costs

I'd like to give everyone an idea of what life here costs. Firstly, the Thai currency is called the baht. The going rate is about 35 baht to one dollar.

35฿ will buy you a fresh fruit smoothie.
40฿ will buy a 1.5 gallon bottle of water.
44฿ ($1.25) will buy a dinner of rice and chicken with garlic sauce, plus a glass bottle of water, in the restaurant in my apartment building.
50฿ will get you into the apartment pool, after you've used up your four free visits each month.
60฿, on days when I'm too exhausted to walk for 40 minutes, will buy a ride home from work in a taxi. A good option for splitting between three people.
100฿ gets you into the movies. I haven't done this yet, but I've heard a lot of hearsay and conjecture about the luxuriousness of their theaters compared with ours.
180฿ will buy you a ONE HOUR Thai massage in the massage parlor in my apartment building. Five dollars an hour. Yeah - I know!
900฿ will buy you a nice used cell phone.

Dehydration, sweating, and sunburns, however, are free for the taking.