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Comment by thailandstartup | Hacker News Reader

About $35000 here in Thailand gives me a lifestyle that I think of as lavish and decadent, but I guess the OP would consider frugal and cautious. 120sqm condo beside the sea, eat out every night, tennis and language lessons. I could probably cut the budget down to around $20000 in a pinch and still live comfortably. The major downside is that there aren't many hackers about.

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Doing the same in Shenzhen, China.

In my opinion, with a 25,000$ salary here, you can live more comfortably than you can in the US on a 50,000+$ salary. For instance, at 500$/month, you can get a spacious 2br apartment that comes with a nice inner courtyard, tennis courts and a swimming pool. You can go to nice restaurants for under 6$ and take the taxi for ridiculously cheap (less than 5$ for a 15 minutes ride).

And don't worry about getting bored. There are tons of bars, amusement parks, movie theaters, not to mention that most commerces close very late (11pm+). And if you're not into Asian girls, a lot of female foreigners are models from Russia/Eastern Europe that haven't seen westerners in a long time. :)

Hmm. Interesting, I'd like to point out though 50K isn't a really comfortable salary in a major US metro anymore after federal/state tax, social security, healthcare/misc. deduction. Add on top of 401(k) contribution and also monthly rent of 1K+ for rent in downtown (actually on the cheaper end of a 1BR apartment in NYC/Boston), you are down to literally peanuts. Boozing and eating out will literally have you living from month to month.

I heard that this is the case in China nowadays too. Boozing and going out to bars in China is dollar-by-dollar as expensive as the States. Real estate is sky-rocketing.

I looked into moving to China as well, your salary range looks comparable to the numbers I was told. But I'm not sure it 25K is even sustainable in Shenzhen. Perhaps cost of living there is lower than Shanghai, but my guess is that it's not that much lower as it's located in the Pearl River Delta.

There are actually two things that I found surprisingly expensive in Shenzhen: bars (1 beer = ~7$) and movie theaters (1 ticket = ~15$). But that's about it. Clothing (except Italian brands), food, beer, transportation, rent (although Shenzhen is a bit expensive for China), massage, Internet, mobile phone, hairdressers... are very cheap. 25K isn't my actual salary but I know some people here who live very comfortably on that salary. Anecdote: I just go a nice haircut for 1.50$.

May I ask how you received a visa to stay there? I looked into Thailand but axed the idea when I could only get a 30-day visitor visa.

Whereas Costa Rica lets you stay for 3 months before you need to cross the border to extend your visitor visa. And apparently obtaining a permanent residency isn't difficult if you can prove income from foreign sources.

Thailand has an education visa program - you need to be learning something for a minimum of 4 hours/week to qualify. Technically, it can be pretty much anything, but languages are popular. People do the visa run thing too - every sixty days I think.

Costa Rica sounds like a good destination - I may check that out one day.

Thailand is pretty relaxed. You can start a company with a thai friend who "hires" you and work there indefinitely. There are probably a few smart thais that already have that as a business. Property and companies must be majority thai owned, which may seem like it really sucks, but is actually pretty smart since keeps everything there significantly cheaper and more affordable for everybody.

Aren't you concerned that there seems to be a coup every second week blockading the airport and then every other week someone is arrested for accidentally insulting the King? I'd feel a little edgy living their as a foreigner!

There has only been one airport blockage in history and three "coups" this decade, which is just political factions of elites fighting with each other in the background. Life goes on as normal for most of thailand, no matter if there is coup going on or not. The king thing is really nothing to worry about, you'd have to be really stupid to get in trouble for that.

I worry about road traffic accidents and heart disease. You might like this book -

"The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things"

http://www.amazon.com/Culture-Fear-Americans-Afraid-Things/d...

how much does the condo rent cost you?

$900 p/m. Easy to cut back to $500 a month for a smaller place, or $300 to lose the view too, or $200 to lose the location too. You wouldn't want to go any lower than that though.

Where are you? You can get a nice 2 bedroom in phuket for $200.

Pattaya, I guess the rental market is diverse. I didn't care for Phuket much myself - a bit of a tourist trap I thought.

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