Bard

This is a good topic and highlights a hidden problem in Thailand, it's not as cheap as you may think.

If you are single you control your life and the expenses yourself and let's face it you don't need that much until you are sick, or if you have a Thai health insurance and get sick. Then you will see how expensive this can end up. For a lot of Europeans now, beware some of the European governments have revamped the laws, so if you do live abroad you will not be liable for medical care even if you suddenly decide to move home with your newfound sickness. You are on your own... One person in Pattaya got AIDS and he got no help when returning, he would have to pay this himself and obviously returned and died not long after in Camillian in Thailand. Another example is a guy who got cancer, his Thai health insurance was up for renewal and they refused him to renew. A total failure in his economy, loans from family and friends back home got him over it but a life in misery without money followed.
The worst of this is that foreigners in Thailand drink more then home, exercise less then home, have a lot of sex with high risk prostitutes and to put it mildly live an extremely high risk life for there own health and well being.

For those who on top of this have a wife or partner the expenses can easily double (unless you are a total dick who think only of himself), I am sick and tired of reading all the comments about Thai women think of everyone more than the falang, they prefer gold and glitter over there husband etc. This is a lot to do with the falang married to the other part, the falang go out party every night, fool around, talk bad about the Thai people and the women, complain and expect the women to be home take care of them like babies and on top of it feel they deserve full attention and love from the women. Grow up and treat the women as you want them to treat you or live with a other part which loath you but stay in to not loose out, until she can take no more and try to hit you back.

If you do have children the expenses will really mount up, IF you want your children to have the same stand point as yourself the day they leave home. Because you cannot put the kids in public school or even Thai private school if you want them on your level, you need to get them through international school, then send them out for higher education so they can either stay overseas or come to Thailand as well educated people with proper jobs, proper income and proper life. Should you be one of the people who cannot afford this cost you should decide to move home with the kids so they can get the best of life as well. Or should you be one of the dicks as above, and just bang them through the Thai system and see your kids end up in the ordinary Thai life bracket living (in our own eyes) in crap conditions you won't give a shit anyway, all you see is you.
Kids easily cost you 500 000 Baht each or more a year in International school.

To live a proper life in Thailand is expensive, to stay in a place where your hobbies (except drinking) will cost you a lot of money, to keep healthy is not cheap or easy it is a challenge.

I lived in Thailand for 12 years, but at the end with a very high Offshore salary I kicked it in, my kid cost me then over 600 000 baht in school, the insurances and the interest of everyone (hobbies and sport) mounted up, good healthy food and lifestyle was expensive and calculating it all I was better off moving back to Europe, it cost me less for a better lifestyle. So that was my decision, we moved back to a cheaper Europe.
Some friends live cheaper in Thailand though, they are single and young, or just dicks. Others struggle there hardest to do the best with limited means, and if they open there eyes and let go they may be better off other places.

There is no answer, just the idea to beware prior to moving to Thailand is good. There is also no answer of how to live, that is up to the person living and nothing is right or wrong unless you hurt others with your lifestyle.

Thank God I moved out of LOS after 12 years there.

In Europe and USA Thai's buy land own land and businesses 100%, they can do whatever a local can do without paying anything more for that. They can even ship money out of the country without any hassle. After a few years as a law abiding tax paying immigrant they can get a new nationality.
Why do the Westerners (Falangs) do that? Well they see any immigrant who work and pay there taxes as a valuable member of the society who help build up the wealth of that particular country.
Surely we have an amount of Thai's who come and commit crime, contribute nothing and the like. However these few elements speak for themselves and do not represent the rest of them, hence the laws and attitude is positive until you as a person proves this wrong, then you are penalized and not your race or creed. Thailand signed a document where this is supposed to be the law of the land in Thailand too, however they do not adhere to the document they signed, it basically is not worth the paper it's written on, it was just another lie to the rest of the world to look good on paper without meaning or doing as it states.

The Thai racist laws is a sign of fear, incompetence and not understanding economy. That said however the Thai economy and country seems to float along whatever stupid stuff there government comes up with. Float along is the word as there is a huge amount of poverty, and it is still an underdeveloped country. Had the leaders managed the country better had the entire Thai population done much better, to hide incompetence by spreading fear of foreigners, confiscate land and deport investors does nothing good for the nation and it's people. Some rich people buy up the land dead cheap underhand from the confiscating department. Some few get greased palms and a rich man get a steal. Then they aim for next cycle of idiot foreigners who buy, invest, build up and throw them out. It has worked before and they believe they can continue this forever. As long as foreigners put there money into the nation they will continue. The development suffer, the population suffer and the foreigners suffer. Who cares some white uniform got greased and a rich person got richer.

Thailand in my humble opinion has too many ignorant selfish people, and a very bad attitude for right and wrong. It is a great place to go for a short holiday when ignorance is a funny story when you return home, but I would never live there again until they change the laws and attitude. The day you actually can live in peace without fear for the government there I can see a massive leap for the nation and it's people, until then they will float along as a banana republic.

I think this again demonstrates the government and the governments priority in Thailand.

manarak, on 2010-12-12 14:21:47, said:

Your link is more correct, I work in Luanda, Lived in Thailand for 11 years and now live in Norway. Luanda is by far much more expensive. The first post is a very limited amount of cities in the world and is missing loads of the really expensive places in the world. Also it must be based upon hotel, food and drinking as many prices like real estate, electronics, insurance cost, loans, school, etc must be missing as my total living cost in Thailand was higher in LOS than it is in Norway. How? international school cost about 20,000,- US$ per kid per year, health insurance for the family which will not be cancelled if you get sick (like a Thai insurance) is not cheap either. Food cost for keeping a western lifestyle is also NOT cheaper in Thailand than in Europe or US, I am not talking about buffalo beef in a restaurant, but say buying cheese, good bread, wine and so on for a normal lifestyle at home is actually very expensive in Thailand. Renting a proper sized nice house or apartment is also very expensive in Bangkok, it's more expensive than living in a hotel room so all in all I believe the survey was a pure tourist survey, and in this case Bangkok is a very cheap capitol to visit in the World hands down. Oslo must be one of the most expensive, not as expensive as Luanda but way up there.

Drinking, SOME dining and hotels are cheap in Bangkok, but it only reflects the price for tourism not the price to actually live there under the exact same standard of living. If you compare same standard of living with a family you quickly see the prices vary very little and as crazy as it may seem Europe and US beats Thailand easily. Luanda is extremely expensive a normal house will set you back 5 million $, interest rate is 33% on houses, a cheap dinner is 100$ and every item is horrendously expensive, say a cheap bic lighter will set you back 5$. Then again there is no tourists to speak of, mainly oil and diamond workers who get the costs paid for by the companies.

FarangBuddha, on 2010-10-11 10:25:17, said:

Oslo??? Oslo is in Norway...

He must be a retard to play around with what he did, everyone knows the punishment for crime in Thailand is horrid compared to our home nations, so most of us don't ever consider breaking the laws, a few retards like this man try to get started in a very bad business and then cry to there home media when caught. "Easy money" attitude is what got him caught and from what I understand he have been bragging around which is a very fast was to get caught.