Author: koomatzu

Cost Of Living In Thailand

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How much is the cost of living for 1 month in Bangkok?

Before I actually moved to Thailand, I did a little bit of research, organised my savings and figured I could probably get by on a cost of living of  £250 – £300 budget per month… This includes fitness classes, food, bills, rent and a little bit of spending money. So I figured saving £5000 for expenses will be enough to get me by living a year in Thailand.

Well, after my first month of living in Thailand I’ve managed to plough through roughly 27000 baht (£540), although I am sure it will take a little bit of experience and time before I can make bigger savings on my cost of living in Thailand…. but at the same time I will always have a weakness for spending money on pretty things, eating in decent eateries, buying fancy shakes and getting the BTS just about everywhere possible… I just don’t have it in me to live on that tight a budget.

In all fairness, we have spent a lot of money eating out at nice restaurants, sightseeing and doing a fair bit of drinking what with it being Christmas and new year. Everybody ends up splurging and spending loads more money than usual around Christmas time right? I do still stand by my earlier calculations though, and I believe it is actually possible to achieve a cost of living in Thailand of 15000 baht if you live very frugally...

Guide To Monthly Living Expenses In Thailand

Cost of food and drink in Bangkok: 8700 baht (£175) each

You can actually buy street food in Thailand very cheaply from about 25 baht for a meal… although the language barrier can prove off-putting with the lack of menus, as well as the fact that these vendors consist of an unrefrigerated cart with five hour old ingredients left in 40 degree heat. So there’s always the fear of food poisoning or any other dreaded parasites like tapeworm (shout out to the Siriat Forensic Museum for freaking us out about parasites in Thai street food… thanks for that). On top of that, although it tastes pretty good, the portions are really quite small and I personally can’t live on two or three of these meals in a day (and I am not exactly overweight either)…

So, although I’ve spent considerably more than this, I think maybe a more dedicated person could get by in Bangkok on 100 baht per day (£60 per month) for food expenses. Just as a rough idea, you can also eat out in a decent Bangkok restaurant for about 100-200 baht per person and you can eat at a really nice restaurant for 500 baht. Also, I tend to spend money on a lot of bubble teas, smoothies and shakes costing from about 30 – 90 baht, doughnuts or waffles between 12 and 26 baht, and fancy cakes for 90 – 125 baht… I’m gonna get so fat living in Thailand…

Cost of Transport in Bangkok: 1780 baht

 As for transport in Thailand… I am a very sweaty, pig-like trogladite lady and so I have grown quite a distaste for walking too far or exerting myself even slightly in the hot weather of Thailand. Therefore over time I have used the BTS increasingly more and more for shorter and shorter distances. My body just isn’t built for this hot Bangkok weather. A journey on the BTS or MRT in Bangkok will cost you between 15 and 50 baht per journey, a ferry up the Chao Praya river – between 3 and 20 baht, and a taxi will typically cost between 35 and 150 baht to get around the city.

However, if you were on a really tight budget, you can easily buy a decent second hand bike for maybe 2000 baht and cycle most places. In Thailand, the pavement is actually also a cycle lane, so you could even use the path if you’re not too comfortable in the heavy Bangkok traffic – although I’ve personally not done this and am not really sure how easy it would be to weave in and out of the pedestrian traffic on the pavements in some areas!

Cost of Bills and Rent in Bangkok: 5525 baht each

It is possible to rent an apartment from 3000 baht per month in Bangkok; ours is a serviced studio in a central location and costs 10000 baht per month and that’s split between two of us. The bills in Thailand are very low, even though our apartment overcharges and profits from us for the utilities, the water bill is extremely cheap and only costs us 50 baht per month, so is pretty much negligable. Electricity bills cost us around 1000 baht per month, which runs our TV, fridgefreezer, microwave and air conditioner which we run half the day, everyday. So the cost of utility bills in Thailand work out very cheap.

