27.06.07
Posted in
Cambodia, India, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Travel, Vietnam
at
3:47 pm
by
Andy
You’re sat in the office on a dull afternoon reading this immensely interesting blog and quietly wondering to yourself, how can he afford all this?
This round the world trip has been a long term plan of mine ever since uni when Jon and I said we would travel once we graduated. Well that didn’t happen due to money and the fact that I was enjoying Spain too much when Jon did set off. For this trip Espe and I had been saving for about a year, helped out by a pay rise (and an unexpected bonus a month before I quit my job), a tenant in the flat and a limited social life. The later was part self inflicted in an effort to save, part due to so many people leaving Madrid (120 European ex pats worked in my department when I got there, when I left this was down to single figures thanks to the joys of out sourcing).
The real reason I can afford to be away for so long is as because it is so cheap to travel in many parts of Asia. I was fortunate to have been born British, thus everywhere seems cheap by comparison. This also enabled me, although I’m not sure why, to command a decent wage in Madrid. To give you a rough idea of prices in Asia, the following are our average daily costs for the countries we’ve been to so far. We have had to be strict on ourselves, trying to eat like the locals at food stalls rather than restaurants and settling on the most basic accommodation. Also bear in mind that this is for two people sharing accommodation, so dividing the cost for one person would not be realistic.
| Country |
Average Daily Cost |
| India |
£18 |
| Thailand |
£23 |
| Laos |
£14 |
| Vietnam |
£20 |
| Cambodia |
£17 |
| Malaysia |
£27 |
| Singapore |
£34 |
| Philippines |
£55 |
These are just my rough calculations and not necessarily a true indication of travel in the respective countries. For example, in India the Rickshaw Run saw us spend more money than that required for regular day to day travel, while four days volunteer work helped keep the cost down in Laos. Diving, although cheap compared to other parts of the world, put us way over our daily budget. This, however, in Thailand was cancelled out by the ultra cheap (£2 per day) meditation course that we at Suan Mokkh. The Philippines has worked out way more expensive than planned. The place does not cater well for backpackers. Most tourists are there for two to three weeks but the real reason it was so expensive was because we did nothing but diving and the transport connections are neither easy or cheap. That is not to say, however, that it has not been worth every penny (another Philippines annoyance was the lack of international ATMs leaving me to be stung with credit card charges on several occasions). Also note that these costs do not include toys such as camera and diving equipment (why are all my hobbies so expensive?).
Flight tickets are cheaper than most people think. We bought as a Round the World alliance ticket which offers savings over individual flights. Check people like STA Travel and Travelbag to get and idea of costs. Generally speaking you can get multiple flights for the same price as a return to Oz. I was however very lucky with the cost receiving news in April of a gift from my mother / grandmother that effectively cleared the debt of the tickets. Jammy bugger, I know.
Equipment costs before we left did add up (think rucksack and suitable clothing), but I’d recommend to anyone starting in Bangkok or Saigon to leave home with hand luggage only. Everything else you need can be picked up out there at a fraction of the cost. Basically what I’m trying to say here is, with a bit of effort you too could indulge in such a trip.
My only income has been from Google Adsense, which although not a great deal, is bringing in about £30 a month for zero effort on my part.
Oh look, there is one now. Interesting hey? This is clearly not enough to keep me travelling indefinitely, but not to be sniffed at. That is three free dives a month!
We are soon to enter the southern hemisphere where prices will be much higher. We’ve not had to work yet and with a few budget ideas for Oz and NZ we may not have to. Time will tell.
07.04.07
Posted in
Cambodia, Travel
at
9:23 am
by
Andy
Arriving in Siem Reap, home city of Angkor Wat (Cambodia and possibly South East Asia’s biggest crowd puller), one of the officials on the bus told us that all the tourists were to get of the bus early before reaching the bus station. This was in our best interests as we would be given a free tuk tuk ride to the guesthouse of our choice, and thus avoid all the “thieves at the bus station who will steal your wallet and camera”. Somewhat sceptical we got in our free tuk tuk and where taken to, surprise surprise, the same guesthouse as all the other westerners on the bus. Rooms were ok, and reasonably priced, but no sooner had we seen the room then they started pressuring us into using the same tuk tuk driver to see the temples. We were quoted $50 for three days with this tuk tuk driver. Add that to the $40 entry fee each, we would be looking at $130 straight off. Then the tuk tuk drivers charge extra for sunset and sunrise as “overtime”. Although this is one of the seven man made wonders of the world, and everyone raves about the place, given our budget of $40 a day this was simply too much. The guys even admitted that we could find cheaper drivers in the street, but they too would steal our wallets and cameras.
