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This might be a bit personal but, honestly, what is the QoL like with that level of income? I've been to a few Asian nations previously and was extremely impre

This might be a bit personal but, honestly, what is the QoL like with that level of income? I've been to a few Asian nations previously and was extremely impressed how well one could eat on such a small amount of money. I had never seriously considered staying long-term, due to complications you may be familiar with, but I would imagine you can live pretty well with that kind of pay.

itake 5y ago
I have always lived my life frugally (at the cost of QoL) in all of my adventures both domestically and internationally, with that said, in VN to have a more "western" level of comfort, the costs equal or surpass the costs in a western country. Quality of goods, services, and properties are measurably lower and you need to spend more to keep the life style you want. There are things that we get in the USA insanely cheaply, but over there its really expensive. Items like Motrin, cars, electronics, and good mattresses are difficult to find or measurably more expensive. Just to throw a few examples, there are no Apple stores in Vietnam and the Apple products sold in official apple stores in Thailand or Singapore are measurably more expensive due to import taxes and higher prices. The home construction was low quality and always had pests and mold. Even the new apartments were rushed together and often never completed. I loved my time there and look forward to returning, but you have to compromise in both career development and life style.
- registeredcorn 5y ago
  Thanks for being so open about all of that! :) There's a lot to consider there that I hadn't thought of previously.
redis_mlc 5y ago
If you speak and read the local language, life is very good on a US salary. The main QoL issues are that things take longer to do (you can visit 10 stores in the US in the time it takes to do 1 or 2 there), and traffic jams can suck. Also, engineers there have the same status as rock stars in the US. Note that a lot of "digital nomads" report having problems getting new work there, or worse, returning to the US broke and struggling to find work - so starting their life and career over.

itake 5y ago

I have always lived my life frugally (at the cost of QoL) in all of my adventures both domestically and internationally, with that said, in VN to have a more "western" level of comfort, the costs equal or surpass the costs in a western country. Quality of goods, services, and properties are measurably lower and you need to spend more to keep the life style you want. There are things that we get in the USA insanely cheaply, but over there its really expensive. Items like Motrin, cars, electronics, and good mattresses are difficult to find or measurably more expensive. Just to throw a few examples, there are no Apple stores in Vietnam and the Apple products sold in official apple stores in Thailand or Singapore are measurably more expensive due to import taxes and higher prices. The home construction was low quality and always had pests and mold. Even the new apartments were rushed together and often never completed. I loved my time there and look forward to returning, but you have to compromise in both career development and life style.

registeredcorn 5y ago
Thanks for being so open about all of that! :) There's a lot to consider there that I hadn't thought of previously.

redis_mlc 5y ago

If you speak and read the local language, life is very good on a US salary. The main QoL issues are that things take longer to do (you can visit 10 stores in the US in the time it takes to do 1 or 2 there), and traffic jams can suck. Also, engineers there have the same status as rock stars in the US. Note that a lot of "digital nomads" report having problems getting new work there, or worse, returning to the US broke and struggling to find work - so starting their life and career over.