Really cheaper there in issan?

[Mr Earl]

I like Bangkok as a base. Great food, lot's of variety, if you stay out of the tourist areas not much scum either.
Easy place from which you can go visit the sticks and the hicks.
Bangkok is also a great place for meeting the ladies.

[sunsetter]

^right on bro

The women are more expensive. Less supply. They're also a lot more picky.

complete nonsense

[WilliamBlake]

complete nonsense

Complete fact. It ain't Walking Street. He'll be disappointed if he expects Pattaya.

[sunsetter]

^thats for sure, but they arent more expensive

[WilliamBlake]

Well, I'm no expert (honest!) so I'll accept that, but I did hear that because of less competition the working girls here can charge more. There's also a much more conservative atmosphere here, so the 'cuddle girls' at karaoke bars are not even 'available' in some places.

[Panda]

Village living aint for everyone. It bores me to death after 2 days.

You can live in Issarn on a budget ranging from 5k baht to 100k baht a month depending on the standard of living you want. I have a friend who lives in town in Udon Thani and lives very comfortably with all western comforts including repayments on pickup truck on 60k a month. He is married to a Thai lady and no whore mongering though. Likes a drink, but doesnt sit in a bar all day either.

[Panda]

Well, I'm no expert (honest!) so I'll accept that, but I did hear that because of less competition the working girls here can charge more. There's also a much more conservative atmosphere here, so the 'cuddle girls' at karaoke bars are not even 'available' in some places.

Some of them are transsexuals, so you wouldn't want to take them home anyway.

I have never understood the Thais facination for karioke. They are mad on it.

The Thai blokes seem to take great pride in tipping these poor quality mime artists and buying them drinks at the karioke bars. Beer goggles I suppose?
Also a supply and demand thing as the supply of performers is much less than the demand from the mostly male audience in these places.

[ceburat]

I posted on this thread in the beginning but after talking to my wife about what she spends for everything each month I decided to post more. Slightly off topic for a moment - I do things different then most men. I get all my money through the Bkk Bank monthly, pull 5K for pocket money witch I almost never spend and give the rest to my wife. As expected and intended she does have a nice bank account. When I die nobody gets anything because I own nothing.

As Panda said 5K to 100K depends on how you want to live. If you get bored in the sticks it might be better to live in Bkk or Patty. On the other hand, here in Korat we have a nice modern mall with olympic swimming pool. Membership in the pool only costs about 100 B per season.

The wife and I don't drink, smoke. I do no playing around with other women. We eat out once or twice a week in nice restaurants. I live in what most would call a very boring moo baan on 1 rai. Our home is large, modern and paid for. I have no monthly bills. We have a new pick up truck. We struggle to spend 30,000B per month.

[Marmite the Dog]

I like the way Isaan only consists of villages and no cities.

[sabang]

We struggle to spend 30,000B per month.

Because-

The wife and I don't drink, smoke.

Kudos- that makes a big difference.

Real estate or rent aside (and thats a big one), there isn't really much price difference between Isaan, Bangkok or anywhere else in Thailand, if you look at things by local standards. The price of food and drink is pretty similar. Some things are more expensive in Isaan.

The difference is lifestyle- Pattaya & Bangkok give you no end of temptations how to blow your money, be it in expensive bars, restaurants, or girls. There is little to spend money on in rural Isaan- the nearest decent restaurant from here is 25km, and even 'upmarket' Isaan restaurants are nowhere near the price you'll pay down south in a nice place, although strangely farang pub food (stodge) is if anything more expensive than you can find in Pattaya.

If you don't drink, or are willing to drink in shops, at home or markets mainly, I maintain you can actually live cheaper in Pattaya (but I doubt Bk & Pooket) than rural Isaan- you don't need to run a car, no need for expensive Ipstar internet, and food at markets is actually cheaper than isaan. But you'd have to tolerate living in one of those little shoe box units, which you can rent for 2500- 5000 per month. And avoid 'temptation', which is difficult for many of us with the classic vices, when you're surrounded by other farangs throwing money around.

It wasn't the reason for my move, but I certainly spend less in Ubon than I did in Pattaya. Then again, in my first 12 months or so in Patt's I was blowing money hand over fist, and when the financial crisis came I realised i would either have to curtail my expenditure, or get back to work! But of course when I looked at it, I realised you don't need to spend 10K on a decent night out, soon realised that some of the best Thai food is from humble local places, that drinking wine with virtually every sit down meal is ridiculous here- ie that the vast majority of my discretionary spending was on frivolities. It's the frivolities that really add to your cost of living in the fleshpots, not the essentals.

