clean (everyone gets sick there from food poisoning) and the cities are like living nightmares (over populated and full of slums).

On the other hand it is a massive place with amazing scenery from tropics in south to Himalayas in north. The culture is fascinating. Some of the food is amazing. I may visit again one day but it would take a lot of research to find a place to live that is better than Ubud or Chiang Mai.
 
qualo said:
I expect most expats spend more than this.
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While most expats (young and old) will tell you that they are balling out of control with their mad monies, its bullshit.

Most, not all, but most expats in Thailand are broke living month to month on amounts that would see them in soup kitchens back home.
 
acidie said:
While most expats (young and old) will tell you that they are balling out of control with their mad monies, its bullshit.

Most, not all, but most expats in Thailand are broke living month to month on amounts that would see them in soup kitchens back home.
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QFT. Worse is when that mother fucker expat is running a How to Make Monies Online and Quit Your Job blog.
 
For sure you can do 100 baht a day. That's 3 x chicken with rice, guessing about 1300-1500 cals if you get all the cooking oil, free water refill from the street kitchen. Chicken rice can be had for as little as 25 baht but more commonly 30-35 baht. With a bit of luck there will be a 10 baht left for one of those cakes with green custard in that costs like 7 baht. I like those.

Someone should probably tell these noobs that a night in Samitivej Hospital with no treatment but a drop of water and some antibiotics cost 20K baht. And that they were adamant about not treating me before insurance confirmed despite the fact that I was dangerously dehydrated with blood pressure under 100 and vomiting everywhere.

There's always Chiang Mai free hospitals. If they speak English and not just avoid treating you because they have a patologichal fear of embarassement.

However, that's just being grumpy. In reality it is very cool for a sheltered westerner to experience life like this for the first time.
 
rusvik said:
That's 3 x chicken with rice, guessing about 1300-1500 cals if you get all the cooking oil, free water refill from the street kitchen.
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Yeah, but you can't actually live like that. I did it for a few months, and my fucken legs went numb on me. I remember, several times a day I was mixing cayenne pepper with orange juice to keep the blood flowing, because it hurt so much, lol. It was because of the dirty cheap re-used cooking oil, plus when they clean their woks they just scrape the shit out of them with a metal spatula, so you can get added iron in your diet as well.

heh, good times...

I'm a cheap cunt nowadays and hate spending money, but food is one thing I don't cheap out on. If I want some cheese from Germany, a nice bottle of red wine from Chile, and a steak from New Zealand, then that's what I'm having. To hell with the import tax, I'll pay it.
 
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