INTERESTLY... and, somewhat disappointing I fear to this individual is the FACT that I live in East TN for $2,500/month as well and while I am not living in a beach town, I am living 30 minutes away from a University Hospital...
Of course, I have to pay IRS taxes and I am sure this person does not... however, I would think the efficacy of THAILAND is less than the efficacy of East TN... but, I could be wrong.
After traveling throughout Europe and seeing how those people live and what they have available to them, I cannot imagine that I would ever want to live outside the USA no matter how CHEAPLY living there can be...