Traveling Across Thailand for 100 Hours with $100

Today, I'm challenging myself to travel across Thailand for 100 hours with $100. And full transparency, I don't even know if this challenge is going to be possible because I am currently off the coast of southern Thailand. And our goal is to make it all the way up to the north to Chiang Mai in time to see one of the most beautiful festivals in the entire world, the Lantern Festival, all with $100. I chose to do this challenge in Thailand because it's known as being one of the top budget travel destinations in the world, which we're putting to the test. I'm traveling with my videographer, Max, who technically isn't the one with the strict $100 budget, but by default, he's here for the journey. Sorry, Max. But now, first things first. Time to go find the cheapest thing on this menu. The eggs on toast? Well, this is probably going to be the bougiest food of this entire trip. Worth it. The first step in this journey is going to be finding the cheapest way to get from Phuket to Bangkok. And after doing some research online, it's looking like the cheapest way to get there is going to be a 13-hour overnight bus ride for $21. And unfortunately, the flight is only about $10 more expensive, and it's only an hour and a half long. But money is a bit more valuable than time in this challenge. And the added bonus is that the bus station is in walking distance, so we're not going to have to take a taxi to get there. Walking down the street to the terminal, it just started to rain as we were realizing probably going to need some snacks, this 13-hour bus ride, and voila, super cheap snacks. Time is of the essence because we're not at the terminal yet, and this is the last bus for the rest of the night. All right. I think I may have unintentionally just gotten myself an entire haul of Thai snacks from the supermarket, but we really got to get out of here because the bus is leaving in like 10 minutes, and we're not even at the station yet. Time to go rush to the bus station. Made it to the bus station. It was like five minutes to spare. One step closer to the Lantern Festival, baby. Let's go. It's home sweet home for the next 13 hours. Not a ton of leg room to be found, but we'll make it work. We've officially taken off. And the bed. Only about 520 miles to go. It's going to be a long night. We're about halfway through the journey, maybe. Be a little bit less than halfway. We're definitely getting a little bit delusional falling asleep. Maybe just pulled over at a rest stop to stand up for a little bit. Oh my god. I thought it was 1230. It's only 1030 p.m. So we're four and a half hours into the mission. That changes my entire perspective on this. We have so much longer to go. Apparently included in the price of our ticket is a small rice-based meal. And after observing said food, I think that we determined that if there was ever anywhere that you're going to get food poisoning, it is definitely bus station free food. So we might opt out. Longest nights had in a while. I feel like a zombie, but we just hopped into the taxi. After doing some last minute research on the bus, we found a pretty decent and reasonably priced hotel to be staying at here in Bangkok for the next two nights. Amazingly enough, this hotel is only $19 for two nights here. It looks clean so far. This is also a... It's not a hostel. It's a hotel, but it does have a shared bathroom. Home sweet home in Bangkok. Barely pushing anything, but at least there's something. This is where I'm going to be staying for the next two nights as we explore Bangkok on a budget. And for less than $10 a night, this place might not look like much, but it's definitely a lot better than the worst reviewed hotel in Bangkok, which we explored in the last video. But for now, I'm just trying to get some rest because that bus ride was exhausting. Right down the street from our hotel is one of the most famous backpacking destinations on the entire planet. This is Khoi San Road in Bangkok, and it is well known for being one of the cheapest places to travel on the entire planet. This place got really popular in the 1970s and has been popular ever since. And I am absolutely starving right now, so we're going to go find a nice affordable meal. And I'm thinking about splurging for some kind of a massage because, wow, that 13-hour bus ride really killed my back. Hi. How are you? Good. Back bad. Back is very bad, actually. Sit down. Okay. It hurts here, so yes. How about the other side? Both sides. I do anywhere. I do both, anywhere. I do more than 35,000 people already. It's ticklish. One second. What is this kind of massage called? It means magic massage, magic finger. Mr. Fix It. That was amazing. Yeah, give me one beer, 900 baht, yeah. Okay. Or 500, I don't care. No, I do good job. Good job. Thanks. Thank you. Oh my God, what a character. Thank you. Perfectly, thank you. You know, the nightlife in Khoi San Road and in Bangkok is some of the most famous in the world, but because we're on a pretty tight budget, we're not going to be spending any money on alcohol because I would so much rather put that money towards having unique experiences. So we're going to eat some dinner, get some sleep tonight, and wake up early for tomorrow's adventures. With this reliable laptop of being a travel content creator, seamlessly with the network to drive, I used to store all of my footage safely at home, which means I can access every photo and video I've ever taken right from the LG Gram from anywhere in the world. The screen is anti-glare, so I can use it to edit photos for Instagram while being literally on the road and working from all sorts of locations. The battery lasts a really long time, which comes in handy for long flights or working in places without charging outlets. I use it also for working on writing projects such as my Instagram captions, YouTube video scripts, as well as the manuscript for my upcoming book. It's comfortable and lightweight, so I can keep it with me in my backpack and grab it to use whenever inspiration strikes. I'm able to organize all of the book rough drafts and stay in touch with my editing team with different versions as we move through the updates of the book. The LG Gram has a very large screen for a laptop, so I'm able to split it and research a ton of new locations while taking notes, which I have been doing every day to help with budgeting this trip. It's also amazing for editing or even better, watching movies when the workday is over. Learn more about the LG Gram and other products for working out their Instagram website linked in the description. Even though we are on a super tight budget, I want to see as much of the city as possible as we can while we're here, so we just jumped into this minibus to go to the floating market, which I have been wanting to see for years. But before we head to the floating market, we're going to start by visiting an even more unusual market. And we have arrived. Hello. 