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Sounds awesome. I'm actually going to be in SE Asia for 5 months starting in 10 days (to start working on my own software product) so I'm already converted and

by toumhi 16y ago

Sounds awesome. I'm actually going to be in SE Asia for 5 months starting in 10 days (to start working on my own software product) so I'm already converted and can definitely see the value in this :-) Being surrounded with like-minded people in a coworking space on the beach in Indonesia to hack your next big thing? What else? Also, for the visa thing, it's not really a problem unless people want to stay there very long. Speaking about Indonesia, they are now granting tourist visas for 2 months. Should be plenty enough!

pault 16y ago
I've been doing contract work from abroad for the last 2 years (first Brazil and now SE Asia), but right now I'm rotting in a hotel room in Chiang Mai going out of my mind with boredom. I sent you an email at the address listed in your profile, let's chat.
pault 16y ago
Whoops, email bounced (update your profile), so I'll just post here for anyone else that gives a shit: I've spent the last 2 years doing contract work for a few different startups while I've traveled, first in southern Brazil and now here in Thailand. I've spent a few weeks each in Saigon, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vientiane, and Phnom Penh, but I keep coming back to Chiang Mai as I think it has the best combination of low cost of living (it's absurdly cheap here), access to infrastructure, and tolerance of resident foreigners (notice I said "tolerance" and not "acceptance"; more on that later). Singapore and Hong Kong are far easier for a European or North American, but the cost of living is about 2-3 times what it is in Bangkok, which itself is easily twice as much as a smaller place like Chiang Mai. My first few months here I kept wondering why nobody has set up startup incubators here. The cost of living is so low it's almost a joke, and the environment can be amazing if you know the right places to stay (and which places to avoid). Of course it would be beneficial to be in San Francisco and have coffee with 5 different VCs in the same day, if that's the route you are taking, but I personally prefer the idea of the lean, bootstrapped startup. So why would you cram 5 guys into a tiny apartment in San Francisco and eat ramen noodles 3 meals a day while you develop your prototype, when you could be eating in restaurants and living in a nice, furnished apartment with a view for less than half the price? How many single engineers would jump at the chance to spend 6 months hacking in Thailand? I know I certainly would (and I did!). And now the downside: Asia is VERY, VERY different to any other place in the world. It sounds stupidly obvious, but the magnitude of the difference takes a few months to sink in. Thailand is full of some of the friendliest, most accommodating people in the world, but the culture just doesn't have a place for foreigners as anything other than tourists. I lived in a small village in the northeast for five months, and even though everyone there knew my name, they would only refer to me as "farang", or "foreigner". Could you imagine what kind of reaction you would get if you walked around New York saying to all the immigrants: "Hey, foreigner!" You would be labeled a bigot and ostracized, at best, and probably receive a well-deserved punch to the face. And if you ever have a girlfriend here, everyone will automatically assume she is a prostitute, which makes it really difficult to get a date with a nice girl, as you can imagine. Singapore and Hong Kong are a different story, as they have a much longer history of cultural and ethnic integration, but living there is just as expensive as any big city in the U.S., if not more so. I am making a lot of gross generalizations, and I should point out that I don't speak the language very well, but this has been my personal experience here. As always, YMMV. Sorry for the rant. If anyone wants to contact me, my email is in my profile.
- rdouble 16y ago
  How do you find contract work? I'm on vacation in Australia for 3 months but would like to do some contract work to take care of expenses like buying a surfboard, tent, possibly a used car, etc.
  - pault 16y ago
    All of my work has come from referrals from previous clients in the U.S., but after 2 years it is starting to dry up a bit. I need to get my blog up to date and start improving my network, but getting work abroad is the same as getting work at home: get on the phone and start calling everyone that you've ever worked with.

by toumhi 16y ago

pault 16y ago

I've been doing contract work from abroad for the last 2 years (first Brazil and now SE Asia), but right now I'm rotting in a hotel room in Chiang Mai going out of my mind with boredom. I sent you an email at the address listed in your profile, let's chat.

pault 16y ago

Whoops, email bounced (update your profile), so I'll just post here for anyone else that gives a shit: I've spent the last 2 years doing contract work for a few different startups while I've traveled, first in southern Brazil and now here in Thailand. I've spent a few weeks each in Saigon, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vientiane, and Phnom Penh, but I keep coming back to Chiang Mai as I think it has the best combination of low cost of living (it's absurdly cheap here), access to infrastructure, and tolerance of resident foreigners (notice I said "tolerance" and not "acceptance"; more on that later). Singapore and Hong Kong are far easier for a European or North American, but the cost of living is about 2-3 times what it is in Bangkok, which itself is easily twice as much as a smaller place like Chiang Mai. My first few months here I kept wondering why nobody has set up startup incubators here. The cost of living is so low it's almost a joke, and the environment can be amazing if you know the right places to stay (and which places to avoid). Of course it would be beneficial to be in San Francisco and have coffee with 5 different VCs in the same day, if that's the route you are taking, but I personally prefer the idea of the lean, bootstrapped startup. So why would you cram 5 guys into a tiny apartment in San Francisco and eat ramen noodles 3 meals a day while you develop your prototype, when you could be eating in restaurants and living in a nice, furnished apartment with a view for less than half the price? How many single engineers would jump at the chance to spend 6 months hacking in Thailand? I know I certainly would (and I did!). And now the downside: Asia is VERY, VERY different to any other place in the world. It sounds stupidly obvious, but the magnitude of the difference takes a few months to sink in. Thailand is full of some of the friendliest, most accommodating people in the world, but the culture just doesn't have a place for foreigners as anything other than tourists. I lived in a small village in the northeast for five months, and even though everyone there knew my name, they would only refer to me as "farang", or "foreigner". Could you imagine what kind of reaction you would get if you walked around New York saying to all the immigrants: "Hey, foreigner!" You would be labeled a bigot and ostracized, at best, and probably receive a well-deserved punch to the face. And if you ever have a girlfriend here, everyone will automatically assume she is a prostitute, which makes it really difficult to get a date with a nice girl, as you can imagine. Singapore and Hong Kong are a different story, as they have a much longer history of cultural and ethnic integration, but living there is just as expensive as any big city in the U.S., if not more so. I am making a lot of gross generalizations, and I should point out that I don't speak the language very well, but this has been my personal experience here. As always, YMMV. Sorry for the rant. If anyone wants to contact me, my email is in my profile.

rdouble 16y ago
How do you find contract work? I'm on vacation in Australia for 3 months but would like to do some contract work to take care of expenses like buying a surfboard, tent, possibly a used car, etc.
- pault 16y ago
  All of my work has come from referrals from previous clients in the U.S., but after 2 years it is starting to dry up a bit. I need to get my blog up to date and start improving my network, but getting work abroad is the same as getting work at home: get on the phone and start calling everyone that you've ever worked with.