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Thai Baht

Bangkok, Thailand – When I first got to Thailand, I would write home saying I bought a dress for 250 baht (!!) or my breakfast was 25 baht, and inevitably friends back home would ask how much 100 baht was worth in U.S. dollars. At the current rate, $1 equals 35 baht so for standard notes:

1000 THB = 28.57 USD

500 THB = 14.28 USD

100 THB = 2.86 USD

50 THB = 1.43 USD

20 THB = 0.57 USD

10 THB = 0.29 USD

5 THB = 0.14 USD

Of course, the direct conversion doesn’t really account for how far money goes in Thailand.  100 baht would buy the following in the country’s priciest city:

4 X stir-fried pork and holy basil from the local street stall

10 X fresh-squeezed orange juice with this season’s amazing fruit

10 X styrofoam containers of coconut puddings

1 kilo of mangosteens

1 X t-shirt at Chatuchak

1 X a cab ride to most places in Bangkok

2.5 X the fare for the longest ride on the Skytrain

Needless to say, things will be a bit different when I visit New York.  I can barely think of places that serve a filling, delicious $1 meal (still more than a 25 baht meal).  Dumpling House sells 4/$1 (but they used to sell 5/$1 when the place was smaller and they tasted better).  Grey’s Papaya hot dogs are $1.25.  Bahn mi in Sunset Park is $2.50.  Tacos at Tacos Matamoros are about $2.50.  A slice of DiFara’s pizza is $4.  And Chinatown’s cheap, but delicious hand-pulled noodles are at least $5/bowl. If I’m remembering all of this correctly, of course.  In any case, cheap eats are in the eye of the culture, which, for me, will be shifting quite shortly.