http://royalviewresort.com/

I've stayed here twice very nice rooms and staff. Breakfast is pretty good. Internet sucks balls. Not even close to grindable, but I forgort my passport in the safe and it was there 4 days later when I showed up so that was a plus.

I hear people talking about the girls over there all the time..but what's the STD situation like over there? A lot of **** going around or is it pretty safe?

So, interesting stat:
A 2004 estimate by Dr. Nitet Tinnakul from Chulalongkorn University gives a total of 2.8 million sex workers, including 2 million women, 20,000 adult males and 800,000 minors under the age of 18.

A recent government survey found that there were 76,000 to 77,000 adult prostitutes in registered entertainment establishments; however, NGOs believed there were between 200,000 and 300,000 prostitutes.

That's a lot of prostitutes imo.

Depart from Phuket (HKT) at 0815 (8:15 AM) and arrive in Kuala Lumpur LCCT (KUL) at 1035 (10:35 AM)

Depart from Kuala Lumpur LCCT (KUL) at 1240 (12:40 PM) and arrive in Phuket (HKT) at 1300 (1:00 PM)

Noob question: All these times are in thai-time right - or does it do KL time (+1hr) for the return leg? I hope i left myself enough time to get through security and get to check-in for the flight home.

You didn't give a good look at the times.

Time of arrival and departure (in KL) are KL times. So don't worry, you have 2 hours, more than enough.

AIDS is a bunch of hype.

If you don't use condoms you'll probably get Chlamydia and/or Ghonorrhea once a year or so. No big deal, go get a shot at the hospital and you are good.

i wish there was a way to do an anonymous poll. no one ever cops to STDs on the thread (or rarely, at least) but in personal stories they pop up all the time. I'd love to see an Anon poll of 2+2 long time residents and their STD history over here.

when flying, times are always local times

i have done those two flights you are doing about 4 times. there is enough time to exchange money, go to mcdonalds and tax free and use some of their free wifi

This is an illusion held by many prospective travelers that needs to be addressed properly.

YES it is possible to live on $300USD/month. Thai people live on less than that so its clearly possible. Whether you would want to live like that is another question entirely. Average Thai people live in little better than shanty's without running hot water, without air con, and with a hole in the ground as a toilet. Rice accounts for maybe 80% of their diet.

You can rent Thai-level accommodation for maybe $50/month if you want, but if you want to **** sitting down instead of squatting, add maybe $40/month for a proper toilet. If you like to shower with hot water, add $30/month for an electric water heater, plus another $10/month for electricity. Personally I can't sleep in Thailand without the A/C cranked, so add another $60/month for a place with air con, and another $50/month on top of your electricity bill (yes electricity is expensive in Thailand).

Now you have a comfortable place to live for maybe $250USD/month. If you want that place to be in a nice location - close to a city centre or near a nice beach, you can easily expect to double the $250 to $500/month. Want good internet? Add $50.

Do you like to eat plain white rice cooked at home? If not, you can eat Thai food at excellent Thai restaurants for $5-10 per night, lets call it another $250/month for dinner. If you have a Thai girl with you, you are expected to pay for her so that's maybe another $50 a month depending on frequency. If you want eat western style food that isn't awfully prepared, a nice steak for example, that meal will cost you $25 at least.

You'll need transport, which is usually a motorbike. You'll probably pay about $120/month for the bike and maybe another $30 or $40 for gas. Call it $150/month.

So now we have nice accommodation, transport and a full stomach, and we're at about $1000/month. Do you want to check out the night life? Depending on what you drink and where you go, you can spend anywhere from $25 to $250+. Do you have a girl with you? Remember you have to pay for her...

Which raises the next topic: Women. This is the subject of much debate here, and to avoid beating the proverbial dead horse I'll keep it simple. Many guys end up seeing bargirls. Depending on where you are in Thailand, and which venues you frequent, you can pay anywhere between $40 and $200 for a girl to join you for the night. When people say this is 'cheap', they mean its cheap compared to what you'd have to pay in the western world. It's NOT cheap if you're on a tight budget.

If you find a long term girlfriend who is not affiliated with the bargirl scene, you will still be expected to pay for everything - meals, alcohol, movie tickets, all incidental expenses. You could insist on her reciprocating occasionally but most normal girls are earning $10/day if they're lucky - are you really going to ask her to buy a couple of beers at $3 each?

For what it's worth, I live in a very nice apartment with swimming pool, spa, sauna and steam room. Security is excellent, I'm 1km from a shopping centre and about 3km's from the beach. Rent + utilities comes to about $700/month. I'm lucky to have a wealthy girlfriend but I still spend about $300/month buying her dinner etc, because Thai culture dictates that the man always pays.

Hopefully that gives you an insight in to the money you need here. Obviously some of the rent prices are approximations and will vary but I think its enough to help you understand what you're in for. I live very comfortably off about $1500US/month but I haven't been partying much lately. A few nights on the town can add up very quickly, and I think that's where most guys end up spending most of their money.

^^^Add to sticky please

igetjokes,

Very well put.

CAvino,

I can't imagine a foreigner living here on $300 a month - and def not 'living well'. I think $1k a month should be used as a minimum. $3-5k a month and you are ballin. Compare that with America where it takes $3k to live decent - and $10-15k+ for ballin.

Thailand is cheaper than back home, but it's not as cheap as some evidently make it out to be. Especially with the Baht having appreciated ~25% on the dollar in the last few years.

The above post should be qft. I agree with everything he said, listen up noobs, read that mans advice before you make mistakes.

