Vina Smart: travelling

It's been over a year since I wrote my cost of living on 37K, and obviously as a private teacher my schedule went through some ups and downs since my first cost of living post. It's about time for an update, so you can see what life might be like on the other side of the coin. Here's my cost of living making around ฿20,000 a month in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

This is definitely not one month's salary!

Note that in my last post, I was lucky enough to be working at a kindergarten that paid me ฿19,200 a month, which is an excellent part-time salary by Chiang Mai standards. That job finished ages ago, as well as the lovely Turkish students I was teaching almost every day. It has been difficult to replace that kind of regular income, as so much private teaching is on a course-by-course basis, which means you say goodbye to your students at the end of their 20 hour or 40 hour course - as well as goodbye to your regular paycheck. On the other hand, regular work can be found - it just requires a little more digging, which a lot of people don't want to keep doing every few weeks to keep their income reasonable.

I recently heard a story about a co-worker of a friend. This man comes from a non-native English speaking country, and has been teaching in Chiang Mai for the last 6 or so years. He makes around ฿100,000 a month ($3200). Hard to believe, isn't it? Well, that's what I thought, at least. So to try and figure out how a full-time teacher making a 30k salary at a government school manages to make more than anyone I know teaching in Thailand, I poked around a bit. And the answer is: private teaching! (Although, he is doing more private teaching than I've ever done.) He is literally working in all of his spare time, and perhaps he has a reason to do so, but I don't (except to try and save some money) so I make substantially less than that.

My work schedule is a bit complicated, yes, but I enjoy it, much more so than a full-time school environment where I'd just end up staring out the windows and daydreaming. I've dropped one language school due to being rather busy with the first one, and I've also taken more time off to focus on my writing. I have one student who takes Business English classes with me from Mondays to Thursdays during his break, who pays me quite well, as well as two teenagers who I teach on a Sunday. I also tend to take any job that comes my way from my language school - all these gigs put together are enough for me to survive on for now. My cost of living is still the same as it has been since I first moved to Chiang Mai, so the only setback is that I'm saving less money by working less.

As usual, everything's in Thai Baht, and my cost of living is half the full price because I'm half of a couple:

Cost of Living in Chiang Mai
Rent:	2,750
Bills:	50 for water 600 - 800 for electricity (in the recent months we have been using the AC a lot more) 250 for internet
Eating out:	Street food or dinners from our local place add up to about 100 a week Eating out at restaurants on the weekend cost anywhere between 500 - 700 a week (this has also gone up as we are in love with more places now!)
Groceries:	100 - 150 a week at our local fresh market 200 a week at supermarkets
Entertainment:	1,000 or more a week goes on drinks with friends, movies or other fun activities. This still seems quite expensive, doesn't it?
Petrol:	260 a week
Airtime:	90 a month. I use my phone quite rarely - most of my communication or plan-making is done online.
Laundry:	20 - 40 a week
Other:	500 - 1,000 a month for picking up a bottle of vitamins, going to the dentist, or taking the a yoga class now and then.
Monthly total:	*12,000 minimum - 14,000 maximum (about the same as my last post)*

My various teaching jobs in Chiang Mai
Kindergarten	Job: 3 hours a week, twice a week Pay: 275 an hour Total: 3,300 a month
Language School #1 Private lessons at same language school	Hours: a few days out of a month, various teaching jobs, like substituting, judging competitions or debates, and English camps Pay: 300 - 400 an hour Total: about 4,000 a month Hours: 3 hours a week, twice a week Pay: 260 an hour Total: 3,120 a month
Private student #1	Hours: 1,5 hours a day, Monday to Thursday Pay: 300 an hour Total: 7,200 a month (however, this student has an erratic schedule and cancels a few times a month, so this ends up being more like 6,300)
Private students #2	Hours: normally 2 hours on a Sunday, but sometimes more Pay: 300 an hour Total: 2,400 - 3,000 a month
English Camps	Hours: infrequent, as they are hard to fit into busy schedules. One camp could last anywhere from a few days to a week or more. Pay: 1,000 a day, as well as paid transport there and back, accommodation, and food. Total: depends
Monthly total:	19,120 - 20,620 (not including English Camps)

As always, here are way too many photos of my students:

I love this photo of the little girl on the right trying to copy a smile.

"Here's how you do it!"

"No! THIS is how you do it!" Haha.

Way too excited!

I love this kid! His name is Up and he's always grinning like this!

Looknai giving me the "shy pose".

The girl in the middle, Mook-da, is extremely naughty!

Sweet little K1's.

"Guys, how about we drag him around by his limbs for a while? Who's in?"

Lovely K3's: Yodfon, Bam Bam, Mymeen and Oom Im.

Ice and Ice 2 showing off for the camera.

Sweetheart Cartoon.

Ice 2 getting creative with Cartoon!

