I am the only member of the new cast who has travelled to Southeast Asia which gives me an interesting perspective on what we can expect.  Back in 1998, I was a bright-eyed, naive young woman.  I had spent a couple months in Europe the year before and therefore considered myself an accomplished world traveller (ha!).  The idea of traveling somewhere a bit rougher than Europe was something I had tossed around, but my mind was made up when the guy I was crazy in love with, Darren, told me he was going to Indonesia that winter.  I lied and said that I had also planned on going to Southeast Asia and maybe we could travel together.  He agreed, and although he was leaving a couple months earlier, we made plans to meet in Bangkok in January.

It’s a funny thing about expectations.  I imagined that Thailand (“the Land of Smiles”) would be exotic, untouched and the most amazing place on Earth.  That was not entirely my experience.  When I landed, a miscommunication meant that there was no one to meet me at the airport so I was left to try and find a guesthouse by myself at 1am…and naturally headed to Koh San Road.  I had never felt that kind of humidity before, and was terrified to see what it would be like in the mid-day heat.  We spent a few days in Bangkok, and I discovered that I despised that city.  To this day, after visiting tons of metropolises, there is no rival for the hatred I feel for Bangkok.  On the second night there, Darren took me to Patpong, which is the sex district of the city.  I was already suffering from some pretty serious culture shock, and I saw things there that I did not even know were humanly possible. Someone hawking T-shirts outside one of the ping pong places wouldn’t leave me alone and I had a major meltdown right there on the street.  I think a combination of the heat, aggressiveness and poverty (which I had never seen before) all attributed to the tears.  I begged Darren to get me the hell outta there.

The plan had been to spend the 2+ months just in Thailand.  That plan quickly changed.  We went north through Chang Mai and Chang Rai and entered Laos.  This was now closer to the trip I had envisioned – in 1998, Laos was very rough travel and not too many tourists were going there.    We started at Muang Sing, and went south through Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, and down to Pakse.  I ABSOLUTELY LOVED LAOS.  I knew virtually nothing about the country before we went, but we had the best time.  I loved that sometimes the only transportation was in the back of a pickup truck.  I loved that people who didn’t even speak English would invite us into their simple homes for a home-cooked meal.  And I loved that I was finally getting the kind of trip that I had envisioned.   After Laos, we headed into Cambodia and visited Ankor Wat…still to this day one of the most amazing things I have seen.   There is now an international airport in Siem Riep and the site is apparently crawling with people so I consider myself very fortunate to have gone when I did.  The last two weeks of our trip were spent in Southern Thailand, partying on the beaches of Krabi and Koh Samui.

In Northern Laos, the only transportation choice was often a very dusty, bumpy ride in the back of a pickup (which I thought was SO COOL). Here, I'm also getting a lesson in the treatment of animals in the third world.

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And the next Jet Set Zero destination is……..

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We made a lot of good friends during our time in Vietnam, but one of the best and most unexpected was Thao Trang.  Trang was in one of our general English classes, and asked us for weeks to go to her shows.  It took us awhile, but by the time we finally made it we realized what we were missing.  Trang is an incredibly beautiful and talented singer that really opened her life to us and showed us what Vietnam and Saigon were like for her.  This video lets you hear about her life, singing, and friendship with Jet Set Zero in her own words.

As you likely ascertained from both our blog and episode 201, money is and will be a big issue in Tokyo. Before launching into that discussion, I’d like to catch everyone up on our financial situation, and I should start by summarizing the cost of Season 1.

A core thesis of Jet Set Zero is that a lifestyle of travel is possible on poverty-level wages: we started with $0 cash and have funded all our travels with easily accessible jobs. After a summer of suffering, we had saved enough to land in Vietnam with $3,859, to support us until we had steady income. We actually found teaching jobs within weeks, and while it took some time to accumulate a sustainable set of teaching hours, we did manage to refill our funds. So our travel-budget thesis was proven for Vietnam.

Dan used his teaching income to journey back home, so all the numbers I’ll include here are just for Rob, Brian, and I…

Budget Gourmet

From Seattle: + $3,859
In Seattle, we lived as spartan a life as possible, eating on less than $1.20/person/meal, utilizing the public bus system, and foregoing restaurants, movies, long trips, even decent beer. It was hell, but it was only 3 months and you’d be surprised how far camaraderie can carry you: being poor is brutal, but being poor with your friends is a lot less miserable. In total, we pulled in $12,451 on 11 weeks of work. We managed to spend only $4,140 during the summer – food, utilities, transportation, phones, insurance, and 5 outings. Our total preparations for travel–tickets, VISA’s, vaccinations, expat insurance–came to $4352. So we survived the summer to land in Vietnam with $3859.