50 baht for the Thai tea with boba? With boba, 60. Oh, 60. I think it's worth it. Thank you. First snack of the day and it even comes with a little carrying case. Amazing. I have now arrived in one of the most unique markets in the entire world. This is the train market, which is located about one hour outside of Bangkok. And as you can see, the entire market is set up on top of these train tracks. And when the train comes every few hours, all of the vendors will pull back these umbrellas and move some of their produce or not in order to avoid getting hit by the train. Figuring out how to use all of these different types of public transportation is pretty time-consuming and a bit confusing. We're currently walking around trying to find a bus station. No bus stations. Can't even really find a taxi and there's nothing coming up on Google Maps. So we're just using the free transportation. All right. So I was just very confused and asked for directions to any type of transportation and we met our new friends here who offered to split an Thai version of an Uber. So we're all splitting this and it's only 60 baht to get to the market. So this is pretty perfect. I'm pathetic. There you go. Brilliant. Yeah, will you help me? All right. All right then. Nice to meet you. Great to meet you guys. See you later. Thank you so much. Bye. Oh, that was so sweet. I can't believe it. We told them about this crazy journey of ours and they offered to pay for the taxi as their contribution. So, oh, I can never get over how kind strangers can be. Wow. It's like the Mecca of street food right now. We have now arrived at the floating market and this place is crazy colorful and filled with so many different types of street food and it's definitely that time of day again. I am starving. So time to go find out what there is to eat. 10 baht for water. What is that? Like 25 cents. So I think that we're gonna have to go with the cheapest thing I can find on this menu which is the stir-fried pork with basil leaves for 40 baht. That is spicy. Is yours spicy? He has a hard time with spice. We got a little stock on the side. This has got to be one of the most interesting places I've ever had dinner. Yeah. There's like, it's like sensory overload. There's boats flying by. These women are cooking up a storm for like hours now. Don't let me distract you. There's a little bit of spice and everything. So, so good. Overall, what a successful day exploring in Bangkok. There are a lot of free things to do in Bangkok from wandering the markets in Chinatown to visiting temples, parks, and free museums. After exploring more of the city in the morning, I took some time in the afternoon to catch up on some much needed work before the next long leg of our trip. We're hopping in this taxi to the train station, which is about 40 minutes away. And the train was 400 baht. And honestly, feeling a bit stressed about our financial situation at the moment. We're definitely running a bit low on funds, but we got to catch this train if we're going to make it in time for the Lantern Festival. Just got to the train station in Bangkok with a few minutes to spare. And I'm honestly pretty exhausted. My back from the past couple of days and this really long transportation has been killing me. You know, the idea of getting on a 13-hour train right now is brutal. It is very difficult and exhausting to travel this way on an extreme budget for a long amount of time. I have so much respect to the backpackers who can do it because it is not easy. But what's been really keeping me going is the idea that in less than 24 hours, we are going to be at the Lantern Festival, this once-in-a-lifetime cultural experience that I have been wanting to cross off of my bucket list for years now. So with that in mind, let's get on this train. Oh, wow. It's wood with leather over it. Oh, boy. This is going to be so uncomfortable. Did we bring any snacks with us? I definitely forgot to get us any. No food or water on this 13-hour train and these tiny little seats. I bet Max is really loving his job right now. I think it's the only thing that's put on this train. I was anticipating that. First crepe. It's just a giant black hair. It tastes fine, but that texture shouldn't be allowed in food. We just arrived in Chiang Mai, and I got to say that was probably one of the top five most... most brutal travel nights that I've had, which is really saying a lot. Terrible seats, super cramped. It got really hot and then it got really cold. And then also, Max and I, especially Max right now, is dying with some pretty bad allergies. But, oh, my gosh. I can't believe we're finally here. 13 hours is a long, long time, but we're almost ready to see the lanterns. The sun has just set and we just made it to the river, which means that the lantern festival is about to begin. And I'm gonna be honest with you, I am actually kind of feeling a bit deliriously tired right now after not sleeping last night. But that's not gonna get in the way of celebrating here in Chiang Mai. And I have, according to my calculations, this left right now, which will hopefully be enough to buy at least one of these lanterns to send up into the sky tonight. And that was the moment everything fell apart. All right. So, well, I'm just gonna... I'm just gonna sit down. The 100 hours is officially up and there is no lantern festival. Someone just told me that apparently, because it's obviously a bit of a fire hazard, the city decided not to have the lantern festival inside the city this year. And you have to buy tickets to this festival. It's not free anymore. And the tickets are literally almost the entire budget of this entire challenge. So obviously, we don't have enough left. After all of that, we just made it here with barely a few dollars left. So we aren't gonna be able to include the lanterns as a part of this challenge. Definitely very sad, but we're still in a beautiful place. And there is another festival going on in tandem with the lantern festival. It's called Loy Krathong and it's a water basket festival where they light candles and send the baskets down the river. So we're gonna make the most of this experience. But wow, definitely was not expecting that. We have just spent the last 80 baht that I had to my name on this beautiful lotus basket. And we're gonna go down to the river right now and light it up. Watching the locals send off their baskets into the river and seeing such an amazing cultural experience was a bittersweet moment after traveling so far. While I have proved that it is possible to travel across Thailand with $100, I still felt like there was some unfinished business here. Don't you worry. I did end up fulfilling my dream of seeing the lanterns floating up across the sky. The next evening, I bought a ticket to the lantern festival outside of the city. This festival is full of light and beauty with a side of chaos since these lanterns aren't as easy to send up into the sky as I thought they would be. The Buddhist Yipang Lantern Festival is celebrated as a way to release negative energy and wish for good fortune in the coming year. This journey across Thailand has been one of my most challenging yet. And with some newfound luck, there will be many more to come. This has been such a crazy adventure. If you enjoyed this video, definitely let me know what challenge I should take on next. And until next time, let's push our limits.