"Aaaaaah!!"

These two are so naughty! But they look quite sweet now, don't they?

A beautiful project completed by my K3's.

Ice looking guilty after he'd poured my gold glitter all over himself.

A beautiful smile from Tonnam.

These are the two 16-year-olds I teach on Sundays. They are lovely and well-mannered (as you can see!)

Joking around.

This is a kid with baby powder on his face from a game we played at an English Camp. He cracked me up so much!

Some kids doing a dance at an English Camp.

Me with one of the older girls at an English Camp.

Me with another student at an English Camp.

Some poor students waiting to be judged during a speech competition.

A young half-Thai, half-South African girl. She had a great speech all about growing up in SA!

The finalists reciting their speeches for the last time.

A statue at a high school (you guessed it - it's not a Buddhist school).

High school kids munching their lunch.

Another statue at the high school.

A judging sheet I filled in for this particular competition. They are usually a bit strange...

Here's a young Chinese girl I taught for a while. She was very shy, but ended up babbling a lot in English by the end!

Both my Chinese students who I taught for a while. I got this job through an online advert in Chiang Mai.

A funny note from a kid at a school where I substituted for a few days.

Another note. At least they are using English!

A group of young talents at a high school in Chiang Mai.

The kid on the right's nickname was 'Obama'!

My judging table at another speech competition.

Some of the students from a temple school after they had recited their speeches.

The lunch buffet at the competition. Yum!

The winning team from Wichai Wittalaya School. Although, all these kids were half-foreign so it was a bit unfair...

What do you think is a fair wage in Chiang Mai for English teachers? What costs you the most money in Chiang Mai - is it buying things, going out for drinks, or just eating out at expensive restaraunts? Do you think it's possible to save money while teaching English in Thailand? Leave me comments below!

The beach at night on Ko Phangan.

In March 2013, my boyfriend and I had begun our holiday in the south of Thailand, starting off in Bangkok, where we fled Khao San Road, stalked the malls, became Skytrain experts, and had the ceiling of our hotel room collapse. We then explored a bit more of Bangkok by motorcycle taxi, and landed up at The Museum of Death. After leaving The City of Angels, we had a quick break in Ko Samui, and then headed off to camp on a deserted island. So far, our trip had been overwhelming, fascinating, frustrating, fantastic, and breathtaking, and it was far from over.

After camping on the island of Koh Wua Talap for three days, and exploring the beauty of the Mu Ko Ang Thong National Marine Park, we made our way by ferry to the island of Ko Phangan, which is a notorious "party island". Unfortunately, my boyfriend and I were exhausted, and just excited to eat some restaurant food and pass out on a soft bed. And that's exactly what we did.

Ko Phangan, in our opinion, was much nicer than Ko Samui. Of course, we could explore more of it quicker, as it is smaller and less populated. We could not, however, explore further inland, as most of the natural forest and mountainous area is pretty much inaccessible by vehicle, and I doubt many tourists leave the bustling coastline to wander around the wild parts of the island.

We ended up staying there for two nights, and spent most of our time wandering around slurping fruit shakes, eating delicious Mexican, Western and Thai food, and relaxing at our guesthouse. Our bodies needed a break from the sun and constant travelling, and this is why we didn't really do much on the island of Ko Phangan.

I liked this shot of the sleeping dog and statue.

Stoic island dog.

Perfect Ko Phangan waters.

Yet another shot of clouds, sky and sun in Ko Phangan.

We enjoyed a few drinks at this place, but had to leave before the party started out of sheer exhaustion.

Ko Phangan sunset number one.

Our second sunset on Ko Phangan.

Beautiful.

Myself and a silly golden labby who hung around our guesthouse.

Leaving the island.

From Ko Phangan we got on yet another ferry, and arrived at our final holiday destination: Ko Tao. As soon as we had arrived on the tiny pier, cramped with tourists and Thai hawkers, selling everything from sunglasses to diving courses, we knew this would be a special place. Our friend in Ko Tao had already hooked us up with Phoenix Divers, who picked us up from the ferry in a truck and took us straight to where we needed to be. While my boyfriend booked himself a diving course, I checked out the free accommodation, which was a cozy fan bungalow at AC Resort. My boyfriend then spent the duration of his course getting free breakfast at AC Restaurant and learning how to dive in various beaches around the island, while I rode around the place on a hired scooter, stopping for food and shopping now and then. On the fourth day, when he had finished his finished his course, we realised we weren't going to leave Ko Tao just yet - we had fallen in love with the place and wanted to explore it together - so we moved a few blocks away to a quieter area. Our authentic and affordable bungalow at In Touch Resort was perfect for us, and right next to their relaxed cocktail bar and restaurant on the beach. This is where the last bits of our holiday were spent, lazing around with pineapple shakes, perfect weather, and each other. Paradise.