Photo by Greg Rodgers

I'm regularly asked how I can afford to spend so much time living in Thailand.

Here's an exact rundown of my expenses for today -- just another day in Bangkok:

• Accommodation in my boutique hostel: $10
• Two 1.5-liter bottles of water: $1
• Breakfast in the guest house: Free
• Pad thai noodles for lunch: $1.33
• Laundry service: $1.75
• Dinner: $3.25
• Iced coffee so I could write this in an air-conditioned cafe: $3

So, all in all, I've enjoyed Thailand for only $20.33 today. The iced coffee was a luxury, but we have to have our indulgences.

Even still, I could save more money by moving up to Pai or Chiang Mai in the cheaper part of Thailand.

While I know that using today as an example isn't entirely realistic for the average traveler (i.e., I didn't visit any sites or do much) -- I walked instead of using tuk-tuks to save money, slept and ate for cheap, and will later be using the money I saved to pay for the bungalow in the photo above (which opens to the beach and costs $16 per night by the way).

On the other hand, there are plenty of restaurants around here where I could have spent $20 -- my entire daily budget -- on a single appetizer!

The truth is, how much money you spend in Thailand really comes down to you. If you only have a short time here, have fun and burn cash. Otherwise, you can literally live for two months based on what the average person spends on a two-week vacation somewhere else.

Here's a breakdown of expenses in Thailand for food, drink, accommodation, transportation, and hidden costs:

• How much money do I need for Thailand?

Photo by Greg Rodgers

There are lots of excuses for not getting on a plane to Asia or instead just visiting places closer to home and more familiar to your personal comfort zone.

Forget what you've seen in the movies; you most likely will not wake up here with a mysterious monkey in your hotel room and no knowledge of what happened the night before. Despite the long flight, Asia is more open, safe, and accessible than ever!

When I walked out of the airport in Bangkok for the first time, I had no idea what to expect. In fact, I was terrified that within minutes I would be kidnapped or have my bag stolen. Seriously.

It didn't take long to realize that my fears of the unknown weren't justified. And what was supposed to be a multi-month trip unexpectedly turned into a lifelong love for this fascinating place!

A trip to Asia is far more rewarding and life changing than dangerous. Even the statistics agree: Asia ranked far behind North America and Europe for homicide in 2010.

With Asia so open to Western travelers, the Earth's largest continent is changing rapidly; the longer that you wait, the less your chances of seeing the "real deal."

• Read about these top 5 Asia travel myths and why none are good excuses to miss the trip of a lifetime!

Photo by Greg Rodgers

Reunification Day -- sometimes also called Victory Day -- is a public holiday in Vietnam celebrated every April 30th.

The day marks the anniversary of the fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese troops on April 30, 1975. Reunification Day, also followed by May Day on May 1, is celebrated with performances, flag waving, and the closure of government offices.

If you're traveling in Vietnam, particularly Saigon -- now called Ho Chi Minh City -- expect some transportation delays and for museums to be closed. The closures include the Reunification Palace in Saigon where operation Frequent Wind, the largest military evacuation in history, took place at the end of the Vietnam War.

While traveling in Saigon two years ago, I was fortunate or unfortunate -- depending on your stance --  enough to see the massive, propaganda-tinged celebration for Ho Chi Minh's birthday; I've never seen so many red banners in my life.

Aside from the celebrations, Saigon has plenty to offer travelers! Read about the pham ngu lao backpacker disctrict in Saigon and things to do in Ho Chi Minh City.

• Read about other war sites of interest in Saigon.

Photo by Greg Rodgers

Earth Day 2012 is coming up on April 22nd, and volunteers around the world will pick up rubbish or maybe even plant a tree.

Perhaps what we don't realize is that weekly decisions we make have a direct impact as far away as Borneo and Sumatra, Indonesia. Unwittingly, we all actually contribute to the rampant deforestation in both Malaysia and Indonesia every single week. Sumatra has lost 50% of their rainforest in the last 35 years, threatening to push orangutans, Sumatran tigers, proboscis monkeys, and other species to extinction.

I saw the obvious destruction myself during a trip to Borneo in 2010 and a visit to Sumatra in 2011 where I had an amazing orangutan encounter. Hundreds of miles of nothing but unnatural rows of palm trees passed by my bus window each week. People have heard about the cutting of the rainforests for years, and generally assume that the need to clear trees is driven by the need for timber. Wrong.

The wood that is cut is actually only sold for one purpose: to fund the construction of sprawling palm plantations where the timber once stood. So how do we contribute to deforestation almost on a daily basis?

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