To be on a budget - part VI

After a few weeks it´s once again time to continue this series. Today I want to talk about the things that are expensive and which are cheap here – so you know what you should bring with you and what you can leave at home.

What to bring and what to buy here?

Thailand is way cheaper than many western countries. Nonetheless you should be careful because you cannot always find a good bargain here. Before coming to Thailand, you may think that you can leave some stuff at home, because you can buy it here instead and save some money. Well... that works... in some cases.

You want to leave electronic devices at home? Don´t do that! Electronics are the same price or even more than in Germany. So if you are from the US, you will pay more than at home for sure. The same goes for supplements. I checked out every single pharmacy and supplement store in Chiang Mai – for a 5lbs protein bucket you pay approximately 10€ (~ 400 Baht) more. Only fish oil capsules and mineral- /vitamintablets are slightly cheaper.

On the other hand drugs are really, really cheap here. You can get all the basic medicine you need for when you catch a cold or accidentally cut yourself. These can be bought 24/7 at the supermarket. A box of painkillers, pills against a sore throat, wound disinfectant, tigerbalm or other ethereal oils cost around 1€ (~ 40 Baht).

Clothes CAN be cheap, but at the mall you easily pay the same price as in a mall at home. The huge supermarkets, on the walking streets and on the night bazar you can get some seriously cheap tshirts, shorts, jeans etc. You can get good quality t-shirts from 100 Baht on up and some good, simple sports shorts from 120 Baht and up.

Of course Thailand is famous for its tailors and because it´s cheaper here than in other parts of the country, even Thais travel the 700km from Bangkok up here to get a tailored suite. I haven´t tried this yet but I have seen advertisements and two friends got themselves shirts: They paid 1300 Baht and one of the tailors here advertises that you can get a set which includes a suite, shirt and tie for 120$.

Food Basically, is the cheapest thing you can get here. It is super awesome. There are thousands of restaurants in Chiang Mai and you can get healthy, good quality food at every corner – even a few minutes walk away from Team Quest. For a delicious plate of fried rice with vegetables and meat you pay 30 – 40 Baht; in the city center around 60 Baht. A huge, deepfried chicken breast costs around 40 Baht; a snack of barbecued prok on a stick maybe 15 Baht and a fresh made papaya salad is 25 Baht here. As long as you eat Thai food, it´s nearly impossible to exceed your budget even if you eat a lot. If you prefer eating burgers and stuff, have fun paying more than 200 Baht for one BigMac.

But from time to time you need the fatty fastfood (At least I do - just had an awesome XXL pizza at ´Duke´s´ for Christmas). It´s way more expensive to eat western style food, but still cheaper than at home – for a HUGE pizza I paid 450 Baht, for an Irish breakfast at a pub it´s around 200 Baht. A sushi buffet is approximately 300 Baht and a Thai BBQ buffet around 180.

Thai food - simply delicious

Alcohol is ... well... if you think it´s cheap or not really depends on where are you from. Alcohol is super cheap in Germany so 60 Baht for a 0,6l bottle in a supermarket isn´t cheap for me, . But most of the people I meet consider drinking to be cheap here. At a bar you pay slightly more, maybe 90 Baht, and for a small bottle of the cheapest whisky, you pay 200 Baht at a supermarket and 300 or more at a bar. But if you take training seriously you will not jeopardize the succes of your effort by wasting your money for alcohol. Of course you won't, right?

For now, that´s it – I hope this helps you by estimating how much money you need here. If you have questions -> leave me a comment!