Lifestyle in SE Asia: an Upgrade or Downgrade?

Lifestyle
By Gems Of Travel
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Weigh the PROs and CONs – is Southeast Asia right for you?

WHY – Reasons To Go To SE Asia

Here are some ideas. Maybe you want to:

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Low living costs (compared to America, UK, and Europe)

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Get more for your money (nice housing for lower cost)

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Do online remote education

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Start a new life

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Build a business or work remotely

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Live your best life

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Fun – travel through and adventure & explore

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Relaxed and safe atmosphere

Lifestyle Improvement

Cost

Less worry about costs (the costs are lower in SEA).

Convenience

Convenience built into the culture.

Comforts of Home

Able to get food and name brands from home country.

Good Weather

No more winter blues + you are more productive. Sunshine gives us the happy endorphins!

Range of Terrain

Go to or live @ the beach, outdoors, from big or medium sized city to small village.

An image depicting busy big city life. The location is in Kula Lumpur, Malaysia. Public transportation in the form of elevated metro line (a.k.a subway or tube) is center in this image.
An image depicting busy big city life. The location is in Ho Chi Minh City (a.k.a. Saigon), Vietnam. The image is taken on the second story balcony overlooking a street with many motorbikes (a.k.a scooters), a very common mode transportation in Vietnam. Along the street is wall-to-wall shops, restaurants, and housing. This city has a very high population density, and there is little space between buildings, as they are typically connected together.
An overlook of two beaches with a stretch of land going between them, and steep mountains in the background. Palm trees cover the land, and boats are along one of the beaches.
An overlook in Ninh Binh, Vietnam of several steep limestone mountains that pop-up throughout the distant land like moles (an animal) popping their heads out of the ground. The closest mountain has a hiking trail carved into the stone, leading to a small golden-painted temple at it's peak.
Two female hikers on a concrete tiled pathway traversing a small mountain ridge in the jungle region of Ubub, Bali, Indonesia. The pathway is surrounded with greenery - tall plants. The sky is cloudy and appears that it might rain soon.
A rice field in the country side of Vietnam with a single two-story home. There are many palm trees in the image and the home is surrounded by plants and palm trees.

Lifestyle

Life is less pretentious and driven (think rat race) in Southeast Asia. It can be down-to-earth, which breeds a lifestyle that is more simple and laid back. There is a place and lifestyle for everyone, but you may find that this simple and laid back lifestyle brings you happiness and peace. Live a high end lifestyle as you choose, but also get the benefit of being chilled out atmosphere – get the best of both worlds.

A local man relaxing on his parked motorbike in Vietnam. He is laying down. His back is on the seat, and his legs are wrapped over the handlebars. He has sunglasses on, and appears to be taking a nap. His phone is mounted on the handlebar, and the phone case has a two US dollar bill sandwhiched between his clear phone case and phone. This two dollar bill is considered for good luck in Vietnam.
Two tuk-tuks (the remorque "waggon" version) are parked next to each other. Each driver are laying in a hammock that is mounted and suspended inside the tuk-tuk passenger seating compartment. They are watching videos on their cell phones.
A woman is laying in a hammock that is suspended between two trees in the grass along the river in Siem Reap, Cambodia. She is watching videos on her cell phone, passing time until a customer stops at her food stall to eat.

Cultural

Things to appreciate: Local behaviors, exotic architecture and food, less formality, chaotic traffic, down to earth and practical nature of everyday life & business.

A public city bus in Vietnam. There is an onboard ticket seller, collecting fees. The seller has a makeshift play pen with their one year old child inside. The play pen is made of wood, and has padding zip-tied to it. The baby is standing up, while the bus is in motion, and is looking at the photographer of this image. There is a small, six inch tall, stool that the seller sits on next to the baby play pen.
A blonde poodle dog is standing with it's rear paws inside a motorbike scooter basket in Vietnam. It's front paws are bracing itself up on the front handle bars. The motorbike is parked at a convenience store.
Two naga, a mythical creature that resembles a snake, statues are on each side of a set of stairs that lead down to the Mekong river in Thailand. The statues are intricately decorated and mostly golden colored.
An image of a Bali-style architecture with a doorway in the center. This is specific to Bali, Indonesia.
Several pre-cooked food dishes being sold at an indoor food market in Thailand. The food, is of course, Thai food.
A prepared Thai food dish placed on a table. The eating area is a deck that overlaps onto a river with a golden temple in the background. There is also a line of housing, tightly spaced, that are also overlapping onto the river. The river is not very wide, you could throw a stone across, just barely.
Many tables and chairs setup on a concrete area with many food stall vendors in Chiang Mai, Thailand. This shows a bustling nightlife, and displaying the food culture of Southeast Asia. There are many patrons eating. It is night time in the image, and the lighting is not bright, which gives it a relaxing vibe.
A stage during Christmas time in Vietnam. The stage is it's own building, with intricate chinese-style architectural highlights. It is built within a pond, and has a bridge connecting it to the shore.

