We have kept a detailed daily expense book throughout our trip. So we know how much a Thai tea cost us in Chiang Mai and what we owed at a side of the road toilet stop in China.
If you have more specific financial questions about this trip, feel free to message us. Otherwise here we will give some helpful cost parameters for each country we visited in Asia. We will also give the date we were there, which is important to know when visiting Asia: one year can make a big difference in what prices can be for foreigners. That can be annoying when the most recent guidebook is two or three years out of date. Also these numbers will be only food and accommodation costs. These costs could be much smaller if you where on a shoe string or much more, depending on your own style of travel. We ate good food, were always full and always (except for one night) had bright, clean and private rooms full of natural light. Most of the time we even had our own attached bathroom.
As for transportation, in each of the following countries public transportation was uniformly inexpensive. Whether you are taking a cross town bus or travelling twelve hours on bus or train, it rarely cost us more than $4 or $5 for the both of us. The exception to this is China, but we made a note of that below.
Prices are in CAD and are for the two of us together. Here's our trip, anyway.
Singapore (New Year's-January 2011)
High and Low price range for rooms: $58 (New Year's Eve...everything is expensive)
Average daily food costs for us: $4
Notes: Singapore food is so tasty, varied and cheap! Also, we were only here for three nights.
Malaysia (January 2011)
Most usual room price for us: $6 to $8
High and Low price range for rooms: $6 to $16
Average daily food costs for us: $10 to $20
Notes: Search out Malaysian Roti...you will NOT be sorry you did. We spend a lot on food...it is so delicious! We were only on Peninsular Malaysia.
Thailand (January, February 2011)
Most usual room price for us: $9 to $12
High and Low price range for rooms: $6 to $16
Average daily food costs for us: $10 to $16
Notes: The rooms and food on the islands are much more expensive than in mainland Thailand.
Lao (February, March 2011)
Most usual room price for us: $7 to $10
High and Low price range for rooms: $6 to $12
Average daily food costs for us: $10 to $12
Notes: If you are Canadian your Lao visa will cost more money than if you were a citizen of any other country in the entire world.
Cambodia (March, April 2011)
Most usual room price for us: $10
High and Low price range for rooms: $9 to $16
Average daily food costs for us: $15 to $20
Tuk tuks around the Angkor temples cost between $6 and $10 for the day. To go to the furthest temples it cost us $20 to $25 for the day.
Massages cost about $1 for 20 minutes or $2 to $3 for one hour. We knew these charges very well.
Notes: These numbers only represent Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. Cambodian food is really tasty. Tourists only use USD in Cambodia, not the local currency. Even the ATMs dispense USD. Weird, isn't it?
Vietnam (April, May 2011)
Most usual room price for us: $7 to $10
High and Low price range for rooms: $7 to $20
Average daily food cost for us: $10 to $15
Cost of bus/boat (including food and entrance tickets) to Cat Ba Island in Halong Bay, return: $48 ($24 pp)
China (May, June, July 2011)
Most usual room price for us: $8 to $11
High and Low price range for rooms: $7 to $20
Average daily food cost for us: $10 to $20
Notes: Don't fret: if you are vegetarian you can eat well in China. You will just need some patience. Except for Xi'an, Chengdu and Chongqing we were only in small town, rural China. By a large margin, these large cities were much more expensive for food and accommodation. Transportation was much more expensive throughout China than in SE Asia, BUT was of a higher quality than in those other countries. That isn't to say, however, that the emissions were any better...China might be single-handedly killing the world's environment. Also admission prices in China are quite dear. If you really get angry being around second hand smoke, you will be angry in China. Smoking in restaurants, hotels and even buses is pretty overwhelming and pretty gross.
Nepal (July, August, September and October 2011)
In the Cities:
Most usual room prices for us: $6 (in July and August) and $6 to $15 (Sept and Oct)
High and Low price range for rooms: Same
Average daily food costs for us: $10 to $15
On the Trek:
Most usual room prices for us: usually free, if we ate at the guesthouse (shows how ridiculously overpriced the food is!)
High and Low price range for rooms: Free to $5
Average daily food costs for us: $10 to $35 (this is mostly just for rice, oatmeal and tea)
Notes: We only ate two meals per day and had some snacks to keep up our energy levels in the afternoon.
India (August, September 2011)
Most usual room price for us: $8 to $9
High and Low price range for rooms: $4 to $10
Average daily food costs for us: $4 to $10 (Yes, this is for two people)
Two hour Yoga class in Rishikesh: $3
Notes: Kristen had a song in India that went like this: Four chai for fifty cents! Repeat this over and over and over and over again and then you too can sing the song!
Sri Lanka (October, November 2011)
Most usual room price for us: $13 to $15
High and Low price range for rooms: $11 to $20
Average daily food costs for us: $9
Notes: The emissions from vehicles in Lanka could rival those found in China.
That's it for our Asian Leg. We hope this helps and happy trails!
If you have more specific financial questions about this trip, feel free to message us. Otherwise here we will give some helpful cost parameters for each country we visited in Asia. We will also give the date we were there, which is important to know when visiting Asia: one year can make a big difference in what prices can be for foreigners. That can be annoying when the most recent guidebook is two or three years out of date. Also these numbers will be only food and accommodation costs. These costs could be much smaller if you where on a shoe string or much more, depending on your own style of travel. We ate good food, were always full and always (except for one night) had bright, clean and private rooms full of natural light. Most of the time we even had our own attached bathroom.
As for transportation, in each of the following countries public transportation was uniformly inexpensive. Whether you are taking a cross town bus or travelling twelve hours on bus or train, it rarely cost us more than $4 or $5 for the both of us. The exception to this is China, but we made a note of that below.
