john_johnson75•13d agoMost Upvoted

That one week in Thailand where everything went wrong but I learned a ton

Ngl, last spring I spent a week traveling through Chiang Mai on $30 a day. I booked a hostel for $8 a night that had no AC and the fan broke on day two. Turns out eating street food from a cart near the night market saved me like $15 a meal, and that's how I found the best pad thai I ever had. Has anyone else had a trip where the bad stuff actually made your budget stretch further?

2 comments

2 Comments

thomas_brown13d ago

Oh man, that banana roti run sounds like a solid backup plan but @jadep41 I gotta gently push back on the 20 baht thing. Most places charge 30 now, at least in tourist spots near Thapae Gate. I learned that the hard way when I tried to buy one with exact change and came up short. The old lady gave me a look that said "farang, please." Your point still stands though - those rotis are crazy good and way cheaper than sit-down meals. I actually ended up eating them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on my last day when I miscalculated my cash.

jadep4113d ago

Have you ever noticed how when things go wrong on a trip you end up talking to locals way more? Like when my scooter broke down in Pai I had to sit at a roadside repair shop for three hours and the old guy running it told me about this waterfall that wasn't even on Google Maps. Ended up being the best swim of my life and basically free. The street food thing you mentioned is real too, when my wallet got stolen I lived on those 20 baht banana rotis for a week and they were honestly better than anything I ate in a restaurant.