How much money for one year in Asia???

Thomas F. Unke wrote:
me writes:
Nonsense. An A/C bus from Bangkok to just about anywhere in Thailand
will cost under 15$.

25$ would come nearer the real costs.

For that you can fly.

Nonsense. There's plenty of very nice A/C all-you-can-eat,
stuff-yourself-till-you-explode, places in Bangkok where you'll spend
5$ tops. Not in the backpacker areas obviously (there you'll get a
coffee and a muffin for that price haha).

I don't care about backpacker areas. But if you want to enjoy BKKs
food, you need much more than 5$.

I sure haven't seen that. When I start paying more than that, I get stupid
fusion food where they take Thai cuisine and add irrelevant European
elements to it. Or I get the same food (perhaps slightly blander) than I'd
get for $1, served in a room with soft lighting, French electronica on the
stereo, and waiters hovering around irritating me.

Do a day sightseeing in Istanbul and you will not eat for a month to
get back to your 20$ budget.

I was back in Istanbul this spring, spent two weeks there and I'm sure I
didn't spend more than $10/day more than one or twice (not including
lodging, where I stayed in a nice place for $25/day - but could have been in
a hostel for $5 if money had been an issue). I had a great time.

Again, you won't dive all of your holiday now will you? That month of

You certainly have no idea of the costs if diving.

Depends on where you are. On Bali you can spend $30.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu

Thomas F. Unke wrote:
me writes:
Nonsense. An A/C bus from Bangkok to just about anywhere in Thailand
will cost under 15$.

25$ would come nearer the real costs.

For that you can fly.

Nonsense. There's plenty of very nice A/C all-you-can-eat,
stuff-yourself-till-you-explode, places in Bangkok where you'll spend
5$ tops. Not in the backpacker areas obviously (there you'll get a
coffee and a muffin for that price haha).

I don't care about backpacker areas. But if you want to enjoy BKKs
food, you need much more than 5$.

I sure haven't seen that. When I start paying more than that, I get stupid
fusion food where they take Thai cuisine and add irrelevant European
elements to it. Or I get the same food (perhaps slightly blander) than I'd
get for $1, served in a room with soft lighting, French electronica on the
stereo, and waiters hovering around irritating me.

Do a day sightseeing in Istanbul and you will not eat for a month to
get back to your 20$ budget.

I was back in Istanbul this spring, spent two weeks there and I'm sure I
didn't spend more than $10/day more than one or twice (not including
lodging, where I stayed in a nice place for $25/day - but could have been in
a hostel for $5 if money had been an issue). I had a great time.

Again, you won't dive all of your holiday now will you? That month of

You certainly have no idea of the costs if diving.

Depends on where you are. On Bali you can spend $30.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu

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?

I spent about that amount, but there was someone else sharing the room.
That included (for 2 people) (all amounts in canadian funds):
- 9$ average, overland transportation,
- 11$ average, sleeping at backpacker guesthouses,
- 1$ average, laundry
- 8$ average, buying some groceries and making some meals,
- 8$ average, eating in simple restaurants at supper time (and fancy
restaurants once in a while),
- laundry,
- 5$ average, going out to sights/bars/cinemas (not every day)
- 3$ average, internet (email, banking, and web site maintenance)
- 6$ average, some purchases
- 9$ average, occasional visits to a western doctor & medication
- 48$ (canadian) average in total for a couple

Not included:
- Visas (budget about 30$/month)
- Plane ticket to get there and back
- health insurance (100$/month)
- Plane ticket between Thailand and India (or Bangladesh), unless you go
through Tibet/Nepal or the "silk road" Karakoram highway through
China/Pakistan (or use some airline bonus points)
- storage for your furniture back in your home country

This means a backpacker trip, usually eating local food, using local
means of transportation, walking, bargaining, shopping around before
buying, learning the people's lifestyle and how they manage is a sight
in itself, drinking less alcohol when its expensive (Hong Kong) and a
lot more when its dirt cheap (Vientiane), not usually stay in fancy
hotels, not seeing every sight (especially when the price has been
jacked up to ridiculous levels), try the rooms with ceiling fans after
being acclimatized to tropical heat, ...

Thomas F. Unke wrote:
Just a note about those "I have no money" backpackers: A few years
ago, on the Indonesian island of Nias, 2 fellow travellers died
because they didn't go to a doctor after they got malaria tropica.
A bad deal - losing your life to save a few $$.

Some people are afraid of the third world hospitals or medical scams in
places like India. While doing a camel tour one person got a fever and
chills (typical symptoms of malaria). Although I insisted, she never
went to see a doctor until she got back to her home country 10 days
later. Luckily she didn't get falciparum malaria so she's still alive.

Thomas F. Unke wrote:
Just a note about those "I have no money" backpackers: A few years
ago, on the Indonesian island of Nias, 2 fellow travellers died
because they didn't go to a doctor after they got malaria tropica.
A bad deal - losing your life to save a few $$.

