I did it. From the same area as OP, I traveled and worked as a freelancer for several years before settling and starting a business in Vietnam. I've been doing

I did it. From the same area as OP, I traveled and worked as a freelancer for several years before settling and starting a business in Vietnam. I've been doing it as a sole trader and never experienced any issues but maybe that depends on the area (setting up an LLC is probably good advice though). It's not for everyone of course and there have been hardships. But this has and continues to be the adventure of a lifetime. When I hear about people working a decade in an office and then think about the last decade that I lived I would never change it. Stability is overrated. Bonus: I have way more personal savings and investments than I could have had by staying back in crazy expensive Europe. Side note: the only time I had a frustrating experience as a freelancer, from a legal perspective, was when working for a UK company. The UK seems to have a crazy amount of rules and regulations around this. Fortunately I was able to get out of the project within a few months and I made a personal rule of "no UK clients from now on".