Cost in Cambodia: "Same Same, But Different" as Thailand

We know that everyone spends differently, and a budget can be extremely variable; however, after leaving an area, we want to provide some perspective on the cost associated with staying there for anyone interested in doing a similar trip.  Our budget of $150/day (we started with a lower target range of $100 but we are obviously nowhere close to that!) is for 2 people and does not include the $10,000 round-the-world flights (plus trip insurance) already paid for.  The budget also does not account for the bills we are continuing to pay at home.  The bulk of our budget allows for low-to-mid-range lodging in hostels, budget hotels, or guesthouses for a target of $60/double; meals/drinks; use of public transportation; and cost to do some sightseeing and/or activities.  At $150/day, we have found we are not depriving ourselves from any experiences; except that, as foodies, we aren't as liberal with our budget on finding the best and trendiest restaurants (which we haven't missed at all).  An article titled, "Set Your Daily Number" by the veteran travel bloggers from Married With Luggage confirms that a daily average is a simple strategy for setting and meeting a budget.  We've got in the habit of taking a few minutes to record our daily expenditure so we can make small adjustments along the way.

Bayon Temple at Angkor Thom
in background, Cambodia.

ONLY 10 DAYS IN CAMBODIA, BUT FELT LONGER
For some reason, we felt like we were in Cambodia for a lot longer than 10 days (in a good way).  Maybe because we did so much and enjoyed so much in such a short period of time, it felt like we were there forever.  Good news is, one could practically live in Cambodia "forever" without hurting your finances. 

Again, traveling like "royalty", we ended up having the same daily cost of $130/day ($1300 total) as we did in Thailand.  However, our cost distribution wasn't exactly the same as it was in Thailand.  Lodging was equivalent.  Sticking to street food was just as affordable, although we actually spent more on food in Cambodia to satisfy some of our non-asian food cravings.  Fortunately, beer was dirt cheap in Cambodia while it can be quite expensive in Thailand, so our bar cost was cut in half.  In Cambodia, we forked over a lot more money on admission fees to Angkor Wat, museums, and memorial sites - a cost that we barely had in Thailand.  Massage, laundry, and transportation were just as cheap as it was in Thailand.  So, all-in-all, "same, same, but different". 


LODGING
Total $329 or $33/night/double occupancy.  Our best lodging experience we had was in Cambodia at Gloria Angkor Hotel in Siem Reap and that was a whopping $20/night.  We still can't hardly believe it.  So, one can easily sleep in luxury for hardly anything in Cambodia. 

TRANSPORTATION
Total $184 or $18/day.  This included our $25/pp Cambodian e-Visas, $50 in bus rides, and $60 for a personal tuk tuk driver in Siem Reap for 3 days.

MEALS
Total $391 or $39/day.  We spent more on food in Cambodia than in Thailand, but don't be misled.  Traditional Cambodian food can be found easily on any street, anywhere, anytime for very cheap.  However, after a month of Thai food, we visited some of the western food places in Phnom Penh and that always costs triple/quadruple.  It was worth it.  Man cannot live on rice alone...well, at least this man from Kansas!

DRINKS
Total $129 or $13/day.  Cambodian draught beers are ~50 cents at most bars/restaurants.  Quite inexpensive don't ya think?  So, what's with the $13/day cost then, especially since the hotels gave us free bottled water?  That's like...26 beers a day.  It's hard to believe but we didn't drink that much beer, we promise.  70% of this cost was spent over only 2 occasions at the Raffles Hotel Elephant Bar and the Foreign Correspondent's Club (FCC).  We should've stuck to the sidewalk bars with red plastic chairs.

ATTRACTIONS/ADMISSIONS
Total $140 or $14/day.  Angkor Archeological Park cost $40/pp for a 3-day pass.  The cost to get to the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Museum was the remainder of the cost.  All were well worth the expense.

MEDICAL
Total $16 on mosquito repellant!  A worthy investment to avoid welts and malaria (we took a gamble and didn't take any of our malaria pills).  In Cambodia, the highest DEET content we were able to find was 20%, while in Thailand, it went up to 95% DEET.  So far, the 20% seems to be working just as well as the 95%, until yesterday when we got some nasty bites in the Mekong River Delta.  Ugh.

PERSONAL CARE
Total $74, mostly on massage.  We got one-hour massages on 4 days because it only cost $18 for 2 people (including tip), and the quality of the massage was far better than most $90 massages we get in the States.  Why is that??

CLOTHES/LAUNDRY
Total $46, mostly on sending out our sweaty laundry on a daily basis.  Akiko said that she's not looking forward to doing her own laundry again when we get home. Mike reminded her that she never did the laundry before so she has nothing to worry about. Ha, ha. 

POSTCARDS/SOUVENIRS
Total $30.  Our tuk tuk driver in Siem Reap took us to the post office so we can buy Cambodian postage for our postcards.  We showed him the postage because he's never seen stamps before, seriously*.  He was mesmerized.  We think he was even more astounded by the cost at $1/stamp to mail a postcard.  $1 is equivalent to a day's wage for rural Cambodians.  $6 of the cost was spent on the knock-off Lonely Planet Vietnam book.

*In Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, we asked our hotel if they could mail our postcards for us.  They could not because the businesses do not have mail service. They directed us to the one post office in the city where we could drop them off in the mail box (we hope y'all get your postcards from Cambodia...*fingers crossed*).  So, we wondered how people get their mail, if any.  If they want mail delivered, they have to pay someone to deliver them to their home/business.  If they are not present to receive the mail, there is a very high possibility that the "courier (aka, random tuk tuk driver)" will pitch the mail.  Instead, people have PO boxes where they receive a notice in the box to collect their mail from an attendant.  Interesting...

FEES
Total $12 for the 1% ATM transaction fees.  Good news is, Cambodia transacts in US Dollars so whatever was left over, we didn't have to exchange at the border.  We shall keep it for a rainy day in December when we return!