Asia is what I have most experience with, so that is what this article will be mainly about. There is nothing wrong with teaching English, I’ve met several people on my travels doing exactly that, but there are also other languages that you can teach. This is not just large languages like Spanish, German and French, but also languages of smaller countries like Norwegian and Swedish.

If your first language is something other than English I suggest you look into if there is any market for teaching that language in the country you are planning to stay in. It is easier to teach your native language as a teacher abroad and your salary will also usually be better. The reason is that it is way easier for a language school to find an English teacher than a teacher of some other European language. I have myself had the chance to teach my native language in the Philippines, which was a really rewarding and enjoyable experience. My salary was also much better than most English language teachers I’ve talked with.

There are many websites specifically dedicated to finding English teaching jobs for foreigners in Asia. I’m sure most of those are fine, but I’d suggest trying to contact language schools directly as well. In many Asian countries craigslist is a very popular place for employers to post adds, so that is definitely a place worth checking out. Also contacting expats from your country living in the country you’re planning to work in is a good idea. They are usually happy to help out someone from their own country who is planning to travel there. Good luck.

I’ve lived in the Makati area and the Malate area and it is those areas I know best, they are also the areas most foreigners would be interested in staying in though. Makati is a little more expensive than Malate and a more upscale area, there are also more options when it comes to monthly rentals here. If you plan to only stay for a month I suggest trying to find a place where you can rent from a rental office, so you don’t have to deal with a large deposit with a private owner. Several rental offices in large apartment buildings also let you make your deposit with your credit card if they require it, something I found that to be an advantage as I don’t want my say 30,000 peso deposit back in cash the day before leaving the country. If you want to stay in Makati, Sunette Tower is a good option, while Boulevard Mansion is a nice choice in Malate. In the area around Burgos street in Makati there are lots of options though, so I suggest walking around there and checking out most of the buildings before deciding.

Craigslist is also a decent option for finding an apartment to rent in Manila, but most of the apartments listed there has a minimum 6 months lease. Very often it is not the apartment owner that is listing apartments at Craigslist, but actually a rental agency. This is usually a good thing for you though, since they will have many apartments listed and often can drive you around to check out several at the same time. From my experience you can easily manage to negotiate the prices listed at craigslist down at least 10-15 %. When it comes to electricity it is usually not included, so that will be another 4,000 – 8,000 peso monthly with air condition depending on how much you use it obviously.

Anyways, he told me that a few months earlier he had gotten into quite a bit of trouble with the police in Manila. It was just a normal morning for him, he said, walking down the street tired and with a bad hangover to try to find a decent place to have breakfast. Probably while trying to remember what really happened last night he ended up bumping into a parked car by accident breaking one of the side mirrors.

The driver of the car came running over to him really angry and frustrated. Unfortunately for both of them, the American guy didn’t have enough money to pay for the damages until over the weekend when he would get more money in his account, this happened on a friday morning. The driver wanted around 10,000 peso for the damages, not a whole lot of money really. They had a long discussion and in the end they agreed to meet on monday so that the American guy could pay for the damages, or so the American guy thought at least.

After having his breakfast he went back to his room to relax, but just a few hours later the police came knocking on his door. He told me he got pretty scared, didn’t really know what to do, but he didn’t really have any choice in the matter either, the police wanted him to come with them and so he did. They told him he was being arrested for running away from an accident, for some reason the car driver had gone straight to the police instead of waiting till monday.

He told me that he had gotten really worried at this point, seeing himself being put into a horrible and dangerous Philippine prison, and that was probably why he wasn’t thinking too clearly. What he did was really stupid at least.

On the way to the police station the police car happened to drive by the American Embassy, and when the police car stopped cause of traffic he made the crazy decision that making a run for it was his best option. He kicked open the door in the middle of the road, jumped out of the police car and started running accross this wide road with heavy traffic towards the American embassy. The police were pretty shocked and he said it took a while before they actually started to follow him.

