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The Frugal Traveller
Patong, Thailand
As I sit here, indulging in tonights dinner consisting of a heaping portion of rice with chicken and mixed vegetables topped off with of course, a big cold Chang beer, costing me a total of 180 Thai Baht, the equivalency of $5.97 Canadian dollars. Im reminded of how cheap it can be to eat in Thailand, without treating myself to a beer, which I must admit rarely happens, an average meal in Thailand from the street venders costs about $4.25 or 130 Baht, which is enough food to satisfy yourself. Almost everything here is at a discounted price, yeah, so what these are knock off Ray-bans, I still only paid 200 Baht and they look just as cool as the d*** head with the chino shorts paying hundreds of dollars for the same pair. Thailand is cheap, cheap, cheap. Bartering down prices has become one of my favourite past times! Ill barter for the hell of it, just seeing how low I can drive the price, because as the great Charles Darwin once said "A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life." And that, in turn, drives me to the core of this blog.
Ive become one frugal son of a beach, its mind boggling! Back home, I could drop a quarter and say, "oh well", I would spend 7 dollars on Starbucks and not even bat an eye at the cost. Spending $60 dollars on dinner and drinks, easy, no big deal. But traveling, the value of money has changed, Ill turn down meals and buying items over as little as 20 baht, .66cents. I've saved up well over enough to get by here for months on end, but to spend anywhere near a dollar more is out of the question. Couple weeks ago flying from Vietnam to Singapore, we had to catch a taxi to the airport for a 8am flight. We agreed on letting the meter run, when we arrived I handed him the money owed, but he told me I was 10 000 Vietnamese Dong short, which is actually only .50 cents Canadian, I glanced at the meter and counted my bills, no I told him this is right, he then proceeded to explain to me, toll, not one lick of English from the Taxi driver, we eventually pieced it together that he needed 10 000 Dong more for the toll to exit the airport. In all my years, I've never heard of a toll exiting for the taxi drop off/pick up area, no mention of it before we left or a sticker pasted on the cab. To say the least I wasn't pleased. It was 6:30am and I've yet too have my coffee, a real coffee, not this so called white coffee Vietnamese people love, this odd concoction that is sugary, served on ice with condensed milk and dabble of coffee taste, I needed some of that black Starbucks blend, the type that makes you s*** your pants 15 seconds after the first sip, that real runny poop down your leg, butt-hole weakening s***. (coffee rant, rant from an addict) any who, back to the story... I was flabbergasted at this extra cost, how dare he ask for more money, I was so worked up at this, I spoke my mind to him, even thou between each of us bantering back and forth, neither knew what the hell one said to the other, I gave him the money and grudgely walked away over having to pay more. It wasn't until we were in the line, that I calmed down and Jan said that whole scene was over .50 cents. Fifty cents, thats all. I got so worked up over something so little that I would of battled till the end over that fifty cents, but thats all it was. I looked back on it, and was in disbelief on how much I had become absorbed in saving money and trying to get by, it became comical.
The realization on the frugality of backpacking is quite prevalent, how can I get by on spending the least amount of money as possible? How low can I drive the price? Taking a step back, and realizing how lucky people like myself are, to travel to distant lands and experience everything the world has to offer is amazing, its the local people, driving the taxi, cooking our food from their little food stand, the lady walking up and down the busy road, offering fans, lighters anything to bring some money home to her family, those are the people that make this trip for us. Without them we couldn't afford to stay in 5 star hotels, eat at even restaurants, the 50 cents I got angry over, and now have this story to tell mean nothing, compared to the workers that can come home with that 50 cents and make the difference to having dinner on table or not.
In retrospect I've gained an insight to this little game of money, and how in the end, really I can afford it, the locals working from sun up to sun down to make a living, putting up their stand and taking it down each day, rely on that couple of cents that are meaningless you and I. I appreciate their work and understand they are only trying to get by day to day, its hard to not get absorbed in the frugality but understanding why it is like it is, makes a difference to the world, and to the people that work for us so we can visit their amazing land.
-T. Cameron 19/10/13
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