[Danski]

I'm in Bali. I think you are right to say $1500 to $2000 is a good range. You can rent month to month a decent apartment from $100 to $700 depending on your taste. Villas start at $1000 and go to the moon.

Of all the nice beachy places I've been in Asia, Bali provides the most bang for your buck hands down. Its also probably the most developed world class beachy place I've been in Asia. There is a HUGE range of quality services, food, accommodation at all price ranges.

Girls are hot. Beers are cold.

Come join us!

The guy who runs project getaway is the real deal. SUPER smart entrepreneur. Costs 1500 bucks + for the month to hang with him and you must apply. I think he's booked up this year but worth a check.

[Vacancier Permanent]

Danski,
Thanks for posting your first hand experience in Bali. I'm extremely interested in Bali and gathering as much info about living there as possible. When you say villas start at 1k/month, is that for a villa with a private swimming pool? That would be sick!

[phoenix abroad]

Yeah I've been in Bali for over a week and it has been great so far.



Blog Post: My first week in Bali

The overall verdict is that you need to come to Bali. You won't regret it.

[Danski]

(05-04-2011 01:28 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  

Danski,
Thanks for posting your first hand experience in Bali. I'm extremely interested in Bali and gathering as much info about living there as possible. When you say villas start at 1k/month, is that for a villa with a private swimming pool? That would be sick!

Yes you can do this in this price range for sure. In a primier location or 3br with really nice specs it could be tough, but i've got a nice 2br with pool central location for 1K a month now... if you are willing to go up to 1.5-2k you can get 'dream home' type places.

[Danski]

(05-05-2011 03:13 AM)Danski Wrote:  

(05-04-2011 01:28 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  

Danski,
Thanks for posting your first hand experience in Bali. I'm extremely interested in Bali and gathering as much info about living there as possible. When you say villas start at 1k/month, is that for a villa with a private swimming pool? That would be sick!

Yes you can do this in this price range for sure. In a primier location or 3br with really nice specs it could be tough, but i've got a nice 2br with pool central location for 1K a month now... if you are willing to go up to 1.5-2k you can get 'dream home' type places.

It's worth noting that the convention in Bali is 12 months up front cash. Places that go weekly and monthly are for tourists can be many times the market rate. To find a place for long term rental you'll need to pound the pavement in neighborhoods you like, look for posters, and talk to real estate agents (they can legally take up to a 30% cut over top of what the owners are asking... note that and try to work around it if possible...) you can make big time deal on multi-year leases.... since the market is inefficient here that is a legit business opportunity (lock a place down and sublease or market to tourists)...

There are exceptions to this as always, we are currently subleasing a place month to month in a good location for 850 monthly.

[CrackerJack]

I guess Bali would be great if you're into the surf culture and white girls mostly. I find Balinese girls not that attractive, but that's just my taste. I went there for two weeks and left after 4 days. Way too many tourists for me.

If you want beaches and great diving head to Maldives. Not much to game though as it's mostly honeymooners. Staff at resorts is definitely gamable, lot's of Filipinos, Balinese, Indos. Actually one of the most attractive females I have ever seen was a chief masseuse at Conrad (Rangali island). She was Thai, from Bangkok. Did my best but cockblocked by a Srilankan male 'therapist'.

For long term, except the usual Thailand, I would also look into southern Vietnam or Cambodia. Could be cheaper and more interesting than Thailand, but could also be a headache as it is not as developed. Northern Vietnam has a great climate in the mountains.

Lots of options in that region. Java, Sumatra, there has to be a great beach spot along those coasts that doesn't cost a fortune.

[Gringo]

Cambodia and Vietnam are both incredible places and Vietnam is fairly well developed in large parts of the countries.

[OSL]

Bali strikes me as being the Pattaya or Phuket of Indonesia, and not a business destination in and of itself.

