Author - graham

My plan for this trip?

 To see if I could travel on a budget of  £800 per month through each country?

The Big Test

The test would be in Singapore, as the cost of living here is hugely different from many other countries I aim to visit in Southeast Asia.

Across Asia, I have found lots of ways to save money.

Involving working for your bed and food, to budget places to stay, hostels and Airbnb.

If you have a bit more cash, you can upgrade to hotels or better accommodation, but I wanted to give people a view of what is on offer.

I also wanted to visit places I could blog about and hopefully encourage more people to visit.

So did I do it?

As I head into my last week in Singapore, the question is whether I stuck to my budget or went over it.

FOOD

Eat at food markets and hawker centres where each stall has specialist dishes that they cook really well.

You have a great choice of types of food, and the cost is so cheap that the majority of Singaporeans eat here rather than cook at home

ACCOMMODATION

Having been here before, I was lucky to meet friends here, which allowed me to stay with them and save money by not paying for accommodation.

However, most hostels here, which give you a bed in a dormitory, will set you back approx £50-70 per week.

So at worst, you can expect to pay £280 for a month.

Now bear in mind that, in all honesty, spending a whole month in SG is probably too much.

Although there are many things to see, you can do it in less than 30 days.

Or, as I have done in the past, break it up and spend a week here, then move on to other places and come back.

SHOPPING

Chinatown is a place to visit if you are looking for presents, good bargains, or just browsing for gifts.

Orchard Road is for when you want to spend some serious money, with everything from your top international brands to local products in Tang’s Plaza or Lucky Plaza.

HIGHLIGHTS OF MY TRIP- payable places

Marina Sands viewing area cost S$23                                                        Raffles Long Bar S$28 for a Singapore Sling, go with a friend to experience the atmosphere more                                                                          Chinatown Heritage Centre S$15 (exceptional value) one of the best things I have done on my trip here.

October, 2018

VISITING PLACES AND TRIPS

• Marina Bay Sands hotel and shopping complex- for the experience
• Marina Bay SkyPark observation deck- for the views
• Raffles Long Bar – Singapore Sling if you are a Gin drinker
• Clarke Quay- for the nightlife
• Boat Quay -for the spicy Singapore Chilli Crab
• Little India for traditional food
• Chinatown- for the atmosphere
• Sentosa Island for the kids
• Aquarium -if you love fish
• Masjid Sultan Mosque -for culture

TOTAL BUDGET SPENT?

£565 FOR THE MONTH, “Just under what I planned to spend but still not bad for the month in one of the most expensive countries in S E Asia”

Bangkok-Ban-Phe-Ko Samet

Taxi

Woke up early and took a taxi to Mo Chit from my apartment, which cost 121 Baht

Minivan

The ticket to Ban Phe pier cost 220 baht and takes about 3.5-4 hours; you stop about 2.5 hours into the trip for a quick toilet break and a chance to grab a drink and some food if you want. 

Once you arrive at the pier, you will meet with hordes of sales reps trying to get you to sign up for their charters.

This can be very confusing, but basically, they sort out your boat trip to the island and return journey, as well as your return journey to Bangkok if you so wish (obviously for a small fee, which they keep) 

Now, as we were only stopping for 1 night, I thought it would be the best option as everything is paid for and we know where we are.

So handed over 1000 baht for two of us.

This includes travel by speedboat, as it was ready, and if we wanted to go by ferry, we had to wait another hour for it to arrive.

( as we had just had to wait 3 hours for a 2hour wait for a bus)

I decided that Thai time is slightly different from the UK, so we went with the quicker option, not the cheaper one. 

Unfortunately, this is where it gets interesting!!!

Speedboat

The first speedboat was not going where we wanted, which was Sai Kaew Beach (even though when I asked at the counter where they go, I was told they all go to the same place)  

Eventually, we got the next one, and instead of getting off at the pier, as the boat driver didn’t think our hotel was on that part of the island, we opted for a wet landing and hit the beach. 

A Short walk in the wrong direction, as I obviously knew better than Google Maps, and another short walk back again, and we found the place we were stopping at and could relax.

Your ticket to the beach

Things they don’t tell you.  

When you arrive at the beach, or when you go to the beach, you have to pay a small fee (this is for the upkeep of everything, I guess). So foreigners or Tourists have to pay 200 baht, and Thai visitors pay 40 baht.

  TIP OF THE POST

“keep these with you as they check as you enter the beach area and will either turn you away or make you pay again if you do not have your ticket”

The Return

So, coming back, we found out that we weren’t going back by speedboat but, in fact, by a smaller ferryboat, which meant waiting a while, even though we were told to ring them 1 hour before we wanted to go back to the boat, which would account for us.

We even saw the speedboat driver, who seemed as confused as we were regarding why we were going by Ferry.  

The bus ride was much the same and took the same time; however, we arrived in Ekkamal, where instead of the taxi we got the BTS.

  The station is opposite the bus depot, and we quickly arrived at Victory Monument, where I then grabbed a minivan to the area where I was staying.

BTS is the train and costs about 44 baht, and it was another 30 baht for the minivan, so on the whole slightly cheaper than a taxi, and Ekkamal has buses running to Bang Phe every hour whilst Mo Chit doesn’t.

Summary

Leave from Ekkamal rather than anywhere else, unless its the opposite side of Bangkok to where you are staying.

Based on my own experience, try to avoid being sold a package, and work your way to buying one ticket to go to the island, then paying for your return when you want to go back.  

Two reasons for this are that, first, if you want to stay for longer, why pay for a return when you will get to know the island better and can maybe strike a better deal.

I was told various prices when asking different people, so basically I believe that if someone tries to help you and takes you to the place you buy from, they get a cut of the cost.

