Indonesia on $15 a day

Cost Of Living: Tuk Tuk, Sumatra – Indonesia

Indonesia is one of the best value countries for travel in Asia. To give you an idea of the cost of living I have kept track of a days expenditure for where I am staying in Tuk Tuk, Sumatra.

The following expenses are food, accommodation and other sundries. Travel expenses are not included here as I will not need to travel for a month.

Daily Expenses

The Indonesian Rupiah is highly denominated but it is easy enough to keep track of as 10,000 INR = $1 USD.

Accommodation 60,000 INR ($6.00 USD)
Internet (2 hours) 30,000 INR ($3.00 USD)
Bottled Water 5,000 INR (50 cents USD)

Breakfast

Banana Pancake 9,000 INR (90 cents USD)
Coffee with milk 5,000 INR (50 cents USD)

Sumatran Coffee

Banana pancake

Lunch

Nasi Goreng 12,000 INR (1.20 USD)
Banana Shake 10,000 INR (1.00 USD)

Nasi Goreng

Banana smoothie

Dinner

Veg Rendang 15,000 INR (1.50 USD)
Rice 4,000 INR (40 cents USD)
Sprite 6,000 (60 cents USD)

Vegetable Rendang

So tallied altogether my expenses are:

Accommodation 60,000 ($6.00 USD)
Internet 30,000 ($3.00 USD)
Water 5,000 (50 cents USD)
Breakfast 14,000 INR ($1.40 USD)
Lunch 22,000 ($2.20 USD)
Dinner 25,000 ($2.50 USD)

Total: 156,000 ($15.60 USD)

This total is kept down as I have no daily travel expenses here. I also only eat meat a couple of times a week so a vegetarian diet tends to be less expensive.

My $6 accommodation consists of a cottage room with a king size bed, a bathroom with hot water and a view of the lake. Rooms without hot water and a view can be found for $3.

If you are a meat eater and like to snack more during the day you will still come in under $20 USD a day. If you really wanted to you could get the expenditure down to $10 a day, making it one of the best value countries in Asia.