First, food! I found a large selection of restaurants in town, and I’ve eaten at several, but I really have to tell you first about the diner where I ate my first meal in town (and I’ve been there several times since).

Diners are about as American as you can get, if you exclude those beastly fast food places. After all, this blog is about real places—and real food.

So anyway, I’m cruising along down the main drag, West Street, and I’m nearly blinded by the reflection off the stainless steel exterior of the Double-T Diner.  It was surrounded by a parking lot full of cars. I had to try the place.

Here's the front, so you'll know what it looks like when you drive by

This photo doesn't do it justice

One of the items was called baklavah cheesecake. Baklavah, if you don’t know, is a honey-dripping, walnut-laden, flaky, rich Greek pastry. You know what cheesecake is. I can’t tell you what baklavah cheesecake is like because I didn’t try it. I didn’t dare.

My waitress was properly sassy, the coffee wasn’t bad (and it was constantly refilled, just like in Minnesota), and my hamburger was done the way I asked: so with a good vet it would recover, and it was big.

I waddled out a happy newcomer to Annapolis.

http://www.tinyurbankitchen.com/2010/10/pizza-tour-of-my-travels.html

Cute article by someone deeply into travel. Describes making pizzas to match flags of the countries she’s visited.

The flag maker is a Taiwanese lady. Be sure to follow the link.

Malaysia is the most westernized country in this part of the world. Good if you’re timid about visiting really strange places. Not all of it is fancy hotels and museums, or large metropolitan areas, though you can certainly find all of that. This street is in Melaka, a city that goes back to the early 1400′s.

I've seen a lot of streets that look pretty much like this

Lest I disappoint you with that blue-collar-looking neighborhood, Malaysia has lots of modern, high-tech exotic locales, too. Everybody has seen the Petronas Twin Towers in the capital. Here’s another area, called the sustainable towers. To me, all cities are inherently unsustainable, but there you have it.

Sustainable residential design. See the trees inside?

The toilets are western style and you can drink the water. Transportation is comfortable. Lots of people speak Engrish. Prices are higher.

Get out of town and prices are still a lot cheaper than what you’ll find in the US, but more than elsewhere in this part of the world.

The interior jungle is still pretty good, though it’s disappearing (they’re chopping down the jungle and building sustainable towers. Go figure.), and the beaches and islands are beautiful. Find the right island and you and your spouse can enjoy a nice place with meals and snorkeling gear for maybe $25 a day. If I want a big town, though, I’ll go visit NYC.

But let’s consider actual sleeping accommodations. In Bali, part of Indonesia. For one night. What do you pay, and what do you get?

$1–$4 gets you a basic room with a shared bath (down the hall) out in the country, not in town. This type of place is called a guesthouse. (ahem) Your Serenity agent will fix you up with something higher class, but if you’re out vagabonding, this is where it’s at. These are not part of any chain as far as I know, and you pretty much have to ask around to find one.

$5–$10 gets you a shower of your own, and in the right areas gets you a big room with a private bath, veranda, surrounded by tropical gardens. The upper end of this range includes a king-size bed, maid service and breakfast.

This look worth $10 a night to you?

$15 in some areas gets you air conditioning and a pool.

$20 or less on Samosir Island gets you a two-room suite

Off season, $50–75 in most of the country gets you a place that would rate four stars.

Let’s head into Jakarta. You can spend $250 at a lavish resort. And they go way up from there in the right areas. If you’re determined to spend a grand per night, you can do it.

Now let’s talk about food. Typical Indonesian food is one of a million variations on noodle or rice soup. Spiciness varies a lot, too. You won’t get bored. Indonesia, by the way, is where chickens came from, and you can see them running around, and you can get them in your soup. They’re leaner than the relaxed, plump ladies I keep in my back yard, but they’re better off than the poor creatures in a chicken factory. But I digress.

$0.40 gets you a cheap meal from a street vendor. Eat where you can see the food being prepared, and from places that look clean. Spend a buck in a restaurant. Some places serve family style. The tab will come to a few bucks. Tourist traps cost you maybe $15 unless you go to some world-famous place. Seafood is the best meat to eat, and don’t drink the water! The coffee is okay, though. Actually, the coffee is outstanding.

This guy found an uncrowded spot to pose for his picture

You get the idea. The cheaper the more adventuresome. The more expensive, the more like home. And why would you go to Indonesia to experience what you can get at home?

Australia is off the lower right corner, Thailand and Vietnam off the upper left

The cheapest island in this already inexpensive country is said to be Sumatra. I don’t recommend Java right now unless you’re volunteering for volcano emergency relief. Mt Merapi is spectacular, but it’s causing serious problems for the folks who live near it. All the guidebooks emphasize the variety of scenery and culture available in this area. Indonesia has a lot of people, and they’ve been there a long time, so living on separate islands makes them all different. Not that anyplace is the beaten track (we’re talking Borneo, Komodo, and Bali here), do a search on places like Lombok and Bonggakaradeng to get really off the beaten track. Oh yes—if you like to snorkel, check out Sulawesi.

Houses in Bonggakaradeng

One little caveat about the low prices. Be prepared to bargain.

Thai food is easy to like. I’m especially fond of the coffee, a multi-layered concoction with lots of cream. You can eat most cheaply on the street, from a vendor, but the restaurants are maybe a fourth what you would pay in the US. The food is safe and tasty, but don’t drink the water. Buy bottled water. Unless, of course, you want to catch Montezuma’s revenge. The bathrooms are nice, but you don’t want to spend all your time there.

Some of the more exotic victuals

I mentioned a few posts back that natural wonders tend to be less expensive than museums and amusement parks. Here’s a natural place to see. It’s on the route of an eco-tour.