So hence the varying rates- understandable, and it’s not a lot, but it does get confusing.  

Especially when we found out that going back to Bangkok meant travelling on a different bus, from a different place and being made to wait for a later bus because you are not their customer but part of a package deal.

I was very lucky as I had a friend who speaks Thai with me, and even they were confused by it all. There was also a guy on the bus with a Thai girlfriend, and they had the same issue.  

So I worry if you don’t speak any Thai, you might end up with a very awkward experience. Sometimes leaving it to chance seems a better option 🙂

Rough costs bus to and from Bkk approx 200 baht each way, but may get cheaper if you find the right place Ferry cost return 120 baht speedboat one way 250 baht

TIP OF THE POST
 
“Take water with you, but as you are going to be sitting on the minibus for about 2.5 hours before you hit a toilet stop, don’t go mad the few hours before you start out unless you have a very strong bladder, and make sure you wear the seat belt as the drive in a minivan can be an experience, to say the least”

I had been in Singapore for five days when I did something I had never done before: I lost my mobile phone. I had gone to Changi Airport to meet my cousin, who had just landed in Singapore for the F1 Grand Prix race. I was excited that we would spend the next eight days exploring the city together—his first visit and my third in three years—not to mention attending my first Grand Prix race for three days.

I LOST MY MOBILE PHONE

Having gone to Changi Airport to meet my Cousin who had just landed in SG for the F1 Grand Prix race, and excited that we were going to spend the next 8 or so days visiting sites in SG ( his first visit and my 3rd in as many years) Not to mention 3 days at my first Grand Prix race.

I met him after he got through Customs struggling with all his baggage or rather mine, as I was traveling for 12 months I had opted to bring a spare set of everything that could be left in SG with friends because it is cheaper than flying back to the UK right? and even with 30kg plus carry on of 7kg, had run out of baggage allowance. So I persuaded him to bring some of my stuff with him.

After all, he was only staying for 8 days, right? So he wouldn’t need that much

Anyway, after getting the bus back as far as the local town centre to where we were staying, we hopped into a waiting taxi and arrived at our apartment.
After paying the taxi driver, we gathered our bags from the boot of the cab and went to the apartment. I thought something was wrong as I watched the tail lights of the cab leave us. I stood for a minute thinking…

“I think I have left my phone in the cab” I told Richard.
You sure? he said
“No, maybe, not sure”

Great start to my 12-month trip

Well, I had, the day before I had snapped the button on my shorts (probably because I was rushing to put them on, not because I had put on any more weight)
So taking a button from the side pocket of my shorts, which I put my phone in, seemed like a sensible thing to do, except that when you sit down, anything in your pocket now falls out.

We managed to get hold of the taxi company’s number, left a message, and waited.
2 days later we rang again, and they said they were still trying to reach the driver, so we were expecting the worst by this point.:(
After 5 days, we found that the driver had got in touch, had remembered where he dropped us off and arranged to pop by that evening to return the phone.

TIP OF THE POST

If taking cabs, always try to get either the name of the driver and or the number plate, losing a phone is one thing, but imagine leaving your wallet with all your cash and credit cards? Or worse your passport.
A good reason why I love using Grab over here, you do everything online and have a contact for the driver as well as the number plate and a way of contacting the company.

September, 2018

I’m not sure if my phone wasn’t stolen because it wasn’t a branded model. I recently purchased a dual-SIM phone, and the cheapest option turned out to be a Blackview, which is made in Hong Kong. While it may not be as impressive as an iPhone, Samsung, or HTC, it’s affordable, has great battery life, and looks decent.

Alternatively, it might have simply fallen down the side of the seat without anyone noticing. However, I’m inclined to believe the latter, as everyone I meet in Singapore—from taxi drivers to servers at hawker centres—is incredibly polite and always willing to help. I find it hard to believe that someone would steal it.

”So thank you Singapore, Singaporeans and in particular to the driver of the cab for being honest and returning my mobile”

Amazon Kindle (other reading devices available!)

They didn’t become the biggest and the best by chance.

The good thing about Amazon Kindle is that one device can hold pretty much all you need when travelling and takes up a fraction of the space in your bag.

Rather than carrying a collection of DVD movies, travel guides, and reading books.

Since I have been away travelling, the time available to spend catching up on reading, both factual as well as fiction and a few self-help improvement books thrown in, has made me realise how important having a digital reader really is.

I am very much old school when it comes to books.

From the age of 14, I liked nothing better than spending my Saturdays and all of my pocket money trawling through old dusty bookshops in my hometown and looking quizzically at the (usually) old man in charge.

Sat behind a big old antique desk covered in what looked like first-edition books from every kind of subject, smoking a pipe, and I thought to myself, “Will he let me have all 3 I want for the price of 2 of them?”

(No buy 2 get one free in those days)

After about 2 months, they got used to me coming in every week or so and started to worry less about taking my money; they even let me sit for a while and read.

Normally, this is where the story goes: I came to visit so often that they offered me a job, and I helped out, learned more about keeping books and running a business, and got to read everything for free.

Alas, when you are a shy 14-year-old,  these things you read in books or see in the movies don’t actually happen in real life, well, not to everyone anyway.

So I just kept on visiting and buying and collecting.

I resisted the urge when everything went digital, saying that I preferred the smell of a book to the online version.

The feel of a book in your hand rather than the metallic feel of a tablet, not to mention the constant cleaning of the screen due to sticky fingerprints and after all, it’s better for your eyes than staring at a screen all day, right?

But everything has its place, and as I sit here on a beach in Thailand, I can read the news, reply to friends via email, write this post for my blog and then go back to reading any number of books in my gallery.

The plus side?

No extra bag full of reading materials, so I am glad I invested in one in the end.

So worth the cost, don’t you think?