Cost of living in the Philippines and Southeast Asia

Discuss culture, living, traveling, relocating, dating or anything related to the Asian countries - China, The Philippines, Thailand, etc.
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Mr S
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Post by Mr S »

billy wrote:I will make shurely the pattaya thing. Maybe some 6 month or longer. And I want to feel the "beach" vipe on
the islands maybe also 6 month. You know the visa regulations in Thailand is a pain in the ass. And they
tell you they don´t want long time vistors to thailand. You have to leave the country and so on.

The visa costs in PI is also frustrating for long time stayers, but it is slightly better than in thailand.

Yeah, Winston is right. Home sweet home at mami ;-). The adventurer has to make a break.
Why didn´t his parents live in Cali. Why did they move?
He and his family only lived in California while he was growing up. Then when he was an adult they moved to Washington state, Seattle metro area, one of the cities near there. They moved to Taiwan to retire and then rent out their home in Washington for some extra income.

Actually, it's easy to stay in Philippines more than Thailand long term. All you have to do is pay money every 2 months in PI. In Thailand they don't want any foreigners staying more than a few months at a time unless you have a work, business or spouse visa. So you probably won't be able to stay in Thailand 6 months at a time.
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Repatriate
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Post by Repatriate »

Mr S wrote:
Actually, it's easy to stay in Philippines more than Thailand long term. All you have to do is pay money every 2 months in PI. In Thailand they don't want any foreigners staying more than a few months at a time unless you have a work, business or spouse visa. So you probably won't be able to stay in Thailand 6 months at a time.
It's not that hard to stay indefinitely in Thailand you just have to be a little creative with your visa process and do a little research. It's easy to get an educational visa that will allow you to stay for many years as long as you can pay for it. I used to stay on back to back 2 month tourist visas which with double entries allowed you to stay a whopping 6 months with extensions. They finally cracked down on that loophole a bit but it's still easy to get an education visa.
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Post by Jacaré »

Repatriate,
I saw those ads everywhere for education visas but I wasn't interested at the time. Now I want to get one upon my return to LOS. Do you know how much they are? thanks.
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Post by Winston »

billy wrote:Mr.S, what a great advertising for thailand. Yeah the center of adult disneyland.
Where all people around the world meet. Even females. Really it´s the vacation
paradise.

Winston is stuck in Angeles City. He is afraid he will "lose" his soulmate.
But anyway, Winston is old now. He can retire there. In the matter of girls
and cheap leaving nothing beats angeles city.

So, Thailand would maybe be a interesting watch for him. But Thailand is more
expensive than PI. He can save a lot of money in PI.
God you're dumb. Do I have to explain everything twice to you? I never said that Dianne was my soulmate. Nowhere in this forum have I ever said that. You are imagining things. I said she was a quality girl with intelligence, open-mindedness and good qualities, much better than the average Filipina. I never said that I felt that she was a soulmate. We have a fun but codependent relationship, as well as a "don't ask, don't tell" policy when it comes to dating others (as a friend of mine put it).

I can't live in Angeles City. It is dirty, polluted, too hot and humid, and hazardous to my health. I grew up in a rich area in California and cannot tolerate that type of environment. It's for stupid people too. It's about time I started dating women compatible with my intelligence and ethnicity. I've realized that now. That's why I'm going to China, while I'm still of marrying age. My soul and genes are calling me there.

Didn't you read my "15 Reasons Why Angeles City Sucks" page?

viewtopic.php?t=11016

Answering your questions is tedious billy. You're becoming a nuisance.
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Re: All SINGLE MEN SHOULD VISIT THAILAND AT LEAST ONCE IN LI

Post by Winston »

Mr S wrote:I've told Winston a hundred times to go to Thailand and hit the bar nightlife scene in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket or Chang Mai but all it ever does is go in one ear and out the other.

