Thailand Expat Golfer Cost of Living

[ItDontMeanAThing]

There is an active thread about cost of living in Hua Hin, Thailand on the local expat forum. Most of the posts are from one of two types of expats: golfers with families and assets, single men who live in studio apartments. I live in Hua Hin and found it useful to see how the other half lives (I don't golf).

Cliff's notes version: Western lifestyle by those who can't imagine LBYM is a large fraction of cost in home country. Comfortable lifestyle with some western amenities costs considerably less.

Cost of living in Hua Hin

Hua Hin is a beach town that some say has the best golfing in the country. It's one of the most expensive places to live in Thailand. Many of the posters are English or European. When reading it's helpful to know that right now $1 USD = .7 Euro = .6 Pound = 30 b (or bt or Thai Baht)

 

[haha]

There is an active thread about cost of living in Hua Hin, Thailand on the local expat forum. Most of the posts are from one of two types of expats: golfers with families and assets, single men who live in studio apartments. I live in Hua Hin and found it useful to see how the other half lives (I don't golf).

Cliff's notes version: Western lifestyle by those who can't imagine LBYM is a large fraction of cost in home country. Comfortable lifestyle with some western amenities costs considerably less.

Cost of living in Hua Hin

Hua Hin is a beach town that some say has the best golfing in the country. It's one of the most expensive places to live in Thailand. Many of the posters are English or European. When reading it's helpful to know that right now $1 USD = .7 Euro = .6 Pound = 30 b (or bt or Thai Baht)

Please, stick to topics of more widespread interest- like the girls.

Ha

 

[veremchuka]

Thanks for starting another thread about Thailand. Maybe we can ignore the sex aspects of Thailand and stick to other points so this thread doesn't get locked like the other?

 

[Nords]

Thanks for starting another thread about Thailand. Maybe we can ignore the sex aspects of Thailand and stick to other points so this thread doesn't get locked like the other?

I figure you're skirting pretty close to locking the thread on extramarital sex:
http://www.early-retirement.org/for...-your-spouse-cheated-56213-2.html#post1078024

 

[nun]

There is an active thread about cost of living in Hua Hin, Thailand on the local expat forum. Most of the posts are from one of two types of expats: golfers with families and assets, single men who live in studio apartments. I live in Hua Hin and found it useful to see how the other half lives (I don't golf).

Cliff's notes version: Western lifestyle by those who can't imagine LBYM is a large fraction of cost in home country. Comfortable lifestyle with some western amenities costs considerably less.

Cost of living in Hua Hin

Hua Hin is a beach town that some say has the best golfing in the country. It's one of the most expensive places to live in Thailand. Many of the posters are English or European. When reading it's helpful to know that right now $1 USD = .7 Euro = .6 Pound = 30 b (or bt or Thai Baht)

Cost of living is one of those things that's really difficult to pin down as it depends so much on the individual. It's best to keep it simple and compare basics like rental and the cost of energy. Food is one of the biggest parts of any budget, but that's the most personal and variable too. There are also taxes to consider and health care. When I budget my move to the UK the category of health care goes from $400 a month in the US to zero in the UK.......it would be higher in Thailand. As for a house 600 pounds a month in rent would be cheap for me as I'm use to Boston house and rent prices...so Thai rents look amazing.....but I want something like this
2 bedroom cottage to rent in The Green, Richmond, DL10, DL10

 

[kramer]

I used to live in Chiang Mai, Thailand and also spent some time living in Bangkok, particularly when I was in Thai language school there. Although the dollar was about 33 back then. Bangkok is definitely a lot more expensive.

The main things I found cheaper:

* Eating out (cheaper). In fact, I don't think I could prepare my own food cheaper in some cases. I often had to order 2x what a Thai would order because I am a big eater. Western food is only a little cheaper, unlike Thai food.
* Housing (much cheaper)
* Health care (much cheaper but not as high of quality) or if you are willing to pay for Bumrungrad in Bangkok, still cheaper but highest quality in the world with instant access to specialists, an amazing place
* Transport: Scooters are much cheaper, both the initial cost but particularly the maintenance (effect of everyone owning one, $6 for the 20 minute job of removing back tire, replace with new tire and new intertube, reinstall). Taxis are inexpensive and a suitable replacement for owing a car in many places.
* Live entertainment: cheap in Chiang Mai, not nearly as cheap in Bangkok
* Laundry, $1/kilo, washed, dried, folded, wrinkle-free, nuff said. Conveniences like this also reduce your utilities and space requirements.

I didn't matter if electronics cost 20% more than cheap USA prices because they are such a tiny fraction of my budget (like maybe 2%). Whereas food, rent, and transport are huge and everyday.

The main headaches (outside of cultural issues, which was the main reason I left):

* Pollution in the north in March, April -- it is worse than anything you have probably encountered in your life, pollution in developing countries does not bother me but this could be so bad
* Traffic big problem in large cities
* Understanding Thai script

My Thai language school (2008) in a group class with 2 other people, 15 hours/week for 4 weeks was under $170, top notch personal instruction including book, in downtown Bangkok. This was much less than I have paid for comparable Spanish language instruction in various countries.

