Budgeting for my trip to Thailand!

[daveduke007]

"Fantastic" reading your posts Doug  

[brocklanders]

Thanks for the informative post Doug BUT 200,000 baht a month is a bucketload of cash? I know its good money in Thailand but lets be real here.

[Looker]

(doug @ Apr. 02 2008,14:38) Which means that in spite of making boatloads of cash, I'm living in a state of self-imposed poverty.

I do pretty much the same, only I call it a state of frugality but it's same same.
I don't need to spend, I don't like to spend, I don't want to spend..unless strictly necessary.
Unfortunately, sice I live in a MUCH more xpensive place than Thailand, I can't stay within those budgets that instead you can

[stogie bear]

(brocklanders @ Apr. 03 2008,14:21) Thanks for the informative post Doug BUT 200,000 baht a month is a bucketload of cash? I know its good money in Thailand but lets be real here.

200,000 baht is good money anywhere, but in Thailand it IS 'bucketloads!'

[PigDogg]

(Looker @ Apr. 03 2008,00:32) I do pretty much the same, only I call it a state of frugality    but it's same same.
I don't need to spend, I don't like to spend, I don't want to spend..unless strictly necessary.

[Guest]

(stogie bear @ Mar. 28 2008,21:59) Here's the golden rule of budgeting for Thailand.... (and it's really simple!)

Bring TWICE as much money as you think you'll neeed and half as many clothes!

 That's IT, brothers - that's ALL you need to know!

Sure - writing down the expenses and hotel costs and food costs and short time rates might make you feel good about coming, but chuck all that crap out the window when you are on your way to the airport.

When you get here you'll be glad you did. Sticking to a budget is a surefire way to kill any holiday. You may as well not come.

So - how good are you at managing your money on holiday?

   

My first trip to los i had this grand plan lbs i wanted to do how much to spend i was a pain in the arse on this site with expense questions. At the end of the day you sit at the bar watching the parade on the way in ,you have a few drinks chat to few  bms if your lucky but once you hit the door of the first bar it does not mater you are a fox in a chicken coup with no guard dog to stop you.  

The saying is very apt " Best laid plans of mice and men" who ever said it must have been to Thailand coz is dose not f--king work to plan.


The best plan is not to plan and take the above advise


 

[Guest]

I budgeted 5000 bht a day first day i spent nearly double that.

I tend to now take the dave approach when planning any trip hotels airfare etc are all done before i leave and all i need to do is bring what i want to spend. Then make sure the ATM card has the same again available

[doug]

(brocklanders @ Apr. 03 2008,15:21) Thanks for the informative post Doug BUT 200,000 baht a month is a bucketload of cash?  I know its good money in Thailand but lets be real here.

Thanks for the kudos guys, maybe someday I'll write a Stickman-style blog about living and working in Thailand. Hahah!

As for whether or not 200K a month is a lot of money, I realize that the dollar has taken a beating since I left America (btw, I feel really good about converting some of my savings into baht when I moved here, because it was around 44 baht to a dollar at the time, so I've made over 30 cents off every dollar I changed), but still 200K a month is around $6250 a month, which is around $72,000 a year.

Has the dollar tanked so much that $72K is no longer a good wage in America? I don't think so. Especially since my living expenses and taxes are around 10% of what they were back home, so I get KEEP most of that money.

My main point is that you can't even get into that income range here unless you make some concessions to the local culture. Keep your nose clean and mind your "Thai" manners, and doors open. Act like an arrogant, drunken idiot most of the time and you'll be forever relegated to the sad-sack teacher working at British-American category.

Simple as that, really.

Anyone reading my "how to fall in love" thread, knows that I'm an arrogant, sociopathic jackass by nature. The trick is, I don't act like that around Thai people. Everyone thinks I'm a sweet guy and I don't see a reason to disabuse them of that notion.

I will tell you this, I personally know salary of a CEO of a major Thai corporation (because he told me so himself) who used to be a high-ranking official in a cabinet office before the coup, and he gets paid 30,000 baht a month for running one of the biggest companies in Thailand.

Yep, you heard that right. The average knappy-haired backpacking teacher with a "degree" from FlyByNight University makes more money than the CEO of a fucking huge company.

Of course, the difference is that the CEO has status, which in this country is worth A LOT of money. That pot-smoking teacher is stuck at 30K, period. Yah, its still good money, and yah, it's still ten times what the average rice farmer makes, and yah it's a living wage, and yah most middle-managers with college degrees make half that, etc.... All that's true.

But that's all he'll ever make, because he has no status, and his public behavior and appearance guarantee that he'll never get any.

In Thailand, it's not what you know, or even who you know, it's how you look. That's a fact.

