Over the past several months I have begun to realize that my character has changed, and I’ve become something that I never was before: a ‘cheap charlie’.
“Cheap Charlie” is a well-used local term in Thailand, but it doesn’t take much imagination to figure it out even if you’ve never heard it before. It means that someone is stingy… tight with a buck.
I’m embarrassed to say that life in Thailand has started to have this effect on me. It really hit home today because of some certificates I have for free meals at the Bourbon Street Cafe near Soi 22. I took one of these certificates and visited the restaurant tonight. I was given a free ‘Cajun Sampler’ plate, and I bought two mugs of Heineken beer to wash it down.
The food was good! A thick gumbo soup, followed by Jambalaya & Andoulle sausage with pieces of blackened chicken. Having eaten many authentic Cajun meals in New Orleans, I can say that the Sampler was true to its origins. I enjoyed the meal and the beer, and walked home happy.
I asked myself whether I would go back and eat this meal again, and realized that, while I really enjoyed the quality and the quantity, the normal price of 330 baht would normally make me give it a miss. A meal that costs about $10 (US) seems awfully expensive to me now that I’ve been living in Bangkok for a while.
Most days, I probably spend an average of about 50 baht for a meal. Mostly I eat food purchased from street vendors or small Thai restaurants, ranging in price from 20 baht to 100 baht. Usually I drink water, which is free in most restaurants, or about 10 baht at 7-11.
Over the past few months I have made an effort to do more of my drinking at Happy Hour, to buy the beer that is on ’special’, to drink more draft beer (which is cheaper), and to go to bars with lower prices.
I’ve been a lot less generous with girls than I used to. Fewer lady drinks for the bar girls, fewer tips for girls who shoot pool with me, lower tips for the lady who gives me a massage, and a lot less for the occasional tart who comes home with me for a bit of sex.
The reasons are not complicated. Although I am okay now, I weathered a bit of a financial storm that lasted about 90 days that forced me onto a tight budget. For several weeks, watching every satang was a necessity rather than a choice.
But beyond that, I compare my attitude to the carefree weeks and months I spent here on holiday before I decided to become a full time resident of the City of Heavenly Beings. When I was here on holiday, spending Australian dollars in the Land of Smiles, everything seemed so cheap! No matter how much food, beer or sex I consumed, I could rarely spend enough money in a day or a week to dent my bank account. I lived freely and lavished my wealth and happiness around wherever I went.
These days I earn most of my money in Thai baht. As a Westerner, you have to be getting a lot of baht to make up the difference from your old life with dollars, euros or pounds, and your new income in Thailand. I earn a very good living by Thai standards, but I still only make about a quarter of what I earned in Australia.
And inflation seems to be hitting hard in my key spending areas. A couple of years ago, go go bars were reluctant to break the 100 baht barrier for a bottle of beer. Today, they routinely charge 120 to 140 baht. That’s 20% to 40% inflation in two years!
Similar increases seem to have taken place in the expectations of the girls I’ve been seeing. I keep thinking I can pay them the money that they were happy with in 2005, and they seem to think that they deserve about 30% more. It sort of saps the joy out of the relationship!
Of course, not everything has gotten more expensive. I can still buy Phat Thai for 20 baht (or 25 with a fried egg), and most rice dishes can be purchased for 30 baht nearly anywhere. Taxis are still an unbelievable bargain at 35 baht at the drop of the flag, and a decent Thai massage is still the same attractive price.
But I’m a different guy. I’m calculating, and not as generous as before. I don’t have as much fun as I did a couple of years ago, as I am constantly assessing the ‘value’ of each purchase. The innocent fun of Bangkok is now somewhat wasted on me, and I notice that the girls rarely tell me I am “jai dee” which is a compliment I heard regularly when I was splashing money around.
Lately, I’ve even had a few girls mutter about me being ‘kee niaow’ or stingy.
I don’t really like being a ‘cheap charlie’. Now that my small financial storm has passed, I may make an effort to get back to my true nature, which is to waste money and live for today. I just seem to be happier when I am spending money freely.
Round of drinks, anyone?