We discuss the topic of travel and cities of choice a lot of these forums and guys seem to tend to gravitate towards:

-Medellin instead of Bogota
-Rio instead of Sao Paulo
-Bali instead of Jakarta
-Boracay instead of Manila


It definitely makes sense. A lot of the economic capitals that I listed are shitholes that are generally unpleasant for living. Am I the only dude on here who travels for business networking first and pleasure second?

[Vacancier Permanent]

Awesome info from the ground Danski! What area of Bali for example would you recommend as being a good place with good proximity to a vibrant nightlife, an awesome beach and no crazy prices? For example, I was checking Bali on agoda.com and saw some hotels/villas charging as much as $750/night, now that's the kind of places I'd want to stay away from.

Gringo, since you have been to Cambodia and Vietnam, it would be awesome if you posted a detailed data sheet about these places. There are not too much info about these areas in here yet, so that would extremely welcomed and valuable info.

Cracker Jack, funny that you mention that girls are not sexy in Bali. I did a quick look at the roster on dia and I did see some very sexy and a few stunners there. The type of very exotic looking girls that do not look like Asians but more like Latinas. Can anyone else who went to Bali, Jakarta and other areas of Indonesia, comment on the level of the looks of the girls there?

YMG,
While Rio is a very fun and beautiful city, it doesn't even get anywhere close to the sheer abundance of the nightlife scene in SP. Honestly, few if any city in the world at all can match the incredible night life of São Paulo. You can hit a different venue there every single night for 6 straight months and still not have scratched the surface of the options in that humougous megalopolis.

I'm mainly looking for a pleasant location, either on or near and with easy access to world class beaches, good night life, friendly, sexy and exotic girls, delicious food, cool activities to do during the day and a low cost of living. I really loved BKK because it has all of these ingredients. Now, I'm trying to expand my horizons so to speak and experience other similar locations. Business and fun do not have to be mutually exclusive. I was able to make some cool contacts biz wise in BKK. Balance, like anything is key. I think you'd have to prioritize what you want out of a trip/mini retirement. In BKK, I wanted to have as much fun as possible while running my online biz. Now, when I get to China, my focus will be on building new skills such as getting conversational in Chinese, making friends and good biz contacts and of course, have fun too with the lovely Chinese ladies too. Where ever I go, I'll do my best to get in touch with the location independent crowd there and network and become friends with them in order to build a good core group of like minded guys.

[OSL]

Quote:

I'm mainly looking for a pleasant location, either on or near and with easy access to world class beaches, good night life, friendly, sexy and exotic girls, delicious food, cool activities to do during the day and a low cost of living. I really loved BKK because it has all of these ingredients. Now, I'm trying to expand my horizons so to speak and experience other similar locations. Business and fun do not have to be mutually exclusive. I was able to make some cool contacts biz wise in BKK. Balance, like anything is key. I think you'd have to prioritize what you want out of a trip/mini retirement. In BKK, I wanted to have as much fun as possible while running my online biz. Now, when I get to China, my focus will be on building new skills such as getting conversational in Chinese, making friends and good biz contacts and of course, have fun too with the lovely Chinese ladies too. Where ever I go, I'll do my best to get in touch with the location independent crowd there and network and become friends with them in order to build a good core group of like minded guys.

In my mind Bangkok has got to be among the best spots in Asia, hands down - for almost every category:

-Travel Hub
-Cost competitive
-Business friendly
-Nightlife/Women
-Cuisine/Culture

I never really use the term "mini-retirement" because when I think of a retirement I think of idle time being wasted doing nothing.

There has to be a term for a period of travel that is designed for intense self development, growth, business, or learning of some kind.

[Gringo]

Quote:

Am I the only dude on here who travels for business networking first and pleasure second?

I don't travel for business at all, solely pleasure.

Quote:

Gringo, since you have been to Cambodia and Vietnam, it would be awesome if you posted a detailed data sheet about these places. There are not too much info about these areas in here yet, so that would extremely welcomed and valuable info.

I travelled the length of Vietnam going to all the main spots and pretty much everywhere worth visiting in Cambodia BUT aside from the names of the cities / towns I couldn't tell you the names of any of the bars, clubs, areas, accomodation, restaurants etc, I simply don't remember that sort of stuff so not sure how useful it would be.