Cost of Yoga classes in Bangkok: 2500 baht

Gyms aren’t cheap in Thailand, and most of them require you to sign a contract for 6 months or a year. Although I think the cheapest we’ve found so far in Bangkok worked out to about 1800 baht per month, but don’t quote me on that – we’re still looking into finding a decent gym. And of course there’s always the outdoor gym at lumpini park in Bangkok which costs something like 35 baht a go… if you’re not the type easily intimidated by super huge Thai dudes chest pressing tyres-on-a-bar then give it a go. Currently, I pay monthly for yoga classes instead which gave me  15 x 90-minute sessions of yoga for the month. Fair price I say.

Cost of recreation in Bangkok: 240 baht. This includes going to the cinema and museums.

Cost of shopping in Bangkok: 4700 baht. I wouldn’t normally spend this much in a month I don’t think. I had to spend a fair bit of money at the pharmacy and also bought myself a yoga mat for 1300 baht too. Then I guess I must have spent about 2000 baht on clothes :/ But in all fairness, I have bought a decent amount of new clothes for this amount!

Sneaky thieves: 3500 baht. Maybe I’m unlucky, or maybe (probably more likely) I am not too smart, but the amount I’ve been short changed, overcharged and stolen from has added up to about 3500 baht for my first month living in Thailand, so maybe the less street wise might need to account for this early learning curve too!

 

I will keep making records of my cost of living in Thailand every month, hopefully it will be less, and a more realistic figure for the expenses of an expat in Bangkok.. in all honesty, at the moment we are living as tourists in Thailand more than expats… easily distracted and lured in by Thai novelties and attractions and more vulnerable to being scammed and robbed!


Update: For more information on the cost of living in Thailand, you can check out Month 2 and Month 3 of my expenses in Bangkok.

Apartments In Bangkok

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where to rent in bangkok

Renting apartments in Bangkok can be very affordable and extremely good value. Although slightly more expensive than others, there are many apartments in Bangkok around that will allow monthly contracts for those who are maybe unable to sign a contract for a whole 6 months or year. And likewise, there are many hotels that will encourage long stay visitors and offer some decent discounts for monthly stays. It can actually cost as little as 2500 baht a month to rent an apartment in Bangkok – that roughly works out to $80, or £50.

 

Renting an apartment in Bangkok on a budget

I can’t personally vouch for the quality of the types of apartment in Bangkok which start at 2500 baht and to be honest, I can assume that one should use common sense and be prepared for some very basic accommodation at best. If you really are a carefree and unperturbed individual who doesn’t mind roughing it, then I’m sure that’s fine. It’s just a place to sleep after all.  I tip my hat to you.

It’s the kind of price most of the working class locals will pay for rent in Bangkok and is actually quite the norm I believe. But for this price, these cheaper apartments in Bangkok are usually very small bed sits. I’m sure there are plenty of clean, cockroach free apartments in Bangkok to choose from though!

For those willing to pay a little bit more rent in Bangkok, serviced apartments can be quite a good option. Serviced apartments in bangkok arrange bills, cleaning and sometimes laundry for you too, however they do tend to charge about double for your water and electricity bills. You can find some decent serviced apartments in Bangkok which start from 8000 baht per month ($250). Some good value serviced apartments in Bangkok are:

http://www.nonsiresidence.com/

http://sathornsaintview.com/index.php  –  Review of Sathorn Saint View

http://bosstower.com/contact.html

Renting an apartment in Bangkok with money to burn

If you can afford to spend maybe 15000 or 20000 baht/month on rent, you will have absolutely no problem in finding plenty of luxury studios and bedroom apartments for rent in Bangkok. And of course for more than this, you can find some magnificent apartments in Bangkok in excellent locations.

For both budget and luxury apartments in Bangkok, please take a look at any of these sites. I myself have found them to be very useful; they have a huge range of short stay and long stay apartments to rent in Bangkok.

http://en.9apartment.com

http://www.tee-pak.com/en/index.html

http://www.companyvauban.com

http://www.bigmangoproperties.com

http://www.bangkokcondofinder.com 

www.ddproperty.com

 

Renting an apartment in Bangkok. For more information on areas, apartments and where to live in Bangkok, click here.

 

Tuk Tuk Suit Shop Scam

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In Bangkok, Tuk Tuks are an awesome novelty. Blinged up with neon lights and all sorts of dangling decorations, bouncing around the bumpy roads like cheerful and carefree Mario Karts, and a reputation for being a particularly cheap means of transportation around the city; it’s definitely a must to grab a ride in a tuk tuk in Bangkok… or is it a scam?