A word of warning: The communist countries are superficially friendly, but their universal philosophy is “soak the Rich American Tourist.” You have been warned.

Our general rule that the farther from the Big City, the lower the prices, but even the famous tourist spots are usually pretty reasonable. Just be aware that you’re doing tourist locations, not the real, authentic native culture. Of course, if you’re spending the bucks to fly clear to Indonesia or Thailand, you probably can feel justified to stick with the safe, public, touristy areas. They’ll be plenty exotic even if they are “tuned” for the tourist trade.

Here’s what I mean by luxury bargain: A top-of-the-line hotel in Bankok can be under $200 a night. This is for the kind of room (and hotel accouterments) that would cost you several times as much in, say Europe. Go to the bookstore and page through a fancy travel magazine for pictures of these places. By the way, I found a place in Thailand that charges $5000 per night, so you can definitely go expensive if you want. (It was for groups—3 fancy rooms, 6 less fancy rooms, and breakfast)

Get out of town, though, and visit the villages. You can find a clean room to rent for ten bucks.

These folks will even let you help feed the pigs if you want

Another tip: You’ll find lots of folks with some English, but it’s a good idea to bring a phrasebook.

Speaking of feeding livestock, one of our hens hatched out seven chicks last Sunday. You can stop by and feed them if you like. Visit my personal blog, Mushrooms to Motorcycles, for a picture and the story.

More on Asia next time.

Consider renting out your house while you are gone. To someone in, say, Sweden, a visit to the town that hosts the Kalmar Nykel (sailing ship that brought Swedish immigrants to Delaware, where this blog originates) and is so close to DC and NYC might make a pretty attractive vacation. Subtract the rent from the cost of your vacation.

The Kalmar Nykel in Wilmington. Click to enlarge.

Organizations are out there that broker house exchanges. Or just plain rent it short-term to a doctoral student and family for the spring term. Figure out your own creative solution. (And share your idea in the comments.)

Principle six: Natural wonders tend to be less expensive than man-made attractions. For example, there’s a fee to go see the Mt. Rushmore sculptures, but you can drive through the badlands all day for the price of a tank of gas, which you’d have to spend anyway to get to Rushmore.Let’s don’t even mention theme parks.

Everybody sees Mt. Rushmore from the front; here's a profile view. Don't forget to buy a made-in-China souvenir at the sucker gift shop.

Free, and you can go exploring

Okay, maybe I come across a bit cynical here, but the principle remains. Anything made with tourists in mind is expensive, anything that’s already there is cheap.

By the way—I forgot to mention last time that you don’t have to volunteer, you can go somewhere for education, a seminar, or maybe secure a temporary transfer or go to a convention for work. Add a day or two on your own and you have a discounted vacation.

The less you spend, the more you will interact with the locals. Tourist attractions tend to be set up to isolate tourists from “furriners” and make it easy for the “guests” to spend money. Take a bus tour. You’re with the other tourists. When they stop, where do they do it? At places to buy stuff, where the locals are people whose livelihood is selling to tourists. Those beautiful luxury resorts, to be truly luxurious, are isolated from the (often poor) people of the country. People spending money on themselves don’t want to be bothered by beggars.

Exotic Zanzibar. Tourists are on the beautiful beaches, not here

Of course, this locale would disturb anyone’s vacation (but see the next principle). But if you get out into the countryside, away from the slums, in a lot of countries the people are making a living and getting by. They’re a pretty interesting place to visit, and you’re more likely to pay the local rates. Yes, you won’t have a liveried waiter at your every beck and call, but you’ll have real life experiences that you’ll never forget. All this suggests the next principle.

Principle 4: What if you volunteer instead of vacation? I never heard of a missionary of any flavor who wouldn’t love to have some folks come and help out. What skills do you have? Someone in an exotic locale can use them. There are lots of quasi- and non-governmental organizations out there, too, if something like that is more your style. Here’s another view of Zanzibar:

This guy is helping out in a school

Seriously—consider doing some good instead of just spending money on yourself.

More next time. What ideas do you have to share?

Well, I like to travel cheaply, so I remember some principles without needing my notes. I’m not going to tell you to sleep next to your motorcycle, though I have done that. Part of the adventure, dontcha know.

Principle 1: Get out of town. Especially the town containing the airport you flew in on. These urban centers get a lot of tourists, and the folks there tend to capitalize on the tendency of tourists to spend money. The farther off the beaten track you get, the more you will be offered prices that the locals pay.

A corollary of this is: Stay away from things aimed at tourists—shopping areas, tours, chains, and other tourists. For example, suppose you’re taking a simple trip down the interstate. You can pull off at a truck stop near the highway and get a decent meal (it’s a good idea to pick the place with the most tractor-trailers in the lot), but if you go a couple miles into the local farm community, you can eat at Kitty’s Koffie Kup, that has absolutely no atmosphere, but it’s where all the locals eat, you get a really good meal, and pick up some local color to boot.In fact, you might find out about something nearby that’s worth checking out. The county park, town museum, a nice antique store, some local geological feature.

This isn't the Koffie Kup, but you get the idea

And that leads to

Principle 2: The slower you travel , the cheaper the trip. Most of the best foreign really good deals will be noticed and experienced by the backpackers—people who pack lightly enough that they can carry everything with them. They get off the big commercial tour bus and rent a bike so they can explore the countryside. We’ll cover this in more detail later. The idea is like that visit to the farm community. Sure, you’re not making highway speed, but the trip itself is better. And the local sights are generally free.

Next time: a few more principles for cheap travel.