[Panda]

Udon Thani seems to be a nice compromise for those who want cheap up country living and access to lifes little farang luxuries.
A well established farang expat community with some good farang restaurants. Rents for quality accommodation do appear to be much cheaper than places like Pattaya too. A small selection of farang oriented bars with girls for rent for those so inclined.

There is a site for Udon Thani, but last time I posted it the post got deleted. So just do a google if you are interested.

[sabaii sabaii]

If you want to get the down low on Isaan, all of it's culinary delights, traditions and characters, just do a search on here for Somtam Slap.

Enjoy Patts

[OhOh]

Please don't forget the ghosts, my girlfriend has to snuggle up to me every night because her friends say they are all around. She doesn't believe me when I say there are none.

I bear the cross as well as I can.

[Chairman Mao]

Tell her swallowing semen is proven to keep them away.

[OhOh]

Tell her swallowing semen is proven to keep them away.

She already knows that, but the locals still insist ghosts are around. We keep adding the the house shrine but to little avail.

[Rural Surin]

I like the way Isaan only consists of villages and no cities.

Overgrown villages....

[ceburat]

Overgrown villages are ok. If they don't have what you want you can always find something else that will do. Korat is almost a city, at least a big town. BKK is too big and the air is very bad. Ubon seems to me to be the best for single men. Married men who don't play around, Korat has it all. Near the river in Kemerrat there is a moo baan NaSaNahm where my wife is from. I love it there but she say's too quite and no shopping. LOL. The place looks like 300 years back in time and so, so very quite. Really I might even get bored there but I would like to give it a try.

[Teaparty]

Folks would have liked to live in the sticks or awy from Pattaya but I did not find a house... Bang saray nada, Sattahip nada all the nice pool villas east pattaya. Internet link to houses in the sticks nada . Any recommendations on how to find a house on the net, greatly appreciated!

I need a working internet connections even if living in the sticks...

[sabang]

I need a working internet connections even if living in the sticks...

If you are really in the sticks (like me) there is only Ipstar, satellite. It's not cheap at 1800 bht/ month, but it's that or nothing. Unless you're lucky, you might be close enough to a CAT CDMA tower which will give you a decent internet connection for a lot less. In decent sized towns they pretty much all have ADSL now- even our nearest village has it.

I'd be amazed if you can't find something suitable in Ban Saray/ Ban Chang / Sattahip though- theres a fair bit of development happening there (hardly the sticks though). In the 'real' sticks, you would normally have your house built. There are gated estate type developmers in all provincial cities, but in the real sticks property for sale is basically word of mouth- I know of two around here.

[buycondojomtien]

Easy to spend less where there is nothing to do...

But i wonder how much cost BAMEE or KAO MOO DAIRN or KAO KAA MOO in cheapest ESAAN village ?

Still 30 thb in Bkk.

About Phils, only women are cheaper, the rest is ugly and suxx...
...or everybody would be living there !

[OhOh]

If you are really in the sticks (like me) there is only Ipstar, satellite. It's not cheap at 1800 bht/ month, but it's that or nothing. Unless you're lucky, you might be close enough to a CAT CDMA tower which will give you a decent internet connection for a lot less. In decent sized towns they pretty much all have ADSL now- even our nearest village has it.

Do you know of any web site which shows coverage maps?

[who]

Never been to Patty but lived in BKK for two years and for the last five years in Korat. Overall Bkk is at least twice as expensive as Korat. I am sure that Patty is much more expensive than Bkk. I am not on a budget so I don't know details.

.
Pattaya is much cheaper than Bangkok.
.

[luangtom]

Isaan is getting closer to BKK in pricing on some things. It has close to doubled on building-costs and it does not look to go down anytime soon. Too many migrating farangs willing to pay EU prices and show their wealth to the locals via their GF's from the villages. Just my opinion......

[Silent Ninja]

I need a working internet connections even if living in the sticks...

If you are really in the sticks (like me) there is only Ipstar, satellite. It's not cheap at 1800 bht/ month, but it's that or nothing. Unless you're lucky, you might be close enough to a CAT CDMA tower which will give you a decent internet connection for a lot less. In decent sized towns they pretty much all have ADSL now- even our nearest village has it.

How fast is your Ipstar connection? And do you know if it's possible to sign up just for a month or two? (just need it when we visit the family in law during Songkran)

[thrilled]

As faqr as food,if ya eat farang food your going to pay the price.As far as other things,I believe the shopping mallis A little cheaper at udon.
About the women,at the bars they aren't any cheaper,around 1000 baht.
Maybe lao girls at s/t places maybe 400.I believe renting is cheaper
So if ya want to get more bang for the buck,I would say go ISSAN young man,or old man.