Note: There is an outdoor bar on Sukhumvit Soi 11 which is a Bangkok icon, named “Cheap Charlies”. I once read a description of it that said it looked like it had been formed by a pile of driftwood being washed up on a beach. A very apt description I think. Like some icons in other cities (Harry’s Cafe de Wheels in Sydney) Cheap Charlies is not widely known to tourists, but has seen most long-term residents stop for a quiet one at one time or another. If you know Cheap Charlies then you will know that no written description can really do it justice. If you haven’t been, it’s worth taking a stroll down SukSoi 11 one evening until you spot a pile of driftwood in a parking lot with a sign that says “NOW, open lady toilet here only pee do not SHIT”. You’ll know you have arrived.
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Re: the above.
You sure you can still post here since, for those of us in the know, this site is refered to as:
“The Farang Who Spends Too Much”
View all comments by Jack Dawson
Excellent! You are not alone! I have several friends ‘long-termers’ who are on the same path. Although, they have not yet admitted it!
I know one guy…. he’ll sit in a bar and have a drink whilst he waits for ‘happy-hour’ in a local hotel which sells sandiches.
Of course, the money he has spent on beer whilst he waits for the ‘hh’ to arrive, totally wipes out any savings?! Bit of a false economy there.
Part of the fun for me in Thailand is to chuck money around like there is no tomorrow and enjoy every minute of it! It’s not difficult to get through 100k bht in a week when in full ‘holiday’ mode. Irresponsible I know, but try to have as much fun as possible until it runs out!
However.. when I eventually end up on the streets begging with my Starbucks coffee cup, I’ll still have all those memories of when I was ‘living it up’.
Live for today is what I say… There might not be a ‘tomorrow’!
View all comments by Day walker
I reckon it’s about balance, If you are ’sticky’ at some times (20 baht pad thais, public transport, a few Sang Som waters to get you buzzed before going out etc), you save a bit to lavish upon the important things in life (whores, gambling, gogo bar beers, class A drugs etc).
View all comments by Combover
To no one in particular: I was once told that if I having nothing good to say, then I shouldn’t say it at all.
View all comments by bkk22
bkk22 - Good job Simon Cowell never took that advice?
View all comments by Day walker
Actually, my comment is directed at someone but rather than start a war of the words and to keep peace I’ll leave it unsaid, but I’m sure some frequent readers will know what I am talking about.
View all comments by bkk22
I was kidding!! I think it’s important that people remain ‘light-hearted’ on these blogs. Although a great source of information, we shouldn’t forget about the entertainment!
View all comments by Day walker
It wasn’t directed at you Daywalker, sorry for the confusion.
View all comments by bkk22
Gosh bkk22, if that’s the case then what am I supposed to do with myself all day?
View all comments by Combover
When I struggle to fill my day… I always go to Lolitas.
- They’ve stopped me working there now though
View all comments by Day walker
bkk22 - roger that. I hear u loud and clear.
Sly but effective.
View all comments by smitty
Why doesn’t the Mango have a Cheap Charlie night? Could be on 13th October? England play Estonia in the European Championship, so should be lots of cheap goals. We have this game in England, where everytime time England score, the price of the beer decreases.Therefore Beer Lao equals 60 Baht, minus 10 baht every time England score, England score 6 goals = FREE BEER.
Everytime England score, 100 baht off the bar fine = potential free bar fine. I am sure this could be a winner all round! And everytime England score, the girls have to have a shot of Jagermeister! Could be a good night.
England V Estonia 3:00 GMT = 10:00 BKK Funtime
View all comments by AUK
If England score more that 6 (yeah right) does that mean it’s free beer PLUS 10bht?
How about everytime (if) England conceed a goal, 10bht gets added to the price? And you HAVE to buy one each time a goal is scored?
‘Cheap Charlie’ night sounds a hoot, but I’d rather tend to go for the ‘Stupid Rich Farang’ night. The girls would be more attentative and the bell would get a good bashing?!
