I have to agree with Cheng.

Malaysia is probably your best bet for somewhere in between if you are looking for a balance between the developed world and stretching your savings. KL is a pretty laid back place to be with awesome food! And with AirAsia being based in Malaysia, you could pretty much travel anywhere in Asia for cheaps. And if you ever decide you are running out of money or are bored, there are a multitude of companies/startups you can start consulting for!

Btw, bearwithclaws, how did your friend end up with more money than when he started? I'm curious.

I occasionally did some consulting jobs. Put it this way, some people make about $500 a month in Malaysia (which is more than enough to survive comfortably on). When you charge $100+ an hour you can make more in a day than the locals make in a month.

Having been in Malaysia on and off for the last few years: you can survive with $500 a month. But you don't wanna put a guy in his late 30s in the kind of accommodation you'd have to put up with for that budget.

Let me put it this way. A 1000$ rental gets you much more luxury than the same amount would get you in the west. But a 500$ monthly budget is pretty poor lifestyle in the long run even in South-East Asia, though I agree not quite as desolate and impoverished as you'd be in Europe or America :))

I had some super interesting housing arrangements the whole time I was there.

One of the more interesting ones...

http://richerd.com/2011/09/03/sleeping-on-the-streets-of-kua...

Yeah I heard of your sleeping rough back in the day from bearwithclaws :D

So yeah we're definitely in agreement. You can survive for $500 easily -- if you find a 'bed' that costs $0 ;P

100+ hour? How do you get these gigs? I wouldn't mind repeating your experience :)

I think those "very few consulting jobs" was enough to offset the expenses

I could probably move to Ecuador or Cambodia and retire outright. Trust me, I've been considering it. But there's something about the developed world that I enjoy. When I traveled through Asia, I like Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea. But Singapore seems to be even more expensive than the US?

What's beautiful about Malaysia is that it's somewhere in between. The major cities (KL/Penang) are like developed world, but the living costs are relatively (way) lower.

Also Singapore is just around the corner, if you need some (very!) First World living for a change. There are also plenty of high paying corporate jobs available in Singapore, in case you ever need to fall back on one. And start-ups.

I moved to Singapore from Britain last year.