Couldn’t find the time to write here the past few days, so here is how it ended after less than 5 days.
Day 4: Bread and vegetables: 7.4 Kuai.
Bus to Chaowai and back: 0.8
Total of 4 days: 76.4
Got very tired from spending so much time confined to my apartment so took a notebook and spent two hours scribbling on a bench in Beiheyan. That avenue is a jewel in the city and a godsend: greeness and calmness for all, free of charge.
Day 5: Some shirts needed ironing (something I hate doing, which is why I don’t have an iron at home) – 13 Kuai
Man tou for breakfast : 2 Kuai
And the thing that ended the game: Mailing a gift overseas for a friend’s birthday – 78 Kuai
So is it possible? It certainly is. Is it enjoyable? Not really. The good news is, and it might read trivial but we should bear in mind it’s not the case in some developed countries – it’s fairly easy to keep a balanced, healthy and almost delicious diet anywhere in China even with the tightest budget.
Anything beyond food and transportation, though – booze, coffee, entertainment, will almost immediately push you beyond the 100 kuai mark. Can foreigners handle this? Well guess I could for a while if I really had to, but boy am I grateful I don’t.
Realising the game was over, I headed from the post office on to trying on some clothes. The dressing room in a tiny side-street shop was also the manager’s kitchen, crammed with spices, utensils and vegetables. A small door opened into a tiny room, more like a niche really, with a two store bed. That is this couple’s apartment, and they are shop owners, by no means the poorest of Beijingers. I’m pretty sure they live on less than 100 kuai a week and something tells me they don’t write a blog about that. It was a good reminder.
Not much of a challenge for them I suspect
#1 by Hek on May 10th, 2009 - 5:56 pm
wow. I barely survive on 1000 kuai a week!
Hek
#2 by wl on June 5th, 2009 - 12:56 pm
I’m actually on a self-imposed RMB 1,000-a-month challenge at the moment… still working on it.