Plus.. pmmp would make more cash and be able to buy that wig he lusts after
View all comments by Day walker
Hmmmm… Cheap Charlie Syndrome? Perhaps it’s time to return to the “world” for a spell, make some real money and then come back to Thailand to splash it around - provided there’s enough “sanuk” to be had during the splashing. The Go-Go girls/beer bar demimondaines had better be putting out some seriously fun vibes or else the “Cheap Charlie” mode begins to feel justified. But I “think too much”…
View all comments by Bison
Cheap Charlies Soi 11 dropped in a few times always seemd to be full of expats and ladies trying to be ironic or post-modern, whatever both those actually mean. maybe went on the wrong night. Dunno!!
Know much better crappy cheap hell-hole in the wall alley way bars than this one.
View all comments by nampla69
Daywalker couldnt agree more - theres such a pleasure in throwing money around for 2weeks, like living a rock n roll lifestyle
im now back in Uk doing some serious repair work after i sent a misplaced text to my mom (meant for my best mate in UK) confessing i had been spending the best part of 350,000baht a month from my dads inheritance for the previous 5months on whoring/drinking and spending like a twat soon saw mother stopping my cash - subsequently for my last month the rashioning was brought in, but its suprising how you learn to live frugely when your on a budget, and theres a weird charm to living like a thai which i really like
its so easy when your thinking in £££ or $$$ and not Baht to spend and throw money around because it just seems like monopoly money and i fell into a dark hole which in a way im glad im out of
im flying back on xmas day and although i have budgetted for a sick week in BKK then sicker week in pattaya, im kinda looking forward to coming back and adopting a more ‘thai lifestyle - that is unless my old dear has a change of heart
View all comments by myspace.com/penfold_xxx
Having bought at house at 42-1 this 30-something rate makes me want to kill myself.
I recall pre-married, pre-multiple-kids days when I could spend like a drunken sailor (wasn’t that what I was ?) and go back to work knowing I was fed and housed for free for another 6-8 weeks until I came back and did it all again.
ah to be 24 again.
View all comments by bo
if u REALLY wanna save baht:
1) move out of BKK. even Pattaya is cheaper. but to really save money, move to a provincial capital: Udon Thani, Korat, Hat Yai, Trat…one side-benefit is that your Thai-language skills will definitely improve.
2) forget that currencies like pounds and euro even exist. a couple hundred baht will provide plenty of food/drink for a day, of course alcohol is pricier.
3) if poussoir is a prime-motivator, you will have to be more creative in, say, Chiang Rai than you would be in a farang-ghetto where girls scream “hellOOOOOOOOOOO sexy mAAAAAAAAAAn” at every passerby with less than two heads. but, u can definitely get laid. your improved Thai-language skills will be a plus in this department.
the other thing is finding something to keep you occupied so you don’t go stark-raving-bonkers, which is likely what will happen if you sit around staring at Thai TV all day.
but, don’t use Bangkok as a measuring-stick for country-wide Thai prices, it’s so far out-of-line with upcountry prices. then again, once you hit the road or rails and start spending some time in provincial capitals, you’ll be having all sorts of new experiences. my Thai teacher used to say: “there are four places that now are NO LONGER THAILAND: Bangkok, Pattaya, Chiang Mai and Phuket.” she wasn’t kidding. she did volunteer work for a school up in Mae Hong Son and used to enjoy taking Bangkok expats up there and making them sleep on the floor. she claimed she could cure ANY farang’s back problem in a week.
and not a one of ‘em spent 100K baht during that week.
JtB
View all comments by Jack B
Spaceman -
I’m sure your late Father would be proud of you!
I gave my aging folks the opportunity to go anywhere in the world for a ‘dream holiday’. My Dad had blood shot eyes and the ‘Private Dancer’ book glued to his hand… and muttered.. ‘BANGKOK’.
My Mother over-ruled him and they went to the Carribean. - Bad luck Dad!
Throwing money around in Thailand is not big or clever. However, I am not big, or clever, so it works for me.
We have the ‘Cheap Charlie’ in the UK, we call it ‘Tight Bastard’?!
Although I can appreciate some people are on a limited budget and may not have been as fortunate as others, but I know guys who have plenty of cash ’stashed’, and will go out of their way to find a cheaper deal. I don’t know. Maybe they have the right idea and I’m wrong?
