The £25 Budget: Bangkok & North Thailand

Hello and welcome to the first in a series of budgeting blogs where I break down how I am spending, what I am getting for that money. Hopefully, if anyone out there is planning to travel in some of the regions I’m visiting, it may be of help to see a realistic budget breakdown from someone who does street food but also Starbucks.

I am currently travelling with a daily budget of just over £25 ($40).

Country: Thailand (Bangkok & the North)

Cities visited: Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Chiang Mai, Pai

Number of days: 15 (05.05.15 - 19.05.15)

Total Expenditure: £371.61 (c.19,200B)

Average daily expenditure: £24.77 (c.1280B)

These last fifteen days in Bangkok and the north of Thailand have been amazing. I have explored one of the most exciting and crazy metropolises in the world; I have explored ancient ruins and royal palaces; I have braved renting a moped and rambled around the Thai countryside; and I have seen more markets and eaten more Pad Thai than I can count. It has been an amazing two weeks, and it is even more amazing that I have managed to spend less than £25 per day.

I've been cycling in Bangkok

I've been cycling in Ayutthaya.

I've been motorcycling in Pai.

And I did some sunbathing in Chiang Mai.

While I’ve been keeping track of my expenses, I’ve been tagging my expenses into different categories, so both you and I can understand better how far money goes in each of the places I’ve been travelling.

Categories:

Accomodation: £39.67

I really tried to keep my accomodation expenses down. I stayed outside of the expensive tourist ghetto Khao San Rd in Bangkok, used Couchsurfing for one night in Bangkok, and caught a sleeper train in Ayutthaya to keep my costs down (which is included in Transport). The end result was an average of £3.60 per night, or 186B

Alcohol: £64.16

I didn’t try too hard here. In addition to the odd beer with lunch, this money includes six decent nights out, which averaged at around £10 per night. Again, I really wasn’t trying to avoid spending here, and drank in the popular tourist bars for the most part.

Attraction: £15.70

This covers any museums or sites or temples that charge entrance fees or camera fees. This figure is very inflated because of entry fees to the Royal Palace and Wat Pho in Bangkok, which combined cost £11.94. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss them, but they could be more reasonably priced.

Entertainment: £17.73

This covers massages and similar unnecessary extras. My average massage cost in Thailand was 175B, which is £3.39 (per hour).

Equipment: £22.17

Toiletries, replacing broken or damaged equipment and clothes. It also includes the occasional souvenir vest, as I argue I am using it by wearing it so it’s an essential.

Excursion: £11.82

This covers organised trips and tours, which I try to avoid as much as possible. In fact this tag had only one entry, for my trip to Lod Cave in Pai. Expensive, but worth it.

Fees: £16.89

This covers unavoidable visa and bank fees. As there is no visa cost for Thailand, this amount is just what Thailand and my UK bank charged me to access the money I spent on this trip. Sadly this is still the cheapest way to access money, as I at least using a debit card get decent exchange rates.

Food and Drink: £100.01

Perhaps I had too many Starbucks or trips to western restaurants with AC, but this is by far my largest expense, even though I separate water into a category below. I do eat a lot of street food, and finding Pad Thai for 15B was a personal best, but I do also eat a lot, and enjoy Western breakfasts and expensive sushi. Average daily cost for food and drink (excl. alcohol and water) was £6.67 (343B)

Loss: £1.58

A necessary category for someone as absent-minded as I am. But thankfully so far all I have realised I have lost is around 150B from a trouser pocket.

Mobile: £10.93

I decided that this time, whilst travelling, I would get a local SIM, and utilise a data package. For my money, I got 4.5GB of data to use over 30day. I ran out of data the night before I left Thailand, so it was spot on for me.

...I am not including the fact that I am also currently paying for my data plan back in the UK….