Quote:

While Rio is a very fun and beautiful city, it doesn't even get anywhere close to the sheer abundance of the nightlife scene in SP. Honestly, few if any city in the world at all can match the incredible night life of São Paulo. You can hit a different venue there every single night for 6 straight months and still not have scratched the surface of the options in that humougous megalopolis.

Agreed. It's an incredible city for nightlife, so much going on and a great variety of places and choice in crowd, music, style. It's a much more cosmopolitan pace, in terms of nightlife, than Rio IMO. Lots of different scenes, people, music etc. I really love SP almost for that fact alone. Rio is probably much more liveable for most people though.

[CrackerJack]

(05-05-2011 01:01 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  

Cracker Jack, funny that you mention that girls are not sexy in Bali. I did a quick look at the roster on dia and I did see some very sexy and a few stunners there. The type of very exotic looking girls that do not look like Asians but more like Latinas. Can anyone else who went to Bali, Jakarta and other areas of Indonesia, comment on the level of the looks of the girls there?

I really like Indonesia, but my experience is limited to Bali, Jakarta, and Bandung. There is something about Balinese girls, I think it's their eyes and a nose, they just don't do it for me.

Javanese girls on the other hand can often look like latinas. Bandung was great for that. They seem to have deeper set eyes and thinner noses. I find Javanese girls to be more attractive than Thais, and maybe on par with Koreans and Japanese. That's just my taste.

But from what you're looking for, Thailand would be hard to beat.

[Danski]

(05-05-2011 01:01 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  

Awesome info from the ground Danski! What area of Bali for example would you recommend as being a good place with good proximity to a vibrant nightlife, an awesome beach and no crazy prices? For example, I was checking Bali on agoda.com and saw some hotels/villas charging as much as $750/night, now that's the kind of places I'd want to stay away from.

Gringo, since you have been to Cambodia and Vietnam, it would be awesome if you posted a detailed data sheet about these places. There are not too much info about these areas in here yet, so that would extremely welcomed and valuable info.

Cracker Jack, funny that you mention that girls are not sexy in Bali. I did a quick look at the roster on dia and I did see some very sexy and a few stunners there. The type of very exotic looking girls that do not look like Asians but more like Latinas. Can anyone else who went to Bali, Jakarta and other areas of Indonesia, comment on the level of the looks of the girls there?

YMG,
While Rio is a very fun and beautiful city, it doesn't even get anywhere close to the sheer abundance of the nightlife scene in SP. Honestly, few if any city in the world at all can match the incredible night life of São Paulo. You can hit a different venue there every single night for 6 straight months and still not have scratched the surface of the options in that humougous megalopolis.

I'm mainly looking for a pleasant location, either on or near and with easy access to world class beaches, good night life, friendly, sexy and exotic girls, delicious food, cool activities to do during the day and a low cost of living. I really loved BKK because it has all of these ingredients. Now, I'm trying to expand my horizons so to speak and experience other similar locations. Business and fun do not have to be mutually exclusive. I was able to make some cool contacts biz wise in BKK. Balance, like anything is key. I think you'd have to prioritize what you want out of a trip/mini retirement. In BKK, I wanted to have as much fun as possible while running my online biz. Now, when I get to China, my focus will be on building new skills such as getting conversational in Chinese, making friends and good biz contacts and of course, have fun too with the lovely Chinese ladies too. Where ever I go, I'll do my best to get in touch with the location independent crowd there and network and become friends with them in order to build a good core group of like minded guys.

In order to find cost effective places, you'll need to be on the ground. Within the central areas of Kuta/Legian/Seminyak there is a good availability of affordable places you'll just need to hustle something up. I'd stay central to those areas if you want vibrant nightlife. Beach is great there too, and great scene out there for sunset drinks and hanging out. Seminyak is my favorite of the three central areas-- it's also the most expensive. World class restos and bars, the "white linen" crowd. Lots of fun.