They say money can’t buy happiness? I don’t agree. My money bought me a group of girls for a night of playing… was I happy?
One thing I will mention… is that it was possible to buy a ‘monkey’ in Pattaya the other week. It was sooooo cool. It would have cost 30,000bht, but well worth it to be swinging around my pad. However, after asking pmmp and other baldie from the Mango if they’d look after it whilst I was away, they both had that ‘look’ that said to me, the next time I see that monkey, it’ll be on the Mango menu under ‘Monthly Specials’ ?!
Don’t they have a ‘Cheap Charlie / Tight Bastard’ night in the bar opposite the Mango? I rarely see any people in there?
Paying full price at a good bar beats half price at a naff bar anytime?!
View all comments by Day walker
JB - I’ve been tld similar before. One day I hope to experience that. My comments/experiences (as you can tell) are based on being a ‘tourist’ just wanting to have a blow-out and good time.
If I am fortunate to live in Thailand full time, I am sure my attitude will change. It’ll have to!!
But for the guys in the same boat as me… we all have to get the ‘wreckless’ part out of our systems! All part of the learning curve?!
View all comments by Day walker
dw - we just can’t be trusted with taking care of a monkey. That much should be clear to you by now. Mango has the best prices in the plaza. Will leave it at that.
every country has its issues. I have lived in more than a few but I am glad I am in Thailand. We have discussed many times that living here is not the same as partying here but I think the differences are manageable and sustainable.
View all comments by smitty
It was a lovely little monkey though. Not sure if they ‘type’. Looked like a lazy little fucker though?! pmmp.. did you ever find out what it was?
When holding it, some lady Farang started yelling at me, telling me I should feel privileged to hold it, and that I should donate money to the WWF.
- What monkeys have to do with Wrestling was lost on me though?
View all comments by Day walker
- butter fingers… wasn’t paying attention there….
I wasn’t sure ‘of the type’ of Monkey?!!? Doh.
View all comments by Day walker
@ Daywalker, i agree and im by no means proud of the sick amount of money i wasted, espeially under the circumstances in which i came into it, but it just shows how easy it is to fall into a trap of throwing money around like confetti
Like anywhere its amazing how the phone suddenly stops ringing when you tell certain ‘friends’ that the lavish spending is finished
My point is during my last month i had to keep an eye on the cash which im kinda lucky in a way as ive never had to in my life, and as i mentioned before theres a great charm to it - you also get to see which people are interested in you when your NOT wiping your arse on 1000baht notes
i couldnt agree more with the comment that you have to forget that Pounds/dollars and euros even exist - lesson to be learnt by all
View all comments by myspace.com/penfold_xxx
dw: yeah, that farang gal was quite a piece of work. I thought somebody was playing a practical joke cause no woman could really be that obnoxious. She was.
I have no idea on what type of Monkey it is. I put in about 10 minutes Googling and gave up.
If anybody knows the type of Monkey this may be please let us know. There are a couple of Thai’s on Walking Street that carry these tiny little monkeys around and drop em on your shoulder and ask if you want to take a picture. A tactic that worked 200 baht out of Mr. Daywalker but the pic was so worth it. It’s about the size of a Baccara 2nd Floor A-Team Dancer or about the size of a small cat. It looks like a nocturnal baby sloth monkey. It was really cool. I would have taken care of it for sure. Next trip…
View all comments by pmmp
I can’t believe I just said I would take care of another Man’s monkey. Another proud moment in my life.
View all comments by pmmp
Come to think of it… I do recall you offering to pay the 200bht…
But didn’t?!
- You Cheap Charlie!!
View all comments by Day walker
Cool… I’ll get one in a few weeks…. you can give it some exercise when you go on one of your little ‘runs’?!
