Bangkok Cost of Living

Thailand is like anywhere else, it can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. If you plan on eating western food, sending your laundry out, having a maid and a nice 2 bedroom condo, a car, and partying then you will easily spend as much in Bangkok as you would anywhere else. If however you can economize a bit and blend in with the culture you can indeed live very cheaply in Bangkok and even more so in the provinces of Thailand.

Golf lived pretty well on just 16,000 baht a month when she was working in Bangkok although I think a farang (foreigner) would need a bit more to be comfortable. Based on my experiences and what I’ve been reading lately I would say that anything over 40,000 baht a month would make you quite comfortable in Bangkok. If you can add a bit to that and reach 60,000 baht a month you’ll be doing very well, especially by Thai standards. Keep in mind the Thai’s won’t make nearly what you do in most cases. Golf is a nurse and made just 16,000 baht a month. Compared to Western standards that is very low indeed. And you should easily more than double that working as an English teacher for as few as 20-25 hours a week.

Here are some guidelines to current living expenses in Bangkok, mostly taken from forums about and for English teachers.

Housing: A studio or one bedroom condo can be had for as little as 8000 baht a month if you are willing to do some searching and live a bit away from the BTS. The closer to the BTS you get the higher the rents become. 15,000-20,000 baht a month will get you a very nice place indeed. If you’re one of the lucky one’s here in Thailand on an expat package then the sky’s the limit. Condo’s around the Silom/Sukhumvit area can go as high as 250,000 baht per month and include fitness centers, pools, daily maid service, on site restaurants and room service and amazing views of Bangkok.

Utilities: Water is a nominal charge and shouldn’t run you more than a couple hundred baht a month and may even be included in the rent. Electricity is a different matter. If you like it cool and plan on running the A/C non-stop then you’ll pay up to 3000 baht a month.

Cable TV is available through UBS and costs 1500 baht a month which includes 25 channels including BBC news, CNN, ESPN, Star sports, several football feeds, the History Channel, Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel and at least four movie channels, among others.

Broadband internet can be had in the built up areas of Bangkok and will run you a bit over 1000 baht a month. Alternatively you can get dial-up access for 400 baht a month with the pre-paid internet cards or use the internet cafes which typically charge about ½ baht per minute.

Cell Phone: Cell phone rates are pretty darn reasonable and the rechargeable SIM cards in Thailand are a good value. You can easily pick up a used cell phone for a couple thousand baht at MBK (or even less) and the SIM cards can be recharged with a prepaid card from any 7-11. Or if possible you can buy just the SIM card for like 200 baht and you’re on your way. This only works with unlocked phones from AT&T or T-Mobile for U.S. based people.

Food: Food is very reasonable in Bangkok and Thailand, especially if you adopt a Thai diet. If you are really on a budget you can very likely get by on 5000-6000 baht a month for food living in Bangkok and even less in the provinces. Any of the open air restaurants (of which there are thousands) will get you lunch or dinner for less than 50 baht. On the other hand there are restaurants where you can easily spend in excess of 1500 baht for dinner as well. Some of the great deals I like are iced coffee for just 10 baht, fresh pineapple for 10 baht, grilled sausages (I like the spicy ones) 20 baht for two, fried chicken for 15-20 baht a piece and roti with banana for 15-25 baht.

Transportation: Transport is also very reasonable in Bangkok. If you can take the BTS to your destination expect to pay anywhere from 10-40 baht for the ride, same goes for the subway. Busses and ferries are a wonderful deal ranging anywhere from 8 baht to 25 baht again depending on the length of your trip. Taxi’s will run you about 120 baht for a trip all the way across town. Shorter trips of 15-30 minutes shouldn’t cost more than 60-70 baht. I haven’t yet gotten up the courage to try riding on the back of a motorcycle, but they are also very cheap….I think Golf told me just 6 or 8 baht.

Entertainment: This is another category that can run very high depending on your tastes. If you’re a party animal and butterfly expect to spend upwards of 10,000 baht a month clubbing. I’ve actually spent that in one night already. On the other hand if you’re moderate and go out just weekends without getting completely looped or availing yourself of the horizontal entertainment you can keep this within reason. Say 2000-4000 baht a month for a moderate party lifestyle. Cigarettes are just 40 baht a pack and a large Singha or Leo beer can be had for 60-80 baht at bars and half that from the supermarket.

I think that pretty much covers it. If you add up my numbers you’ll find that 40,000 baht a month is quite sufficient for a pretty good lifestyle in Bangkok. Anything above that is gravy and will make your life correspondingly more comfortable. Let me know if I skipped anything or missed anything or if you know where to find good bargains on anything within Bangkok.

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Thai Chili’s | Prik Kee Nu | Prik Chee Faa

There are many spicy foods, but none seem to come even close to Thai foods. I’ve had Indian food in India and Mexican food in Mexico and neither one brought tears to my eyes the way Thai food, real Thai food, did the first time I had it.

