Sakeopete

When I lived in Corpus Christi, Texas, going saltwater fishing was cheap and snow skiing was expensive- so I fished a lot and skied behind a boat.

When I lived in Casper, Wyoming, snow skiing was cheap and saltwater fishing was expensive so I skied a lot and fished the lakes and streams

When I lived in China, taxis and mass transit were cheap and owning a car was expensive, so I took taxis.  In Bangkok, I don't need a car because I can find everything I need fairly close to home.  That's not the case in suburbia in Casper or Corpus.

I find some things in Bangkok to be very cheap and others to be very expensive and that figures into what I do and how I live here.  Overall, it is possible to live on much less money in Bangkok than in the USA.  

But if I choose to live the same lifestyle as "back home", it will cost a lot more because of the high cost of goods that aren't indigenous and are taxed and marked up as luxury goods- though they would certainly not be considered luxury goods in most western countries.

Overall, I spend about as much to live in Thailand as I would in the USA or China, but live a very different lifestyle.  Not better, not worse, just different. (And every once in awhile I suck it up and spend a big wad on something I miss from "back home")

Animal nature.

And humans are animals.