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Published: July 25th 2013
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One Baht
Old Baht on the left, the middle two are the current form of the coin. Anytime one arrives in a foreign country, there's always a need to quickly understand how much the money is worth. Yes, you can read and discover that one USD = 31 Thai Baht = .78 Euros. But that still doesn't tell you what the money is worth or what it can buy. In the US, for example, if I buy a single serving of Coke at a 7-11, I'm probably going to pay at least $1.30. Here, that same bottle of coke is only 17 B, less than half the price. A bottle of water? In the US, about the same as the Coke, maybe more. Here, it's between 6-10 B, a quarter of the price.
So, what's a Baht worth?
Here's what I can buy in my neighborhood:
A delicious pad Thai dinner: 35-40 B
Other street food dinners, with seafood: 40 B
Dinner in a local restaurant: 50-70 B per person
Dinner in a cute restaurant, not geared towards hordes of tourists: 50-80 B, not including beverage
Non-Thai meal, per person: 120 B and up
Dinner in any restaurant geared towards higher end clientele: Each dish starts around 100 B
Fresh tropical fruit, already cut up and in a plastic bag: 10-20 B, depending on portion size and vendor
A roadside Thai iced tea: 20 B
A bag of chips or Cheetos at 7-11: 10-20, depending if I get the small bag (ha!) or the large one
A bottle of Singha beer at 7-11 (lg/m/can): 58 B/48 B/36 B
Approximately half a gallon of milk: 84 B
Load of laundry (small/large): 20 B/30 B
Cinema ticket: 150 B
A taxi ride for a few km: around 100 B
A moto taxi ride for a few km: 20-30 B
A ride on the BTS or MRT: 25-30 B per trip, more if it's a long trip across the city
A ride on the ferry boat, going up or down the river: 15 B
Sunscreen, depending on brand: 600-1000 B, sometimes plus VAT of 7%
Starbucks black coffee, size medium: 125 B
Starbucks Latte or cappuccino, size medium: 100 B
Add ice to Starbucks drink: 15 B
A vaccination at the top hospital in the country, including doctor consultation: 1600 B
Mobile phone use: first minute is 2 B, each additional minute is 1.5 B. A text message is 3 B. This is until the money runs out, then you just top up at any 7-11. Data plans vary, but the cheapest unlimited plan is around 400 B a month.
New iPhone: 22,900 B plus VAT of 7%
Monthly rent for a studio apartment (not the ones advertised to foreigners): 5000-10,000 B
Right now, I have the added challenge of not looking at the numbers and panicking because I'm used to pricing things in RMB. 100 Baht entry fee? Yikes! No, wait, that's 20 RMB or a little over $3. 500 B on my BTS card? No, that's not a fortune--it's the same amount you used to put on in China. I'm still trying to get a sense of what's a good and fair value for things. I don't want to appear stingy, but I also don't want to appear that I've got money to burn.
As a foreigner, it's tricky to balance out my two worlds. On one hand, I know that spending an extra 20-50 B isn't going to break my bank. An extra 50 can keep the peace, save face, keep me safer, or buy me a slightly nicer product (or much nicer). In dollars, these aren't huge amounts. Even an extra 1000 B is only $31, which doesn't go very far in the US. On the other hand, I also know what these amounts (in Baht) can buy me here. Sometimes you have to decide if it's worth it to pay the extra mark-up for value items, a nicer apartment, or the foreigner rate for the unmarked item that requires price bargaining.
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Dad
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Interesting that regular SB coffee costs more than a SB mixed drink in BKK while in the US, its usually twice as much or more for a latte or other specialty drink. What do you pay VAT of 7% on?