YES, it's way better and more advanced than anything the Philippines can offer. The only downfall is the language barrier, but with a pocket phrasebook you can get around it for the most part. If you have the money, you can have a very good time in Thailand. Yes, I would agree you probably need $1500 or more a month to properly enjoy yourself in Thailand, although it would depend on your own nightlife habits. I lived over there for a bit but I was on a budget so my nightlife carousing was a bit more limited then when I just went there as a tourist and tried to do as much partying as I could within a designated time period.

Winston will probably only ever go there if someone actually paid for his ticket there and helped semi-support his nightlife excursions. He wouldn't go by himself on his own anytime soon from what I can predict.

So does anyone here on the forum want to buy Winston a prepackaged ticket and tour of the seedy side of Thailand? Any takers?

The only reason to go to Philippines for nightlife other than Thailand would be because the girls can speak rudimentary English. That's what initially got me hooked on Philippines after hanging around Thailand for a while. It was like night and day talking and hanging around girls in Philippines to Thai girls. Although I think Thai girls are technically more fun than Filipinas. But it all depends how much the girls like you or not. Filipinas aren't as picky as Thai girls, but Thai girls are insane to deal with if they really like you. They are super jealous and get very emotional when they have feelings toward you. Although the language barrier really makes it difficult to really get close to a Thai girl, unlike a Filipina where you can understand all parts of them.

So in some ways Filipinas are better to date and in other ways Thais are better.

I reiterate once again for the last time: WINSTON, GO TO THAILAND AS YOUR NEXT DESTINATION, NOT CHINA. YOUR EYES WILL OPEN TO WHAT THE TERM "ADULT DISNEYLAND" REALLY MEANS. SINCE YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THE ULTIMATE SEXUAL AND EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES WITH WOMEN, ONLY THAILAND CAN GIVE IT TO YOU ALL IN ONE SPOT. ANYTHING CAN GO THERE, THINK ANGLES CITY X1000 TIMES.

Enough said... :lol:
Huh? I don't need anyone to pay for my ticket there. I can pay it myself. Thank you. Where did you get that idea? I'm not a big mongering bar type of guy. I only like to do that in short bursts. My bar hopping style is very different from yours. I don't go to 10 bars in one night and spend a lot of money on drinks. You spend way more on drinks by hopping every 10 minutes than on the barfine itself. I'm the opposite. I go to 1 or 2 bars, find a girl I like, and barfine her early. I don't run up huge drink bills. That's not the efficient way to do things.

Sure many bar girls call me a cheap charlie. But so what? I can always find girls that like me and are attracted to my personality and sweet style, and don't care if I'm cheap or not. With so many girls, I always meet those too.

If I go to Thailand now, I could get carried away and blow my savings. That's the danger. My dream and fantasy now is for Chinese girls though, not Thai. Chinese girls have the qualities I like. My soul and genes are calling me to go there. Why can't you understand that? Everyone has a different path. You can't tell someone else what their path or destiny is. No man can. Trying to do so would just confuse others.

I thought that Thailand was just like Angeles City anyway. AC has fulfilled my sexual fantasies, so I never saw the need for Thailand. I may go to Thailand one day out of curiosity though. But I can't go everywhere at once. Everything has to be done in steps. I have so many projects to finish too. And time goes so fast. It's not my fault that it goes by so fast and I haven't even finished last year's work yet. I haven't even published my ebooks yet, which was supposed to be done in January 2011, cause other stuff keeps piling up in the way. Sheesh. I have bad time management skills. But time moves way too fast. I think we all feel that way. It's so hard to catch up.
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Re: All SINGLE MEN SHOULD VISIT THAILAND AT LEAST ONCE IN LI

Post by Banano »

Winnie

BKK is much more humid than AC plus pollution is intolerable due to traffic, you would feel out of place
Most discos are infiltrated by freelancers, hoes that will love you long time till the cash runs out

You would need $1.5k just to survive, if you want to have fun,drinking mongering you will need much more,
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Re: All SINGLE MEN SHOULD VISIT THAILAND AT LEAST ONCE IN LI

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Last edited by eurobrat on May 20th, 2013, 5:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by xiongmao »

Come and visit me in China. I can sort out your time management issues!