Let me guess, your gf is a Thai-Chinese amirite?

No she's full Thai. Occasionally she insists on paying for dinner, which involves her giving me money under the table or giving it to me in advance so that I am still seen to be paying the bill. It's all about appearances yo.

LOL...Thai girls are weird. I've dated Chinese girls where the expectation is also for the guys to pay, but when my date wants to pay, it's totally chill for her to give the waitress teh money/credit card herself.

Maybe the Chinese girls I dated were in HK and Singapore where it's more Westernized.

Also, the reason why I asked if your gf was Thai-Chinese is because you said she's wealthy and my understanding is that the wealthy ppl in Thailand tend to be predominantly Chinese-ancestry.

very good post igetjokes

I get jokes got the basics of it right. i could be nitpicky and try and point out small details where i think a frugal foreigner could get by for cheaper with little cost to lifestyle, but that's really just being nitpicky.

i will point out that i eat well prepared western food for 200-400 baht all the time, just not steak. my average meal at a thai restaurant runs about 100-150 baht, and i eat a decent amount.

Steak in Thailand is f'n terrible anyway.

I've found exactly one American tasting steak - on the 7th floor of The Westin @ Asoke. And it's like 700 Baht.

I would avoid Katamanda, I think it went into receivorship or something. My inlaws stayed there in January when we got married in phuket. Couple of poms were running the place and it was a shambles. They paid big money and were very disappointed.

Also check out houseinphuket.com

lol i ordered a steak in Karon

"how would you like it cooked?"
"medium rare"
"urm.... can you just pick medium or rare, because its hard to do otherwise"

It was a terrible steak.

I find eating frugally really enjoyable. Youll find some really nice places and meet some nice local people who will be glad for your daily business. Sometimes it feels like youre scamming when you get a giant freshly cooked meal for $1.50

I have a Vietnamese gf who doesn't mind paying in public (and have been with others that are similar in other cities), she actually likes to pay for things when she can (obv at $50/wk that's not too often), and we'll split in front of the waiter/tress sometimes. Must be a Thai thing.

**********

I think in Vietnam this is comparable, and I'll include it for anyone interested (currently in Saigon):

Can do maybe $750/mo in Vietnam if you aren't out for partying every other day/being balla and have a reasonable gf (that doesn't expect a ton, is happy just hanging out, and pays every now and then). $350/mo for a smallish Western apt, $150/mo for food, extra $75 or so for gf's food and expenses, $100 motobike, $50-100 for whatever, beer, condoms, insurance, phone, etc. If you want to live decently, it's going to be more, of course, that $750 budget isn't the most fun but you can get by in a major city with it comfortably if you treat it like life back home assuming you weren't baller before. If you treat it like super fun vacation time $750 is going to be miserable and undoable.

You can get by much cheaper if you live in a "local" fashion, of course. Drop the apt down to like $200/mo (with AC/window/fridge/shower/location still so not very local even), spend $3.50/day on food and cook yourself most of the time and go out to local cheap joints for 'fun', ditch the motobike (it's not that necessary if you're centrally located and have a gf with one, you can always rent a cheap ****ty one when necessary), and stick to local beer and bia hoi, etc. I think $500/mo is doable with those conditions, and that would be comfortable for that lifestyle. I think $500/mo is the bottom of your range as a Westerner here. You could go lower, but it would start to get very uncomfortable quickly. If you're into roughing it for less than that, then stick to the countryside and learn the language; I'm not sure why you'd want to shoestring and 'live local' in a major city. But if you're sticking around for a while, get a part-time teaching job and live decently ffs.

But if you want to eat Western regularly, never cook yourself or buy produce direct, want a nice serviced place in a good location that's larger than a small studio and has a plasma, etc, want to hit the bars 3x a week and get high regularly, hire girls or a high maint gf, get a Wave or better, and want to go outside the city from time to time, $750 is way too small a budget and $1000+ is going to be needed.

So, it depends on what you want out of the experience. At 21 I probably wouldn't have been happy on $1250 here, but I've gotten a lot of my party out of my system now, plus I'm content without much, and a more sedate life is okay for ~$750/mo, and just being in a radically different culture/place than before goes a long way for me. For a lot of guys ITT, I think that's not enough, clearly, and certainly $1500/mo would make for a lot more fun.

If you're traveling through and not staying long in any one place, doing tourist stuff, $1K is probably a good place to start since you're not going to find as good of deals jumping from hotel to hotel every week (plus they're more expensive than long-term accommodation of course), you're not going to be cooking ever, tours and activities are expensive, and you have to pay for constant long-dist transport (although buses are cheap).

I feel like I've already posted all this for some reason. Hope it didn't change much since last time...

THANK YOU SO MUCH IGETJOKES!!! I really really appreciate you taking the time to post all this information! I have a much better idea now of what to expect. It's responses like these that I truly appreciate! Thanks again.

I know what you mean. A lot of places that serve steak in BKK are just serving the topside cut. This sucks for steak because it's hard and dries up very fast.

Before ordering your steak, ask the fella which cut of meat it is. My experience in Thailand is that they just print "grilled steak" or "beef steak" on the menu without specifying the cut. I've had tenderloin steak at some of the lower end places and they were quite good.

My sense is that they don't let the beef age long enough in Thailand.

Also, DDNK, thanks a ton for taking the time as well. Very much appreciated!

I always assumed beef sucks because it comes from the SE Asia breed of cows and not the good ones we're used to.