GregCV

You can do OK on $1200 keeping a fairly simple lifestyle. Rent would take about a third of that for a nice apartments. Elephant places are a bit out of town, and you may want to be prepared to buy or rent a simple motor scooter to get around. A ... Read More

You have the right attitude about it for sure. As an American, I am so very familiar in how the government would like us to live with social security. We pay heavily into it all of our lives, and after thirty or forty years of mandatory ... Read More

Jenny: In all honesty, the amount of your budget for rent is OK for an apartment in a fairly modern building. For me, I think a monthly income of around 45K Baht supports a nice lifestyle. You can certainly live cheaper than that, but you will be ... Read More

At this level of income (65K Bht), you can live quite well in Chiang Mai. That is substantially more than the typical expat living here. Good luck to you, and if you have any questions about living here, just shoot me an ... Read More

On the question of living off of USD $1600 per month, I think it is adequate but not extravagant. Where Chiang Mai shines best for an expat is in housing costs --- apartment rents --- but most people think that this may be changing. CM is growing ... Read More

Best bet is a dealer to avoid hassle, and they aren't that expensive. People try tricks, like with mileage and such, in selling used vehicles. You can also rent one that is pretty new with insurance for 3000 baht per month. If you are really ... Read More

To Art Publisher: If you have a retirement visa completed (must be done first time in your home country), then you can ship household goods duty free. Take advantage of this as much as you can. In some places --- I know it is in the US --- there ... Read More

Can be tricky starting a business in Thailand and complying with the restrictions for foreigners. There are some safe avenues, but for sure you have a lot of homework to do. I wrote about just this subject on my blog: How Expats can Start a ... Read More

There are so many things to do. Check the internet --- there are thousands of reports about a holiday in CM. Here is one from my site: americanexpatchiangmai.com/ten-must-do-experiences-chiang-mai-holiday/ Here's a tip: make sure your hotel or ... Read More

If you don't have a lot of expenses for "entertainment", you can live well in most of Thailand, and especially Chiang Mai, for around 40000฿. Actually you can live well with even less. Rents are the best values for Chiang Mai, and they are ... Read More

Please don't worry. A water bill --- even if it is padded a little --- will not be big money. Nor electricity. Almost every apartment building will include wifi (3G) and even TV satellite. I live in a Moobahn (housing community) just southwest of ... Read More

As I stated on my blog posting, there are many that can live in Chiang Mai considerably cheaper --- no question. I ran into a young guy that is teaching English in CM and he is paying 2400Baht per month for a decent (to him) studio apartment ... Read More

Have not seen or heard of any Italian libraries, or even English or other European languages. I have run across a Korean library and several Japanese libraries. Maybe there is something at Chiang Mai University, which is quite large with lots of ... Read More

Hello Ndway: Sorry about just writing in US dollars --- most of the readers on my blog are in America. USD $1500 is 45000 Baht. USD $1200 is 36000 Baht. Exchange rate is $1 USD = 30 Baht. Plenty of Italians in Chiang Mai --- my next door ... Read More

It costs a lot less to live in Chiang Mai as in BKK, especially with housing. But USD $2K lets you live quite well. A nice apartment for one will be less than $500. I wrote an article about this on my blog: ... Read More