I was on per diem as well, at the time 20-30 years ago Singapore and Japan were the highest or among the highest per diem rate of everywhere. In Singapore, usually a 28 day stay for me, I'd hit McDs for an egg McMuffin, get on the MRT to the plant. Ate at local streetside open air cheap eats with the engineers from the plant for lunch. Worked through dinner and interfaced with my people back in the US in the evening (their morning), a 13hr time change. I'd make it back to the MRT for the last ride to the hotel too many times. When I got back to the hotel room, there were always 4pc of fresh fruit, apples pears, I can't remember what else. I'd eat that for my dinner. It was so hot and humid there I had little appetite. The Engineering manager always took me/us out to eat a few times and a sendoff at a fancy Dim Sum restaurant. Anyway, I think per diem was $67/day. I could net around $50 a day most of the time. Most every trip was solo. On one trip, the beginning of the 4th week my Product Line Director flies in with the VP of Mil Aero for meetings and a sitewide presentation. My director was a very thirsty Canadian guy and we ended up hitting about every bar with cheap ice cold beer within staggering distance of the hotel. I couldn't let him buy all the pitchers, so I matched him. Boy, did we get drunk. I'd burned through all my per diem money for the whole trip on beer by the night before he flew out. I was a bit bummed about it but got a great raise in the next review cycle. Too bad for him he said he was still drunk when he got on the early flight out and discovered he was seated next to the VP! Lol! I hadn't drank that hard since my 20s, yes there are many more stories from that week.