I’m quite impressed how inexpensive traveling in Thailand is.
Every year Thailand is visited by about 14 million tourists (compared to 60 million Thai people!) and I would expect that this would drive the prices up. But it doesn’t it, at least not much, and I tend to think it’s because Thai people are smart and savvy businessmen. They seem to understand the economy of scale and repeated business, and continue to provide a quality service for a reasonable price. This attitude reassures me that the economy of the country will grow, and will continue to benefit from tourism (as of now tourism directly contributes 6% to Thailand's GDP and probably another 20-25% in indirect services contribution), eventually leading to further improvement of quality of life for the local people.
I, for one, am likely to come back to Thailand sometime in the future, and I’ll be recommending traveling to Thailand to others.
And now, to give you a better idea what I’m talking about, I’ll show you what $20 can buy you in Thailand:
(1) A very comfortable accommodation in a room with a private bathroom, AC, fan, large bed, AND breakfast - $11 a night.
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| My room at Gap's in Chiang Mai: lots of light and green surroundings. |
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| The room has a private bathroom, AC, fan, mosquito net, big bed, and a small desk. |
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| Gap's living room is very stylish, but the best thing about it is that it's outdoors! |
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| Breakfast is included. |
(2) A whole body Thai massage or foot massage - $4 per hour.
(3) A typical Thai banana pancake made by a street vendor - $0.66.
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| A street vendor making banana pancakes. |
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| A banana pancake with milk. |
(4) A large (650 ml/22 oz) bottle of bear - $1-1.50.
(5) A vegetarian buffet with six dishes, rice, fruits, and mineral water - $3.
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| Agnieszka and Wojtek enjoying the buffet. |
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| Fresh fruits: pineapple, bananas, lychees. |
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| Yellow curry with tofu. |
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| Another curry with bamboo shoots. |
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| Veggie spring rolls. |
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| Green curry with eggplant. |
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| Stir-fried veggies. |
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| Red curry with tofu and mushrooms. |
Life in Thailand is good, isn’t it? :)
