I have never been to the parts of Asia you mention, but if you don't stay right in Tokyo, Japan is doable on $5000 for 3 months. I had an (extremely small) apartment outside of Machida for $300/m. I would guess that outside of Tokyo, Japan might be cheaper than Singapore. The towns near the beach are chill, inexpensive and have many amenities compared to american small towns. I spent less than $8000 over 9 months and went on many trips, bought random electronics and clothes, etc. The most expensive part of my stay was train fare.
Ask HN: Taking a sabbatical to somewhere in Asia. How can I make the most of it?
21–30 of 31 posts
Re: Ask HN: Taking a sabbatical to somewhere in Asia. How can I make the most of it?
#22Singapore is pricier than other countries, but might be a god starting point, given that it is English-speaking, very modern and has a startup community (hackerspace.sg). As for Indonesia, I think Jakarta is not that pleasant to walk around... but there might be other cities that are better. I would also put in a suggestion to visit Taipei.
After reading the comments, I'm considering doing Singapore as more of a smallers trip (not suggesting that you can experience all of it in a few days). Curious to know more on why you suggested Taipei?
Re: Ask HN: Taking a sabbatical to somewhere in Asia. How can I make the most of it?
#23If you have not done it already, you must visit India. India has got an excellent mix of the old and the new. There are a wide array of languages you can chose to learn from. India is the cradle of Eastern philosophy so you can explore yoga and meditations in different forms and flavors. A strong tech community in the tier 1 cities and yes to plenty to capture in your camera!.
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Re: Ask HN: Taking a sabbatical to somewhere in Asia. How can I make the most of it?
#24If you have not done it already, you must visit India. India has got an excellent mix of the old and the new. There are a wide array of languages you can chose to learn from. India is the cradle of Eastern philosophy so you can explore yoga and meditations in different forms and flavors. A strong tech community in the tier 1 cities and yes to plenty to capture in your camera!.
India would definitely be around the top of the list for something like this; unfortunately I was born and raised there ;). And part of what I'm doing is to move somewhere completely unfamiliar where I'm not familiar with the language. Thanks for the suggestion!
Re: Ask HN: Taking a sabbatical to somewhere in Asia. How can I make the most of it?
#25I'm currently for 1 month in Hanoi, Vietnam (after 4 months in Indonesia/Philippines/Vietnam). Life is dirt cheap here - you can find an apartment for $400 (or much less if you get some local contacts or go to some smaller city), food $3/day (eating out). Vietnam is also booming at the moment and many companies are looking to get a foot there. Laos and Cambodia are other exotic destinations in the region. You should…
Thanks for the tips toumhi, it seems like a general consensus that Signapore will probably be too expensive. Thanks also for that last part, its been weird discussing it with friends/family cause they think its crazy taking the trip without a plan of what I'm going to do after; but that's just something I'll have to live with. Besides housing and food, do you have any other big expenses? Also, you mentioned you've mo…
Yeah, I know something about the family doubting of that kind of plans :-)
As for expenses, it depends of your lifestyle of course but it should cost $25/day for basic expenses (housing + food + beers) . If you want to travel around it will cost more. Also language courses you have to pay, yoga classes etc. But everything is much cheaper. I go to a salsa class here and it's $2.5 for 1 1/2 hour.
There are lots of cheap flights between countries, check Air Asia or Cebu Pacific Air for Philippines. Or from Thailand, you can take the bus/train to Laos/Cambodia.
Thailand is more expensive than Vietnam, although it's still much cheaper than most western countries.
Re: Ask HN: Taking a sabbatical to somewhere in Asia. How can I make the most of it?
#26Given your budget, you'll likely want to avoid Hong Kong. It's generally considered a great intro to asia given how westernized it is...but hotels will kill.
Yep, Shenzhen is a 40 min ride from HK airport and the rent is 1/5 of HK.
Shenzhen isn't the safest place to go though (for a tourist)...not the worst either.
Re: Ask HN: Taking a sabbatical to somewhere in Asia. How can I make the most of it?
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
If the future is played in such places, that isn't a great reason for him to visiting them now -- not to mention the huge language barriers in undeveloped or rural areas. I think his time will be more beneficially spent in Shenzhen, if it's to be spent in China. I do agree though that China will be a better option than Thailand or Indonesia (with some assumptions made of what will be attractive to those with a hacker…
I'm still considering China too; definitely not out of the question. Curious to know more about why you think it will be more attractive than Thailand or Indonesia?
