Without going down the route of a learned article with accurate figures and careful research and multiple sources and citations I submit the following and would welcome views of all who serve in this ship of half lost souls (fortunately). The rough basic wage in UK is £5 an hour (rate of exchange throughout is at 70baht:£1 for the purpose of this string) that is 350 baht. The basic wage in Thailand is about 200 baht a day. An 8 hour day in UK would produce 3360 baht a day, so the daily rate of pay in the UK is 16 times better! But buys ten times less compared with the baht in Thailand. So it is all the same... but! A rent boy in London will set you back £100 ‘for an hour’ (7000 baht). A similarly employed Thai would cost you 1000 baht for the night (maybe ‘200 baht taxi, sir?” extra?), say £10 – a tenth of the London price with a whole night thrown in. A three room average house in outer London, with a little garden, and maybe a bathroom and shower, and a downstairs loo, would cost you about £250,000 (17.5 million baht – which would buy you in Pattaya something remarkable. (Farang Services quotation): “Grand Palace Home in Pattaya. This big house has 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and one separate guest house. Perfect for entertaining with high ceilings and a grand circular staircase leading to the upper floor. Large private swimming pool. Marble floor throughout. European Kitchen and a very big garden. The furniture downstairs is included in the price but upstairs only partial.” This must be close to 10 times better for your money than in London. What it all amounts to is that those of you in Pattaya are ten times better off than in London. So stop complaining.

homintern is on your IGNORE list.

and where is Pattay?



bkkguy

 

If you can live in Pattaya and pull in UK-level wages, you've got it made for sure.  But how to earn UK-level wages in Pattaya?

Easy,just get a rich sugar daddy who is working in UK. Many good-looking Thai boys are already doing it in Pattaya.

My monthly wage here is the equivilent of the basic fortnightly minimum wage in the UK.



PS I never earn't minimum wages in the UK before somebody comes back with a comment.

I have been told by many expats



"if you need to earn an income to survive in LOS you should  not migrate here"



In fact a lot of my conversations with expats living in Pattaya, is they are on fixed interest/pensions and their standard of living is going down.



This pie in the sky idea of how good LOS is financially is a lot of shit.

I know teachers of english that struggle to earn 70,000 baht pm that live in a closet not much bigger than a telephone box. They have no standard of living.



The house you are excited over is or will be a white elephant and quite expensive for you to maintain. And totally useless.



Others have in the past came and lived here for 6 months and learnt from the experience.



Dont try and become an expert on this forum. Come here and learn the mistakes on the ground. You will be a wiser man and still have your capital in hand.

Edited by: lonely wombat at: 25/11/05 7:31 am

So tell us in baht Johnny.How much is the uk min fortnightly wage? So say its aussie $450 pw times 2 its $900 a fortnight ,so your on about 30000 baht per month?

You should of stuck being a Police Officer,just think Johnny,all that overtime money,superanuation$$$$$$$.A UK police officer would be on about $50000 per year i suppose plus overtime rates ,wow.and now your earning 30000 b with no retirement /superanuation funds when u turn 60.I suppose you would get the pension.

It also fascinated me when i was working in the prison system years ago how all the ex police from the UK become prison officers in Australia.I mean 80 per cent of prison officers here are either welsh,irish,pommy,or scottish.The scots and irish out numbering the rest.Mind you they were tough bastards.The irish always had short tempers.I remember prison roll call,no prisoners /detainees moved because they couldnt understand the Scottish officer.

Im sure theres a job for you here Johnny.

Edited by: vbbb at: 25/11/05 7:36 am

Gone Fishing is on your IGNORE list.

You retired in your thirties? You must have one the lottery,you lucky prick.

Billy! That is what I pay myself at the moment from my company as we are still young. However I am a partner in the company so will take profit from it also when the time is right. I also still get an income from the car rental business that is now being run by my ex-bf.



I live better in some respects here. My lifestlye, as in standard of house and and material things is actually lower than when I was in the UK. However, I have a far more active social life, eat out far more, go to parties and am involved in many different organisations than I ever did at home. So my life here is better in that respect. I am happy with the present situation and my thoughts on what is important now, compared to when I lived back at home have changed.



Thanks for the invite Billy. But do I want to earn better money being a prison officer in Australia, or do I continue to build a business here and live in Pattaya but earn less? What do you think I will do?    

Glad to hear all ideas about How much money to spend in Thailand for living. Love John Botting mention about live with respect and work with many organizations.



Enjoy u life in LOS.

  

Gone Fishing is on your IGNORE list.

Can i ask you John if you regret sometimes  giving up a career job such as a police officer.I mean if you probaly stayed you would of been higher rank by now.Had you left it 10 years and moved  you would be better off financially.

Was the car rental company the first business you bought?

when it was the cheapest city in Europe and by the time I left it was the most expensive. Anywhere on this planet is beter value than the UK, although nothing compares to it.