Welcome to Bangkok Thailand,
where the energy of the city is crystal clear,
the delicious food will make you want to cheer,
and the people are super friendly and sincere.
Could you see yourself living here?
Well in this video we're going to tell you what it's like to live in Bangkok,
tell you some of the great and not so great features of the city,
all to help you decide if this is the right place for you.
My name is Ryan, my wife Emily and I are the Snail Travelers.
Okay the first thing you need to understand about living in
Bangkok is the enormous size of this city.
There are over 18 million people living in Bangkok's urban area,
which is more than double that of Kuala Lumpur and triple that of Singapore.
But so what what does that mean for the quality of life here?
Well I'll explain how this impacts transportation and cost of living and
the like throughout this video so keep watching.
Now that being said there are areas like what you
see here that feel more like living in a rural village.
But the point is if you love the atmosphere and pace of life in a big city then yeah
you could live in Bangkok and really thrive here.
So the first thing that you need to know about the food culture in
Bangkok is that it is centered around street food.
You can't walk more than a few steps down a busy street
without coming across a friendly vendor selling something delicious.
And it doesn't matter what type of food you're in the mood for,
you will find a version of whatever you want in the form of street food here in Bangkok.
And it doesn't matter how hungry you are either,
you can find everything from light snacks or dessert type items
all the way up to a monster-sized full meal if that's what your stomach happens to be desiring.
Of course I can't show you everything there is available,
but you're seeing some of the delicious examples in the video clips here.
So we think you could live in Bangkok if you enjoy the street food scene,
just be careful not to overdo it because that's our problem,
there is just so much delicious food that sometimes we just
abandon any attempt to control our calorie intake,
but it's worth it believe me
The transportation system in Bangkok is quick efficient and reasonably priced.
Now the first time I came to Bangkok in 1994 there was no mass transit trains at all
but on our second visit to Bangkok in 2019 the number of train lines exploded out of nothing.
And now on our third visit yeah the expansion has continued
and it's still growing to more and more parts of the city every year.
One minor annoyance about the transit trains is that some of the lines are part of the MRT system
and some part of the BTS system and they don't always play well together.
For example as of now the MRT system uses plastic tokens that you buy from the machines
while the BTS system uses transit cards,
and you can't use tokens on the BTS system and can't use the cards on the MRT system,
although the ability to tap and go with a credit card is expanding.
And by the way if your destinations are somewhere on one of the rivers you might
might be able to take a water taxi.
These are a very pleasant way to get to wherever you're trying to go.
Now what about using regular car taxis to get around the city?
In our opinion it's not the best.
There are plenty available and there are taxis everywhere so you won't have trouble finding one,
and the prices are reasonable too,
but the problem as you're seeing in these video clips here is the traffic.
Bangkok's traffic can be horrendous Sometimes you can walk faster than the traffic.
I think even my grandmother could have walked faster than the traffic.
So stick to the transit system instead
and we think you could definitely live in Bangkok
if having an efficient transit system is important to you.
There is no shortage of activities in Bangkok
and many of these activities are a great way to get acquainted with Thai history and culture.
The Grand Palace is one of those must-do activities whether you're
just visiting Bangkok or if you're living here full time.
This is a magnificent complex of ceremonial buildings,
villas, temples, gardens and courtyards.
And not too far away from the Grand Palace you will find another must-do activity
and that's a visit to the enormous Reclining Buddha at the temple complex called Wat Pho.
You could spend hours here wandering around and through the different temples,
and it seems like every time you come out of one temple
there's another one that is even more surprising and impressive.
Some other activities include a visit to the Jim Thompson House,
the founder of the Thai Silk company and a man who had an extensive art
collection which is on display here at the house.
There's also the fabulous Niyom's Orchid Farm on the outskirts of the city.
And one of our personal favorite activities is visiting the parks in the city.
If you come live here you need to take advantage of these parks.
They are an oasis among the concrete jungle.
One of the best parks we think is Lumphini Park with numerous lakes and walking trails.
So we think you could live in Bangkok if having access to a
large number of activities is important to you,
and you won't have to worry about getting bored or running out of things to do here in Bangkok.
Okay the all-important cost of living like most cities there can be a big
difference in housing costs based on neighborhood.
On one trip to Bangkok we stayed for a month in the Nontanburi neighborhood
which was a less expensive part of the city but it
also took over an hour to get to the central part of Bangkok on the trains.
And just to use our apartment in Nontanburi as an example of what you can get,
an apartment like this on a one-year lease is right
around the 400 US dollar mark plus utilities.
Now it's a tiny apartment with just a glass barrier between the
one and only bedroom and the small living room.
But really that is all the space we needed for our one month stay,
but anything longer than a month I think we would have wanted something a little bigger.
But the rooftop pool was very nice with spectacular views over
the city from the top of the building up there.
Now if you took this exact apartment and moved it on the map over to Central Bangkok
expect the price to jump up a couple of hundred dollars.
You definitely pay for location no doubt about that.
Now for food costs not too much to worry about here believe me stop worrying.
Restaurant prices are reasonable if you stick
mostly to local food and street food, under US$2 for a meal.
A ride on the metro can range from 50 cents up to over a dollar overall.
We think we would spend a total of something
in the US$1200 to $1600 range per month living in Bangkok,
in the lower end of that range of living toward the edges of the
city and the higher end living in the city center,
and of course our more simple lifestyle will cost different than yours.
So we think you could live in Bangkok if you are looking for
a reasonably priced place to live considering the size of the city.
Okay it's the part of the video where I will quickly go through
other categories starting with the weather.
You won't want to live in Bangkok if you don't tolerate heat and humidity.
Safety: if safety is important to you then Bangkok could be a good choice.
It has a pretty low crime rate compared to other similarly sized cities in the world.
Air pollution: Don't consider living in Bangkok if you are sensitive to air pollution.
There are days when the skies are clear but also plenty of days when the air quality is low.
Communication: If you feel the need to live in a city
where English is widely spoken then you could live in Bangkok.
It's not perfect but many of the people you interact with do speak basic English,
and that's good because learning the Thai language is difficult.
Shopping: There are plenty of markets and malls to find whatever you need.
In fact the Chatuchak Market is the biggest some say in the world.
You can find anything you need here:
shoes, hats, genie lamps, chicken incubators, rubber chickens, fried chicken and lots more.
The Expat Community: If having a large
social network with people from your home country is important
well that's a good reason you could live in Bangkok.
There are many many expats from all over the world here.
Airport connections:
If you need to be near an airport with flights to all over the world look no further.
Some other things that I'll be talking about in more detail in a future video:
good health care is available, a variety of retirement visas
are available, and fast internet connections are available as well.
So there you have it those are all the reasons why we think you could live in Bangkok
as well as a few reasons you might want to give Bangkok a pass.
But what about us could we live here? Well I think we could.
Bangkok has a lot going for it we love the transportation and the reasonable cost of living
however for us personally the hot weather is the main drawback.
Hey that playlist you see here has videos where we
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Thanks for traveling with us.