Refusing to sign up we wandered into town and had a good street food dinner for less than $2. Annoyed at the harassment from our guesthouse, and at the principle of being herded there by the bus company we set off to check out another guesthouse that the previous owner of our guide book had scribbled in. Unfortunately on the way Espe twisted and badly sprained her ankle.
Looked after by some very friendly and helpful locals we ended up going off to the hospital due to the pain that Espe was suffering. On returning to the guesthouse despite carrying Espe up the stairs and explaining what had happened they continued to harass me about using their tuk tuks.
Finding myself more and more wound up (most likely due to my inability to just say no), in the morning we decided to leave. Apart from the continual harassment, the food was terrible, the service rubbish, the fan noisy and we had a sink that spewed water all over the floor. Not a nice place for Espe to spend the whole day resting.
So off I went to check out this Prince Mekong Villa that was scribbled in the guide book. The place is great. At $5 a night including free breakfast, free water refills, free bicycles use, free one time washing, free use of the cooking facilities and BBQ with a welcome drink and genuinely friendly staff, it is needless to say we moved there. Run by a Swiss chap who has been working in SE Asia for 20 years, I’m impressed by this place. So, here’s the free plug, if you come to Siem Reap, make sure you stay at the Prince Mekong Villa.
Due to Espe’s ankle we’ve done very little, basically just relaxing and reading in the hammocks in the garden. Espe is feeling better today (she sprained it on Thursday) but we are going to put off our visit to the Angkor complex for another day, which we will do on push bike thus saving some cash, giving a nice up yours to the tuk tuk drivers who wound me up so much and having the freedom to do what we want when we want.
06.04.07
Posted in
Cambodia, Travel
at
9:34 am
by
Andy
My first impressions of Cambodia couldn’t be more different from those in Vietnam. The people here are so friendly. Generally the level of English is good and we’ve been approached by many a local who just wants to talk. They are very open and willing to talk about many things in their lives. If people walk or bump into you, they apologise immediately, even if it wasn’t their fault. That is such a far cry Vietnam, for instance, the tour guide who pushed me out of the way in the Ho Chi Minh museum because I was reading the display she wanted to show her group.
Another positive having arrived in Cambodia are the prices. Accommodation is back in line with what we were used to from Thailand and Laos. That’s $3 a night where we are now (including free pool and movies).
It is hot here. Power sappingly hot. It is only 40 degrees but the humidity gets you. We’ve taken to seeing the sights in the morning and spending the afternoon relaxing in our lakeside guest house, reading in a hammock, playing pool or watching the sun set. In short, I’m posting less here as I just can’t be bothered to sit in front of a computer. In fact I can’t even be bothered to explain what this photo is.
That said, I can’t post about the capital of Cambodia without mentioning the genocide that took place between 1975 and 1979 implemented by the evil Pol Pot.
Having read a lot about the auto-genocide before I came here and given my current book, “First they killed my father” I do feel I was prepared for seeing some of the evidence of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge. I’ll save you the history lesson (have a read over the wikipedia links above if you want to know more), but I find it incredibly hard to come to terms with how a whole country, so many people, can be so severely treated by their own “leaders”.
The deaths through starvation and disease, the torturing, the mass trial-less executions all brought on by Pol Pot and his attempts to create an agrarian utopia are all just so much to take in. To think that in such recent times 1/4 of the people in the country died is deeply shocking. For once I was thinking, well at least I can’t blame this on the Americans, until I read this in the Rough Guide:
“In 1969, the Americans began covert bombings of Cambodia’s eastern provinces, where they believed Vietcong guerrillas were hiding. Hundreds of Cambodian civilians were killed or maimed in these raids, which continued until 1973 and are widely acknowledged to have led to the rise of the Khmer Rouge.”
This, however pales in significance to the following, which left me speechless. In 1979 the Vietnamese invaded to over throw Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime, in the process liberating the Cambodian people. However, despite being fully aware of the atrocities…
“The International community came down on the side of the Khmer Rouge coalition, and refused to recognise the new government. After all, the new Vietnamese occupation could be the start of communist expansionism whereas the Khmer Rouge, despite being communists, only killed their own and didn’t pose a threat to the capitalist world. So Thailand, Britain and the US colluded to train the genocidal rebels, shelter them on Thai soil, provide money, arms and food, and offered them the Cambodian seat in the United Nations.”
Further disturbing proof, that political agendas and interests come way before human rights in this world.