I am not a golfer, but I did have a golfer buddy, and it was quite inexpensive. He taught me at a driving range. A lot of Malay golfers would take the cheap AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Chiang Mai to golf for the weekend.

I do find that sometimes expats leave certain things out of their budgets that they wouldn't have if they still lived in their home country. Like trips back home, they still maintain USA health insurance, that sort of thing.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Please, stick to topics of more widespread interest- like the girls.

Ha

Me love you long time !

 

[haha]

Me love you long time !

LOL! That's what I'm talking about!

Maybe i will get a friend with a really good sense of humor to make me a voice file for my Ipod "You sexy man, me love you long time!" I can use it to feel better when I am down, or having trouble sleeping.

Ha

 

[nun]

Let's keep this on track! I'm interested in expat expenses

 

[haha]

Let's keep this on track! I'm interested in expat expenses

Sorry! But that was nice little interlude for a sometimes needy non-golfer like me.

Ha

 

[Moemg]

LOL! That's what I'm talking about!

Maybe i will get a friend with a really good sense of humor to make me a voice file for my Ipod "You sexy man, me love you long time!" I can use it to feel better when I am down, or having trouble sleeping.

Ha

You forgot to add darling !

 

[veremchuka]

I figure you're skirting pretty close to locking the thread on extramarital sex:
http://www.early-retirement.org/for...-your-spouse-cheated-56213-2.html#post1078024

Yes I was afraid of that. I really wanted to explain but the graphic nature of that bothered me. I am sorry if I crossed a line, i do try to obey the rules here. I did not mean to cause trouble or get the thread locked.

And again can we please avoid comments that have nothing to do with living in Thailand, I really would like to heard about life there.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

Thanks for starting another thread about Thailand. Maybe we can ignore the sex aspects of Thailand and stick to other points so this thread doesn't get locked like the other?

Yeah, I agree. Keep it on topic. I had to pay for the immaturity of some posters when I asked for verification of apartment costs and the other posters started measuring wedding dresses for their new mail-order brides. I usually lead the pack in immature comments but have never caused a thread to be locked.

You can always add a hidden line in your spreadsheet for the girls, the shotguns for the wedding, and the sex toys. We don't need to know how much you plan to spend on these.

As for Nun, I tend to disagree that food cost is the biggest part of my budget. It has always ranged around $300/month for groceries for me and, when I am flush, maybe another $100 to $120 for restaurant meals. I think the biggest surprise for us Westerners is how cheap restaurant meals are in Asia because of the low labor cost. By cooking at home, you are only saving the labor cost and probably end up paying farang prices for all the ingredients. Eating out every meal is one thing I look forward to. My own horrendous cooking does get old after a couple of months.

 

[ItDontMeanAThing]

And again can we please avoid comments that have nothing to do with living in Thailand,

Difficult for some to do because of their beliefs of why an American would travel to Thailand, let alone live there. Beliefs formed without the benefit of ever having been here. Before my first vacation here in 2004 I got reactions that included cold shoulders, rolled eyes, and a few Monty Pythonesque wink and a nudges.

The tsunami hit the day after I left Thailand. Several people who had negative reactions to my plans to visit Thailand actually said things like 'I saw normal tourists in the videos', 'I didn't know families went to Thailand'. If all one knew about the US was the South Bronx or Palm Beach FL or Dutch Harbor AK, their beliefs about the US would be as skewed as many American's beliefs about Thailand.

 

[Lancelot]

'I didn't know families went to Thailand'.

Tons of families visit Thailand. Pattaya has two Russian language tv stations and I have personally witnessed three generations of Ruskies strolling that den of iniquity, "Walking Street" in Pattaya.

One of the funniest things that I have ever personally witnessed was in one of the upstairs bars in Patpong, that infamous Go go bar district in Bangkok that has "cultural" shows highlighting the, umm, special and secret talents known only to Thai girls.

Well this gal is writing her name -and not using her hands- when a chinese tour guide holding a small flag leads a flock of elderly mainland chinese tourists (no fashion sense) to the bar stools nearest the stage. The two elderly matrons seated beside me never averted their eyes, showed any emotion or shock -or ordered a drink- and viewed the "show" with intense scrutiny

After 20 or so minutes some invisible signal was given and the entire troop left en mass, their faces a mask.

All sorts of folks in Thailand these days

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

I finally waded through the first 4 pages of the Hua Hin Forum discussion that you posted. Wow, the high end is 200k baht/month or $6,666 USD/month. Any time budget discussions come up on these boards, you invariably get a few braggarts talking about how much money they manage to blow. I don't know what examples they serve other than don't be an idiot with money like I am.

I have a friend in the Caribbean who insists that he needs $12k USD/month and that his net $5k/month pension and social security is barely chump change. He has a paid-off condo on the beach, so figure HOA + insurance + water + electric + cable + gas bottle delivery = $600. Food isn't cheap there, but you can eat out twice a day for $15 or $457/month. Add health insurance, gas for the car, insurance and maintenance for the car, maybe another $500/month. That's $1,600 a month, and you have clothed, fed, sheltered, and transported yourself. What is the other $10,400 for?

Then I looked at your blog, and you are managing on $1,400 a month, so even with a 100% buffer, that's $2,800/month.