Transport: £61.06

Thailand really is a cheap place to navigate. Bangkok has ferries that cost pennies, and an efficient metro network, and outside of the capital, transport costs for tuk-tuks and buses plummet. This amount includes a sleeper train for around £15, and the bus to the Laotian border for £6. Even including these in the average, I spent only £4.07 per day on transport. This could have been even less if I had the energy to barter more effective with greedy tuk-tuk drivers. In Bangkok, just use the taxis! They have AC and are cheaper!

Water: £9.91

I separated this from F&D just out of curiosity, and it is surprising how quickly water mounts up when you are buying 1 or 2 big bottles per day. Daily average cost = £0.66. This would have been more without most of my hostels offering free tea and coffee, and without my frequent fruit shakes bought on the street. Mmmm...mango!

So overall my first part of my travels in Thailand have been fairly cost effective and affordable. I realise that my expenses will not be the same as everyone. Most people probably don’t eat as much as I do, and people with less time will undoubtedly move around more and use more organised tours, driving the costs up. But if you’re travelling slowly, £25/$40 per day is more than ample for Thailand.

DSP

Pai Day 2: Feeling rebellious on two wheels.

Oh dear, my plans to get up early and explore in the cool morning did not happen.

Woke up at 9.30.

My first aim was to seek out some Anglo-breakfast. My Eggs and Beans on Toast was good, except for the lettuce. Some Thai additions to Western food mystify me.

Now it was time to rent a moped, but I’d managed to leave my passport in my locker so I had a very disgruntled and hot stomp across town to fetch it. I used my frustration to justify an iced mocha on the way back. Cheeky coffee, check.

Now back to the renting of the moped.

If someone told me when I was in my teenage years that I would one day even consider riding a moped, I would have laughed at them. I was vehemently against them; they were dangerous, looked precarious, and the idea of riding one scared me.

However, a lot has changed in the last few years. I can ride a bike on the streets of busy Oxford, and learnt to drive a car last month back in the UK. A moped is a combination of the two skills. Learning is further made easy by the sleepy roads and the large number of other inexperienced drivers on the road. Traffic knows to give farang on two wheel a wide berth, which was initially very much appreciated.

This little green babe had the honour of taking my moped virginity.

My first attempt was not the best; I almost smashed into the front of a minibus parking up in front of me. The motorbike mechanic quickly took the bike off me, and moved it (and me) away from any more obstacles.

Mostly obstacle free at least. I saw the Chinese tourists less as obstacles than targets ;)

On my second attempt, I managed to stay upright and moving, albeit with a lot of revving as I kept releasing too much of the throttle.

My first left hand turn was very wide, very slow, and I had one foot on the floor.

But like anything, practise makes perfect, and I gradually picked up speed and confidence as I rushed through the beautiful countryside.

Just the roads around Pai were beautiful

Out of town, I encountered these chaps.

I feel the rainbow dragon is Asia's version of the unicorn.

I presume they were decorating the walkway to a nearby wat but I couldn’t see it anywhere nearby and these guys were just too interesting not to photograph.

This could almost be a painting :)

Soon I had reached the first destination I’d marked on my map; Pam Bok Waterfall.

It was really shady and beautiful, nestled in a small canyon dripping with foliage...and water. Everything was damp there, and I swiftly regretted having my laptop on my back. But I had no locker yet at my new hostel, so I had little choice but to lug it around. I am glad for the water resistant case I had bought for it in Bangkok; less for the water falling nearby but for the water soaking through my T-Shirt and backpack.

The very dry, but very beautiful Pam Bok.

I am all about the lens flare - helps to obscure my ugly mug.

It was a pretty sweet waterfall, and I even found somewhere to securely wedge the Chromebook so I could go for a cooling paddle.

Heading on, I managed a few more driving mishaps; my right hand turn back onto the main road was less of a smooth curve, more of a lurch forward across the road, swiftly followed by a tight swerve right to avoid an elderly gentleman on a moped even more decrepit than mine. I subsequently also nearly crashed into a Thai family in a three-wheeler. They found it amusing, probably mostly as I went zig-zaging past them shouting Kab Khun Kraaaap, Thai for ‘Thank you’, as I don’t know Thai for ‘Sorry, I can’t drive!’.