View all comments by Day walker
Monkey Madness! whenever anyone comes at me with a wild animal i give them the “Steer-Clear-or-Suffer” death-glare. seems to work.
the “Cheap Charlie” syndrome seems to evolve. i think it may have its origins (at least in part) from backpackers who were tight-fisted and would argue for 20 minutes over ten baht. i remember being on a bus next to some guy who really would not spend a ten-baht note (this was awhile back) for anything. i bought him a Coke just for kicks, when we stopped for lunch. towards the end of the ride a woman gave us a large Cadbury bar, indicating that we should eat it: this was when criminals were dosing farangs with knockout drugs and one of the known methods was by using these professional-looking Cadbury bars. the guy’s face lit up, oh wow, free food! i realized the idiot was going to pick it up.
i looked at him and said: “don’t eat that, don’t even touch it, you don’t know this woman, if it’s drugged, they will follow you until you collapse and steal your belongings. that’s your problem, but as you’re sitting with me, i don’t want it to become MY problem. thus, do NOT TOUCH that chocolate.” he said, really? i said, really. we both looked at the woman and shook our heads, she took back the choco with a mai pen rai shrug. there would be other buses and other farangs.
nowadays, the “farang kee nuu” (literally, “rat shit foreigner,” or worthless farang-who-won’t-spend) is well known. but i think it’s been co-opted by working girls to maximize their time/profit-margins. if yr “cheap” and that wounds you emotionally, you could remedy the situation by purchasing, let’s say, gold jewelry. or buying all her friends drinks and dinner.
and yes, it’s sooooo much easier to do this while on holiday, and when you have no concept of the overall cost-structure in Thailand. pop out of a plane into the neon palaces set in the Bangkok veneer and realize how cheap it all is relative to London’s Soho or any similar entertainment in the sexually messed-up USA, and it’s easy to go hog-wild. now that i’m a tourist again, i find it easier to rationalize spending more than i did when i lived there.
as a farang, you’re expected to be wealthier and pay more (and you do). but the expectations should be reasonable. to me, a lot of Cheap Charlie-ism is simple opportunism. and it’s fed by gullibility, not necessarily yours either: these gals are constantly competing with each other and when they know what Girl X has 2 foreign sponsors sending her 20K baht monthly for nothing except emailed pleas and promises, and Girl Y has 3 such sponsors at 40K each, it irks them. they want to boast about similar scores, and if they figure yr a likely target, well then you may well be fair game.
it gets pretty complicated out there. and yes, we all have a learning curve…i’m lucky because some of my first-ever advice for Thailand was to think BAHT-ONLY. forget “what you pay back home.” i’ll never forget when one gal went out for snacks, came back to my flat and showed the other gal how little food the street vendor had given her. “this cost 20 baht!” she complained…they both tut-tutted over what Cheap Charlies the Bangkok street vendors were, cuz “back home” (in Korat or Buriram) you’d get twice as much for your twenty baht.
it’s all relative.
JtB
View all comments by Jack B
@PMMP I believe it is a rhesus macaque monkey. Do I get a free beer now at the Big Mango? I’ll be stopping by in march 2008. Don’t tell me you are a cheap charlie like werewolf?
View all comments by hanuman
hanuman: Thanks for the reply but I don’t think they were rhesus macaque monkeys. That’s way too much of a monkey. They moved real slow and didn’t look like any of the pics I just looked at of rhesus macaque’s. I’ll buy you a beer though just for playing.
daywalker sent an email saying they were Gibbons but didn’t specify the Genus. It did look more like a baby Gibbon but again moved like a sloth.
The mystery continues me thinks…
View all comments by pmmp
hanuman - Sorry, I found the little git… He was/is a ‘Gibbon’. However, thinking back, he must have been heavily drugged as moved very slowly.
I ‘googled’ it. Picture matches.
I have no doubt that pmmp would have dished out some free beer. But failed!!
Also the little bundle of fun was keen to climb onto me. My guess is that he doesn’t have much fun with the old woman chucking him at tourists and letting a flash off in his face every 10 mins.
I feel quite emotional now.
View all comments by Day walker
I tought it might be the macaque monkey because I saw them at Lopburi before and sometimes in Pattaya on a street vendor’s shoulder.
View all comments by hanuman
Deffo a Gibbon..!
However there will be a beer behind the bar with your name on in in March 2008. - For your effort!
