The month of October was my second month on the road but my first FULL month of travel (I spent the first week and a half of September at home in Massachusetts). I also spent the 10th month of the year in two separate countries: China and Nepal. The majority of my time in Nepal was spent on the Jiri - Everest Base Camp trek which I’ll write a separate budget up for later.

CHINA (Chengdu, Lijiang, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Kunming)

I spent 12 days in China during the month of October (plus one day in Kuala Lumpur in transit between China and Nepal).

Total time: 13 days

Accomodation: 405 CNY or $65.96 (avg. 31.15 CNY/day or $5.07/day). All of my accommodation was spent in hostel dorms (plus one night sleeping on a rock hard bench in the airport in Kuala Lumpur) so lodging was once again cheap.

Food: 663 CNY or $107.98 (avg. 51 CNY/day or $8.31/day). I continued to stick to mostly street food (plus a splurge or two to McCafe…shhh) which kept the food budget on the lower side.

Transport: 1309 CNY or $213.19 (avg. 100.69 CNY/day or $16.40/day). I did a fair bit of moving around during the month of October including two flights, a long train ride, and three long bus rides.

Sightseeing: 62 CNY or $10.10 (avg. 4.77 CNY/day or $0.78/day). My sightseeing was limited to the Tiger Leaping Gorge during the second half of the month.

Other: 30 CNY or $4.89. This expense was laundry on two separate occasions.

Total spent: 2469 CNY ($402.12)

Average spent per day: 189.92 CNY ($30.93)

NEPAL (Kathmandu, Everest Base Camp Trek)

I spent 18 days in Nepal during the month of October, most of which was spent hiking the Jiri-Everest Base Camp trail. I had about 4 days in Kathmandu before leaving for the trek which was spent gathering supplies, permits, and visa extensions. I’ll be posting a much more detailed budget about the EBC trek alone at a later date.

Total time: 18 days

Accomodation: 2256 NPR (Nepalese Rupees) or $22.79 (avg. 125.33 NPR/day or $1.27/day). Again all of my accommodation was spent in hostel dorms or in the tea houses along the Everest trail (and most accommodation we received for free…more on that in later posts as well).

Food: 22755 NPR or $229.85 (avg. 1264.17 NPR/day or $12.77/day). The food here in Kathmandu is amazing and cheap so there is a lot of eating going on! Also the food on the trek gets more and more expensive the higher up in elevation you go so that became the most expensive part of the trip.

Transport: 1645 NPR or $16.62 (avg. 91.39 NPR/day or $16.40/day). This includes bus and taxi rides to and from locations around Kathmandu and to the start of my Everest trek.

Sightseeing: Zero. I did no sightseeing before I left Kathmandu for the Everest Base Camp trek. I suppose the trek itself was one long sightseeing endeavor but all permits for the trek I included in the ‘Other’ category below along with everything else I needed for the trek.

Other: 17210 NPR or $172.93 (avg. 951.11 NPR/day or $9.61/day). This includes all necessary permits for the trek, an extension to my Nepali visa so I could stay a bit longer after my trek, and gear that I bought or rented in Thamel, Kathmandu.

Total spent: 43776 NPR ($442.18)

Average spent per day: 2432 NPR ($24.57)

ENTIRE MONTH OF OCTOBER (CHINA AND NEPAL)

Total (31 days): $844.30

Average (31 days): $27.24

Not too bad for all the moving around I did during the month of October (especially within China and then between China and Nepal). All the permits and gear for the Everest trek definitely jacked up the overall price a bit but I’m happy that my overall spending stayed under $1000 for the month. I know that’s not a travel budget threshold I’ll be able to hold on to forever but it’s great while it lasts!

Does transportation and moving around usually make up the majority of your monthly budget?