A house for $6,000 in the Phillipines??

[momopi]

Lunch here is 5 rmb, dinner is 10 or 20 rmb. The most expensive restaurant in town is 300 rmb for 4 people. Mobile phone is 30 rmb per month. Beer is 2 rmb. Hot cocoa is 3 rmb. Street stall food is 1 to 3 rmb. Anyi is 40 rmb a week.

What's the going rate for a bowl of pulled noodles in your town?

[globetrotter]

Pulled beef noodles are 4 rmb small, 5 rmb large bowl.
Bowl of rice is 2 rmb small, 3 rmb large.
Internet is 2mb down/1mb up.

[ladislav]

It's not for those who need latte's and upper middle class services. T4 is far below T2. Not even close. There IS a T3 nearby that has a grocer with cheese and peanut butter, and one pizza parlor.

I don't need nor want such things so I fit in. Most who are posted here are 23 and they don't last 9 months. I am the only long term teacher.

Schools will give you a free place to stay and live. I have a 5 room house which is a great deal. Utilities, a/c, heat, internet, computer, furnished, all included.

Lunch here is 5 rmb, dinner is 10 or 20 rmb. The most expensive restaurant in town is 300 rmb for 4 people. Mobile phone is 30 rmb per month. Beer is 2 rmb. Hot cocoa is 3 rmb. Street stall food is 1 to 3 rmb. Anyi is 40 rmb a week.

Foot massages here are 15 or 20 rmb.

I spend 30 or 35 rmb per day. More than that and it's hotels, travel, electronic toys, motorbikes and such.

In other words an RMB is their dollar in terms of the buying power within their economy. So a person making 10000 RMB per month is basically earning $120,000 a year as far as the Chinese economy is concerned and is in a doctor/lawyer category. And most people earn 2000-3000 rmb per month same as in the US most people earn $2000-3000 a month. Would this be a fare comparison?

Funny the Ukrainian Grivna is the same as an RMB and salaries there are the same. The grivna is their dollar.

And a British pound is Brits' dollar. It buys what a dollar will buy in the US.

10 Philippine pesos is a dollar to Filipinos.

[globetrotter]

It's not for those who need latte's and upper middle class services. T4 is far below T2. Not even close. There IS a T3 nearby that has a grocer with cheese and peanut butter, and one pizza parlor.

I don't need nor want such things so I fit in. Most who are posted here are 23 and they don't last 9 months. I am the only long term teacher.

Schools will give you a free place to stay and live. I have a 5 room house which is a great deal. Utilities, a/c, heat, internet, computer, furnished, all included.

Lunch here is 5 rmb, dinner is 10 or 20 rmb. The most expensive restaurant in town is 300 rmb for 4 people. Mobile phone is 30 rmb per month. Beer is 2 rmb. Hot cocoa is 3 rmb. Street stall food is 1 to 3 rmb. Anyi is 40 rmb a week.

Foot massages here are 15 or 20 rmb.

I spend 30 or 35 rmb per day. More than that and it's hotels, travel, electronic toys, motorbikes and such.

In other words an RMB is their dollar in terms of the buying power within their economy. So a person making 10000 RMB per month is basically earning $120,000 a year as far as the Chinese economy is concerned and is in a doctor/lawyer category. And most people earn 2000-3000 rmb per month same as in the US most people earn $2000-3000 a month. Would this be a fare comparison?

Funny the Ukrainian Grivna is the same as an RMB and salaries there are the same. The grivna is their dollar.

And a British pound is Brits' dollar. It buys what a dollar will buy in the US.

10 Philippine pesos is a dollar to Filipinos.

No, China is much cheaper than that.

Folks earn 1,200 to 1,500 a month. 2,200 to 3,000 a month is very good here. Rural T4 city only.

Dico's fast food meal is 22 rmb. That's not 22 USD. More like $5 to $7.

One hour of internet at a cafe is 2 rmb. It's $15 in the USA.

Mobile phone is 30 rmb a month. It's $100 USD in the USA.

[momopi]

The trick to getting cheaper monthly cell phone plans is to call your wireless provider and tell them that you got laid off and can't afford the expensive plans. The agent will offer you low-priced plans ($30-$35/month) that are not advertised. Alternatively you can go to Walmart and buy the prepaid "straight talk" phones, $30/month for 1,000 min, 1,000 text, 30 mb data, etc., no contract required.

Internet cafe's in the US got whacked by all the coffee houses offering free WiFi. i.e. Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, etc. You have to go to Asian areas to see PC Bang's. Going rate is $2/hr in K-Town and $2.50/hr outside K-town, $15 for 12 hours weekdays & $20 for 12 hours weekends. If you're lazy or too cheap to pay for hotel, you can snooze on the sofa overnight. Same with internet/comic book cafe's in Taipei, but the Taipei ones have nice tatami rooms.

[The_Adventurer]

All this talk of 4th tier cities and prices, and considering the huge difference between Beijing, Shanghai, and Globetrotter's stomping grounds, makes me wonder, has anyone looked into 4th tier cities in other places?

For example, in Japan, I have only spent 3 days outside the capital. I remember being in Nara, or somewhere, and seeing some decent apartments for, like, $400 per month, which is outrageously cheap from what I know of Japan. Granted that's about normal for Shanghai. But I remember recently talking to 2 guys from Japan, one Japanese, one American who married a Japanese and lives there, and they talked about the difference in prices and people in different cities. They said smaller cities in the south were cheaper with much much friendlier people than the capital. I thought it sounded like the same story everywhere.

I also read a story about an animator who got sick of working for save wages in Tokyo, and he moved out to the countryside, or some small town, and did his own thing, creating his own animations, and made enough to live a much better life.