Don't worry about money - there's always ways of making money from a laptop. I think I've found a consultancy gig already.

As for blowing your savings, well I'll need to be careful in China. But most of the women I've dated have been pretty frugal. I've found it's pretty easy to screen out the shopaholics and those who only fly business class. Besides, most Chinese women have jobs so they can't spend money 24/7.
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Post by Everdred »

I'm not afraid to admit that I make a mediocre salary in Bangkok, Thailand. Just my core salary (full-time job salary only) is right at 35,000 baht per month. However, money is definitely not everything when considering a job. I love my job, and I have tons and tons of free time and vacation time. That also means I have plenty of time to make extra income on the side (though I seldom choose to do so). The OP is wanting to know specifically how much one pays for regular expenses month by month, so I won't go into the details of my job, other than by saying I'm an English teacher.

I should note that I split my monthly expenses with my girlfriend, so I don't pay 100% for everything. Approximate monthly expenses for me in Bangkok:

Apartment: 9500 baht per month. I live in a semi-spacious studio with one bathroom. My apartment is right smack in the heart of Bangkok, within walking distance to a major park, the BTS skytrain, and the MRT subway system. There's tons and tons of entertainment (such as the Patpong night market) and food surrounding my apartment in every direction. I just moved out of a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment that was 9800 baht per month. It's only about a half a mile from my new apartment. I moved because I wanted to be closer to my workplace.

Electricity: usually around 2,000 baht per month. I run the A/C and a fan whenever I'm home, I have an LED TV with cable TV running regularly, and I have a few computers running semi-regularly. Other than that, I don't do much electricity-wise. I pay 5 baht per unit, so I suppose I use about 400 units of electricity each month.

Water: usually between 150-200 baht per month. All I can say is both my girlfriend and I take a shower once daily, and we wash our hands regularly. We also occasionally wash dishes whenever we have cooked at home.

Internet: about 700 baht per month. I have a 10 Mbps DSL connection. It's direct from the internet company (not shared wi-fi).

Cable TV: 1000 baht per month. I have HD cable with all kinds of channels. I usually watch the American ones, like National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, and HBO. There's too many other channels to mention, but I should also note there's a few Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and of course Thai TV channels on my package.

Food: I would guess on average I pay anywhere from 6000-9000 baht per month. Food expenses are really hard to measure, because I eat all different kinds of food and at all different kinds of restaurants. When I eat Thai street food, I usually pay 30-60 baht per meal. The meals usually consist of rice, noodles, vegetables, and a little meat. Same goes for when I eat at a Thai food court, but then I usually pay 50-100 baht per meal. I sometimes eat at nicer restaurants, which usually average 200-300 baht per meal for one person. I frequently eat fruit from street vendors. It's usually anywhere from 10-25 baht for a small bag of tropical fruit. I also buy a lot of healthy snacks at 7-Eleven and the supermarket. I usually buy sugar-free tea, fat-free yogurt, dried fruit, and nuts whenever I go. One day of snacks is probably around 100-150 baht. When I buy food to cook at home, I usually pay about 500-750 baht per visit. My shopping cart is usually filled with chicken breasts/thighs, fish, vegetables, fruit, nuts, black rice, and fat-free yogurt. This is usually enough food to make one meal a day at home for one week. All in all I think I eat extremely well, I'm rarely if ever hungry, and I feel quite satisfied with my meals. I practically never have "eater's regret" (the feeling you get after you've just finished eating something you know is detrimental to your health).

Drinking and nightlife: I might have one or two late nights out with friends per month. Each time I go out with them, I usually spend 500-1000 baht. Usually I personally consume a handful of local beers, eat at a nice restaurant, take a taxi or two, and go into a bar or two. I'm not a big drinker, so bear that in mind. Nonetheless, I do usually have a pretty good time when I go out with my friends. A few words of warning: alcohol and nightlife are definitely not bargains in Bangkok.

