This becomes crystal clear to even the most casual observer who wanders in to one of the country’s thousands of massage studios, where, for a whopping $5, a local will put his/her heart and soul into rubbing your feet for an hour.

This isn’t something that most people in developed countries would do at any price. And yet, here in Thailand, there is no shortage of folks happy and willing to make those knots go away for the price of a Frappuccino.

Another area where this price/quality anomaly is apparent is in healthcare. Private medical and dental care in Thailand is top notch… in many cases (as I will explore below) far superior to what you might receive back home. Yet it costs a fraction as much.

It’s not just in Thailand; several countries across Asia– South Korea, India, Singapore, and even mainland China– have emerged as the top places in the world to seek treatment. The reasoning is quite simple.