Next was a stop at Love Strawberry Pai. I didn’t know what was there, only that it was included on all the maps and sightseeing itineraries. So I sheeped, I followed the herd, and stopped at what turned out to be a strawberry-themed roadside shop. However, I enjoyed the strawberry theme, and their bottles of pasteurised strawberry juice tasted like liquid home-made strawberry jam.

Love at first Pai-ght.

It may just be my new favourite drink!

After that delicious stop-off, it was off to Pai Canyon. I would not have used the word canyon; it would more accurately be described as a red-dirt, eroding hill. But it produced some pretty pictures once I’d hiked up to it, and the narrowest parts of the ridge were slightly terrifying in places, just because they’d eroded to such a narrow isthmus.

The selfie doesn't give justice to just how narrow that ridge was.

Next up on my route was the Memorial Bridge, which apparently dates to World War II. I had seen some amazing photos of this elegant, wrought-iron bridge, but I couldn’t seem to find the right angle, or the right light. I am quite content to partly blame the approaching thunderstorm for modifying the natural light.

Yeah, that sounds fairly convincing.

Not my best photo...

The aforementioned gathering storm clouds compelled me to start heading back into Pai town, and on my way I spotted a few incongruous shapes up ahead.

Elephants!

Elephants...chained up....on concrete....yay!

There was a stall next to them where you could buy a bunch of bananas for 20B (£0.40) to feed the elephants. I couldn’t resist, and apparently neither could she (the elephant).

Smiling in my ignorance.

I really enjoyed spending 10 minutes feeding and watching these magnificent animals up close. However, I do realise there are ethical issues here, as visible in some of the photographs is the chain that is effectively imprisoning these animals, forcing them to live in a wooden hut with a hard concrete floor, and requiring them to rely on tourists handing them bananas to live. It is not a decent life for an elephant. I must confess that if I had spotted the chains before I stopped, I would not have stopped there at all. But I did, and regardless of my concerns, I did really enjoy spending some time with them.

Seeing them however made me really glad that, two days previous, I was unable to get onto one of the elephant riding trips ran by Thom’s Elephant Camp. I had read good things about the company, and really liked the idea of observing, riding and playing with their elephants. However, just down the road from these particular elephants were those of Thom’s camp; they lived in identical circumstances. Concrete compounds set up by the main road to tempt passing tourists to help fund their food bill. I am very glad I did not spend c.1500B (£30) encouraging Thom&co. to continue exploiting elephants, and spent my day instead exploring Pai's surroundings.

Beautiful Pai!

Such a nice place just to explore independently.

At times, misfortune can be a blessing.

Disregarding my pachydermic regrets, I continue scooting through the woods, fields and settlements surrounding Pai until I found myself speeding over a bridge and into Pai proper. Laundry collected, and shampoo bought, I spent the remainder of the afternoon editing photos and napping with a beer at my new hostel I had moved to that morning; the Purple Monkey. It’s a fairly laid-back place, complete with effortlessly chill tunes, a decent bar propped up and supported, both metaphorically and financially, by a drunken crew of expats, and a pack of friendly if independently-minded dogs. It would not have been out of place on a tropical beach.

The best hostel so far!

Eventually, I got off my arse, and joined in with a group of travellers drinking roselle...’wine’. I’m unsure what a roselle is, and the best description of the roselle alcohol was sangria if it were made by a local Chinese takeaway. It’s an odd comparison I grant you, but there was mutual agreement by those present that it fit the bill nicely.

It was about this time when I was introduced by a couple of Californian dudes to a girl who also came from Oxford. I was mildly interested, if only so we could bond over a mutual dislike of Oxford’s taxi drivers, or some such British banter. It turns that Olivia didn’t come from Oxford, but from Banbury, and only lives around a mile away on a neighbouring state.

It really is a small world when you can meet someone from your same small English town 6000 miles away in a Thai mountain town.

