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Hey everyone that added some advice I just want to say thank you and I appreciate it. It helps a lot in me doing my research and being sure what I would need and how much I would need. Thanks.

This is so true. It's the little stuff that will chip away at your budget really quickly. 20 baht here and 20 baht there doesn't seem like much, but it adds up really quickly. Supplements are another hidden expense to consider. Protien powder, BCAAs, vitamins, etc. cost an arm and a leg in Thailand. I'm not big on supplements, but some folks take them religiously so it is something to factor in while making your budget. A 5lb tub of quality protien will cost around 2,900 baht. That's about a one month supply if you are drinking a shake a day.

For long term? Also factor in hospital money. You'll for sure get sick or injured, or both. Also bring a kilo of painkillers with you to save money on that side of things once there. Another thing that's worth doing is make up your own med kit. Gauze, pads, cotton balls, saline solution, voltaren, iodine, betadine, whatever you want.

That whole post was a killer post Tyler.

Cost of living and training are HIGHLY variable. Thailand is a big country and different camps have different priorities (some are purely commercial, others are a little more traditional). Just living in different cities is going to skew your budget in large directions. I tell people that if you can't afford $1,200-$1,400 USD a month without including your airfare then don't bother to come long term. You can absolutely get by on less money, but life happens so it is better to be prepared. Here's what I would suggest: Figure out your exact time available to be in Thailand (i.e. 3 months/6 months/etc.), then look at the visa information available for South Africa and figure out which visa will work for you or if you will need to modify your trip time to match up with your visa (you might be able to afford a year here but your visa may only allow 3 months). Once you know how long you can legally stay in Thailand, figure out which area you would like to be in or if you would like to hop around. If you are going to be in Chiang Mai, Phuket, or Isaan I would recommend living at the camp just to make things easy for yourself though this will likely be more expensive than finding housing yourself. If you are going to be in Bangkok then either stay at the camp or find housing nearby using renthub, facebook, craigslist, etc. Food costs are going to vary depending if you eat street food, cook at home, or go to restaurants. Restaurants are typically about 3-4 times the price of street food in Bangkok and will likely be higher if you are in a touristy area like Phuket. That may be fine for a short term stay but will add up over time. You may be able to cook at home if you have a kitchen but I wouldn't count on that. Here's my minimum cost guess if you are going to be in BKK (I do not recommend this, but will lay it out as a starting point just for reference): Rent - 5,500 baht per month (you will also need 2 months deposit, 11,000 baht which you will likely never see again) Electricity (no aircon) - 1,300 baht per month + 700 baht to buy a fan Water - 300 baht per month Food (eating only 40 baht noodles, assuming you find a noodle cart nearby) - 120 baht per day x 31 days = 3,720 baht per month Drinking water (from street dispensers which require your own bottles) - 14 baht x 4 bottles for initial cost, then 4 baht a day to refill = 180 baht Transportation - 80 baht roundtrip motorbike ride to top of the street for food x 31 days = 2,480 baht (this is a very low estimate, I would honestly account for 4,000 at a bare minimum) Phone service - 499 baht a month (10gb data) Training cost - 7,000 baht a month Visa extension - 1,900 baht + 600 baht round trip taxi to immigration (assuming you don't need to have passport photos taken) Total estimate - 23,479 baht per month or $765 not including initial "start up" costs for your deposit, buying a fan, etc. Again, this is MINIMUM cost, I cannot stress that enough. I would not consider this a safe budget because things out of your control WILL come up (your gear might break/go missing, you'll get ripped off by a taxi driver, you can't find food for 40 baht, immigration will want some additional paperwork which means an extra trip, etc.) not to mention you'll be bored out of your mind after a month. Keep in mind that training cost is going to be a big part of this as well since most gyms charge 15,000-25,000 for a month of training. I have lived off 28,000 baht a month for about a year and I was getting down to less than 600 baht by the end of the month almost every time. That was living at the gym and never really going out anywhere. I currently live off approximately 40,000 baht a month and its fairly tight though comfortable (costs have gone up in Bangkok and I live in a more affluent area now). I have some additional emergency reserve and budget 5k a month for unexpected costs which I always always run through in some way or another. I could bring that cost down with some better financial tracking or if I lived in a different area, but I would consider this to be near the minimum if you are going to be training daily, taking care of your body properly as an athlete, and don't want to survive off rice and water. I hope this helps

Perhaps the most distinguishing factor of the Muay Thai Roundtable forum is the idea that there will be a separate forum for women only. In the world at large there are not many digital spaces that belong solely to women, and this is even less the case in the world of the fighting arts. Our aim is to create just such a space, where women can come and discuss topics and ask questions with other women with a degree of privacy, away from the shyness, embarrassment, or being drowned out by male-dominated spaces. There's a lot of antagonism and abuse that comes about simply through the veil of antipathy that online anonymity offers. Periodically, Emma and I will receive private messages from women who, quite frankly, just want to ask the advice or experiences of another woman and have to do so quietly and privately because the internet world is just too big and loud and abusive to try these simple questions out in public forums. Asking about cutting weight, training or fighting during your period, or about being hit on at your gym in a public forum results in dozens of cheeky, joking, critical and downright nasty comments with maybe, maybe, a serious response buried in there; and sometimes not even one serious answer. This space is for women to have a voice without all the clutter. How we are going secure a place for women? So how are we going to do it? Well, we're going to do it ourselves, by hand, and we're going to achieve it by wanting it. This takes time and effort, and both Emma and I train/work full time in addition to blogging; but we believe it is worth it. Most of the women initially in this section will come from people Emma and I know personally. The Muay Thai community is small, and these forums really expect to be a small space where conversation can be carried on - both in the General area and the area only for women - so early confirmations should happen within a day of signing up. But no doubt as word spreads there will be women who apply for membership who we do not personally know. If we don't know who you are it isn't a problem at all, in fact we are very glad to have you and you are very welcome to the community, but verification may take some extra effort on both our parts. A Facebook page's history will aid in any confirmation, perhaps followed by email conversation, or the request of a 3rd person reference will suffice, but a quick Skype call will likely be the best confirmation that a new user's identity is female. It's something we'll have to play by ear as it isn't something commonly done. We're sorry for any discomfort or inconvenience caused by this extra layer of confirmation for some, and it certainly isn't fool-proof, but it's what it takes to at least create the space itself, the chance for female athlete and student conversations that don't exist elsewhere. It should be said that if you feel that a member in the women only area has been wrongly allowed access, please do contact a moderator, though we doubt this will be a concern. Because of the rarity of this kind of space we really ask that you keep the women's only section only between women. Know of course when posting that in the digital world anything can be screen captured from within the group, so nothing is 100% secure, but this will be a small space that belongs to us and if we commit to dealing with one another with respect and patience, this community should be very valuable. In the possibilities of this board we also have the capability of creating forums and topics that are visible to only a select number of trusted people. I can't imagine that this is necessary, but it is within the options we can choose for ourselves if a sensitive subject comes up that requires even further safeguards in order to keep fostered conversation going. So while there may be a few extra steps to making a women only digital space, we thank you in advance for your patience in co-creating this. As it is so new we really don't know where it is going, whether it will be big or small - in the end it doesn't matter. This section will be by women for women and as long as it's respectful it will be a success. Hopefully it will become something that will help others and change the way we can talk about things.