Living abroad in a low-cost country

I always enjoy reading these threads about interesting places to live, but some of the comments give me palpitations. Loss of internet connection 1 - 3 times per week would be a horrendous disaster for me.

I always assume that "any big city" is going to have a reliable internet connection, typically with high-speed cable available, and telephone-line-broadband available as a back-up? Maybe Manila's like that?

I think satellite connections can still be variable and intermittent, in some places?

"Ease/reliability" of internet connection is kind of the first thing I'd want to know about a place, myself.

I don't really have interest in all your other points but I'm curious as to what country this happened in? I've never, ever heard of that anywhere. I lived overseas in a few different countries for over 5 years total.

Certainly never heard of that happening in Thailand or other SE Asian countries, which a lot of people are talking about.

Obviously it happened to you, but I think that's rather unlikely to happen for most people. So what country was it? Curious...

Well here's my answers

Whatever country you go to you have to adapt to some extent to the language, I'm from the UK and if I go to France - 20 odd miles across the channel the street signs etc are in a different language, you deal with it.

Saying that there are two English language papers in Thailand, street signs are mainly in both Thai and English, I can get International and UK news from the internet and enjoy listening to BBC Radio 4 while I'm working.

No communication isn't always 100% understood but with a basic understanding of the language I can go about day to day tasks with no trouble.

When it has come to dealing with business or tax issues or the like here then I have always found English speaking Thai professionals to deal with the matter in hand. Thai TV is awful so I don't waste my time with it, I can buy DVD's very cheaply here for all the latest movies and TV series from the US and UK.

I've never had an issue with Paypal or raised any flags, nor am I aware of any other of the Internet Marketers living in Thailand I know having any problems.

As for the comments about racism it exists for sure, but I don't see any issue with me living in Thailand as an Englishman affecting my business. There are dozens of guys traveling and working abroad. I have friends in the UK of Indian or African extraction who might suffer from racism though they were born there or lived there from an early age.

As for living conditions and food. I live in a secure gated complex with swimming pool, there are approx a hundred houses on the complex with about 10% of the properties lived in by westerners. My kids are extremely safe here, the majority of the Thais living here work in jobs such as local government, factory managers, lawyers etc. My house is a 3 bedroom, two bathroom property with garden, it has all the mod cons you would expect in a western house.

Food - I mainly eat Thai food because I enjoy it, it has a huge variety of dishes many very healthy. I can buy western food easily though imported goods such as cheese and wine which I am rather partial to are expensive. There are literally hundreds of western restaurants dotted around Chiang Mai at varying prices from a couple of dollars up.

Never had any issues with paying tax when leaving the country but as you mentioned you overstayed your visa, if I did this then yes I would have to pay an overstay fee, there is a simple solution to this - don't do it

I have been coming and going from Thailand for 17 years and luckily have not had to deal with the healthcare much here. I have had to have boosters for vaccinations etc and this has been to the same quality as the UK only a lot quicker and more professional.

Some people are certainly better off staying at home and will find it hard to adapt to living in a foreign country I agree but I would encourage any young people who have an interest in exploring another country to go out and do it and don't be put off by the doom-mongers!

I take my life as an example and the lives of many 6 figure and 7 figure earners I have worked with.

Most people talk about making money. Few of them actually make money. Fewer really keep money.

Hello everyone - I am new here so it will be my first post.

Most of you live in USA, Canada, Australia, European Union or other well-developed country like Japan.

Here you have a lot of convenience - which sometimes you even do not notice, for example high speed Internet connection, the best medical care ( I mean that you have access to all drugs/therapies as first), high safety norms (airplanes, airports ...).

When you live in very poor country you have to worry about your own security (Egypt is best example now), low Internet connection, insets (even on Canary Islands there are cockroaches in most of the hotels because they are in sewage system), food quality, tolerance (for example religious) and more.

Here in developed countries we have higher standards and I do not think that poor countries will quickly develop enough to be on the same level as we are.

Yeah anyone staying in a 6k apartment isn't living very well. ThongLor is a nice area to live in and some good clubs around there too.

No one moves to BKK expecting it to be beautiful. It's ugly but it's ******* brilliant at the same time. Singapore and HK are boring as shit, something that can never be said about BKK. English is spoken less than HK and Singapore but I wouldn't say there's a lack of it spoken in BKK, I find a lot of people do even away from the obvious tourist traps.

I agree 3k a month is a good budget. You can do it on half but you'll have to watch the money and not get carried away;

Kuala Lumpur is fantastic. There are hardly people who are not fluent in English. What I like most about Malaysia is that you can get an extremely solid internet connection in many cities, not just in KL.

In East Malaysia you can live very well for $1,500, in fact you can go on holiday each month if you want to. The downside is that it's a quite slow area when compared with KL. Nonetheless, what we all need is a social circle which is hard to find in smaller cities in SE Asia. I can't hang out with the locals or I become one

I don't think that's really out there, but you can't expect much for $250. People always seem to say "I can live out here for XX" amount but you have to look at how they're actually living.

Sure you can "live" just about anywhere very cheaply but your standard of living will reflect that too. I wouldn't mind spending the same money I do now for rent and utilities overseas if it meant I'm living better than I am now.

lol you have no idea how much that hurts.

I don't really care whether you move to a cheaper country or not. Stay at home and build your business if you want.

Good luck!

$250 per month in thailand is very realistic