Major Differences Between B.A. and Thailand

[Attorney in BA]

Some information on what you seek:

On safety: http://landingpadba.com/category/safety/

On visas: http://www.fandinoabogados.com/english/migraciones.html#Temporperman. You will find many recommendations for visa lawyers in this forum. I am one myself (although visas is not my only area of practice). Feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding the process. I can be reached at [email protected] or through my website www.fandinoabogados.com

On decriminalized drugs: http://landingpadba.com/drugs-decriminalized-argentina/ This wasn't really asked in this thread, but there are many misconceptions on what the decriminalization implies, so I just went ahead and posted it.

On dating: http://landingpadba.com/tips-on-how-to-attract-the-illusive-ladies-of-buenos-aires/ and http://baexpats.org/expat-life/4557-dating-argentines.html

On teaching English: http://landingpadba.com/teaching-english-buenos-aires/

 

[BKK to BA]

Yeah, I'm currently in Bangkok and pondering a move to BAs. For sure, good beef, cheese, and wine are cheaper in BAs. They are expensive as hell in Thailand. On the other hand, you can always find a good deal on electronics in the Land of Smiles/LOS.

I'm moving because I speak modestly good Spanish (intermediate or better), and I miss Western culture after ten years in Asia. And I'd like a chance to get bored on beef and wine for a while.

Like the original poster (OP), I'm concerned about rents, inflation, and safety.

I'm bringing an income of about US$1800 to Thailand, and enough cash to pay for multiple months rent in advance. I'm an older single guy in reasonably good health. I've taught English in Asia for ten years, and I have a degree and a cert. I'm an American from Los Angeles, with a slightly detectable southern accent.

I'm guessing I'll be able to score about 500 pesos a week teaching after the holidays. Will that total income be OK to live comfortably (small apartment in a nice area) in BAs?

Awww.. whats the matter man...tired of paying 1200 baht for a steak that is as tough and has less flavour then a military issue size 11?

Im really looking forward to the red meat and pasta,Im a gym rat and finding good clean sources of protein and carbs w/o having them deep fried in rancid oil is not an easy task in BKK...unless of course you want to drop a couple thousand baht on dinner...oh and hey one more bonus..I wont have to stand at attention in a movie theatre anymore!

 

[citygirl]

You can indeed find a "short-term" apartment where you pay on-going. I do it. And I have friends here who rent their apartments out that way. However, you can usually only arrange that if you rent directly from the owner. If you go through an agency, you typically have to pay everything up front for the entire rental period.

Re: the poster who said he could make 500 pesos a week teaching and could he live on it. If you need to pay rent out of that, I would say no way, no how. If that is your spending/food money, you can.

 

[mini]

Re: the poster who said he could make 500 pesos a week teaching and could he live on it. If you need to pay rent out of that, I would say no way, no how. If that is your spending/food money, you can.

I thought he meant he had US$1800 (which he mentioned earlier in his post) PLUS his AR$500/week. With that yes, with ONLY AR$500/week, no.

 

[BKK to BA]

okay out of curiousity if I wanted to buy an Ipod Touch 64 or 32 GBs new in Argentina how much would it cost??

 

[ElQueso]

BKK:

http://listado.mercadolibre.com.ar/Ipod-Touch-64

looks like between $400 US and $600 US for the 64. Check out MercadoLibre when looking for prices. Stores themselves may be higher (the bigger ones anyway) but a lot of the advertisements on ML are from little shops that usua;;y have the best prices for things like this.

For NoMoss - I agree with CityGirl. You're talking about $2000 pesos a month on the teaching salary. You can POSSIBLY find something halfway decent to live in for as low as $400 US in a temporary apartment (probably a studio). But that's going to be just about all of your income. Buenos Aires, while relatively cheap as a big city on the international scale, is not nearly as cheap to live in as a place in Thailand.

There are pensiones where you could live for between $500 and $1000 pesos a month, but the ones I have seen are not exactly what I call decent places to live.

Perhaps you could find someone to room with and share costs on an apartment?

Finding a job won't be easy either. You have to get a work contract so you can get a work visa, go through that process (I'm not sure how long a work visa takes). I'm sure you could eventually find a job and get that done, but you'll have the problem of when they provide the contract of getting your visa done in time to start work. Maybe they would want you quicker than you could get the visa?

 

[BKK to BA]

BKK:

http://listado.mercadolibre.com.ar/Ipod-Touch-64

looks like between $400 US and $600 US for the 64. Check out MercadoLibre when looking for prices. Stores themselves may be higher (the bigger ones anyway) but a lot of the advertisements on ML are from little shops that usua;;y have the best prices for things like this.

For NoMoss - I agree with CityGirl. You're talking about $2000 pesos a month on the teaching salary. You can POSSIBLY find something halfway decent to live in for as low as $400 US in a temporary apartment (probably a studio). But that's going to be just about all of your income. Buenos Aires, while relatively cheap as a big city on the international scale, is not nearly as cheap to live in as a place in Thailand.

There are pensiones where you could live for between $500 and $1000 pesos a month, but the ones I have seen are not exactly what I call decent places to live.

Perhaps you could find someone to room with and share costs on an apartment?

Finding a job won't be easy either. You have to get a work contract so you can get a work visa, go through that process (I'm not sure how long a work visa takes). I'm sure you could eventually find a job and get that done, but you'll have the problem of when they provide the contract of getting your visa done in time to start work. Maybe they would want you quicker than you could get the visa?

Okay thanks for that...price for the 64 here in BKK is 14700 baht which translates to just under 500 usd so there seems to be no need to stockpile stuff as prices are about the same.

 

[No Moss]

Thanks for all the well-meaning advice, but I'm not really relying on 500 pesos a week from teaching to survive. I ALSO have an income of US$1800 (about 7000 Argentine pesos) per month. I (not CityGirl) suggested 500 pesos per week based on 10-12 hours of teaching privates at a rate of 40-50 pesos per hour.

I've lived in Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and Bangkok for a total of about two years now. I would agree with the poster who said that Thailand is cheap, especially once you get out of Bangkok and Phuket. Chiang Mai is a pleasant enough place in northern Thailand where you really could get by with US$1000 a month and live quite pleasantly, assuming you weren't an alcoholic.

On the other hand, there isn't anything particularly resonant about Thai culture. The Thais are friendly enough, but I don't speak the language. While there is some decent music here, it somehow lacks the passion of people playing their OWN music. Just tired of Asia after all this time.

Anyway, I'm willing to trade my relatively comfortable life in Thailand for a more expensive BAs. Can I live comfortably on 9000 pesos a month?

 

[mini]

500 pesos per week based on 10-12 hours of teaching privates at a rate of 40-50 pesos per hour.

I'm not sure you can make 40-50 pesos per hours teaching English. You should do search on this site. I know they've talk alot about jobs teaching English.

Can I live comfortably on 9000 pesos a month?

Yes.

 

[kikedeolivos]

..Can I live comfortably on 9000 pesos a month?

Yes you can.