B
Biggles
Rising Star
Bronze Level
...Thailand I can probly get a very nice place all to myself.
I've lived out in Asia for years and you'd have a very hard time on $40 a day unless you lived in a local village way away from the tourist-priced places where nobody speaks English.
Rent is ususally paid 6 months+ in advance, especially for farang (foreigners) - you'd definitely need to arrive with a wad of cash to get settled.
You'd probably want air-con and reliable electricity, plus internet service of course, with rent on top plus everything you barter for being pricier until you learn the language (how's your Thai ? - bloody hard language to even pick up the basics !)
Think about the cost of constantly buying visas plus agent fees to arrange them, flight/buses in and out of the country to renew visas, flight home once a year, being tempted by tourists to go and spend on booze and partying (reducing playing time & quality too !!), scooter rental, paying to fix the scooter when somebody crashes into it (your fault or not), being ripped off in general, having your laptop stolen or going wrong due to over damp / salty conditions if near the coast, payoff to the policeman that planted hash on you... all sorts of extra expenses you don't think of until you are here.
I'd call it more like $80 a day living frugally in a fairly nice place where there are English apeakers around (I mean everything, not just rent and normal expenses) plus have at least $3,000 in the bank for emergency flight out or medical stuff - insurance is all very well but if your insurance company doesn't say 'OK' immediately you could end up with a choice of paying hard cash right now or being chucked on the street in whatever medical state you're in !
Not doing your idea down, I think it's a great one (I live on Bali at the moment and would never move back - the frustrations and the like of living out here are far outweighed by the gorgeousness of it) but not on the budget you suggest.
Agreed, but they'll eat into that 40 a day pretty effectively too !!! - not talking about paying for sex, but the way of it with local girlfriends is that the westerner does the paying...plus Asians are sexy imo
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