He actually did manage to get to the Embassy without them catching him though, and entering the Embassy he had to jump over a little fence to avoid the Embassy guards that also wanted to stop him. The Philippine police couldn’t enter the Embassy, so they had to wait outside while he was talking with the guards at the Embassy that managed to catch him after a while.

He was allowed to enter the Embassy building showing his passport, but since he was not working for the US Government, he was not allowed to stay. He ended up being thrown out of the Embassy and arrested once again, this time heavily guarded with handcuffs on.

To make a long story short he had to pay a big “fine” cause of all the crazy stuff he did, both the car driver, the police and some other car drivers whos cars he had bumped into on his crazy run wanted money. He only had to spend one night in jail, but the Western Union visit in handcuffs before he was released must have been both very expensive and embarrassing. I hope all is well with him now and that he’s not sitting in another jail somewhere in Asia.

Anyways, I first visited Bangkok about 6 years ago, and in the last 3 years I’ve been back there several times. The first time I was in Bangkok I was hanging out with a lot of Thai students so I got to check out many Thai nightclubs. They often have Thai live bands, it’s a great crowd there and I usually had a great time. It’s real cheap to go to those places too, usually I didn’t spend more than $20 for the whole night. The last few times I’ve been in Bangkok I’ve mostly been hanging out with other foreigners, and then we usually go to the “international” nightclubs where they don’t play as much Thai music. It’s a little more expensive there, but still way cheaper than Europe and the US, and it’s lots of fun.

The main nightlife areas in Bangkok would be the Sukhumvit area, Khao San Road with all the backpackers, Silom with lots of Thai nightclubs, Ratchadapisek with the RCA clubs, Siam with the karaoke and cinemas as well as the more upscale nightlife at Chidlom Ploenchit. If you’d like to check out the gogo bar scene you have three venues, Patpong, Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy.

In Manila the nightlife scene is even more spread out I would say. There are less fancy upscale nightclubs than in Bangkok, but just as many bars and clubs overall. You’ll find most of the bigger fancy nightclubs either in the Makati and Greenbelt area or at The Fort. The prices here are about the same as the nightclubs in Bangkok. Just as in Bangkok if you go to the nightclubs the locals go to, prices will be way lower, and in my opinion you will have just as much fun.

Filipinos are friendly, speak good English and are easy to get to know. They are very outgoing, love singing, dancing and going out drinking, so every day of the week you will find a vibrant nightlife scene in Manila. One thing I really love when going out in Manila is that so many places have good quality live bands. They sing mostly in English, but now and then they sing some Tagalog songs too, many of which are really cool. You also have the gogo bar scene in Manila as you have in Bangkok, mostly in P. Burgos street in Makati, EDSA Complex in Pasay City, Quezon City and some areas of Malate.

Like I said I’m surprised none of these cities made the list, they would have made my top 10 for sure.

1. Belgrade, Serbia.
2. Montreal, Canada.
3. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
4. Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
5. Thessaloniki, Greece.
6. La Paz, Bolivia.
7. Cape Town, South Africa.
8. Baku, Azerbaijan.
9. Auckland, New Zealand.
10. Tel Aviv, Israel.

Anyways, Hong Kong is a pretty cool city, but quite expensive. It’s not as expensive as large city in the US or Europe, but it is pretty close. I stayed in a small hotel in Kowloon, that’s a short boat trip from Hong Kong island, and overall cheaper than Hong Kong island. You can also take the underground or a taxi to get to Hong Kong island. I spent about 5 days in Hong Kong, a few days walking around Hong Kong island, one day at a beautiful beach on the south side of Hong Kong island and about two days in Kowloon.

Overall I’d say Hong Kong is a fun place to visit for about a week or so, if you enjoy city life that is. The view from the top of the hill of all the huge buildings and skyscrapers is amazing. For Asia it’s quite expensive though, so that’s one of the reasons I didn’t want to stay longer than I did. I doubt I’ll travel back, didn’t really like it that much there, but it’s fun to have seen the place.