RE: Let's talk about the kind of people that really shouldn't live in SE Asia... Part 1
I completely agree about moving across seas...I have friends in Australia who have talked about moving here, and I always ask why they would do that. The rent crisis here in the US since the pandemic is out of control. The average small house/apartment costs more than $1600-$2000 a month (way more in bigger cities than where I live). Keep in mind that landlords here ask that you make at least three times the amount of the rent per month. Couple that with a minimum wage that has not been increased in most states since the mid-90s and sprinkle in the worst inflation we've maybe ever seen, and It's a mess. Thankfully, I currently have work that pays the bills, but that could change in a flash. Enjoy your happiness; a lot of us chase that all of our lives and never find it.
One of my primary objectives as far as staying over here is concerned has been, for years, avoiding moving back to the United States. I mean no offense to the people who share the type of passport that I have, but there are just so many cost-oriented problems associated with that country and the leadership just kind of dances around the problem rather than actually doing anything about it. Over here, if things get too expensive, the people start demanding answers immediately and are actually voting people out that created the problems in the first place. Well probably not Vietnam so much as Thailand because in Vietnam we just have varying degrees of communism parties. Let's just say that it is so little of an issue for me that I don't even bother looking into the politics so much over here.
Rent is kept really cheap here but that doesn't change the fact that the liklihood of you getting hired for anything other than a teaching job is extremely low. They have their own people for that and then they also don't have to deal with the language divide. I think that many people are probably better-versed to just stay in their home country and perhaps try to spend less in their day-to-day lives. Save up and go on a long vacation if your job allows for it. That is a much better route than trying to go through the expensive method of relocating to another part of the world, failing, then spending a ton of money to move back.
You give sage advice. Even moving within America itself is hard; a foreign country with all the divides you've pointed out is a stretch for anyone not prepared for it, especially financially, since work is pretty much not happening otherwise. I try to ignore politics here, that is, as much as possible. The leadership (on both sides) is so bad that I'm sure we're the laughing stock of the world at this point.