I Love Thailand

I enjoy reading the newspapers and I do- everyday on line. I read the New York Times and the New York Post which is a tabloid. The motto of the Times is All the news that’s fit to print.

The Post has the colorful local news- stories that would never make it to the Times.
Today I read a story about a prostitution ring being busted in Manhattan. This is not unusual as these services can be found everywhere. What really
astounded me was the fact that the madam was asking for and receiving fourteen hundred dollars for two girls at once, short time and one of the girls arrested was thirty seven years old.

Let me say that again 1,400 dollars! Thirty-seven years old! Unbelievable for us that live in Thailand.

Jeeze, I haven’t been to America in a long time, but these prices are ridiculous. My friend Fat Larry who lives there and visits Thailand every year, says he does not bother to even think about dating in New York. It’s way too
expensive and the girls are snooty. He does go to a local bordello once or twice a year and the tariff is 260$ for a half hour.

So I guess he’s getting a bargain. However, if you go to Kata or Karon in Phuket you can get eight girls for the entire night including bar fine for 260$ US. As for the cost of female companionship in Bangkok, at Nana the girls get
1500 to 2000 baht short time and 600 baht bar fine. I think we have all been saying that the prices are going up in Nana but when you look at costs worldwide, and I only look at New York prices, it’s a gift from God to be able to live here

I am on my way to Bangkok again and I stay at the Majestic Suites on Sukhumvit in-between Soi Four and the Landmark Hotel. A very nice room there is about 1400 baht. or about 36 dollars. You can’t park your car in New York for that
price never-mind get a room. I think the cheapest room one might be able to obtain in NYC would be about 130$.
I know that it may sound like from my previous submissions that I complain a lot but I have to say I feel very lucky to live in
Thailand. I was thinking about that when I stopped in a dental laboratory in Chalong today and guess what?

The technician was a German man so I know that I am going to receive quality work. I was putting off having a crown replaced and was delighted to find the lab and what do you think he is charging me? Fifteen-hundred baht!

Okay, I accidentally bypassed the dentist so I saved money but this is so cheap it’s silly.
Back in America it would be fifteen hundred dollars -not baht.

Again, comparing Bangkok and New York- they are both sophisticated large cities with plenty of cultural events and superb restaurants. I like to go to Auberge Dab French Restaurant on Ploenchit Road.

They have a price fixed lunch for under four hundred baht and a terrific set price dinner for 1200 baht.

The J. W. Marriot Hotel just down the street has a buffet lunch for eight hundred baht that’s magnificent.

The food at these places will knock your socks off, is reasonably priced and I will put these places up against any restaurant in America.

I have a house in Phuket and sometimes need an electrician or a plumber or someone to cut the grass.

Admittedly a good man is hard to find but when you do, the prices are very, very reasonable. I can always find a few Thai guys hanging around if I need some work around the yard. I pay them one-hundred baht an hour and everyone is happy.
For eight hours that would be 800 baht or about twenty bucks. My brother who lives in New York State needed some yard work done and drove to a corner where illegal immigrants wait to be picked up. They get a hundred dollars a day now and when
my brothers’ man saw a shovel in the car he demanded 125 $ US.

I need assistance around the house and I have just hired a live-in lady right off the bus from Roi Et. I should really say girl.

She makes me breakfast and dinner, feeds my three dogs and one cat, goes shopping for their food, cooks the chicken and fish that I buy for them, cleans the house every day and does the laundry. I was in the shower today when she was scrubbing
me down and I was thinking how luxurious I feel having this kind of help. I understand that the rates here for something like this are eight-thousand baht a month. I have a friend that pays 6000 baht.
I am paying this girl ten-thousand baht
a month and my neighbors are crying that I am over paying her.

This is plain foolish. I want her to be happy and happy she is. I am going to take her out for dinner tonight along with three of her friends. They want to eat at a local Isaan restaurant. I am going to be a big sport’ for a price
so reasonable-it’s embarrassing.

I took my car to be repaired in the S & P Body Shop in Rawai. I had dents in three fenders, two doors, the trunk and both bumpers. A lot of work. They did a super job and only charged me 12,000 baht. Hell, I paid more than that for my
cell phone.

The downside of this is that the Thais tend to run into your car even if you are parked or waiting for a red light.

Car tires are much cheaper here and gasoline is half the cost of in America.

I am not a fan of Indian tailors and the ones in my neighborhood are second rate. But when I was in Bangkok, I had four cotton dress shirts made at 1250 baht each-that’s about $32 US and I am delighted with them. I haven’t bought
a good dress since I was in New York in 1986 and then I paid 55$ for a shirt off the rack. I can’t imagine how much it would cost to have a shirt made there now.

Medical care, hospitals and doctors are a third of the cost of the United States- or less. I had my inner ear checked at a doctor’s office in New York City. It took about ten minutes and it cost 250$. I had the same problem come up
here again in Phuket and went to a hospital and the doctor charged me 400 baht or about ten bucks. Now, that’s quite a difference.

This story must be boring for anyone that lives here but I have so many friends back home that just will not get off their butts and come over to see what Thailand is really like and I think that I am doing anyone a favor that has not been
here yet or is thinking of retiring in Thailand.

Besides, Stick says that he would like to have more positive stories- so there you are.
P.S. The beaches, food and weather are also pretty nice.

P.P.S. I wonder if Stick can guess-timate what percentage of his readers are in Thailand as opposed to other countries.

Stickman's thoughts:

A rough guess is that 15 – 20% of readers are in Thailand, and the rest elsewhere.