Table of contents for Living Like a Thai
- Living Like a Thai
- Living Like a Thai Day 1: The 200 Baht a Day Challenge
- Living Like a Thai Day 2: Losing Money in My Sleep
- Living Like a Thai Day 4: Pee Baa Falang
- Living Like a Thai Day 5: It’s a Wash
- Living Like a Thai Day 6: The Frugal Tightwad
- Living Like a Thai Day 7: I’m Bored
- Living Like a Thai Day 8: Going AWOL
- Living Like a Thai Day 9: Falling Down That Mountain
- Living Like a Thai Day 10: The Belt Tightening Begins
- Living Like a Thai Day 11: Tofu, Really?
- Living Like A Thai Day 12: Going Native, Almost
- Living Like a Thai Day 13: Lunch with the Ladies
- Living Like a Thai Day 14: The Late Edition or Quiet Be
- Living Like a Thai Day 15: Halfway there!
- Living Like a Thai Day 16: Beer & Vegetables
- Living Like a Thai Day 17: Red Moon Eclipse Edition
- Living Like a Thai Day 18: Once in a Blue Moon
- Living Like a Thai Days 19 & 20: Ringing the Bell
- Living Like a Thai Days 21 & 22: Aircon Down Pigs Cooking
- Living Like a Thai Day 23: Put a Fork in it…I’m Done
Maybe a more apt title would have been sins of the flesh, get your minds out of the gutter that’s not what I meant!
So, when I left you yesterday I had spent a grand total of 10 baht ( $.34 ) on 2 water re-fills and nothing more as I was anticipating a night out on the town with a spending limit of 200 baht. Now, if I were really Thai that night out might have consisted of a few cheap beers or cheap whiskey and cigarettes from 7/11 and some friends hanging out and having good conversation, that night out would have cost about 1oo baht ( $3.40 ) maybe. Unfortunately I’m not that Thai.
As I closed my post yesterday I started think about the best way to handle my night out and I figured the smart approach would be to hang out at the condo until 11pm and then head out. Less time means less money spent right? No, not really. My plan was to go to a usual haunt where I am well known and well taken care of in hopes that I might get by on my 200 baht budget for the night ( I can hear Rick laughing at this poor decision already ).
Living Like a Thai Day 9 ( living Like A Thai day 8 totals will be carried over to day 9 )
The Good: I was showered up and was out the door by 11pm and heading to my favorite haunt. As I entered the bar I realized it’s been a very boring week for me. As I sat down I was greeted by many familiar faces and before I knew it there was a double Jack and Coke sitting in front of me courtesy of the bar owner. I’m used to getting a few free drinks from the bar owner but this was a first, a double, damn drink was served to me in a large iced tea glass.
I guess you could say this was a good omen for the start of my night out but looking back it was clearly a bad omen. Remember I was going to sip on a few beers at most. Lubing up the system with whiskey for the first drink of the night tends to lessen the chance of a beer going down well afterwards, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
As the evening wore on I had much female companionship and some long talks with the owner of the establishment Overall I enjoyed myself immensely, I felt like I was a caged lion that was set free into the jungle…yeah, alcohol will do that to you.
The Bad: While there were several drinks bought for me ( all doubles ) I gave up on the sipping beer plan and ordered several single Jack and Cokes to fill the gaps…and then there was Da, she was thirsty and what could I do but buy her a drink…okay 2 drinks but trust me she’s cute as a button and lets face it I am a very weak man.
The Ugly: Drinking Jack and Cokes was bad enough but my other bad habit reared it’s ugly head quickly. It will take me 2-3 days to finish a pack of cigarettes…unless I am drinking. There seems to be an unwritten rule to the pleasure center in my mind that states ” If you consume alcohol you must consume cigarettes at a rate of X times y to the nth degree” or in laymen’s terms you must act as if you were a smoke stack at an industrial chemical plant.