By this time, it sounds as if I were say a fair way into a drunken evening. Well, yes, I was fairly drunk. But it was only 7pm. The torrential rain and free Chinese-sangria had rather accelerated our evening, and most of us hadn’t even eaten yet. A bunch of us decided to rectify this, and headed into town to shelter under parasols and drool over streetfood. I decided on a Cheese’n’Beans jacket potato, and then some fried chicken strips. It was all very Thai of course.

Refuelled, we went to the hostel for skishots (shot glasses stuck onto a ski, meaning everyone has to drink at once with some accuracy or have their poison of choice thrown down their tops) and more beer. Then, in my admittedly-tipsy state, I decided to meet up with some Brits I’d met in Chiang Mai who were now in Pai celebrating a birthday.

They were staying in a different hostel around two miles away.

I had my moped parked outside the hostel.

Yes, I admit I drove my moped in the dark, over the alcohol limit, without a helmet. It is not one of my proudest moments, but it was exhilirating, even at the 20km I trundled along at, (just to be safe).

I may be a rebel these days, but I am still a sensible rebel.

This began the start of a night where I acted as everyone’s taxi. First I ferried a drunk Bristolian into town to meet some girls. He did not look pleased when I told him I’d only learnt to drive a moped that night….after I’d already given him a lift. Then I found two British girls I knew arguing on the street who made me give them a lift to 7/11 for booze, and then upon bumping into people from my original hostel, lead a convoy of drunken Canadians, still with the two Brits wedged on my seat, to the only bar left open in town.

Cue more drinking, dancing, and more drunken arguments from the two Brits.

The bar closed at one in the morning, and while I believe there was an after-after-party, I was exhausted, so I drove home and went to sleep in my very cosy twenty-four person dorm.

My treehouse dorm, which was actually nice, if hot, to sleep in.

Goodnight!

DSP

Pai Day 1: I LOVE PAI

Pai was a slightly unexpected highlight of my travels in northern Thailand. A small, remote mountain town, famous for hippies, local artists and beautiful countryside accessible by numerous motorbikes.

Really doesn’t sound like me, does it?

But Pai is much more than mushroom shakes and wannabe-hipsters with unwashed dreadlocks and diminutive top-knots. The atmosphere is by far the most relaxed I’ve encountered in Thailand, and it has a distinctively local feel, despite ouvertly being a tourist town(/trap, depending on your opinion of the road to the town). The small town of c.10000 have managed to attract and retain the tourists whilst retaining some of what attracted the initial unwashed pioneers: the friendly vibe, cool(er) temperatures, and a  stunning countryside.

Adorable little mountain town...with drugs and motorbikes.

Pai situation contributes much to its charm, as it is nestled in its own valley 120km from Chiang Mai, and is cut off from the world except for a handful of access roads, which results in much less traffic and a real feeling of getting away from real life. The scale of the surrounding valley results in much of Pai’s natural attractions being only a short moped ride through paddy fields, primary forest, and tidy local villages.

It is just a sweet, little town that I loved as soon as I arrived.

Walking Street at night in Pai.

So many rivers, so many arty reflection pictures.

Misty mornings over mountains.

However, whilst the town was special, my hostel was somewhat less special. I had booked in for two days at Happy House Pai, and it just wasn’t for me. The owner was really friendly and helpful; the hostel was welcoming and comfortable; and the dorm was pretty alright. However, the vibe just wasn’t for me. The common area was full of around a dozen Canadian guys in their late-20s or older, who spent every evening watching hockey re-runs on a projector. I was the only European in the hostel, and it was telling in my lack of passion for men-almost-dancing-on-ice. The situation certainly wasn’t improved by being unable to socialise in my hostel due to one girl with food poisoning who insisted on the lights being kept off, and the noise being kept down.

Nice hostel, but not for me.

But I still needed to find some people with which to get drunk enjoy Pai, so I decided to book onto a tour on my first full day to one of the more remote natural attractions in the region; Lod Cave.