Because Thailand or Indonesia isn't the future, China is.
Your time and experiences as a whole will be more valuable in many aspects if they're spent in China.
Consider:
1) Exposure to the Chinese language -- Mandarin, the _most spoken_ in the world - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_numb...
2) Shenzhen is the "technology hub" of China.
3) The biggest, most successful companies in China are headquartered there, or are planning to establish their headquarters in Shenzhen (Baidu, Skyworth, Hasee, Huawei, etc.)
4) Lots of emigrants there already -- more people in Shenzhen understand English than anywhere else in China
5) A bustling nightlife, and availability of 'luxury services' should you so desire them (as mentioned by someone else, it is the norm there for restaurants to be open until late)
Re: Ask HN: Taking a sabbatical to somewhere in Asia. How can I make the most of it?
#28Feel free to come to Shenzhen, China. I'm the only HNer there as far as I know but the rent is low and the women love foreigners :) I'm about your age and working on a startup here.I can help set you up, find an apartment and maybe we can collaborate on some stuff as well. I swear you won't want to come back home! Contact in profile.
the rent is low and the women love foreigners :) Love that part ;) and thanks so much for the kind offer olalonde. I'll look more into Shenzen as you're not the first person to suggest that. Are there a lot of hacker types around? And how about the night life?
Night life is awesome. Clubs and bars are crowded from Monday to Sunday, 10pm to 5am. That's what you get with a high population density. A bit expensive though.
Shenzhen is the world capital of electronics manufacturing, so there are lots of hardware gadgets that haven't yet made their way to the western world. I wouldn't say there are lots of hacker types around, but I know there are some e-commerce/SEO/etc. meet ups (see http://www.shenzhenstuff.com/groups).
Re: Ask HN: Taking a sabbatical to somewhere in Asia. How can I make the most of it?
#29You should watch a ted talk by Stefan Sagmeister on Sabbaticals.
He nicely explains the often overlooked value of time off and shows the innovative projects inspired by his time in Bali.
Hopefully , it would help you getting a perspective for focusing on what can be done in sabbatical & help you choosing a place based on it.
Re: Ask HN: Taking a sabbatical to somewhere in Asia. How can I make the most of it?
#30Dude, $5K would be living like a king in SE Asia. I travelled to Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar for a month in Feb, and I spent $1,500 total including my air fare.
But I am an airline employee so I saved about a $1,000 worth airfare.
And I was staying on $8/night guesthouses, or if you want to update, maybe $15-20/night room, but if you want to splurge, $5K can easily be wiped out in a week :)
Yes, Singapore is on the higher end, and I love the food there! Not that I don't like the food in Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, well, let's just say I'm a foodie :) Food is one of the reasons why I travel.
Ok, about meeting people. If you don't have a Couchsurfing account yet, then I suggest you shd sign up at couchsurfing.org
You'll surely to meet other travellers and they do have local meet up and yes, they can also host if that's your cup of tea, on your first few days. It's a great way to meet a local right away! Talk about cultural immersion.
Once you've signed up, join CS groups in the city where you'll be visiting. Just send a message, and let them know of your interest -- 'would like to meet CSers who also do front-end dev' etc etc. If not, people will direct you to people who knows other people who's doing the same thing.
Each Couchsurfing city (say CS Singapore, CS Bangkok) has its own sub groups. See if they have Expats group where you can connect with. Cambodia has an active expat group in Phnom Pehn. But I tell ya, I love Siem Reap, $.50 cents beer!!
Thailand is tourist friendly, very easy to travel there that I find no challenge to backpack, but that's just me :) The beaches are fantabulous! You can rent a bungalow for a month within your budget. I was in Krabi in 2009.
And 20,000 expats living in Chiang Mai could not be wrong. Chiang Mai is cooler with its proximity to the mountains. I was just there in Feb.
I've never lived there (other than in the Phillipines) but had been vacationing the past 2 yrs to SE Asia. Happy travels!!. Send away your questions to me if you have.
There's nothing you can do to prepare when getting back except to savor the memories and prepare to tell stories about your adventures.
And beware, you may not want to come to back to the US though :) And that's not a bad thing either.
Rowena