Lifestyle Setback

Language Barrier

English ranges from common -> common enough -> not existent. Conversations in English with locals may or may not be satisfying due to cultural difference.

Checkout our language guides:

Culture Differences

A smile is not just a smile, okay does not necessarily mean okay, and all sorts of confusing stuff. Mannerisms and ways of doing things are different, which is to be expected, but challenging to come to complete terms with and adapt to.

Loneliness

Meeting new friends, acquaintances, and colleagues; Leaving friends and family behind; Lack of friends & family in SEA.

Laws

Lack of laws and cultural perception to protect you, the foreigner.

Also, your visa is good for 1 month or up to 1 year at a time, at most. So, that will be something that you’ll have that to renew constantly.

Dual Pricing

Dual pricing is also quite common, where foreigners pay more than locals for the same things. It is most common in Vietnam and Thailand. Locals pay the local price, and foreigners pay a price of 2, 3, 5 or 6, and at times up to 10 times higher than the local price.

This can be applied to entrance tickets, or even just purchasing things from a store. Note that stores with pre-labeled pricing charge everyone the same.

Further examples include food menus at restaurants (they might have two menus – one for locals and one for foreigners), hospital services, and purchases without price tags.

A sign at a national park ticket booth with entrance fees and opening times for the Kuangsi Waterfall area in Luang Prabang, Laos with different prices for locals and foreigners. The local price is fifteen thousand Laos Kip (about seventy-five cents in US dollars), and the foreigner price is twenty-five thousand Laos Kip (about one US dollar). While the price difference is not much in this image, and can be justified at times, price differences for foreigners can be much greater throughout Southeast Asia. This image is the only image the author has on file, currently, as a representative example to illustrate how charging foreigners, often times, a very high price without justification is common place in Southeast Asia. Further examples include food menus at restaurants, hospital services, and purchases without price tags ... all of which have different prices for locals and foreigners. Locals pay the local price, and foreigners pay a price of 2, 3, 5 or 6, and at times as much as 10 times higher than the local price. For context, it is nearly impossible for foreigners to immigrate to a Southeast Asia country, and therefor they have no rights or protections in the region. An us (local) vs them (foreigners) mentality shows itself by means of this accepted practice of dual pricing.

For context, it is nearly impossible for foreigners to immigrate (to gain citizenship or permanent residence) to a Southeast Asia country. You will always considered a foreigner, temporary, and “non-immigrant” by locals and immigration authorities. Therefor you have no rights or protections in the region. An us (local) vs them (foreigners) mentality shows itself by means of this accepted practice of dual pricing.

The good news is that not everyone does it, and there are many kind & polite locals out there. You’ll have to gain a sense on who practices dual pricing, and who does not, if that is a thing your wish to avoid.

Physically Far Away From Home

Difficultly managing important things back at home: Time zone, Not able to be in-person, Place to store belonging that you leave behind, Access to mail, Shipping things to/from SE Asia from/to your home country.

Personal Preferences & Interests

Maybe being in SE Asia is not up to your liking. And, maybe there is not enough there for you to keep you there.

Adapting To Southeast Asia

Please, review and take note of the challenges to adapting in Southeast Asia.

Do not take this lightly and do not underestimate the challenges – adjusting is not always easy for everyone.  Hopefully, the PROs outweigh the CONs for you.  Throughout the process of adapting, you may need to remind yourself how exactly the PROs outweigh the CONs.  This is because it can be a process that tests your patience, among other things.  So, having a solid understanding of the benefits is important.

Good news – there are ways around having to adapt.  For example, living in areas with a large amount of foreigners, whether living or retiring in Southeast Asia, will bypass the need to localize.  You can have Western neighbors, eat at Western restaurants, buy Western products, and live a very Western lifestyle if you so choose.  Oh, and only speak English.  It will come at a cost, but those are options.

It is all about finding your place in Southeast Asia where you are happy, content, and feel like you belong.  Find a starting point and go from there.  The more you experience the more you will figure out what you like and do not like.  Perhaps, later down the road, you’ll come back full circle to enjoy the aspects you did not like in the past.

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