Not only did I finish off the cigarettes I had I bought a new pack…no, I got one of the service girls to go buy me a pack and I tipped her the change from the 100 baht bill I gave her…face palm! 78 baht ( $2,65 ) spent on smokes and a 22 ( $.75 ) baht tip.
And then the phone rang: As I looked at my phone I saw that it was Julie calling ( her real Thai name by the way ) which made me scratch my head as Julie actually works at the particular establishment I am sitting in, She’s one of the Service girls. I answer the phone and the following conversation takes place.
Julie: Where you?
Me: ??? ( thinking, how the hell did she get my number? )
Julie: Where are you now?
Me: I sit in bar and have drink.
Julie: Come my bar and have drink.
Me: Okay I will call you when I get there.
I hang up and call her back
Me: Okay I’m at your bar.
Julie: ( looks up from cashier booth at end of bar ) How you do that?
Me: Magic…
I’d only been sitting there for 2 hours but in her defense I didn’t see her in all that time and she couldn’t see me as the cashier sits below a small wall and has to stand up to see the bar. Julie come over bringing me a complimentary b52 shooter and suggest going to get something to eat. Good idea, gives me the out I need and I can end the hemorrhaging of my poor wallet. I call for checkbin and while I have had a few drinks at least 4 of them were on the house that leaves 2 drinks I bought for Da at 100 baht each ( $3.40 ) which by the way was my budget for the evening and 3 drinks I bought for myself at 100 baht each ( $3.40 )…oops. Looks like I went over a bit.
I then realized I had already made my next mistake without even thinking about it…Julie and I were going for food and it’s a good bet that she wasn’t going to be paying.
We headed up Soi Buacow Bukow Buakow to a familiar Thai restaurant and ordered a pile of food. The meal consisted of Hoi Lai ( clams in a red curry sauce ) , Tom Yum Goong ( a spicy shrimp soup ) and a big pile of rice all for the price of 130 baht ( $4.42 ). At this point Apathy came into play as the budget was already blown. Water was complimentary 
Even though I blew the daily budget to hell there was a silver lining to the evening as Julie decided it was way too dangerous for me to walk the 4-5 blocks home all alone and thought it best that she walk me home 
Living Like a Thai Day 9
Realizing I had put a dent in the budget today is a ramen noodle and water kind of day so nothing was spent today!
Observations: I clearly can’t be trusted out on the town While I did go over the 200 baht self imposed limit for the evening I have to say that was one of the cheapest evenings I have ever had out in Thailand and while I feel bad and will be paying for this overspending in the days and weeks ahead I think I can still pull the month out on budget.
Living Like a Thai Days 8 & 9 Totals
| Purchase | Amount | Cost | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water re-fill | 2 | 5 baht | 10 baht |
| Jack and Cokes | 3 | 100 baht | 300 baht |
| Tequia | 2 | 100 baht | 200 baht |
| Food | 2 | 65 baht | 130 baht |
| Cigarettes | 1 pack | 78 baht | 78baht |
| Tip | 1 | 22 baht | 22baht |
| Day 8 & 9 Totals | 740 baht ( $25.19 ) | ||
| June Total to Date | 1705 baht ( $58.05 ) |
If you have been keeping track then you know that my budget for the month is 6000 baht ( $ 204 ) and if you add into that my imaginary rent payment 1000 baht ( $34.04 ) and my forthcoming electric bill of at least 1000 ( $34.04 ), add in what I have spent so far this month then that is a total of 3705 baht ( $126.14 ) spent so far this month leaving me only 2295 baht ($78.14 ) left for the entire month and only 109 baht ( $3.71 ) per day to spend…OUCH.
Rick, Nut says hello and a very attractive thin Thai girl asked as to your whereabouts… On a side note the 2/3 record has been broken and 14 is now the number to beat
Blog Post RSS
I know exactly what you were going through. I don’t think I could spent a stay-at-home week in Bangkok, never mind four weeks at 200 baht a day. My string would be broken at about day 2. But you lasted 8 days without falling on your (thinning) butt. But as soon as you determined to go to That Place, I knew Jack/Cokes would be your undoing. Sorry, pal!