- However, you’ll have to collect during happy hour or on a Wednesday!
View all comments by Day walker
No problem I will make sure to come on a wednesday, cheap charlie being my middle-name
View all comments by hanuman
Is it not possible to buy a weeks supply of booze on the Wednesday, but keep it behind the bar and drink it through-out the week?
View all comments by Day walker
dw - yes. you can.
Please leave your credit card behind the bar with the said booze.
View all comments by smitty
Never leave home without it.
Do you sell monkey nuts an all? For the new member of the team starting next month?
- More efficient and better looking.
View all comments by Day walker
@daywalker I’m sure P4 has something to do with monkeys.Just to make you happy
View all comments by hanuman
View all comments by Day walker
I’ve seen ones that looked like some sort of lemur, which put them into the ‘don’t give money’ category given they are endangered (along with not-accidentally-orphaned baby elephants led around the tourist areas and the purchased and drugged kiddies used by the professional beggars).
http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:2KBdmkGrkBxXjM:news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/08/images/050809_lemur_photo.jpg
It really shits me that I have no real way of telling if I’m doing good or evil when giving money for these things as I can’t seem to do the Thai or dumb tourist thing of not thinking too mutt and it is too late to not know too mutt (well… maybe beer could fix that in suitable quantities).
I feel sorry for the families who genuinely have no alternative to begging and are buried amongst or driven out by gangs and slave traders and their professional victims, or the mahouts genuinely unable to feed their partners and forced onto the streets of Bangkok or Pattaya. But I just can’t bring myself to hand over cash when I know in all probability I’m directly or indirectly putting it into the pockets of someone I’d quite happily bludgeon to death if I could get away with it.
Hopefully the monkeys are raised in captivity and well cared for by their owners rather than being picked up in the wild off the back of their mothers freshly shot corpse. If it is a breed easily enough picked up in pet stores here or neighboring countries it could be fine, but I suspect they are purchased poachers who merely saw more profit selling the babies to someone in Pattaya rather to a Chinese tratitional medicine manufacturer.
View all comments by Cabby
Thankfully it couldn’t have been a lemur given the distance from Madagascar
View all comments by Cabby
I wouldn’t be too sure. Apparently there are some animals in Madagascar who can sail a boat… They’re very resourceful.
View all comments by Day walker
Cabby: the pic you included is not the same as the monkey-thing I saw. It was bigger, about the size of a small cat. I still haven’t found a pic of it yet and I’m not sure if they are endangered. The know-it-all obnoxious farang girl claimed it was but so is she.
View all comments by pmmp
fellas….. goto the yahoo home page (UK)… type in ‘Gibbon Picture’ and hit the search.
This looks to me like the little monkey that clung to my arm and very nearly ended up in the Day Walker family.
- and still might!
View all comments by Day Walker
I hate to beat this monkey to death but those pics don’t match. Okay, I will have to do some additional research on this one and report back.
View all comments by pmmp
I am getting angry now…. Flick through the pages… it looks the same as the monkey in the photo with ME!!!
View all comments by Day Walker
I did. I will get back to you on this one. I wouldn’t want to piss off the farang girl or see you get sent to Thai jail for illegal trading of endangered monkey-sloth things.
View all comments by pmmp
erm…’Monkey-Sloth-thing’….. could be a new species?
View all comments by Day Walker
@pmmp: your off-topic, mate.
View all comments by werewolf
I disagree. I think the fact that dw is considering buying a Monkey-Sloth plays well against the Cheap Charlie topic. It shows the other side of Cheap Charlie’s. Contrast introduced into to a Post topic enhances it’s point…okay, we were wayyy off topic
View all comments by pmmp
I hope WW is not bashing my monkey?
To keep on topic,…. When I find the monkey-sloth seller, I’ll offer her half of the 30k she wanted. I could even break it’s leg when she’s not looking and go for a bigger discount as it’s faulty?
View all comments by Day Walker
I think I saw this thing last night when I was not in Pattaya. I don’t think it is a monkey…
View all comments by smitty
@Smitty, go easy on the booze for a few days, or are we talking about some experimental stuff?