A few years ago, we vacationed in Bangkok for about a week. The very first day, we were approached by a very lovely and helpful stranger in the street. He explained to us that it was something like ‘Happy Buddha Day’ and then continued to make notes for us on our map as to where all the temples were located which we could visit in Bangkok for free today, and only today.

Also, he mentioned, you could grab a special blue government Bangkok tuk tuk for only 25 baht and it would takes us to all of these sights. Oh how lucky were we! Oh and double good fortune there just happened to be a blue tuk tuk pull up beside us! The tuk tuk driver took us to these Bangkok temples and he also took us to a suit shop which seemed a bit random. And it was a bit awkward considering we had absolutely no interest in buying a suit in Bangkok.

Tuk Tukking around Khaosan Road

After maybe an hour of sightseeing, we left the last temple for our Bangkok tuk tuk to take us home. We returned to where the tuk tuk had dropped us but he was nowhere to be seen. Where is he? We didn’t pay him his 25 baht! There were a couple of other tuk tuks waiting up the road, but our tuk tuk driver was nowhere to be seen. “Tuk tuk! Tuk tuk!” they all started shouting to us. We asked them if they’d seen our tuk tuk driver, to which they replied ‘he was ill! He had to go home’. So we were generally sad and concerned for our driver and that we’d had a free tuk tuk ride around Bangkok and not paid him…

Well, later throughout our holiday in Bangkok, both from observation of other tourists and through our own experience, a pattern of tuk tuk scams emerged. Everyday was ‘Happy Buddha Day’. If you were to tell an enthusiastic tuk tuk driver that you already had plans and didn’t want a ride, he would respond with “The Bangkok Grand Palace, it’s closed today, you can’t go there”, “No, that road is closed now, there is nothing there”. Sometimes a stranger would approach a tourist and talk with them while a tuk tuk would be conveniently waiting around the corner to appear in perfect timing to scam them.

We later spoke with a tuk tuk driver when we had no choice but to use him during Bangkok rush hour when all the taxis refused us a ride. We offered the tuk tuk driver 300 baht rather than the usual 25 baht, to take us to where we wanted to go – no bullshit. He refused. He explained to us that the government paid him a very generous amount of money and petrol coupons to take tourists to the suit shops in Bangkok. That was the awkward day when we had to fein interest in suits in a suit shop and  deal with a very pissed off indian for wasting his time.

So, frustratingly, despite seeing locals using tuk tuks in Bangkok all the time, it seems that if you are western, it is impossible to simply use a tuk tuk for normal transportation. Or maybe we have just been unlucky. To this very day, we still get pestered from time to time by tuk tuk men in Bangkok asking what we’re up to and then following up with ‘oh, no no it’s closed today’. Although they now also dive straight in and ask straight out if we want to go to a gay massage parlour or a ping pong show. That’s a new one. But… yeah… apparently everything in Bangkok was closed today at 3pm in the afternoon. Yep a whole chunk of Bangkok just went and closed up.

 

Seriously tuk tuk scam men… just back off…

 

Eating Out In Bangkok

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eating out in bangok

 

It’s quite hard going in Thailand when it comes to food. I say that because I am a bit a of a health freak. I have a preference for vegetables, whole grains, low-fat, low-sugar, low-salt foods. Food and health is important to me. So, after just a few weeks in Thailand I will admit I am struggling – food is not particularly healthy; so far at least. Lots of deep-fried, non-vegetable, sugary dishes. And in Thailand, they put sugar in everything. In the 7/11, if you’re feeling hungry wanting some snacks… well you’ve got a choice of sugary buns, cakes, steamed buns, sugary yogurts… not to mention the neon coloured drinks. Order a smoothie and usually you will get syrup added to it. At first I was loving all the sweet stuff, but now I am just hungering for some healthy, sugar free food and drinks.