My favorite spot in Cambodia so far is Sihanoukville... but I'm not sure I could make it there longer than a few months... you can buzz in to PP on your bike in 3-4 hours which is nice if you want a romp...

My issue in general is I like to be outdoors a lot and preferably near the beach. I agree with many on this thread that BKK is the best city in SEAsia all around, but I really like to be in a smaller town type environment for most of my time. In Vietnam the top spot for lifestyle is Nha Trang... easy access to lots of fun stuff on your bike (Dalat, Mui Ne) or through the airport, small enough to get to know, lots of fun locals, decent expat and traveler scene. Great food.

The reason I really like Bali is that you still feel plugged in to the real world... when I spend a few months out in Nha Trang or Dumaguete in the Philippines or something similar I get the "out in la la land" kind of feeling, and like you said virtually no business significance... its nice to touch base in a place like BKK, HK, Bali etc to meet up with people who are operating at a world class.... For those of you not in to the Balinese girls plenty of exotic and dark Java girls here and generally more interested in foreigners away from home etc.... also if you are in to white girls (is anybody in to white girls?) there is a relatively big expat community here...

RE: the paragraph above: BALI. Easy call.

[Danski]

(05-05-2011 10:00 AM)youngmobileglobal Wrote:  

Bali strikes me as being the Pattaya or Phuket of Indonesia, and not a business destination in and of itself.

We discuss the topic of travel and cities of choice a lot of these forums and guys seem to tend to gravitate towards:

-Medellin instead of Bogota
-Rio instead of Sao Paulo
-Bali instead of Jakarta
-Boracay instead of Manila


It definitely makes sense. A lot of the economic capitals that I listed are shitholes that are generally unpleasant for living. Am I the only dude on here who travels for business networking first and pleasure second?

haha maybe! I'm a big business networker but find that permanently being in a place like Manila is not only not that useful, but pretty soul sucking as well. I mean you are 40 bucks away from a meeting... for example planning on spending a few weeks in jakarta talking with developers in a few weeks... but would stay there! .. also subject that Boracay is a desirable alternative for lifestyle in the Philippines... no locals and one of the worst pickup scenes in the Fils (and its still pretty damn good that's saying something...) i'd recommend Subic, Dumaguete, Puerto Galera, Cebu, all over Boracay.

[Gringo]

Quote:

My favorite spot in Cambodia so far is Sihanoukville... but I'm not sure I could make it there longer than a few months... you can buzz in to PP on your bike in 3-4 hours which is nice if you want a romp...

I'm with you on that, love that place but I don't think I could live there. Nice beaches, islands nearbye, lots of good food and cheap drinks (50cent beer!), nightlife that consists of good bars, beach parties, casinos, live music. Good place for a week or two but not long term.

Quote:

In Vietnam the top spot for lifestyle is Nha Trang... easy access to lots of fun stuff on your bike (Dalat, Mui Ne) or through the airport, small enough to get to know, lots of fun locals, decent expat and traveler scene. Great food.

I spent Christmas two years ago in Nha Trang, would sit by the pool all day in the Lousiana Brewhouse eating like a king and drinking passionfruit beers, great way to spend the festive period. Went to Saigon afterwards for NYE and was the worst I've ever had, that place is always busy but on NYE it was insane. The roads were so packed with bikes that no one could actually drive, they were just pushing themselves along with their feet. You couldn't find room to walk across. I ended up stuck in Saigon for abour 12 horrific days, I'd already been to the place before and didn't rate it much so to spend almsopt another 2 weeks there was soul destroying. So much traffic, noise, pollution and people annoying you to buy shit.

[OSL]

I've decided that instead of doing an intensive Chinese language school while launching my business, I'm going balls to the wall and solely dedicating the next 3-4 months to only launching the business. I'm most likely going to be doing this in SE Asia somewhere.

I want to be able to live on the dirt cheap, have all the necessities I would need, and FAST AND RELIABLE WIFI.

Any suggestions?