View all comments by hanuman
hn - not sure what u are referring to. I just meant on my road trip where I was not in pattaya I saw this thing, not sure it is a monkey, on walking street. hope that is perfectly clear.
View all comments by smitty
@DW: You’ll have to bash your own monkey, mate!
View all comments by werewolf
@smitty.. does this mean you were in my apartment looking at ‘the’ photo last night?
- You know the rules… I hope you changed the bed sheets.
View all comments by Day Walker
Are these monkey’s available for LT?
View all comments by Jimmy Cricket
Not to get too far off subject, I am a regular at “Cheap Charlie’s” on Soi 11. Great little bar.
Been drinking there for probably 15 years when in town. Fri’s and Sat’s are pretty busy, and there is a B’day party for Miss Sarah our hostess on 1 Dec 07. her party 3 years ago was the biggest night Setit (owner) had ever had.
Come and visit. Ho
View all comments by Uncle Ho
Its definitely a good idea to move out of bangkok to save a shit loads of baht, me myself kinda fall in love for the north Thailand. But one or twice a month i do make a drop by in bangkok, either its business or pleasure. Usually i don’t stay in bangkok for more than 3-4 days. But the amount of money i spend on my every visit is horrible from what i heard from friends
don’t ask me how i can blew away that amount of money, only thing i can said , yes fun in bangkok is expensive. I usually spend around 150-300k baht on my every short visit. And thanks god i don’t live in bangkok or i may end up as a cheap charlie too.
View all comments by Mighty Mouse
MM: shit loads? blew away? kinda? You must be waaaaay out of Bangkok. Somewhere in the US,I’d say. You know the past tense of hear = heard, the proper use of the word ‘as’, and the correct word order with adverbs of frequency (usually). You’re grammar is very good; what game are you playing, exactly? If you’re trying to bait someone you need better camalflage.
View all comments by werewolf
well, english is not my main language, beside i don’t care so much about my grammar if its not anything official. Depend on how u spend money, i know friends who spend more than 100k on one night. A little calculation on how long 100k may last:
1: suite rooms for 12000 baht a night.
2: 1 girls ( im not talking about go go girl ) 25000 baht a day.
3: Lunch for two at central world ( eks Fuji ) 1500-2000 baht
4: Do some shopping like perfume, clothes etc 10-30000 baht.
Never forget to buy gift for the wife and kids in home
5: Dinner for two at a Teppanyaki resturant around 8-15000 baht
5: A night out at the sirocco around 10-30000 baht.
So its not that hard to blow away 100k on 1 day. And different people do have different life style.
View all comments by Mighty Mouse
mm - spend it all baby. I am just bummed you don’t call me to help u. carve out 50k for me and a night at resort.
View all comments by smitty
sure smitty :p im coming to bangkok this week, any recommendation for fun or must do in bangkok? Feel kinda new, even i have been living in the kingdom for 2.5 years now
View all comments by Mighty Mouse
It was 18 years ago, living on a budget in Bangkok when I decided to live on a budget in thailand defeats the whole point of the exercise. It sucks.especially working in Thailand and seeing all the Hi So Thai/Chinese Yuppies looking down on you. So I got out and now work in the Middle East and holiday in Thailand and never demean myself by worrying about the price of anything. However, it is useful that in all things except women, drugs and food I do have modest tastes………….But live in Thailand! Never! On a budget! Never………Not fun at all………IMEO
View all comments by sandman
Actually I was just talking recently to someone who estimated retiring to Thailand on 1500 English pounds a year!!! I asked him striaght away What about medical Insurance? If I were to retire to Thailand i would need 1500 English pounds a month..minimum
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Surely the ‘Monkey’ was a Lorris…A Lemur type small mammal…nocturnal. At least they used to be…….They just love the bright light of down town Bangkok. They are wide eyed with pleasure…………
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sandman: finally, you nailed it, it’s a Loris. We got it narrowed to a Lemur last week’s visit to Pattaya but Lemur wasn’t fitting. Looking at pics of Loris and it’s a match. Daywalker will be thrilled.
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