 

The local eateries on the street sides are probably the healthiest option but even then things are fried. You can get a meal from 20 baht (65 cents or 40 pence) upwards which is way cheaper even than cooking at home yourself; it really is a bargain. The locals are very friendly and welcoming too, as it can sometimes be intimidating among locals in a foreign country. It’s really quite tasty, with simple ingredients and I think it can more often than not, be tastier than eating in a restaurant and paying triple the price. The problem in Thailand I find though, is the portion sizes. They’re more like child portions and I yearn to feel full up! For this reason, I do have a tendency to treat myself quite regularly to a 100 baht (about $3, or £2) steak/ burger and chips.

 

As for the fried meat and unidentifiable meat balls on the streets… The street meat guys have got me, my tastebuds have adapted and I now love the meat skewers. You can buy sticks of meat including sausages, meatballs and deep fried chicken from the streets for 10 baht a piece, granted some of it is weird and over processed… but it grows on you. Especially when you have it smothered with the chilli sauce which I have also now acclimatised to (although it is actually reasonably mild anyway). You can also, although quite rarely seen, purchase cooked insects from some of these vendors.

One time I picked out some skewers from a street vendor in Bangkok.. thought they looked nice and meaty.. Well, one of them was barbequed livers and the other, which I thought was pieces of chicken – I took a nice, big mouthful and… crunch. It turned out to be something like baby birds on a stick… I don’t have a clue. They had boney spines along the middles and some kind of yellow, inardy substance inside. For the more adventurous though… sure give it a bash!

I did, however, manage to finish them – I do hate to waste food… or anything for that matter – but it was not a very pleasant experience.

Crime In Thailand

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thailand crime

 

Bag Snatching In Bangkok

We were walking back home through the Sois to our Bangkok apartment today, just after dark. There is a very thin lane with corrugated panelled walls – quite dilapidated looking. I could hear a motorbike approaching behind me, as they very frequently do around this area of Bangkok, so I sped up to try and move out of the way for him… Well the guy on the motorbike snatched my bag. Yep, just like in the movies – they actually do drive past you on a motorbike, bag snatching in Bangkok. And a smoothly done crime it was.

I thought I’d been hit at first, what with it being such a narrow path, so it took a few seconds to register that I’d had my bag snatched. Then my boyfriend just flung his bag to the floor and chased the bag snatching thief up the lane for about half a mile, Terminator 2 style. Alas, despite this lane having heavy single lane traffic coming from the other direction every night that we have lived in Bangkok for 3 weeks, tonight there was not a soul on the road and so the thief escaped with my stolen bag after a valiant attempt to retrieve it.

Sadly, my boyfriend’s laptop suffered a crack from being chucked on the floor during the pursuit of the thief. I had my bag, my wallet, my camera, my mobile phone, my freshly topped up BTS carrot card, my school books and notes, and about 800 baht stolen 🙁 To be honest, there were plenty of warning signs. Literally. ‘Beware: bag snatching’ signs everwhere around this part of Bangkok. Fortunately, I only have a crappy mobile phone, it was my lesser camera, and I had no credit cards in my wallet. So, in a positive light, I still have my sexy camera, my credit cards and my passport… At least I can learn from this small crime in Thailand so that I may protect my more important possessions in the future.

Also, after so much budgeting and depriving myself of tasty treats and drinks during our days in Thailand so far, well the cash alone in my bag was about 800 baht. Ironically before my bag snatching, I had been being particularly stingy with my money and so I bitterly realised that my petty attempts to save money in Thailand were in vain.

And so I conclude.. Screw it. Screw you money! I’m gonna eat all the tasty Thai snacks and bubble teas to my heart’s content until I either explode… or run out of money after 4 months living in Thailand rather than the planned year :/

Because money – it just comes and goes, it is impermanent… and you never know when some jackass thief on a motorbike is gonna just steal it all away from you.

 

Avoid having your bag snatched in Thailand! Check my Thailand safety guide here.

 

Mystery Job – Interview Day

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After a random and unexpected job offer from Bob Anderson in Bangkok, (mentioned in my previous post here) today was interview day. I arrived prepared for the worst and dubious that it might be a scam.

Bob Anderson’s english turned out to be quite a lot worse than I remember. There had definitely been a bit of a mis-communication. ‘So what sort of job are you interested in in Bangkok?’, he keeps asking. I was a little unprepared for this as I assumed he had a specific job lined up for me from what he told me yesterday.