I get the feeling Bangkok and Bali are going to come up. I actually don't think someone can live really well for DIRT cheap in Bangkok. Bangkok is still a great deal for what you get as far as BKK being a world city, though.

Thailand
Vietnam
Indonesia
Philippines

Those are all countries I would consider going to. Any suggestions? It might actually be a BETTER thing if the nightlife was not too good. I do not want to be distracted.

[Gringo]

Bangkok is the obvious choice and I personally would live their in a second, it has everything you can ever need, good infrastructure, vibrant place, beautiful girls, great nightlife, delicious food, good internet connection, transport hub for the rest of Asia and it's not too expensive.

Nowhere else in SE Asia really comes close IMO.

[Danski]

(05-06-2011 11:22 AM)Gringo Wrote:  

Bangkok is the obvious choice and I personally would live their in a second, it has everything you can ever need, good infrastructure, vibrant place, beautiful girls, great nightlife, delicious food, good internet connection, transport hub for the rest of Asia and it's not too expensive.

Nowhere else in SE Asia really comes close IMO.

In general agree with this if you aren't addicted to small town or beach vibe. You can travel quickly and cheaply, and get set up fast. Great rental rates on decent apartments, decent internet, world class dinning at great prices, and the girls aren't so bad

[Mystik]

(05-06-2011 09:17 AM)youngmobileglobal Wrote:  

dedicating the next 3-4 months to only launching the business. I'm most likely going to be doing this in SE Asia somewhere.

Ha..this is funny...I am in BKK and doing the exact same thing, i.e working on my online business. I will write about my experience so far, maybe it will help you.

1. You can live dirt cheap in BKK. I have taken an relatively expensive apartment which costs 12,000 Baht per month. Do I like it? Nope, not really. Why? Because most of the people living in this building are shitty Arabs, Iranians, Indians, Russians and backpackers from other countries. They are here to fuck whores or buy cheap clothes and sell them at a profit back home. These people are from the lowest strata of the society and have no respect for other people's comfort which means a lot of noise. This affects my working hours and sleep pattern. THIS CAN BE EASILY AVOIDED BY LOOKING FOR AN APARTMENT WHICH IS GIVEN FOR THE LONG TERM on a contract. Four months is the minimum. So, don't go for these shitty places that double as a hotel. They are not worth it. You will not be able to work on your business. You can get apartments as low as 6000 baht per month if you don't mind living far away from the center of the city.

2. Food - I can easily live on 200-250 Baht a day

28 Baht - 2 litres of water
10 baht - one bag of Pineapple for breakfast
40 Baht - one plate of chicken fried rice that will completely fill you
40 Baht - 850 mls of milk
20 Baht - one bottle of Orange Juice
40-80 Baht - some kind of dish for dinner

You can go cheaper, recently I went on a crazy diet of just fruits and milk not because I want to save money but because I want to improve my health. I can easily live on 100 Baht a day. Also, I want to try a low carb diet and see how it improves my health, thanks to MiXX

The best part about BKK is that you live on street food and not fall sick unless you try some crazy stuff like fried cockroaches. I don't know if that is the case in other SE Asian countries. In New Delhi, I think I will be able to survive for half a day on street food.

3. Distractions - If you choose a building in an area that is not close to the red light area or party area (sukhumvit) then you will be fine. I live in a business district and I am not really distracted. Personally I find Thai girls to be very unattractive, in my 20 days here I have seen maybe 5 Thai girls that I would go out of my way to fuck. As for the whores, I can't fuck them, I went to the red light area and just couldn't stand it. The only girls that I find attractive are the tourists and as long as I stay away from the nightclubs I wont be distracted by them.

4. Good internet connection and a computer supermart that provides easy access to computer parts if something goes wrong. On the second day my laptop adapter stopped working and so did my wifi card. Fortunately, I live close to a computer supermart and was able to fix all the problems for 1000 Baht. Also, I have a good wifi connection, download speed touches 200 kbps. But the hotel owner is a cheapskate you can get faster connections at other places.