Transportation: I would guess around 1000-1500 baht per month. 90% of my traveling from point A to point B is done via the BTS, MRT, or via a bus. I rarely take taxis. I usually only take them when it's super late, and there's no other options. Bear in mind that the BTS, MRT, and some buses stop running at midnight, so after that point, taxis are your only real option. I should also mention I do A LOT of walking. I love walking, so this doesn't bother me one bit.

Clothes: also around 1000-1500 baht per month. I might buy a couple of new shirts, a new pair of pants, a cheap pair of shoes, and/or some other random clothing items each month. If you haven't heard already, Thais strongly judge people based on their appearance. I naturally like maintaining my appearance, but I do admit I try harder now that I'm living in Bangkok. I buy most of my clothes at a placed called Export Shop, which sells clothes that were rejected by retailers for whatever reason. Usually it's just some tiny unnoticeable flaw, but sometimes it might be because of discoloration or a small hole. If you look hard enough, you can find some nice quality name-brands, like Dockers or Levi's. There's definitely some great bargains to be had at Export Shop.

Toiletries: maybe 500-750 baht each month. This includes items like shampoo, conditioner, soap, toilet paper, face wash, toothpaste, etc. When one item runs out, I replace it with a new one. I usually by decent name-brand items, like Gillette and Nivea. Other than that, not much to say about this category.

Overall, I think my financial situation in Bangkok is quite good, regardless of my mediocre salary. Living with another person who can split the bills with you definitely helps significantly. I can usually save between 6000-9000 baht each month. I usually travel internationally twice a year (such as to Laos earlier this year) and also travel domestically within Thailand twice a year. I do occasionally buy something for myself, like a new hard drive or mobile phone. I have to watch my money somewhat carefully, but I don't have to count my satang (Thai pennies) either. I'm sure I've probably accidentally left some expenses off of this list, but even if so, they would be small expenses that don't add up to much.

Life at the moment is pretty good for me: my job is low-stress and somewhat rewarding, I have tons of time off, I eat like a king, I travel regularly, I constantly have a new supply of clothes, and I have late nights out with friends a few times each month. And of course I'm living in an interesting foreign country, which makes life so much more interesting than living back in home in the United States. When it's all said and done, Bangkok can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. You can live like a peasant or live like a high-roller. There's definitely a lot of temptation to spend here, so you have to have a lot of self-control. I encourage anyone out there who's considering to live in Asia to just hurry up and take the plunge. Even if you fail and move back home with your tail between your legs a year later, I can promise you that one year you had in Asia will be an unforgettable year of life.
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Post by xiongmao »

Nice report - that ought to silence anyone who asks about the cost of living in Thailand!

I don't know how you could cope with 1 shower a day though - I have about 5 in Guangzhou.

But again, SE Asia is what you make of it. Here in Guangzhou you can blow 60RMB on an export cider (which is exceedingly rare here), but 60RMB will get you 17 bottles of Pearl River beer in my local supermarket!!!

And yes, if you want to experience living in another country, just do it!

In my 3 months in China I've experienced incredible thunderstorms, strange insects, wacky expats, Chinese University life, crowds, insanity, stupid car accidents, Durians and Taiwanese pizzas.

Oh, and I've dated 12 very high quality women and even experienced an earthquake!

One of my mates once complained that I never had enough anecdotes. Well that has certainly changed!

I haven't spent that much here. My saviour was enlisting my pushy ex to get a great price for an apartment, plus I bought a 48RMB slow cooker that allows me to cook pasta and soup. That thing has saved me a fortune.
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costs

Post by Rich »

In the Philippines presently. Price of admission to an Imax theatre 400 ph. Cost of taxi ride from Cebu airport to centre of town 450 ph. Price of a large packet of Pringles at supermarket 69 ph. There, that pretty much covers the essentials.
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Post by Seduction Sebi »

Winston, you really live in the Phillippines with a budget of 400 dollars a month with a family? I have a lot of respect for that and that shows that you are very good with taking care of your expenses. I lived for two months in Cebu City and I always spent more than 500 Euro, which is a little bit more about 600 dollars.