After a long walk across various walkways and through various shopping centres, (my bodyguard boyfriend James-Bonding-it-up and sneakily following us behind)  we reached a Bangkok office. Pretty flashy and corporate looking. Anyway, Bob Anderson introduced me to the Director and we moved on into a small glass-walled room with a dozen chairs in it and a white board. He began asking me about my previous work and education history, which is a little embarrassing as it’s not the most impressive career background, and then continued to ask me what sort of work I’m after. Again, I really don’t know, I don’t have any idea what kind of work is available to me in Bangkok (being simple and unskilled as I am).

He explains a couple of jobs they have available for me in Bangkok, but through his broken english I don’t quite understand the details exactly. Then his colleague, the director entered. Next I had to sit through a long presentation on the white board about a pyramid scheme where I would have to buy some useless product for £600 and then I’d be able to make thousands of dollars every month apparently. Woohoo! ;p Bit surreal and awkward when you’re a one man audience sat alone in the middle of a boardroom twiddling your thumbs, not in the slightest bit interested in signing up to the scam. After 20 minutes of the presentation, the two of them switched back (never to mention the subject of the Pyramid scheme scam again by the way) to asking me what sort of work I’d be interested in.

Anyway, to finish it all off, a huge, very serious african gentleman dropped them a visit and I have to say, he was one of the scariest, most intimidating people I’ve ever met. I guess he was a little less patient with Bob Anderson’s overly quiet, beating around the bush, broken English style and eventually he started getting a bit shouty and it was all very awkward. And then I left. After about 1 and a half hours of arriving there :/

…At least I had a bash at it.

Recruitment scam in Bangkok

UPDATE: A few months later in Bangkok, I noticed a post on my Facebook news feed warning people about a man who had stolen a small business’s identity and website and was tarnishing their name with various scams. Other people commented and the gist of it seemed to be that he was tricking people into the sex trade and screwing other people over with their pay on other jobs.  I recognised the name so I clicked on the link to his Facebook  and – yup you guessed it – it was the very same person who approached and interviewed me. That explains why we thought he seemed so dodgy when we looked into all his different scam websites and names obviously. Apparently he goes by many aliases, but the main one he goes by is ‘Bob Anderson’. 

recruitment scam thailand

This is the second Facebook post I’ve seen about ‘the notorious Bob Anderson’ to date

 

Random Job Offer

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I arrived at my thai lesson early today and decided to wait outside in the sunshine at Park Venture. A few minutes later, a Japanese guy approached me – ‘excuse me, do you speak english?’. His name was Bob Anderson and he went on to explain that he had a job for me – translating. I assume maybe (as we chatted about languages so he’d know I can’t speak any others fluently) translating texts or just improving rough drafts… I’m not quite sure. Bob Anderson seemed nice enough… he was softly spoken and polite, his english wasn’t that easy to understand and he just didn’t seem to get to the point about what the company did or what the job was.

He asked me if I could come for an interview in the office across the road but as I didn’t have time, I wrote down my email address for him and asked if he could send me some more information. I figured, as I didn’t have much of an idea what he was talking about, I could probably get a better idea if he sent me something more official, or his website even. Now, I am a strong believer in the Yes Man theory… You regret the things in life that you don’t do more than the things that you actually do. A job in translation sounds pretty cool and I could really use the money – it sucks living on a budget when there’s so much tasty food enticing you and seducing you on every street corner :O

Well, I received an email from him straight away… It didn’t have any more information in it, just a load of his website links and a facebook link. I looked at the links… still have no idea what exactly he does, looked at his facebook and get this – he has around 3000 friends and seriously 99% of them are all young girls around my age… That’s weird. My boyfriend got pretty suspicious and stayed awake hours googling him – Bob Anderson seems to have different aliases, different businesses and all information and pictures basically just don’t match up. So, admittedly I’m a bit put off now, but he seems pretty harmless so we’ve concluded that it’s probably legitimate… Still though, I shall prepare myself for something very, very ropey.

Learn more about my interview and Bob Anderson here.