Gay Boy Thailand

What does it cost to keep a Thai boy running? Here is what I spend on mine.

Fixed cost:

Allowance 2000 B a week 8000 (approx)
Grandmother’s pension 3500
Montly dental job 1500

Total 13 000

The allowance used to be 1000 when he was in Ramkamhaeng University but since he changed to Rajapat College it isn’t enough. He was broke by Thursday so I decided to adjust the allowance accordingly, having checked what he spent on transport and food.
I increased granny’s pension from 3000 to 3500 B a month due to higher living costs. (Don’t listen to Thaksin saying inflation is low).
The dental job is a monthy adjustment of his braces. He has six months left now of the two years it will take. Total cost for fixing his teeth will be 80 000 B. Most of this is now paid for.

Variable expenses:

School fees and books are a few thousand each semester.
A trip home to Anyburi is 1000 B return incl. tuk-tuk to the village since there no longer is any bus.
Clothes: He gets new ones for New Year and Songkran, and when needed. He also buy clothes using his allowance.
Hospital or doctor bills – not much recently.
Field trips with the school, usually two a year a 1000 B each.
Entertainment: Since I doubled the allowance I no longer give him anything extra if he wants to go to Freeman etc.
Food: He pays for his meals from his allowance. I pay for groceries for the household. We eat most meals out anyway. If we are together I pick up the bill. If he is by himself or with friends he pays for himself. (I have never gotten into the habit of buying half a dozen of his friends dinner.)

Average monthly fixed plus variable expenses should be at least 15 000 B. Maybe around 17-18 000. (Whoops! This was more than I had expected).

The allowance, granny’s pension, his education, the dental job – everything was my initiative and decision. They haven’t asked for it but it is better to take control of the finances than to wait as silent resentment builds up – because they DO expect that I will “take care”. I am after all rich compared to them.

The granny pension makes it possible for Chalerm to study instead of slaving away in the Anyburi Chicken Factory for the same amount to support her.

The dental was needed. His front teeth were all over the place. He had eight (8) teeth pulled as there wasn’t enough space for them. Four wisdom and four corner teeth. Not only will he look better but also avoid problems later.

His education isn’t strictly needed but I want to give Chalerm this. He is a bright fellow and he is happy to continue in school. He is the first and only in his family to get university level education.

In addtion there are one-offs due to my soft heart… such as the CD player (2000 B) and the digicam (9000 B). But those are optional. It is my own fault that I like to spoil him.

On the plus side the dental saga is over soon and once Chalerm has graduated he will hopefully make money for a change.

Q & A added

>I suspect that 8000/month is way more than most university students >would have

Yes it is. Most upcountry students live 3-5 to a room in Bangkok and have little money.

>Still, with no rent to pay, what does he spend 2000 a week on?

Transport alone is 700 a week. He spends 50-100 a day on food.
With hindsight I could have raised the allowance to 1500. Now he has a surplus if he is careful. He is buying his uncle an 800 B mobile phone from his allowance.

When I met him he was frugal but I am afraid the years living with me has influenced him. If he sees me go by Skytrain and taxi it is hard to say he should sweat on the 5 baht bus. Daily transport cost in Bangkok, and somewhat more expensive food, is the difference between now and when he lived in Bang Na.

>As a diligent student, I don’t suppose he’s out every night.
No. He had a phase when he was fascinated by Bangkok nightlife but it seems to be over.

>I don’t wish to be rude, but why are you paying for granny ? Doesn’t >his family operate in the usual Thai way - grand parents live in the >family home and look after the grand kids while parents are at work ?

Granny lives alone. She has no more grandchildren to look after, and her grown sons and daughters have all moved away from the village. Getting them to support her has always been a problem, not least with Chalerm’s father.

The designated person to support the grandparents in old age was Chalerm. There was a lot of pressure on him to quit school when he was a teenager to get a job instead. I took Chalerm away from the village and the grandparents. I could not do that without compensating them, they were too old to work by then and had been patient while Chalerm got “unnecessary” education in Anyburi.

I had to do something to help the family. The granny pension is what I do. Sad tale requests from the stepmother and the rest are ignored.

>do you both expect him to get a job when he graduates ?
Yes.

>The alternative - a young guy with time on his hands and disposable >income - is a potentially dangerous proposition.
Agreed.

>Do you both expect a reduction in his allowance if he is earning ?
We haven’t talked about that yet. I certainly expect it! Maybe we will do it the Thai way, with me taking his paycheck and giving him money as he needs it (which will inevitably be more than the paycheck anyway). But graduation is still three years away.

—
>Another question is, what your friend is doing on the chat channels?? >Hopefully he ist not running into troubles, as it was the case with Bia >(aka Linda)!!

Hehe you have a good memory re Bia. Chalerm is mainly chatting to Thai friends online. Sometimes he chats with cyberspace admirer from abroad but they are hit by “block” when they start taking dirty to him. At first I worried about his online activities but I don’t anymore.