It seems like Thai’s like to add chili’s to every dish and you’ll find a variety of chili condiments on the table at any Thai restaurant. The most common are simple dried chili powder and nam prik which literally means “chili water” and is a combination of fresh chili’s, vinegar, fish sauce and lime juice.

Thai’s use a wide variety of chili’s in their cooking, but the most common are the prik kee nu and the prik chee faa chili’s. Both will curl your hair, but the prik kee nu is definitely the hotter of the two. Tread carefully with these chili’s if you’re not used to spicy food and I mean REALLY spicy food, not what you typically find in America.

Prik kee nu chilis are green or red and about one inch in length. You can find them in most major cities in the U.S. in Oriental grocery stores and they freeze well (up to one year) so if you’re just visiting the city for the weekend you can buy lots and freeze them. Simply wash the chili, dry thoroughly and put it in a Ziplock freezer bag to freeze.

When the prik kee nu is dried it is called prik hang and is even hotter if that’s possible. You can also find these in Oriental groceries and the smaller the chili the hotter it will be. Golf and I get these shipped to us by her dad from Thailand by the kilo, we typically use about ½ pound a month. You will very likely get better mileage

When I started eating with Golf she would always tell the waitress to make our order paed mak mak. I had no idea what that meant for weeks until finally she told me, paed means “spicy”. So my introduction to spicy Thai food was extra spicy from a Thai perspective. In years before that I know that any Thai food I got was served for Western tastes and even now if I am by myself and order food paed mak mak they won’t make it nearly as spicy as they do when I am with Golf.

Don’t think though that Thai food is just about the spicy chili’s. The spicy dishes usually combine other elements such as sweet, sour and salty together in intriguing ways. If you haven’t tried real Thai food yet then I suggest you subscribe to my feed and keep coming back. Golf has promised to start posting at least one authentic Thai recipe a week so you should be able to build quite a recipe base very quickly.

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Traffic in Bangkok Thailand

Bangkok traffic is the worst traffic you will ever see and if you ever get stuck going across town at 5:30 in the afternoon on a Friday you’ll be glad to get back to New York or London or Los Angeles because these places will seem like a quick dash around the suburbs compared to what Bangkok can throw at you.

The traffic in Bangkok is the stuff that legends are made of. Imagine waking up at 4am so you can be off to the office by 5am and arrive near 6am and then wait for 2 hours because your office doesn’t open until 8am. This is commonplace in Bangkok as is the fleets of cars lining up outside schools as early as 5:30am with bleary eyed mothers watching over their seemingly still sleeping children. Anything to avoid the rush or rather the gridlock of rush hour.

Rode tid mak mak the Thai’s will tell you. It means “traffic is bad, very bad”, but that is normal for Bangkok. I once came out to Silom Road at 1:30 in the morning to see taxi’s lined up in both directions as far as the eye could see. What city has grid lock at 1:30am? And what looked like a short trip from Khao San Road to our hotel across the bridge in the Pinklao district regularly took up to an hour after 1:00am. Just a few miles and on the outer perimeter of Bangkok to be sure, but still a major undertaking at any hour of the day or night.

And yet even so Thai’s continue to buy cars because they are status symbols. The Thai government has a 100-300% tariff on auto’s which means a Toyota Corolla (or something similar) will cost up to $35,000. It hasn’t stopped car buying in the least. I can tell how important they are to Thai’s especially younger Thai’s as a status symbol by listening to Golf and her friends. Even though the public transport in Bangkok is faster and so much cheaper they all want the status that a car exudes.

Personally I would rather spend $0.25 to get across town on a bus (scary) or ferry or the Bangkok BTS or even spring a whole $1.00 for a taxi, but I think I will end up falling prey to the need to increase our status when we move back to Thailand. I may even end up driving the beast, but I don’t think I will have the same patience that the Thai’s have on the road. Maybe I need to cultivate the mai bpen rai attitude so common in Thailand. Why have a stroke over something you can’t change? Rode tid mak mak. Mai bpen rai…

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Thailand Jobs | Working in Thailand for Foreigners

So you’ve been to Thailand and fell in love with the culture, the people and the easy lifestyle. You absolutely have to get back and you think you even want to live there. Sounds good to me, I have the same aspirations. The problem is, unless you have a trust fund or some very generous relatives (I have neither) you’ll need a way to make money while you’re in Thailand. Are there ways for a foreigner to make money while living in Thailand? You bet there are! Don’t expect to get rich, but you will have the pleasure of living in the land of smiles and all of the cultural benefits of living in a foreign land. Here are some ways you can go about putting some cash in the bank while you live and enjoy Thailand.