Prices are in CAD and are for the two of us together. Here's our trip, anyway.
Singapore (New Year's-January 2011)
High and Low price range for rooms: $58 (New Year's Eve...everything is expensive)
Average daily food costs for us: $4
Notes: Singapore food is so tasty, varied and cheap! Also, we were only here for three nights.
Malaysia (January 2011)
Most usual room price for us: $6 to $8
High and Low price range for rooms: $6 to $16
Average daily food costs for us: $10 to $20
Notes: Search out Malaysian Roti...you will NOT be sorry you did. We spend a lot on food...it is so delicious! We were only on Peninsular Malaysia.
Thailand (January, February 2011)
Most usual room price for us: $9 to $12
High and Low price range for rooms: $6 to $16
Average daily food costs for us: $10 to $16
Notes: The rooms and food on the islands are much more expensive than in mainland Thailand.
Lao (February, March 2011)
Most usual room price for us: $7 to $10
High and Low price range for rooms: $6 to $12
Average daily food costs for us: $10 to $12
Notes: If you are Canadian your Lao visa will cost more money than if you were a citizen of any other country in the entire world.
Cambodia (March, April 2011)
Most usual room price for us: $10
High and Low price range for rooms: $9 to $16
Average daily food costs for us: $15 to $20
Tuk tuks around the Angkor temples cost between $6 and $10 for the day. To go to the furthest temples it cost us $20 to $25 for the day.
Massages cost about $1 for 20 minutes or $2 to $3 for one hour. We knew these charges very well.
Notes: These numbers only represent Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. Cambodian food is really tasty. Tourists only use USD in Cambodia, not the local currency. Even the ATMs dispense USD. Weird, isn't it?
Vietnam (April, May 2011)
Most usual room price for us: $7 to $10
High and Low price range for rooms: $7 to $20
Average daily food cost for us: $10 to $15
Cost of bus/boat (including food and entrance tickets) to Cat Ba Island in Halong Bay, return: $48 ($24 pp)
China (May, June, July 2011)
Most usual room price for us: $8 to $11
High and Low price range for rooms: $7 to $20
Average daily food cost for us: $10 to $20
Notes: Don't fret: if you are vegetarian you can eat well in China. You will just need some patience. Except for Xi'an, Chengdu and Chongqing we were only in small town, rural China. By a large margin, these large cities were much more expensive for food and accommodation. Transportation was much more expensive throughout China than in SE Asia, BUT was of a higher quality than in those other countries. That isn't to say, however, that the emissions were any better...China might be single-handedly killing the world's environment. Also admission prices in China are quite dear. If you really get angry being around second hand smoke, you will be angry in China. Smoking in restaurants, hotels and even buses is pretty overwhelming and pretty gross.
Nepal (July, August, September and October 2011)
In the Cities:
Most usual room prices for us: $6 (in July and August) and $6 to $15 (Sept and Oct)
High and Low price range for rooms: Same
Average daily food costs for us: $10 to $15
On the Trek:
Most usual room prices for us: usually free, if we ate at the guesthouse (shows how ridiculously overpriced the food is!)
High and Low price range for rooms: Free to $5
Average daily food costs for us: $10 to $35 (this is mostly just for rice, oatmeal and tea)
Notes: We only ate two meals per day and had some snacks to keep up our energy levels in the afternoon.
India (August, September 2011)
Most usual room price for us: $8 to $9
High and Low price range for rooms: $4 to $10
Average daily food costs for us: $4 to $10 (Yes, this is for two people)
Two hour Yoga class in Rishikesh: $3
Notes: Kristen had a song in India that went like this: Four chai for fifty cents! Repeat this over and over and over and over again and then you too can sing the song!
Sri Lanka (October, November 2011)
Most usual room price for us: $13 to $15
High and Low price range for rooms: $11 to $20
Average daily food costs for us: $9
Notes: The emissions from vehicles in Lanka could rival those found in China.
That's it for our Asian Leg. We hope this helps and happy trails!
mend). Almost a year of travel, the majority of it in Asia, and we figured we were safe. We had stomachs of steel. We figured wrong. It was myself (Kristen) that was the reason for the hospital rendezvous. This was surprising in its own, seeing as though we had long considered my stomach to be the stronger of the two. I was actually quite proud of my belly, showing no reaction over the last eleven months on the nights when poor Jonathan's little gut was rather violently disagreeing with our choice of dinner. It was waiting for its 'big' debut, I suppose.
vague. 'You feel awful,' they might as well have written in the Health section of our guidebook.
could make a claim when we got home. We didn't know how much anything at the hospital was going to cost, and wanted to be sure we would be reimbursed, especially if it got pricey. Who knew, maybe even the hospital had 'tourist prices.' I had literally just, the other day, been thinking how lucky we were to have been traveling for so long and not had to go to a hospital. What a jinx. Our travel insurance is through Travel Cuts. When Jonathan got back to the room after phoning the insurance agent, he told me that he was incredibly impressed by the our plan's coverage (which we had partially forgot about) and the insurance agent on the phone, and that it was the best phone service he had ever received! He even talked to a real person after only three rings! That makes a difference to me. Anyways, everything was covered, we were set to go to the hospital and a taxi was on its way. Perfect.
the diarrhea...and, for the record they shouldn't be able to say that it is 'flavoured' anything other than gross. Ew! Isn't this what Gatorade is for? Electrolytes and all that jazz? Seriously, I want to know. Why can you buy morphine here and not Gatorade?!