So here’s a typical days spending for me, taken from the 20th January 2009, while I was staying in Bangkok

• 300 Baht for Accommodation, a secure and clean hostel in central Bangkok which includes tea and toast for breakfast.
• 9 Baht for a small half litre bottle of water.
• 20 Baht for a 330ml bottle of Green Tea with Lemon.
• 6 Baht for some cheap instant noodles.
• 109 Baht for over baked rice with pork and olive and a pineapple iced smoothie in a Japanese style chain restaurant.
• 96 Baht for a four pack of Leo beer from Seven-Eleven.
• 20 Baht for the Sky Train to the Underground Interchange.
• 27 Baht for the Underground to the Railway Station.
• 10 Baht for a short Tuk Tuk ride to Sky Train stop.
• 20 Baht for the Sky Train Home

Total for the day: 617 Thai Baht which at today’s exchange rates is around £12.50.

I also paid an additional 611 for my train ticket to Chiang Mai, but since it’s over night it means on the day of travel I don’t have to pay for a room, which keeps the travel costs down, and I normally wouldn’t have quiet so much to drink, but it was the inauguration of President Barack Obama that night and so I stayed up later then I had otherwise planned. Of course, “I wouldn’t normally, but…” happens fairly frequently when travelling! There was also a one off fee of 100 Thai Baht for my wi-fi internet connection, which I can keep using if I stay here again.

When I did my inital budget I was looking at the same amount of stering getting me about 750 Thai Baht, which would have been a much more comfortable budget, but such is life and the upshot of the failing pound basically means that I can realistically stay out travelling for five months, rather then six.

So there you have it, life out here really is cheap! With a little bit of creativity such as getting instant noodles for cheap-cheap, hanging out and having a couple of beers with banter can work easily into even a small budget.