Costs, Exchange, and How to get Around

I just realized that while raving about how cheap it is and how easy it is to get around, I haven't even referenced the sources and basics of costs and transport. So I'll do that now.

The Thai currency is called Baht, and the exchange is just under 35 Baht per U.S. dollar. My rooms have cost me 100 Baht, my meals are 30-50 Baht, a bottle of water is 5-10 Baht, and a bottle of beer is 50 Baht. Mind you, I'm paying for four walls, a bed, and a cold shower. So, on a day when I'll just hang out and cruise town, I'll spend between $10-$12. The most I've spent in a day was $20, and that was because I was doing a ton of moving around. But on average, going to a temple or two, maybe renting a bike, or going to a national park, I'll spend more like $12-$16. Crazy, no?

Modes of transportation are pretty interesting here.

There's motorbike taxis, and they'll take you somewhere a few miles away, like the center of town to a bus station or something like that. That'll cost you 20-50 Baht. There's also a sawngthaew, a pick up truck with two benches and a canopy. These range from having fixed routes to cruising town picking up people who need a ride. I used one to travel 5 hours into another region and all it cost me was 120 Baht. So, they're dirt cheapt too. In big cities you have what's called a tuk-tuk, a three wheeled motor scooter with a carriage in the back. They're more for going one part of the city to another, 30 Baht. Renting a motor bike is great, too, and that's what I've been using alot of. A 24-hour rental will cost you 150 Baht, so it's barely five bucks for the day and it only costs $2 to fill up. Bicycle rental is 30 Baht for the day, great for seeing a town's outskirts. And lastly you have a full range of buses. The ordinary bus is your local town to town bus with no A/C (which you need here), and the first/second class bus is the air conditioned multi-hour trip bus with good recline capability. Obviously, first class gets you more comfort. Then there's VIP, the two tiered bus great for overnight drives long ways away, like 9-12 hours. This would be the equivalent of flying first class on an air plane. The train system isn't great here, as they travel rather slow. But these are clutch for over night trips twelve hours away because it will kill a night of accomodation and get you somewhere in the morning, plus you can get a sleeper car.