Beeronomics

The economist looks at the strength of a currency by comparing it to the price of a Big Mac – burgeronomics http://www.economist.com/markets/bigmac/, for instance you can buy 4 big Mac’s in Korea for a Dollar but in Sweden you can only get a quarter of one. Whilst traveling we have tended to use the same kind of gauge as we get a new currency. We have currently used 6 currencies so far on our travels and the mental math we do each day comparing it to pounds/dollars to make sure we are not ripped off is the only part of our brain we have used for weeks! …..Any way, as laundry is pretty much the same everywhere we have been and you can get a cheap/mid range/expensive hotel in each place the best test is good old drink. In Thailand a beer was roughly a pound, then in Laos we could buy a bucket of tiger whisky and mixer for 2 pounds. But so far the best has been Vietnam – Bia Hoa costs us 4000 dong which is about 13 pence a pint! You have to sit in plastic seats on the pavement/road to drink it but we have gone out and got smashed on ₤3.