How much money for one year in Asia???

Funny thing is, I am not a "low budget traveller" at all, and in fact spend
most of my money on travel. I just don't believe in spending money on things
that are not worth it to me. I have eaten in many of Bangkok's "middle
class" restaurants, the ones that Thais go to (or used to before about
1998...), as well as a few of the really upscale ones, yet I still prefer
the food found on the streets. Funny that.
My reference to Western fast food was aimed at tourists, not Thais.


--
Bob

Travel and Astronomy Photos
http://www3.sympatico.ca/bomo




"Thomas F. Unke" wrote in message
...
"bob" writes:

Oh dear, I think you can enjoy it for much less. Street food vendors
were there long before the backpackers, and their food is still as
good. Yes, you can spend big bucks in some Bangkok restos to get
food that has all sorts of Western things going on in it, but hell,
I can get that here...and don't like it here either. I prefer the
real thing, and in its purest form,

It seems that a lot of people think the only reasonable food in
Thailand is street food or that from night markets and such.

While I don't argue that you can have some pleasant meals there, there
is much more in Thai food, and especially in BKK.

Not some sort of "Western things", but Asian delicacies which are imho
much superior to street food. If you go to the places where middle
class Thai use to eat, you will be very surprised what is available
there.

This discussion also shows that low budget travellers just don't
realize and experience the things which are outside their budget. To
believe that everything more expensive than food stalls must be
"Western" or "McDonalds", is a very onesided view and every Thai would
laugh at you.

Funny thing is, I am not a "low budget traveller" at all, and in fact spend
most of my money on travel. I just don't believe in spending money on things
that are not worth it to me. I have eaten in many of Bangkok's "middle
class" restaurants, the ones that Thais go to (or used to before about
1998...), as well as a few of the really upscale ones, yet I still prefer
the food found on the streets. Funny that.
My reference to Western fast food was aimed at tourists, not Thais.


--
Bob

Travel and Astronomy Photos
http://www3.sympatico.ca/bomo




"Thomas F. Unke" wrote in message
...
"bob" writes:

Oh dear, I think you can enjoy it for much less. Street food vendors
were there long before the backpackers, and their food is still as
good. Yes, you can spend big bucks in some Bangkok restos to get
food that has all sorts of Western things going on in it, but hell,
I can get that here...and don't like it here either. I prefer the
real thing, and in its purest form,

It seems that a lot of people think the only reasonable food in
Thailand is street food or that from night markets and such.

While I don't argue that you can have some pleasant meals there, there
is much more in Thai food, and especially in BKK.

Not some sort of "Western things", but Asian delicacies which are imho
much superior to street food. If you go to the places where middle
class Thai use to eat, you will be very surprised what is available
there.

This discussion also shows that low budget travellers just don't
realize and experience the things which are outside their budget. To
believe that everything more expensive than food stalls must be
"Western" or "McDonalds", is a very onesided view and every Thai would
laugh at you.

Thomas F. Unke wrote:

Not some sort of "Western things", but Asian delicacies which are imho
much superior to street food. If you go to the places where middle
class Thai use to eat, you will be very surprised what is available
there.

i wonder if you could suggest some examples?


michael

Thomas F. Unke wrote:

Not some sort of "Western things", but Asian delicacies which are imho
much superior to street food. If you go to the places where middle
class Thai use to eat, you will be very surprised what is available
there.

i wonder if you could suggest some examples?


michael

Thomas F. Unke wrote:

Not some sort of "Western things", but Asian delicacies which are imho
much superior to street food. If you go to the places where middle
class Thai use to eat, you will be very surprised what is available
there.

i wonder if you could suggest some examples?


michael

Same here, Bob. I have spent a lot of time in Bangkok, staying and
living along Sukhumvit. I usually ate on the street and had some of
the best food there I ever had. Business though at times requires me
to join people to upscale restaurants. The food's good there, fine
quality and all that, excellent stuff, but me too, I by far prefer the
street food.


On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 13:33:08 -0400, "bob" wrote:

Funny thing is, I am not a "low budget traveller" at all, and in fact spend
most of my money on travel. I just don't believe in spending money on things
that are not worth it to me. I have eaten in many of Bangkok's "middle
class" restaurants, the ones that Thais go to (or used to before about
1998...), as well as a few of the really upscale ones, yet I still prefer
the food found on the streets. Funny that.
My reference to Western fast food was aimed at tourists, not Thais.

Same here, Bob. I have spent a lot of time in Bangkok, staying and
living along Sukhumvit. I usually ate on the street and had some of
the best food there I ever had. Business though at times requires me
to join people to upscale restaurants. The food's good there, fine
quality and all that, excellent stuff, but me too, I by far prefer the
street food.


