Can it be done? HELL YES! Ok so living in Thailand is a totally different experience to living in a western country. There’s plenty plenty of fores and against. One of the major driving factors living in an Asian environment like Thailand is simply the cost of living.
When I look at how much I spent monthly in Australia, taking into account all the costs of owning your own home, what I am living on now would easily be a 10th of that. For example, my current accommodation is within a nice quite province of Ratchaburi, in Ban Pong. Its approximately 75km from Bangkok, which is a quick 100THB bus ride away.
The condo itself is new, full furnished, no kitchen though but who needs a kitchen when food is so cheap, onto that later. The condo is safe, secure, has aircon, wifi, parking and costs around 8000THB a month with utilities. This converts back to about $350AUD a month. Now where in Australia can I live for that?
Obviously expect to pay a little more in Tourist hotspots like Chiang Mai, Phuket or Pattaya.
Food, glorious Asian food! As I said above, no kitchen in my condo, yes I have a fridge for keeping my beverages chilled, but with street vendors, small restaurants and shops everywhere within a short walk, who needs to be wasting time cooking. I can venture out, sit down and eat a 2 course meal with drinks for under 200THB, thats $7AUD, you can’t even go to McDonalds in Australia and get something for that and let me tell you, the food I’m eating here for that price is so much more healthy and nourishing.
If you read my other article on Farangs buying motorcyles or cars, you will see it can be easily done. Now the Ute (pickup) that I am driving, is a 2012 model, that in Australia would be around the $28’000AUD mark. Over here I was able to pick one up for 400’000THB, approx $15’000AUD with insurance and registration for 12 months.
Now if you want to be economical, go for a diesel. Mine is a 2.5ltr turbo diesel, and I can get easily 1000km out of a tank which costs me about 1600THB to fill. This means my recent trip from Ban Pong to Chiang Mai cost me $62AUD to drive and I got to stop and smell the roses so to speak along the way.
Grabbing a local SIM card for your phone is also a must. For the short term, if your with Vodafone you can use international roaming for an extra $5AUD a day, but for long term, grabbing a Thai SIM card is a must. You can get your SIM from almost any phone shop or 7 Eleven. Buying credit from a 7 Eleven is also quite easy. I’m using 12CALL as my provider, and they service my calls, internet and GPS pretty well.
One expense that really needs to be added, is water. Your going to be consuming a shitload of bottled water. Now its not overly expensive, especially if you buy in bulk at Makro, but its still something you need to factor in.
Now I’m not saying hey lets drink bottled water because it tastes better. I’m telling you this because if you decide to run the gauntlet and drink from a tap, be prepared to have a crash course in the Thai Water Diet. This involves you staying in your condo or hotel for about 4 days, feeling the worse you have ever in your life, and pissing our your arse until you have lost about 5 kgs and all will to live.
With my budget here in Thailand, I can venture out to new areas and explore every week or two and stay in hotels and do a few touristy things. I use Airbnb for most of my hotel bookings, again keeping my costs down. This doesn’t mean I am staying in some 3rd world shithole. For about 1000THB a night, I can have my choice of plenty of great hotel and condos in every tourist hotspot in Thailand.