1. Teach English – This is probably the most popular method for native English speakers to make money while living in Thailand (or any other foreign country for that matter). You don’t really need anything to get started except a good command of English and to get your butt to Thailand. While it’s possible to find teaching jobs online it’s not very likely unless you are a licensed teacher already and you are applying to the top tier international schools in Bangkok. For the rest of us it’s best to just get to Thailand and start knocking about looking for work. English teachers generally make around 40,000 baht a month and upward, depending on how hard you want to work.One very good resource for prospective English teachers in Bangkok and Thailand is Ajarn.com. They have been around since 1999 and have the best information about teaching in Thailand that I’ve seen. Plus they have links to many of the English schools and a fantastic job board. I could go more in depth about teaching English in Thailand as a job, but they have it all covered already.
2. Translator – Not many people know it, but it is quite possible to find work as a translator for Thai businesses in Bangkok. English is the international language of business and if you don’t mind presenting products then this could be right up your alley. Pay can range anywhere from 2000-6000 baht a day which isn’t too bad if you can find steady work. To get this kind of job does require some networking, but it’s not hard.The best way to get started is by getting yourself out there and networking. Dress sharp, image is very important to Thai’s. White shirt, dark pants and blazer and a tie are necessary for this work. Check the Bangkok Post for business conventions which are typically held at the Queen Sirikrit Convention Center which is on Ratchadaphisek Rd. near the Thailand Stock Market off Rama IV Rd. Once there simply mingle and talk with some of the businesses there. You’ll find that many of them will be happy to hire you on to help promote their products in English.
3. Actor/Model – Another little known job for falangs (foreigners) in Thailand is as actors or models. The pay isn’t great, but if you build a name for yourself you can get fairly consistent work. And I understand it’s a great way to meet the ladies. Again, you can find leads in the Bangkok Post or try putting together a small portfolio of photographs and mailing it to the modeling/acting agencies listed in the yellow pages. If you’re really serious you may want to get an agent as they can be invaluable in securing work and negotiating. Pay can range from 2000 baht a day and up. Not great, but the work is easy and wouldn’t it be glamorous to say you’re a model/actor?
4. Dive Instructor – If you’ve got PADI dive certification and can get or already have dive instructor certification this could be perfect for you. It’s not really up my alley so I’m not sure how easy it would be to get this job, but the Andaman sea has some of the best diving in the world and there are a whole host of dive shops and live aboards that work from the islands of Thailand. I would guess the pay isn’t great, but this isn’t really something you do for the pay, you do it for the passion and the experience.
5. Accountant, engineer, salesman, lawyer or any professional position. You won’t get a job at a Thai company for most professional positions, but if you’ve got experience you may be able to land a position with a multi-national company that has offices in Bangkok. Since you’ll be getting paid in your home countries currency and will very likely have all the benefits of an ex-pat package (retirement, housing, travel, tuition for children, medical insurance, etc) these are the sweetest jobs around. I don’t qualify, but if you do and you want to get yourself to Thailand start looking. Price Waterhouse has a lot of ex-pats in Asia as do large multi-nationals like Siemens, IBM, HP, and any petrol related business. If you really want to be here then that should be enough motivation to conduct a comprehensive search.

Well, there you go. 5 jobs or professions you can start pretty much as soon as you land in Bangkok. Give yourself enough money to last a few weeks to two months to get oriented and just go. Once you get there and start networking you’ll find many open doors and the adventure of a lifetime. It’s really not that hard all you need is the desire to be there. You’ll gain cultural experience and job related experiences that can’t be had anywhere else by working in Thailand and if you eventually choose to go back to your native country you’ll be that much more valuable to employers there thanks to your experience.

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Phuket Airplane Crash’s Regretting | Flight OG269

On Sept,16th I went to check the news like I usually do everyday from teenee.com, one of my favourite Thai websites. I was shocked with the news about the Airplane crash in Phuket.

OMG…it’s the most horrible and sad news for me about the accident in Thailand since Tsunami happened in December, 2004. Especially since it happened in the traveling season which has just started now…

I remember when the Tsunami happened on that time I started to work at BNH Hospital not even one month yet. And on that day my schedule for work was from 8 o’clock till 4 o’clock in the afternoon but I have to stay until midnight because emergency cases from south of Thailand were referred to some hospitals in Bangkok including where I worked because not enough medical care, support, doctors, nurses and also some of them have to have a big surgery in the proficient hospital.

Sine then until now I still remember about how saddened I was because of the circumstances in front of me never fade away. Some of them lost their child or the child can’t find their mom and dad. How painful for those people either from the cut and wound or inside their mind that no one can reach. Especially the latter painfulness have to take so much time and who will know how long it will take to accept that they’re departed.

I feel really sorry for all families, friends, husband, wife, father, mother or whoever lose your loved one from this Airplane crash. Even some of them are survivors, but might take a long time to recover from the wound and especially their mind to be better as before. And who will know how long it will take? One month, one year or even ten years from now…but for somebody can stay last long forever…

No one wants the accident like this happen and also no one can prevent against the fortune. But so many things that we can do for protect are whatever you want to do please establish yourself and be remain in carefully, build the goodness, love and be in unity and then the society and everything will be better.

Popularity: 3% [?]

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