Nepal on $30.50/person/day.

Nepal is the first country where we've exceeded our initial budget. We were FIFTY WHOLE CENTS per day over! For 27 days! Do you know what you can buy in Australia for $13.50?

(Not much.)

It was mainly the food. Our meals in Nepali restaurants ran about $4/person and meals on the trek were about the same. We ate 99% vegetarian, too - even with all those fat lovely chickens running around, eating meat would've been significantly more expensive. Flights into Nepal were the other big cost.

Anyway, here's the lowdown...

Initial budget: no more than $30/person/day
Actual cost: 27 days at $1642 ($61/day, $30.50/person/day)

fun fact: Nepal has the world's only non-quadrilateral flag

(it makes a great "E")

• Lodging: $154 - 26 nights at guesthouses averaging $1-2/person/night on the trek and $5/person/night in cities
• Transportation: $398 - includes our flight from Bangkok; public transit around Kathmandu, to Bhulbhule, and back to Kathmandu; and a $20 taxi ride to Pokhara after our trek
• Groceries: $68 - bottled water and snacks
• Meals: $604 - food in Nepal is expensive!
• Tours: $228 - $137 for our trekking permits; a generous donation to our friend's trekking guide who consulted with us before our trek and who is starting his own company; nominal entry fees for museums and other attractions
• Alcohol: $19 - gross expensive beer and delicious cheap raksi (local rice wine)
• Gear: $55 - random items for the trek; a few locally made shoulder bags to replace our dying ones; new flip-flops for Patrick
• "Misc": $36 - hiking meds; donations to temples and local schools along the trek; nominal costs for laundry and WCs
• Border: $80 - $40/person for a 30-day tourist visa

Other fun Nepal facts...

• Cities visited: 3 (Kathmandu, Patan, Pokhara)
• Villages visited along the trek: can't count that high
• Top ten highest mountains photographed: 2 (Annapurna I, Dhaulagiri)
• National parks visited: 0 (um, but we trekked the freakin' Annapurna Circuit)
• UNESCO World Heritage Sites visited: 1 (Kathmandu Valley)
• Kilos of carbs consumed during our trek: 83 million

Now back to what they call dollars, and what we call "THAT COSTS HOW MUCH??!" To Australia!