Some people are afraid of the third world hospitals or medical scams in
places like India. While doing a camel tour one person got a fever and
chills (typical symptoms of malaria). Although I insisted, she never
went to see a doctor until she got back to her home country 10 days
later. Luckily she didn't get falciparum malaria so she's still alive.

me wrote:
What startles me though is that, initially (before I got bored with
your remarks and started being a little naughty), I DID give genuine,
real travel information that answered the original poster's questions.

Check my first posts in this thread and ask people who actually
travelled for a long time (Miguel, for example) what they think. Do
they think the info I gave is incorrect?

My observations:

1) Sometimes people get offended when others choose to do things
differently. I'm not sure why that is. Some of the arguments all around seem
to be rationalizations of that offense.

2) The $20 figure seems perfectly doable to me so long as the year includes
substantial time in low-cost places. Without a doubt there are people who
travel for a whole lot less than that, and I think the people that Thomas
observed and found annoying were really $5/day people, not $20/day people.

3) Different people fundamentally have different tolerances for various
levels of privation. Some people genuinely don't care about different things
like A/C, visual appearance of a hotel room, or even cleanliness. Other
people definitely do. Neither of these people is better or worse than the
other. But everyone has to recognize for themselves what matters to them,
and accept the reality that it may affect how much travel will cost. I know
I could spend a lot less money traveling if I weren't bothered by mosquitos
in the room and stains on the sheets. But I know people who really don't
notice or care, and I don't begrudge them the 50% less than me they're
paying for their room.

4) Fundamentally, the person is asking if something is possible, and the
answer is yes. I think everyone has acknowledged that. What remains is
whether it's desirable. And that's very much up to the original poster (or
to any lurker who happens to be reading all this as they make up their own
minds about possible plans).

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu

me wrote:
What startles me though is that, initially (before I got bored with
your remarks and started being a little naughty), I DID give genuine,
real travel information that answered the original poster's questions.

Check my first posts in this thread and ask people who actually
travelled for a long time (Miguel, for example) what they think. Do
they think the info I gave is incorrect?

My observations:

1) Sometimes people get offended when others choose to do things
differently. I'm not sure why that is. Some of the arguments all around seem
to be rationalizations of that offense.

2) The $20 figure seems perfectly doable to me so long as the year includes
substantial time in low-cost places. Without a doubt there are people who
travel for a whole lot less than that, and I think the people that Thomas
observed and found annoying were really $5/day people, not $20/day people.

3) Different people fundamentally have different tolerances for various
levels of privation. Some people genuinely don't care about different things
like A/C, visual appearance of a hotel room, or even cleanliness. Other
people definitely do. Neither of these people is better or worse than the
other. But everyone has to recognize for themselves what matters to them,
and accept the reality that it may affect how much travel will cost. I know
I could spend a lot less money traveling if I weren't bothered by mosquitos
in the room and stains on the sheets. But I know people who really don't
notice or care, and I don't begrudge them the 50% less than me they're
paying for their room.

4) Fundamentally, the person is asking if something is possible, and the
answer is yes. I think everyone has acknowledged that. What remains is
whether it's desirable. And that's very much up to the original poster (or
to any lurker who happens to be reading all this as they make up their own
minds about possible plans).

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu

Thomas F. Unke wrote:
Markku Grönroos writes:
They cannot if it was the average fare. Some people tend to believe
that EasyJet, Germanwings, Ryanair and so are grossly cheaper than
"traditional" (typically more or less state owned in Europe)
companies. They do advertise flights from northern Europe to central
Europe by 10 euros. 1% out of all the seats are sold by this fare and

Yep. Ryan Air is a big rip off, even they advertise flights for 9.99
EUR. Once I tried to book a flight to England with Ryan Air, but it
came out more expensive than British Airways.

This is not for making money, but for advertising. I see that in SE
Asia they have the same system now.

To AirAsia's credit, even their most expensive fares are usually cheaper
than what you can get from the large national airlines. Last-minute tickets
between BKK and KUL for US$70 or US$90 each way? Try that on Thai.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu

Madonna wrote:

[..]
Some people are afraid of the third world hospitals or medical scams in
places like India. While doing a camel tour one person got a fever and
chills (typical symptoms of malaria). Although I insisted, she never
went to see a doctor until she got back to her home country 10 days
later. Luckily she didn't get falciparum malaria so she's still alive.

Well, real cleaver girl .... docters there in third world countries have
obvioulsy no experience with deseases like malaria or dengue ... much
better back in europe where doctors now all this stuff from books ....

Manfred

--
http://www.lombok-ecoturist.org/

Madonna wrote:

[..]
Some people are afraid of the third world hospitals or medical scams in
places like India. While doing a camel tour one person got a fever and
chills (typical symptoms of malaria). Although I insisted, she never
went to see a doctor until she got back to her home country 10 days
later. Luckily she didn't get falciparum malaria so she's still alive.

Well, real cleaver girl .... docters there in third world countries have
obvioulsy no experience with deseases like malaria or dengue ... much
better back in europe where doctors now all this stuff from books ....

Manfred

--
http://www.lombok-ecoturist.org/