This is the followup post to the popular “A Day In The Life Of A Travelling Entrepreneur” when I was living in Bangkok. I spent 3 weeks living in Bangalore recently during my travels in India and thought I would compare the differences. As with the last post, this has not been fabricated, I simply took a camera out with me and took some photos when I was out and about on a typical working day.
.
Morning
.
I am rudely awakened around 8 because the lovely young lady I am staying with is studying here and has class. If I can ignore her and go back to sleep I usually do. This is not always the case and today I am forced to get up. The place I am staying at is decent and costs around 300 rupees a night (around £4) with hot water and a basketball court – can’t complain.
Bleary eyed and almost still semi unconscious I go in search of food. There is no shortages of good places to eat in Bangalore but I usually try to hunt down something fresh tasting as the local dish of sauce, bread and rice doesn’t really do it for me in the morning. Today I found this which cost around £1. Fruit salad and a book is not a bad way to start the day.
After breakfast I head off to my favourite cafe and possibly the only place that have decent wireless internet that doesn’t cut out every 2 minutes. I try and work here for 3-4 hours or until they kick me out, whichever is sooner. A few drinks and some snacks costs a few pounds.
And it does good snacks.
.
Lunch
.
Once I stop ordering drinks and am kicked out of the cafe I go in search of more food, which is not hard to come by. Today it is something multicoloured served on a metal dish. Tastes good though and only costs £1.90.
After lunch and with a belly that now feels like it is on fire from the inside i usually explore the city for a few hours – a rickshaw costs around £1 for the trip. The city is odd definitely…
Colourful mostly…
Sometimes Dirty…
Definitely Different…
But You Can Usually Get A Smile…
.
Evening
.
Once the medics are out of class we can get our sorry asses to a cafe for drinks. Another few pounds.
Followed by some form of social arrangement so that we wither don’t to talk to each other or are pitted in direct competition. Tonight it’s bowling. Just for the record, the lads won…I’m just saying. And bowling is expensive by Indian standards, I think it was about £3 a game.
.
Evening Food
.
Sweet, sweet restaurant abound in Bangalore and they are all pretty cheap by western standards. As there were a few of us going out tonight we ordered everything on the menu. Well you would wouldn’t you.
And all the dessert…naturally. Around £8 a head.
Once stuffed it’s off for more drinks…
And it’s not a bad place to have them…(Another few pounds for drinks)
The cost
So all in all the day cost just under £25 but this is unusual, usually I can get by on between £15-£20 so you can see that living this lifestyle out here does not break the bank. £15 is close to what I pay rent back in England.
Some food for thought for all you budding life designers.
Peace.
13 Comments
I loved Bangalore. I spent a month out there a few years ago, and the people and culture amazed me.
I usually haggled with them over price, not because I needed to save the tiny amount, but because it was part of the fun!
I have to say, you got ripped off on the price of that rickshaw ride. Those drivers love their rich Western friends.
Hi Tj,
I did indeed get ripped off. Getting better now as I have been here for 2 months and have a better understanding of costs but they still take the piss from time to time. Still cheaper than a taxi in the Uk.
Guess it’s time to move to Bangalore!
Rob, it is pretty sweet. Though I would also recommend checking out “A Day” as this was in Bangkok which was even more awesome.
OOOOOOOOOOOo. Glad to see you having such a fabulous time in India! Adding it to my list now…
How’s the business going?
HI Tiger,
Indeed, India is awesome. Business is doing ok, hasn’t gone bust yet and the police aren’t chasing me so can’t complain. Can’t say enough how much I like you blog design, wicked stuff.
Loved the picsm, Jonny. Did you give the site a major overhaul while I wasn’t looking?
Hi Moon, I did indeed overhaul the site. Trying to make it more valuable to my readers by making the major content easier to navigate and structure the main themes running through the blog. Still working on it and a few more tweaks are still needed but hopefully you agree that it is easier to use now and more valuable.
Awesome pictures! I really want to go to India and from this it looks like its really worth it. What an inexpensive day too!
Hi Alex,
For a cheap place to travel then India is hard to beat. As long as you can put up with the very drastic differences from the west style of living you can have an awesome time on very little.
I have absolutely no desire to visit India, but the interior design is very smart everywhere you went! Cant believe how cheap it is there. It costs about $70-$100 a day to live in Australia bare minimum…
Hi Dame,
India is a place of extremes. It has great wealth and great poverty though overall it is very cheap to live there though if I had the choice I would always choose Bangkok.
[...] Another Day In The Life Of A Travelling Entrepreneur (Costs Included) Jonny Gibaud of The Life Thing, another traveling entrepreneur and engaging writer who I got to meet while he was out here in Thailand recently, after he left Bangkok went to I spend 3 weeks living in Bangalore, India. Here he shows us his typical day in India, with tons of good photos, and breaks down the cost of living. [...]