[OSL]

Thanks for the info Mystik, very helpful.

There is a very specific coworking place I want to work in at Thonglor:

http://www.thirdplacebangkok.com

I know some entrepreneurs who have worked there before and it seems like an ideal place for a web-based entrepreneur to launch. If you're in BKK now and I end up going there let's meet up and shoot the shit. I'm sure we'll have a lot to talk about.

[Mystik]

(05-06-2011 12:16 PM)youngmobileglobal Wrote:  

Thanks for the info Mystik, very helpful.

There is a very specific coworking place I want to work in at Thonglor:

http://www.thirdplacebangkok.com

I know some entrepreneurs who have worked there before and it seems like an ideal place for a web-based entrepreneur to launch. If you're in BKK now and I end up going there let's meet up and shoot the shit. I'm sure we'll have a lot to talk about.

Thonglor can be a distraction, I went there once and I was itching to go inside the club Narz that is not that far from Thonglor. But what the hell, PM me when you get here, let's meet up.

[Vacancier Permanent]

Danski,
Once again, really appreciate your input/feedback and tips about Bali. Thanks for the headsup about the fact that they require cash up front for long term lease in Bali.

I've got to say that Cambodia and Vietnam, based on the reports posted here recently are making me quite curious. But I'd much rather base myself in a world class place like BKK and then go on small excursions for a week or so to get a feel for Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.

Mystik,
Awesome to read about someone in here on the ground in BKK working on their online biz. Where about in BKK are you located? I hear you about the low class people from the countries you mentioned, I had to face them too for a week before moving onto somehwere better. How long are you going to stay in BKK?

YMG,
The place in Thonglor you posted about is just 200 metres from where I was staying for almost a month in Thonglor. Good place, I poked my nose into it once but somehow, it was closed during the day....Maybe I got there in the wrong time or something, I should have perhaps given it a 2nd chance. Maybe next time...But from the pics, it looks good and decently priced. So you're going to BKK instead of China? When are you expecting to land in BKK? I'm thinking of getting there late August/early September...

Thonglor is definitely a great area in BKK, it's very posh and has some great options for high end dining as well as high end aparts. It's quiet yet very close to the night life scene in Sukhumvit. IMO, one of the best areas of BKK to settle.

[Vacancier Permanent]

Speaking of China, I'm currently reading a great book called "Struggling in the US? Move to China" by David A Williams, a struggling actor/enginner from Los Angeles who moves to Beijing and is living it up and having a lot of success, professionally and socially. A very informative read for anyone interested in China. He gives an excellent overview of what it is to live there (at least in Beijing).

[Vacancier Permanent]

Awesome stuff PhoenixAbroad! You should post a detailed post about what it is like living in Paradise aka Bali here on the forum. I'm sure it'd be of very high interest to most guys in here.

Cheers man.

(05-05-2011 02:53 AM)phoenix

abroad Wrote:  

Yeah I've been in Bali for over a week and it has been great so far.



Blog Post: My first week in Bali

The overall verdict is that you need to come to Bali. You won't regret it.

[Mystik]

(05-06-2011 12:59 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  

Mystik,
Awesome to read about someone in here on the ground in BKK working on their online biz. Where about in BKK are you located? I hear you about the low class people from the countries you mentioned, I had to face them too for a week before moving onto somehwere better. How long are you going to stay in BKK?

I am in the Pathumwan area. Close to the Baiyoke Sky hotel. And those low class people, they annoy the hell out of me, but its my mistake I should done more research before renting this apartment. Lesson Learnt.

The plan is to stay here till the end of June, I have to leave because my visa will expire in July, shitty Indian passport!

(05-06-2011 12:59 PM)Vacancier Permanent Wrote:  

Thonglor is definitely a great area in BKK, it's very posh and has some great options for high end dining as well as high end aparts. It's quiet yet very close to the night life scene in Sukhumvit. IMO, one of the best areas of BKK to settle.

I agree, the best place to live in BKK if you have the money.