I plan to go to Thailand in a few weeks and I really want to try to get my expenses down so that I can live there for 500 dollars a month. I already found a possible apartment, which only costs me about 120 dollars so I am confident that this works out.
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Post by xiongmao »

If you're in Thailand get a place with a microwave. Then you can buy ready meals from MaxValu supermarkets and just heat them up for 30secs - they're really cheap.

The meals are cooked on site, it was like 20 baht for rice + omelet and a bit of fish was 50 baht.
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Post by In2dadark »

Everdred wrote:I'm not afraid to admit that I make a mediocre salary in Bangkok, Thailand. Just my core salary (full-time job salary only) is right at 35,000 baht per month. However, money is definitely not everything when considering a job. I love my job, and I have tons and tons of free time and vacation time. That also means I have plenty of time to make extra income on the side (though I seldom choose to do so). The OP is wanting to know specifically how much one pays for regular expenses month by month, so I won't go into the details of my job, other than by saying I'm an English teacher.

I should note that I split my monthly expenses with my girlfriend, so I don't pay 100% for everything. Approximate monthly expenses for me in Bangkok:

Apartment: 9500 baht per month. I live in a semi-spacious studio with one bathroom. My apartment is right smack in the heart of Bangkok, within walking distance to a major park, the BTS skytrain, and the MRT subway system. There's tons and tons of entertainment (such as the Patpong night market) and food surrounding my apartment in every direction. I just moved out of a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment that was 9800 baht per month. It's only about a half a mile from my new apartment. I moved because I wanted to be closer to my workplace.

Electricity: usually around 2,000 baht per month. I run the A/C and a fan whenever I'm home, I have an LED TV with cable TV running regularly, and I have a few computers running semi-regularly. Other than that, I don't do much electricity-wise. I pay 5 baht per unit, so I suppose I use about 400 units of electricity each month.

Water: usually between 150-200 baht per month. All I can say is both my girlfriend and I take a shower once daily, and we wash our hands regularly. We also occasionally wash dishes whenever we have cooked at home.

Internet: about 700 baht per month. I have a 10 Mbps DSL connection. It's direct from the internet company (not shared wi-fi).

Cable TV: 1000 baht per month. I have HD cable with all kinds of channels. I usually watch the American ones, like National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, and HBO. There's too many other channels to mention, but I should also note there's a few Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and of course Thai TV channels on my package.

Food: I would guess on average I pay anywhere from 6000-9000 baht per month. Food expenses are really hard to measure, because I eat all different kinds of food and at all different kinds of restaurants. When I eat Thai street food, I usually pay 30-60 baht per meal. The meals usually consist of rice, noodles, vegetables, and a little meat. Same goes for when I eat at a Thai food court, but then I usually pay 50-100 baht per meal. I sometimes eat at nicer restaurants, which usually average 200-300 baht per meal for one person. I frequently eat fruit from street vendors. It's usually anywhere from 10-25 baht for a small bag of tropical fruit. I also buy a lot of healthy snacks at 7-Eleven and the supermarket. I usually buy sugar-free tea, fat-free yogurt, dried fruit, and nuts whenever I go. One day of snacks is probably around 100-150 baht. When I buy food to cook at home, I usually pay about 500-750 baht per visit. My shopping cart is usually filled with chicken breasts/thighs, fish, vegetables, fruit, nuts, black rice, and fat-free yogurt. This is usually enough food to make one meal a day at home for one week. All in all I think I eat extremely well, I'm rarely if ever hungry, and I feel quite satisfied with my meals. I practically never have "eater's regret" (the feeling you get after you've just finished eating something you know is detrimental to your health).

Drinking and nightlife: I might have one or two late nights out with friends per month. Each time I go out with them, I usually spend 500-1000 baht. Usually I personally consume a handful of local beers, eat at a nice restaurant, take a taxi or two, and go into a bar or two. I'm not a big drinker, so bear that in mind. Nonetheless, I do usually have a pretty good time when I go out with my friends. A few words of warning: alcohol and nightlife are definitely not bargains in Bangkok.

