Finance
Total Spent:
| Days | Food&Drink | Lodging | Transportation | Other (tickets etc) | Total |
| 215 | $4,941.17 | $4,512 | $2,702.85 | $3,518.29 | $15,674.18 |
Sort by country:
| Country | AVERAGE of Food&Drink | AVERAGE of Lodging | AVERAGE of Transportation | AVERAGE of Other (tickets etc) | AVERAGE of Day Total |
| Laos | $11.90 | $10.11 | $8.13 | $6.65 | $36.79 |
| Thailand | $15.32 | $11.03 | $9.27 | $7.61 | $43.24 |
| Vietnam | $19.10 | $13 | $15.68 | $8.90 | $57.16 |
| Cambodia | $22.04 | $19.05 | $7.70 | $13.35 | $62.15 |
| Indonesia | $23.77 | $13.10 | $11.42 | $14.93 | $63.22 |
| Nepal | $20.02 | $7.79 | $7.10 | $28.97 | $63.87 |
| Malaysia | $19.06 | $21.21 | $16.67 | $21.39 | $78.34 |
| Bulgaria | $29.16 | $34.20 | $15.36 | $11.08 | $89.80 |
| Turkey | $26.70 | $17.21 | $7.73 | $56.20 | $107.84 |
| Serbia | $44.57 | $53.62 | $12.98 | $9.65 | $120.82 |
| Czechia | $31.59 | $58.99 | $35.27 | $0.00 | $125.85 |
| Hungary | $45.11 | $50.92 | $11.58 | $19.72 | $127.31 |
| Greece | $37.30 | $44.94 | $35.24 | $14.07 | $131.55 |
| Slovakia | $35.92 | $91.08 | $18.82 | $0.00 | $145.82 |
| Poland | $49.44 | $64.55 | $13.37 | $20.58 | $147.93 |
| Austria | $46.05 | $89.01 | $7.75 | $21.98 | $164.78 |
| Grand Total | $22.99 | $21 | $11.96 | $16.44 | $72.47 |
Favorites & Highlights
Experiences
- Mt. Kinabalu
- Mt. Rinjani
- Annapurna Circuit
- Nam Ha National Protected Area
- Kuangsi Waterfall
Best Food
You can see my love of soups
The Balkan food is also amazing, even the salad
Coming to Asia
Best Cities
- Krakow – So much history and it’s cute and walkable
- Sofia – It’s a mixed of everything (from Roman empire, Ottoman and Soviet to now west leaning Europe)
- Athens – Great food & well designed transit system. Local parks and markets are fun.
- Pokhara – Affordable with great choice of food. Amazing scenery and weather.
- George Town – Heritage city. Friendly locals. Close to oceans, hills and refined Chinese cuisine that’s evolved outside of China.
- Luang Prabang – Spiritual. Great coffee shops, food and surroundings.
- Chiang Mai – Compact yet every corner is different. Great Jazz/Music scene. Boutique hostels at budget price.
- Phnom Penh – a city with tragedy but yet full of energy. Probably the best night view among Asia and and Paris of the East. Beautiful waterfront, lively markets.
- Saigon – diverse, modern, great night life
Countries with Best Value
- Bulgaria – Educated population and typical European quality with half the price. (This is perhaps true in the Balkans in general. I picked Bulgaria for its historical neutrality)
- Nepal – Despite lack of road infra and geographically sandwiched with natural disasters, I found Nepalis are considerably different than other South Asians. You feel the spirituality the moment you step in and yet it fills with good food & friendly locals. Because of the high mountains, most places are cool in rather cool if not cold climate.
- Thailand – Laos and Vietnam come almost even. Laos is just too small of a country when comes population. As much as I love Vietnam, Visa can be a pain and its a bit anti-Chinese due to historical reasons. Infra is also considerably better in Thailand (world class airports) Thais are also way more laid back and historically managed to stay out of trouble thanks to their great monarchs.
What’s next?
Unfortunately, this is the question I am still yet figuring out.
- I should probably rejoin the work force, but the economy isn’t doing great.
- Perhaps I should travel a bit more in the USA since I’ve never had a chance to do so – a proper American summer.
- Going back the Balkans in early Fall. The world is just too big.
Thanks for sharing your adventures and fascinating summary comparing the different countries. That’s incredible you’ve only spent $15,674.18 for about 7 months total of traveling. Sometimes, I end up spending $1k for 2 people a day when traveling in expensive resort areas of countries, haha! What a difference.