Mayhem

Teaching Revenue: + $6,788
In three months, for a combined total of around 450 hours of teaching, we made almost $7,000. We would have made more, but because we were only in Vietnam for 3 months, our school gave us limited hours. When YOU go to Vietnam to teach, you’ll stay for 1 year, so you’ll make far more money in 3 months’ time…

Minh Guesthouse

Accommodations: – $1,940
In our first guesthouse, we spent about $15/night for 2 doubles for a little over a month, but then Brian, Rob, and I moved to a new neighborhood, where we paid:
* $240/month for Brian’s single
* $280/month for Rob’s and my double, pictured to the left
* All in all, around $230/person/month is pretty damned good.

Turtle Dove

Food: – $1,652
Our eating adventures took us from 25 cent donuts to $30/lb fresh lobster, but we ate almost exclusively at local (non-western) food places, so we generally didn’t pay much. This food budget amounts to $6.12/person/day, which treated us to fried noodles, numerous hotpots, fresh avocado shakes, bird head and goat’s penis, dog, beating snake heart, small Vietnamese sandwiches, the occasional egg omelet, and of course, tons of Pho.

Rob's Coffee

Coffee (Cafe Sua Da): – $102

Given that each coffee is roughly 55 cents, I thought it would be worth acknowledging that we purchased around 200 coffees in our time in Saigon. This also doesn’t include the innumerable coffees Rob and I made in our room in an attempt to save money, using a simple single-cup coffee drip. I suppose it’s a sad state of affairs when you’re making coffee to avoid a 55 cent price tag…

Seriously.

Beer: – $150
I know this may not seem like an intimidating number, but it doesn’t include the many beers our friends bought for us…and considering that beer costs about 50 cents for a big bottle, Saigon may have been harsh for both our lungs (pollution) AND our livers. Our favorites were Saigon Green – the domestic rice beer – and Bia Hoi – the fresh local beer on tap. We had to adjust to drinking beer with ice, but after awhile – eh, it’s beer, get used to it. Some of my favorite memories were sipping beer with friends, watching the lifeblood of Saigon flow through the streets, listening to the chorus (cacophony) of sounds, and letting the worries of the day slough off my shoulders.

Little Motorbike

Transit around Saigon: – $470
Lyhn (a.k.a. Bonus Hog) cost us $125 to buy and probably another $30 in repairs – she was a demanding mode of transit, somewhat like a sleek sports car…somewhat. Our rental bikes cost $50/month each, but we didn’t actually rent them until October. Gas cost us 60 cents/liter ($2.20/gallon), so we only spent around $45 total. Helmets were $10/each. Finally, there were some times we couldn’t motorbike, so we spent another $90 in taxi rides and Xe Oms (motorbike taxis).

Mounting

Random Adventures: $100
Riding ostriches, grass skiing, amusement parks, waterslides, a couple dates, a LAN party, a movie or 2, a Thanksgiving celebration, some Karaoke mishaps, and a couple other rounds of fun at Saigon prices. Also, despite our best efforts, we didn’t actually pay for lots of this stuff due to our friends’ overwhelming hospitality, so the number above doesn’t necessarily reflect actual prices. It does, however, further demonstrate that our friends made our time in Vietnam what it was.

Phu Quoc

Trips Out and About: – $744
In truth, the only major trips we paid for were the journey to Nha Trang and our trek to Phu Quoc island. $744 paid for the following:
* Trains to/from Nha Trang; transit to/from Phu Quoc
* Chartered boat around the islands of Nha Trang
* Guesthouses in Nha Trang and bungalows on Phu Quoc
* Sustenance, including food, beer, and coffee
* Motorbike rentals for ripping around Phu Quoc island

Miscellaneous: – $125
* Cell phones ($30 each), sim cards ($5 each), and a handful of minutes recharges ($3 each)
* Totally legit software and DVD’s ($1 – $7 each)
* Shampoo and soap (very cheap, and certainly not expensive enough to justify how little we bought)
* Laundry (50 cents/kilogram, also not expensive enough to justify how little we did laundry)
* Tailored shirts ($15/each)
* Odds and ends from various markets

So in 3 months’ time, we had $5,364, meaning VICTORY! Starting with $0 in Seattle, we made enough to travel to Vietnam and not go broke. Moreover, in our last month, our teaching hours were ramping up, our spending was going down, and were getting a taste of what a lifestyle would be like for 1 year in Vietnam. We proved it can be done in Vietnam. So if what you’ve seen on this blog and in our episodes intrigues you, go do it now – Vietnam is waiting for adventurous travelers. We did a lot in 3 months – imagine what you could do in 1 year.

Next, I’ll explain how much we landed in Tokyo with to restart our experiment.

This video brings to a close our series on the foods of our adventure so far.  Honestly Eating this was by far the most intense food experience of my life. 

Warning:  As we do eat the still beating heart of a snake this video is a bit graphic.

We’ve got a look back at what life used to be like in Vietnam.  A short glimpse into what it was like to live in Ho Chi Minh, and our home there.  Housing in Vietnam had its own style, but one things for sure – it was cheaper than Tokyo.