The cave turned out to be spectacular, but my attempts to find friends were less successful. There were six people on the tour; myself, and a group of five friends from Bristol. They were friendly enough, and talked to me, but it was painfully obvious they would have preferred that I weren’t there.

But I quickly gave up on them too, and had a good time nevertheless at the caves. The trips there and back were in a decent 4WD vehicle, and there was trashy pop songs playing from the driver’s iPod, so I was content.

Unsure what this was advertising - tribal village, sex show, toilets?

From the outside, the cave isn’t massively impressive, but it’s sheer scale becomes apparent as you approach it.

Rather unprepossessing from a distance.

The cave is accessed by small hand-made bamboo rafts that float on the shallow river that flows through the cave. Entering the cave on these tiny craft, the cavern illuminated solely by the lanterns held by the guides, was incredibly atmospheric, and gave me a brief Indiana Jones moment.

Our last sight of daylight for several hours.

This little lantern lit our way....when the guide was not obscuring it...

Within the pitch black cave, there were several groups of tourists being led by local lantern guides around the cave’s many chambers. Our guide showed us huge stalactites plunging down from the murky cave ceiling, and their sister stalacmites reaching up from the cave floor to reach them. We were led past intricate, sparkling rock formations, and waterfalls cascades of rock left by now-dried up rivers. There were ancient cave paintings, and mysterious, prehistoric ancient stone coffins left by an unknown people.

Our guide also pointed out multiple ‘penis’ rocks.

There’s no accounting for good taste.

Of course, I attempted to photograph all these wonders within this dark, underground chasm...but my phone camera is not all that successful in poor light, and the flash would have disturbed the bats and birds roosting above our heads.

Rock fountain - when you stand in front of it, it sparkles and shimmers as water runs over it.

Stalactites with intricate folds and patterns.

Despite the incredible, dimly-lit, natural wonders surrounding me, of much more immediate interest to me was the rickety narrow wooden staircases that led to the higher reaches of the cave. Illuminated by only a candle, they were spooky, slightly terrifying, and a brilliant photo opportunity.

Spelunking in the dark, without even a helmet or torch. Lod cave is hardcore ;)

Hard to see I admit, but that is a staircase leading up into a cavern near the roof.

What the photos here cannot capture is the smell and sound and humidity of the cave. They were cool, but incredibly humid and dank, and the sweat just ran off your face and body onto the cave floor, never evaporating. The caverns were filled with unseen insects, squeaking bats, and chirping swiftlets, which combined in an overwhelming cacophony of echoing, chaotic noise that made it hard to hear the guide at times. And of course, these large numbers of animals made large amounts of droppings, and the cave smelt. It smelt bad. There were sections nears the openings where you could barely breathe because of all the...guano produced by the swiftlets.

The cave was undoubtedly fun, but had a unnerving effect on the senses. Your eyes were starved of information, groping in the dark to make out the next overhang or swooping pair of wings. Meanwhile your senses of smell and hearing were overwhelmed with the sheer concentration of noise and...well...shit.

It wasn’t an entirely fun experience, so I was glad when we could finally begin the see the light at the end of the tunnel.

There's a light on the horizon

We're getting closer now.

Closer....

Out! And being surrounded by swooping swiftlets was an added bonus.

Liberated from the humid, death-cave, we got back into our blissful AC jeep, and headed back to town, via a local waterfall.

It was dry season, so there really wasn’t a lot of water, but it was amusing to slide down the smooth rocks into the rock pools.

There was more people than water at these falls. And the water dribbled rather than fell...

After a day of caving and waterfall climbing, I was fairly wiped, so I spent my late afternoon wandering around town, soaking up the chill atmosphere, and sampling the iced coffees of different cafes. Gathering stormclouds and a strengthening winds persuaded me to slink back to my hostel to avoid an impromptu (but very needed) outdoor shower, and I spent the evening watching repeats of ‘Last Man on Earth’ on the hostel projector, and eating burgers with mad Canadians.

It was a good day in an awesome town.

Tomorrow I do some independent exploring of Pai, with this awesome green babe.

My green heroine.

DSP