Transportation: I would guess around 1000-1500 baht per month. 90% of my traveling from point A to point B is done via the BTS, MRT, or via a bus. I rarely take taxis. I usually only take them when it's super late, and there's no other options. Bear in mind that the BTS, MRT, and some buses stop running at midnight, so after that point, taxis are your only real option. I should also mention I do A LOT of walking. I love walking, so this doesn't bother me one bit.

Clothes: also around 1000-1500 baht per month. I might buy a couple of new shirts, a new pair of pants, a cheap pair of shoes, and/or some other random clothing items each month. If you haven't heard already, Thais strongly judge people based on their appearance. I naturally like maintaining my appearance, but I do admit I try harder now that I'm living in Bangkok. I buy most of my clothes at a placed called Export Shop, which sells clothes that were rejected by retailers for whatever reason. Usually it's just some tiny unnoticeable flaw, but sometimes it might be because of discoloration or a small hole. If you look hard enough, you can find some nice quality name-brands, like Dockers or Levi's. There's definitely some great bargains to be had at Export Shop.

Toiletries: maybe 500-750 baht each month. This includes items like shampoo, conditioner, soap, toilet paper, face wash, toothpaste, etc. When one item runs out, I replace it with a new one. I usually by decent name-brand items, like Gillette and Nivea. Other than that, not much to say about this category.

Overall, I think my financial situation in Bangkok is quite good, regardless of my mediocre salary. Living with another person who can split the bills with you definitely helps significantly. I can usually save between 6000-9000 baht each month. I usually travel internationally twice a year (such as to Laos earlier this year) and also travel domestically within Thailand twice a year. I do occasionally buy something for myself, like a new hard drive or mobile phone. I have to watch my money somewhat carefully, but I don't have to count my satang (Thai pennies) either. I'm sure I've probably accidentally left some expenses off of this list, but even if so, they would be small expenses that don't add up to much.

Life at the moment is pretty good for me: my job is low-stress and somewhat rewarding, I have tons of time off, I eat like a king, I travel regularly, I constantly have a new supply of clothes, and I have late nights out with friends a few times each month. And of course I'm living in an interesting foreign country, which makes life so much more interesting than living back in home in the United States. When it's all said and done, Bangkok can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. You can live like a peasant or live like a high-roller. There's definitely a lot of temptation to spend here, so you have to have a lot of self-control. I encourage anyone out there who's considering to live in Asia to just hurry up and take the plunge. Even if you fail and move back home with your tail between your legs a year later, I can promise you that one year you had in Asia will be an unforgettable year of life.
Good post. Thanks for taking the time. I think your internet is faster than comcast here in Florida. haha...

Any airfare tricks from the experts here (outside of working the miles cards)? Think I want to fly into Clark. Got my eye on a 19 yo. I'd rather LTR young ladies till I find the right one. Like bareback too much & that will get me in the hospital at my age if enter the fast lane.
Last edited by In2dadark on August 17th, 2014, 8:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
In2dadark
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Post by In2dadark »

Winston wrote:Mr S is right that there are many annoyances here though. For example, one that I experienced today was constantly being given vague directions. Most Filipinos do this for some reason. They give vague directions and are not articulate, specific, or thorough at all. And they do not have the common sense to realize that giving vague directions will get someone lost and not to his/her destination. It baffles me, as a perfectionist who is big on accuracy. And it's not because of the language barrier either. They do this to their own kind as well, I've been told. It makes no sense, but is a perpetual annoyance. Most of the time after I ask for directions and get a vague response, or a sentence that doesn't even make any sense, I have to follow up with, "Where exactly? Can you be more specific?" that I start to lose my temper.

But anyway, one of my expat friends told me this, whenever I complain about inefficiency here:

"Look, you should appreciate that things are inefficient here. That's what keeps things cheap for you and me. If they were efficient, then everything would be expensive here like it is in Japan, and we couldn't afford all this."
Great info.. But that last part doesn't make sense. Efficiency brings the cost of every thing down. Lack of efficiency gives (more) value to those who are most efficient.
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