Stretch Your Baht

[PigDogg]

(burnt_out @ Jan. 16 2009,11:04) Food: 300bht per day
Beer: 500bht (not huge drinker)

It's very rare that I spend 300 baht a day on food.  I very often have meals for 30 baht.  When friends say let's go to an overpriced farang joint for food, just say no.

If you're not a big drinker then averaging 500 a day for beer is high if you avoid places that cater to tourists.   Remember there will be some days when you won't drink at all.  Or a day where you'll have four 40 baht beers at an outdoor beer bar.  

Ladydrinks, if you're a tourist is no big deal, but as an expat it's a budget buster.  It's one thing to buy a ladydrink for a girl you're really want to talk to, but if you're not that interested then forgedaboutit.

It'd be nice if I had more money to spend, but i really wouldn't be any happier.

It'll be a great four months!  

[azza33]

There are plenty of very cheap beer bars around soi 7 & 8 where you can get a nice cold tiger or singha for 45 baht.
I even managed to find a places up around soi 2 area that were only 60 baht for a southern and coke.

Avoid the touristy bars along walking street and find yourself a nice comfortable bar stool at the myriad of other cheap and decently priced venues around Pattaya.

[Anthony_Mustang]

Although this is really boring advice the best I've found is to have a bit of discipline make yourself a budget and stick to it.

[burnt_out]

sound advice, cheers guys
it does sound doable anyway

[Guest]

I'll give you some info burnt out when I can get a better internet connection, this one in Phnom Penh has a time limit on it

[swaraj]

If your looking for a fair priced beer in decent surroundings with newspapers, magazines and, if you wish, sport on t.v. why sweat it out on the streets, Shenanigans, with a pint at 99baht, is hard to beat for all round value.

[kahuna]

There are certainly much better and much cheaper places to drink beer and watch sports
than Shenanigans...with the added bonus...LADYBOYS,..

Last week I watched the Giants loss with a fellow BM at a great beer bar on Second Road...
Owned by a farang from San Diego... Free home-made chili and cheap beers and ladyboys...

I left with two...

[seamus]

Nice one dad , you dirty old fecker, I hope I'm able to take one let alone two when I'm your age LOL good on ya

[kahuna]

I'd like to take credit for a threesome but unfortunately I can't...

One of the girls is a regular of mine and the other works at an adjacent bar...
I suppose you can say she is now a regular...Really fun girls...

Neither beauty queens, but the kind of girls I really like to spend time with...
And do spend time with...Affectionate, sexy and easy to please...

On this night/morning the girls and I closed down Ezy bar and JSB and then
the girls poured me into a van bound for Cambodia at 6 am...

The point of my post was/is you don't have to spend 100 baht for a beer in
a sterile institutionalized restaurant/bar to have a great relaxing time in Pattaya...
You can party for much less baht and have a much better time...This is the budget thread...

PS...For what it's worth, I find that the girls who work in the small beer bars with GGs
to be much different than the girls who work in the ladyboy only bars...I'm not certain
why...But I like...And it is normally much less expensive than the ladyboy only venues...

Want their numbers....

[rossco]

Everyone has a different budget. I have met guys who spend 5 to 10K per day and others who manage on nearly only 1,000 a day.

It is a personal choice. If you want to eat cheap you can BUT there are so many good restaurants/buffets available it would be a shame to miss out. There are a number of BBQ restaurants available on 3rd Road - 110 baht per person for ALL YOU CAN EAT. These places are fun as you slect your food and cook for yoursel - the LB's seem to enjoy this.

Shennanigans is great fro Western food but I find that drinking there is not cheap. Tuesday is Mexican Fajitas night which is good value at 200 baht for the food.

Street stalls are great value and for a snack - BBQ Chicken/Pork/Beef - I have found the guy near Wonderful 2 bar on Second Road/Soi 13 is brilliant - try the Issan Rice cakes cooked on the BBQ.

IMHO there are restaurants to meet all budgets.

I would also say that most Thais are not good with non- Thai food. I am not saying that ALL Thais are like this just the majority. So do not think about dining in a mainly Farang restaurant with your partner - make sure that they do Thai food!

I enjoy Thai food most days BUT also like to do the odd Western night. SA Apartments in Soi 13/1 is great for Pizzas and even their Indian Curry is good - 150 to 180 baht.

The Sportsman Bar in Soi 13 is good for Trad Brit food. Try Queen Victoria in Soi 6 for the All Day breakfast and Pies.

Yamoto Japanese Restaurant in Soin 13/1 (Often referred to as Soi Yamoto) is good food. Try La Stroganoff in Soi 13/1 - good French restaurant with 3 courses for 280 Baht.

The list goes on and on but bottom line is that Pattaya supports all tourists on varying budgets. I am getting too old for the "backpacker bargains" of my youth but street food can be incredible value.

Basically decide your budget. 30 Baht is street food but if you can stretch to more try the other restaurants.

[kahuna]

(rossco @ Jan. 19 2009,17:45) try the Issan Rice cakes cooked on the BBQ.

Rossco is spot on...Marvelous simple food...In Issan it is common to fire up the grill and cook patties made from the day's uneaten sticky rice...

I have no idea what happens, but there is something in this gluttonous rice that turns to sugar and makes a great simple late evening snack...

Best eaten with some Isaan white whiskey...

You can buy it from street vendors all over Pattaya...The rice, not the whiskey...

[69billy]

I think one of the best Thai restaurant is Leng-Kee at Pattaya Klang just up the road from Tops...
Rice & duck 50Bt...

[swaraj]

kahuna, the first word in my post, # 36 is IF, It was aimed at guy's who just maybe looking for an hour or two away from "the scene"
....."this is a budget thread"........
So it must have been a 'two for one offer' at the bar that day then.

[PigDogg]

I was just reminded of this thread so here is the most extreme cheap charlie trick that I have ever heard of.  The guy who told it to me on the Bell Bus (we don^t take cabs on a budget) must have sensed that I was a kindred spirit to tell me this but I have to admit that this is way out of my league.

This guy told me he goes to 7-11 and orders a pork burger for 20 baht.  He then loads up his burger with all the mayo that will fit, goes home and scrapes off the mayo and puts it in a jar.    

This is probably not of any practical value to anyone here, but just thought I^d reopen this dormant thread with the way some expats live.  

Of more practical value are makeshift bars on many small sois where you can drink at 7-11 prices yet sit at a table and watch the WorldCup on TV.  These are all over the place if u venture out of the tourist loop.    

[Steff]

Goodness, human innovation never ceases to amaze me. The MAYO connection in southeast Asia. Who whadda thunk it?