On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 13:33:08 -0400, "bob" wrote:

Funny thing is, I am not a "low budget traveller" at all, and in fact spend
most of my money on travel. I just don't believe in spending money on things
that are not worth it to me. I have eaten in many of Bangkok's "middle
class" restaurants, the ones that Thais go to (or used to before about
1998...), as well as a few of the really upscale ones, yet I still prefer
the food found on the streets. Funny that.
My reference to Western fast food was aimed at tourists, not Thais.

michael wrote:



Thomas F. Unke wrote:

Not some sort of "Western things", but Asian delicacies which are imho
much superior to street food. If you go to the places where middle
class Thai use to eat, you will be very surprised what is available
there.


i wonder if you could suggest some examples?


michael



Has anyone had MONGOLIAN hotpot in Thailand - there is a famous chain
run by Thai Chinese....

Alfred Molon wrote in message m...
magda wrote:
Hi
How much money would I need for one-year travel in Asia (china, SEA,
India, Nepal)? Do you thing 7000USD would be enough?


By the way, some pricing information about Malaysia:

thanks a lot. I know Malaysia very well. I spent one year working in
Penang. I so most of the places in Malaysia so I guess I would save
some money on skiping such places like KL.
I was also in Thailand, Cambodia and Singapur so I would stay in those
countries just a few days each. I would like to concentrate on China,
Vietnam, Indonesia and India.


Magda

KL
==

Accomodation: you can find A/C rooms with bath for RM 50/night, but RM
60 or 70 will get you a much better place. $1 = RM 3.8, so RM 50 = US
$13

Food: one dish of excellent chicken rice at the stand in Bukit Bintang
street opposite the BB Plaza shopping complex (next to the KFC
restaurant) used to cost around RM 4 (perhaps Miguel might check if the
price still holds). Add a drink for RM 1 and you spend RM 5 for a meal.
If you decide instead to eat in a restaurant, go to Esquire Kitchen, in
the BB Plaza shopping complex, and eat for about RM 15.
Assume one restaurant meal for RM 15, one chicken rice + drink for RM 5,
and one breakfast for perhaps RM 7 and you are at RM 27 for the meals.
To this add RM 60 for the hotel and perhaps another RM 20-30 for taxi,
transportation and some extras and you end up at RM 107-117 for the day
(= $28 - $31).

Out of KL it's easy to find A/C rooms with bath for RM 50 and food might
be cheaper, so your daily budget could be around RM 90 (= $24).

Transportation by bus (comfortable, A/C) is about RM 9 for 200 km.
Assuming you average 80 Km /day of travelling, that's RM 3.60 for
transportation / day for the bus. Assume that every three days or so you
spend RM 10-15 for a taxi, you end up with an average transportation
expense of RM 8/day, which is about US$ 2.

Getting to the islands of the east coast is a bit more expensive as you
need to take a boat. On Perhentian the daily cost (food+lodging) is more
or less comparable to KL.

To get to east Malaysia (Sarawak and Sabah) you need to get a flight,
which with AirAsia could be as low as RM 300 one way (or perhaps less?).
Once there, food and lodging are cheap (perhaps $24/day), but
transportation will be more expensive, as many places are only reachable
by plane.

The bottom line is that if you do a holiday in Malaysia, with a mix of
KL, other places and Borneo, you should budget around $30/day (or
perhaps a bit more, just to be on the safe side).

Hi Guys

I've read all your posts.
Thanks for all your tips. I'm just a bit shocked by those stupid
discustions between some of you (German issue...) - this group is
about travelling, not about being rude...

I spent one year living and working in Malaysia. During that time I
was traveling in Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore and Malaysia of course
so I know the prices in SEA. I was more concerned about cost of
traveling in China, India and Nepal. From your posts I can presume
that for one year in Asia I would need anything from 7000$ to 14000$.
I was wondering why there are so big differences between your
sugestions. I think I know the reason - Australians of British travel
in a very different way than let's say people from Central or Eastern
Europe (where I live). I know about this difference as I was traveling
in SEA and I saw it. For Australians or British saving 10000$ for
travels is a piece of cake in comparison with me who needs twice more
time for it (this is due to the fact that we earn less in Central
Europe). As I need more time to save money I am more careful about
spending them. When I asked some people in my country the same
question (how much money for one year in Asia), they all told me -
7000$ would be absolutely fine. They did travel with 7000$ and enjoyed
it a lot.
I guess it is important what my priorities are. I am not going to go
to Asia to drink beer or party every second night. I am going to go to
Asia to see things, observe people, understand their culture. I think
I will manage to do it with 7000$.
One more thing - people in SEA consider white backpackers as rude and
don't really like them. Do you know why? I know. I learnt that when I
was living in Malaysia. Many white backpackers are not really
interested in Asian culture, they treat locals with superiority. And
when I was reading some of your posts I clearly saw Asian point of
view....

Magda



(magda) wrote in message . com...
Hi
How much money would I need for one-year travel in Asia (china, SEA,
India, Nepal)? Do you thing 7000USD would be enough?

Thanks a lot
mb