After finally leaving my home away from home in Byron Bay the last month has seen me bounce back into the crazy chaos of Asia!
I flew into Singapore (somewhere I’ve never visited before) and met up with my little bro – who will be travelling with me for the next few months. After a single night in Singapore we jumped on a plane to Bali to meet up with some of my surf students and buddies from Morocco for an Indo adventure…
Our time in Bali was exactly what we planned it to be – filled with surfing, partying and exploring. We hit up the infamous surf breaks of Uluwatu, travelled north to the lazy left hander of Medewi and caused heaps of chaos partying hard in Kuta. It wasn’t all surf and partying though – we spent some time relaxing on Gili T and exploring Ubud too…!
Parting ways towards the end of the month me and the bro headed back for a few nights in Singapore before meeting up with a buddy from home in Kuala Lumpar as she makes her way through Asia.
It’s weird backpacking with people for such a prolonged period of time again – it can be pretty testing but it’s been a heaps fun month!
And onto the stats…
Overland Distance; 1040.79km
Flight Distance; 9532.49km
Total Distance; 10573.28km
Countries; Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia
Main Spots; Byron Bay, Singapore, Kuta, Uluwatu, Gili T, Medewi, Ubud, Kuala Lumpar, Perhenthian Islands
Transport Taken; mini bus, taxi, surfboard, ferry, dive boat, night bus
Flights – 3; BNE-SIN, SIN-DPS, DPS-SIN
Money Breakdown
Australia – £15 over 1 day = £15 per day (literally just on food/drink at the airport!)
Singapore – £182.96 over 4 days = £45.74 per day
Indonesia – £706.12 over 24 days = £30.70 per day
Malaysia – £113.41 over 3 days = £37.80 per day
Total spent – £1307.02 over 31 days = £42.16 per day
My wallet is definitely enjoying being back in Asia where I’m spending nearly £500 less a month than I was backpacking in Australia! Still I need to keep on top of the budget if I want to hit my £25 a day target.
Cheapest Place – It’s got to be Kuta in Bali – one of the cheapest places I’ve visited! You can easily stay and play here for under £10 a day.
Most Expensive Place – Singapore, it’s a pretty expensive city!
Biggest Splurge/Unforeseen Expense – no real unforeseen expenses this month, but I did have a bit of a splurge in the Ripcurl store in Bali on some new boardies and reef booties. Travel specific wise it was the return boat and bus combo to Gili T which was my biggest outlay at around £40.
Overland travel costs in general have been my biggest outlay this month with quite a few buses, boats and minibuses thrown in there.
Highlight – The highlight of this month simply has to be sharing some waves with my surf buddies from Morocco and catching up with my little bro, it’s pretty good to travel with some familiar faces again despite my love for solo backpacking!
Lowlight – Towards the end of my time in Bali I got ill for the first time in ages – it sucked heaps and I’ve spent the best part of a week with a chesty cough, blocked sinuses and an ear infection. Not how you want to be feeling in the heat of Asia and with a lot of bouncing around to do! It’s also stopped me from diving a few places I really wanted too as well which sucks!
Top Shot
This month I was pretty slack on the photo front given all the surfing! I am pretty stoked with my night shot of Kuala Lumpurs iconic Petrona Towers though – definitely worth a visit both day and night if you’re passing through this way.
What’s Next?
After bouncing out of Kuala Lumpar we’ve just arrived at the Malaysian Perhentian islands to chill out and party with Sam of Totally Sams World.
From there me and the little bro are heading over the border into Thailand where we shall be hitting up some of the Thai Islands before ending up in Bangkok mid month where the girl will be waiting (I haven’t seen her for nearly 5months!) and we’ll be heading over the border into my favourite Asian country – Cambodia – as my bro flies to Australia to begin his working holiday visa.
It’s going to be a pretty fast paced month but I’m stoked for it!
Chris, I find your blogs very interesting, genuine and meaningful. Seriously, they are really worth it. Have a nice day ahead ! :)
Just found your site through Ytravelblog – so glad I stopped by. :)
We just started travelling – July was our first whole month – and just posted about our expenses too. Loooving the transparency! Will be following you along in the future.
Enjoy Asia and safe travels! :)
welcome to the blog Celia – stoked you like it!
hopefully the monthly summaries will help you prepare for bouncing around – looks like you have the same problem as me with over spending through! Still the first few months on the road are the worst for adjusting to low cost living, you’ll get there!
I look forward to reading about your adventures!
Absolutely! I love to read about how others are doing this, and yes it takes time to adjust! Mostly without the opportunity to cook food we find it hard. But we’ll survive! :D
Thanks for your kind words!
Hi Chris,
What are your thoughts on Singapore for the backpacker? Did you enjoy it? Would you recommend going there for a few days, despite the cost?
Sean.
Hey Sean, to be honest I was pretty ill whilst there and didn’t explore as much as I wanted to. It’s definitely worth the cost for a few nights through – the marina and the night safari are well worth checking out.