I get the idea there’s going to be a lot of ramen days!
Love the dialogue with Julie, but I don’t know her. I hope you invited he in for a drink for “guarding” you home.
Hahahahaha. Hugs to Nut and especially “Thin Girl” (Talen note! She’s from Nakhon Phanom).
SiamRick recently posted..Breakfast in Bangkok- Why so bloody expensive
Rick, Yes, looks like the rest of the month is going to get very boring although there are some Ladies that want to take care of me
Julie, you would recognize her if you saw her but I don’t think you two have met…and of course I invited the girl in, it was a long walk.
Thin girl is from NP? Nut is definitely from NP.
Email going your way!
BTW, I whipped up a post on your challenge, linked to several of your reports. Cheers.
SiamRick recently posted..Blogger gets by on 200 baht a day in 30-day challenge
talen if you are going to make it to the end of the month you had better find something to poke some more new holes in that belt of yours.
good luck
Sutuscourtsteve, Yup going to be a lot of belt tightening…
Time to buckle down – unplug the A/C!!! That should give you a few hundred baht.
FYI sounds like many an ex-pat story. Move to new home in Thailand, live cheap and conservatively, don’t splurge. Six months or so later they are sitting on plane at 30,000 feet heading back to the homeland wondering what went wrong… and that’s with a 2,000 Baht ‘budget’!
I liked you better when you didn’t talk about your girlfriends. Is that weird or what? I guess I don’t want to hear about a guy in a bar. . .but all this “living like a thai” makes me wonder. If you didn’t budget yourself – what the heck do you usually spend your money on???????? besides expensive food??????
Lani recently posted..not american enough
Lani, Nope, not weird at all. As for the bar it’s not quite what you think…yes, it is that kind of bar but I am friends with everyone there and it’s like my local and you know the expression you don’t sh*t where you eat. Julie isn’t a girlfriend but a very close friend and trust me even though it sounded like something was going on the reality is she thinks I smell, well, to be honest she thinks all falang smell
Funnily enough the owner of said bar has been trying to find me a girlfriend in Issan because she thinks I need a good woman to take care of me. Her first stab at it was a Doctor but now she is pushing a government worker that owns a small farm.
I haven’t really been spending large sums but I had been spending too much on my 2-3 nights out a week and being lazy with food and eating at expat places. Otherwise the most of the time I’m a homebody or out and about around town taking pictures.
Lani sounds kind of judgmental.
Or is it jealousy ?
I guess she shouldn’t be reading blogs about Thailand written by falang males and should never actually go there.
Chuck, Lani lives in Thailand and is half Thai…That being said …she wants me
Sounds like a pretty cheap night out.
You didn’t mention the name of your “favorite haunt”. Is it a state secret ?
The owners and ladies working there might appreciate a little free advertising – especially during low season.
BTW – I have to laugh whenever you mention Soi Buakow and strike out your aborted attempts to spell the name.
Chuck, my favorite haunt already does quite well and I’d like to keep it from becoming too big
I’ll email you name.
road markers vary.
It was a very cheap night out if I wasn’t on this budget….and Buakow, I wish they would standardize the damn name even the road signs vary in spelling.
Had to laugh at your “she thinks all falang small” comment, that was pretty much my wifes first comment to me in broken English years ago. When I replied, then you don’t want a farang husband, she promptly replied “but not you ‘darling’”
Still good work, less than 1000 baht for a night out isn’t much of budget breaker.
Now you didn’t mention, did Julie clean your apartment before she left in the morning?
that should be “smell”, damn auto grammar in IE9 in IE9!
lloyd, it really was a good night budget wise overall just not for my current experiment budget. You certainly can’t go out for much of a good time on that amount in the states.
Julie, no, unfortunately we are just really good friends and that negates house cleaning duties….She sure would look good in a towel while doing it though
There is noticeably a lot to identify about this. I think you made various nice points in features also.