BruceStats
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BruceStats
Thailand Bike Trip November 6, 2022 - January 21, 2023
"Luxury is the enemy of observation, a costly indulgence that induces such a good feeling that you notice nothing."
Paul Theroux - Ghost Train to the Eastern Star
Duration of our trip - 77 Days
Number of consecutive days with huge smiles - 77
Miles ridden on our bikes - 1025
Number of days riding - 31
Number of days exploring towns - 39
Number of days taking other transportation - 7
Approx. miles by train - 915
Approx. miles by bus - 287
Total number of miles traveled in Thailand - 2227
Air miles from Portland to Bangkok - 8000
Air miles from Bangkok to Portland - 8000
Number of rain drops while riding - a burst that lasted all of 4 minutes. All other rain occurred while we were not riding. So, basically, ZERO rain.
Total cost of the 77 day trip for both of us - $3,894 including round-trip airfare.
Round Trip airfare for two - Portland - Bangkok - Portland $1567 which comes to 40% of the total cost of the trip.
Cheapest Hotel - $10 - (seven times)
Most expensive hotel - $37 (two nights)
Average price for a hotel - $18 (About the same as three years ago.)
Total we spent on lodging - $1320, which was 34% of the total but if airfare is not included in this calculation it comes to 57% of our total on-the-ground expenses
$1008 for all our meals, ice cream, coffee, bus fares, train fares, boat fares, entrance fees, beer, Lao visas - ($40 each), garden seeds, bags of muesli, packets of coffee mix, bananas, mangoes, papayas, other fruits, soy milk, tray food, junk food for trains, etc. 26% of the total,
We ate in at least 88 different restaurants for a total of $334. The average cost of dinner for the two of us - $3.80 (50% more than 3 years ago.)
Number of times we made our own breakfasts in our room - 39, or half the mornings of our trip. It consisted of combinations of papaya, mangoes, bananas, with muesli & soy milk.
Banana Index: Small ones were fairly consistent @ at least 50 per $. We ate a total of 242 bananas which sounds like a lot but it was less than two per person per day and they were usually quite small.
Papaya Index: Cheapest - $.14 Most Expensive - $2.25 Papayas have gone way up in price in three years.
Mango Index: Cheapest - $.14 Most Expensive - $.56 Mangoes have come way down in price in three years.
Number of times we had coffee at coffee stands or coffee houses - 63
Cheapest coffee - $.33
Most Expensive coffee - $1.70
Number of times we made coffee in our rooms using coffee mix - countless.
Number of times we had Khao Soi - 10 By far a record but this is due to Khao Soi available all over the place in Thailand now - a big change.
Average price of a bowl of Khao Soi - $1.25
Bottom line for expenses: Airfare - 40%
Lodging - 34%
Food etc. - 26%
The other bottom line: $15 per person per day for the entire trip. That means that if you were a backpacker in your twenties and stayed in the cheapest places and ate like we did or even cheaper street food you could have an amazing trip easily for $10 a day. There are probably few places in the world where you can still do this. And there are probably even fewer places in the world that are as interesting, with as wonderful people and with as great food, where you can have such a cheap trip.
Although the internet and data plans are better in Thailand than they used to be, often it took me hours to post a single entry to our journal. The photos were excruciatingly slow to upload, sometimes taking ten minutes per photo! A labor of love, I tell you!
A Thai sim card - $.85
1 month unlimited data plan - $8.45
All photos taken with iPhones
Worst toothpaste I've ever experienced in my life - Colgate SALT! Why on earth!
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Number of foreign cycle tourists we saw and/or talked with - 9 - (2 Dutch, 2 Belgium, 1 German, 1 Italian, 1 French and 2 didn't stop to talk - looked German).
Things found on menus:
Streay Pork with Crispy Crackling
Egg Salad Ravenous
Potato Chap w/Bacon
Nuggets
Karaage
Toon Tong Crispy
Cardy Juice
Earliest koel bird singing - 3AM in Bangkok. I figured it needed to beat the traffic noise.
The number of photos in this journal - 1563!
Most important items brought along: Tennis racket electrocution device to rid a room of mosquitoes. Sawyer Mini water filter. And a third item: Sawyer Premium Insect Repellent 20% Picaridin - it really works and is not toxic. Note: Mosquitoes were nearly non-existent everywhere we went. This is a huge change. Must be chemical use.
Number of squashed snakes on the roads - An astounding 247, that's more than three per day!
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https://www.simandan.com/8-facts-about-the-oriental-whipsnake/
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3 live snakes seen on the road including a monocle cobra! - one of the most deadly snakes in Thailand - and being a baby makes no difference.
Biggest surprise - I knew I would be sad about not being able to go to Burma but I was not prepared for how sad I would be once I was right next door. We have almost always visited Burma when in S.E. Asia but the reality of not being able to was a big blow. I feel so bad about what the horrible military junta is doing to its own people. Burma and the Burmese people will never be the same.
No illness
No injury
No dog problems
No bike problems
No crashies
No flatties
No whammies
After much discussion and consideration by the BruceStats Organization™, they have concluded that this here bicycle adventure was a PERFECT TRIP.
lovebruce
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1 year ago
Beginning to understand this journal as a refuge in and of itself. While it might be true that luxury is the enemy of observation, I'll continue to flourish in the space, when observation is just too much to handle. I can sometimes let you two do that for me here. What a gift… Thank you so much
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