I guarantee that the CEO guy I know has all sorts of side-deals going on and all sorts of revenue coming in from properties he owns. So the "salary" he makes from his day job is really just a token. What's important is that he has the "look" of success and in this country, that translates into hard cash.

Still, his base salary is 30K, so if I'm making almost five to seven times that amount, I'd say that I'm not out-of-line using the term "bucketloads", especially since I earn more in one month what the average Thai FAMILY earns in one year.

Which is also one of the big reasons why I think the suburbs kick Sukhumvit's ass (when it comes to living here, not holidaying here).

If I go downtown, I'm surrounded by a bunch of guys who make (back home) as much or more than I do, but since they're on holiday, they are willing to blow a month's Thai-wages, every day. Why would I want to compete with that? And why would I want to go someplace where every Thai waiter, salesperson, and hooker is going to assume that I want to spend that much too??

It's like what I was saying in that thread about Real and her seafood-eating gang of showgirls. A real Thai girl would never drop a 4000 baht bill on a guy when they first start dating, that's a HUGE sum! But Real pegged me for a tourist and so she just assumed I'd be thrilled to pay thousands of baht just to hand her napkins.

Out in the suburbs, you can go to the poshest place in the area and still escape with a bill under 1000 baht for two or even three people.

One thing though, hookers are still cheaper (for farang) downtown. Don't even bother with the suburban Thai-guy massage spas, coyote bars, and fishbowls.

You walk into one of those places and they're going to assume one of two things: a ) you're a tourist who's lost his way, or b ) you're a visiting exec working at the Toyota plant and so you've got money to burn. Either way, they are going to aim high and ignore any attempt to negotiate a lower price. In fact, they're going to be a bit puzzled or annoyed that you'd try to bargain with them (why you bother? you farang. you rich!).

Actually, the coyote bars out in the burbs are still a hell of a lot of fun, even if they do "overcharge" you. Just don't expect to take a girl home, that's UNLIKELY. Possible, but UNLIKELY (especially since her boyfriend works there and he's waiting on the motorcycle outside after work). So if you like playing pool, buying ladydrinks, and watching girls in hotpants do that cute bouncy dance to some repetitive da-dat-da-dah song, then look around for a local coyote bar. They're a blast.

But the fish bowls and massage spas. Forget about it. 2000 to 3000 baht minimum for the girl for short time. And that's not including the 2000 baht "bar fine" the management charges!

So if you want to get laid, Sukhumvit wins. If you want to live comfortably and cheaply, the suburbs wins. So:

Sukhumvit: 1, Suburbs: 1

[brocklanders]

$72,000 a year is middle class in California..on the lower end but you are right that its good money in Thailand but not a bucketload of cash. I am not going to brag about my income but lets just say that is a working class wage IMHO as I am a divorce attorney and see all ranges of incomes. Even illegal Mexicans make that level of income these days.

[Looker]

(brocklanders @ Apr. 04 2008,13:09) Even illegal Mexicans make that level of income these days.

So much for hard and honest working.

[stogie bear]

Even illegal Mexicans make that level of income these days...

[azza33]

I always make a budget before every trip!!

And i always end up needing to pay off the credit card after the trip

Once you are in and the temptations are in front of you - there is no hope

[Guest]

(azza33 @ Apr. 06 2008,11:52) I always make a budget before every trip!!

And i always end up needing to pay off the credit card after the trip  

Once you are in    and the temptations are in front of you  - there is no hope    

ITS ALL THINKING WITH THIS

[farang_oz]

I agree with post 72, its impossible to budget once in Thailand. My eyes are always bigger than my wallet and so is my

[thaibound]

(brocklanders @ Apr. 03 2008,23:09) $72,000 a year is middle class in California..on the lower end but you are right that its good money in Thailand but not a bucketload of cash. I am not going to brag about my income but lets just say that is a working class wage IMHO as I am a divorce attorney and see all ranges of incomes. Even illegal Mexicans make that level of income these days.

but only if you're referring to drug dealers and pimps when you say 'illegal mexicans'.
a very good wage for an illegal immigrant in the (and many if not most are mexican so we shall assume you refer to the usa, at least in part) is $25usd/hour. Most earn closer to $12usd/hour. Many earn less than $10usd/hour. If lucky enough to be employed *full-time* 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year, these 'illegals' would earn $20,000-$50,000usd/year.
If you have jobs available for "illegal mexicans" paying better than $72,000 usd/year, i know a few hundred workers willing to kickback 10% finders fee.

Meantime, during multiple-month holidays in thailand, i stay 3-4 star hotels, enjoy the paid company of beautiful ladyboys every night of the week, dress well, eat better, and constantly spoil myself with everything from movie tickets to week-end excursions to koh samet and koh samui, and even still i don't spend $72,000/year.

Bottom line, if you come to thailand with $72,000usd/year to spend, you will be a very very happy man.
If you stay off the yaba!