TheProfessionalAdventurer

Nightlife
Our Firsthand Reviews of the Worlds Bets Bars, Clubs
and Back Alley Watering Holes

The Q Bar in Bangkok is Probably the longest running and most popular night club in Thailand. Q Bar is a modern nightclub (the first Q Bar was in Saigon, Vietnam) that usually has kick-ass music and DJ’s. This spot is popular with Bangkok’s upper class (yuppies) and Western Expats and is always filled with beautiful local and expat girls and guys. If you like to dance, drink and socialize this is the place to go.

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Reports From the Road
Worldwide Dispatches From Independent Travelers on The Road

I spent a few days in Dubai last month on my way to Kuwait, Dubai is by far the most liberal place in the entire Middle East - booze, night clubs, miniskirts and just about everything else. Women won’t experience the level of harassment that they sometimes receive in other more “locked down” areas of the Middle East – but nonetheless it still exists there in the form of “meyowww” and “hay, hay” calls from the local dudes. Every guy that I have ever met also loves living in Dubai, lots of cool beautiful people and a large expat community.

But don’t expect to get a “real” taste of Middle Eastern culture; Dubai is something like 90% expat (mostly lower paid workers form Asia and India). The one bad point about Dubai is its expensive, probably one of the most expensive places in the world to live in. So if you do take a job there make sure that housing is included.

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Food and Booze
Two of the Main Reasons to Travel

I saw some dude cooking this “thing” on the roadside in Indonesia a few months ago and snapped a pik.

Anyone have a guess as too what it is? (it smelled ok)

Money/Entrepreneurship
Learning How to Make and Manage Money Wile You Travel the World

This is something I wrote for an Australian buddy of mine that is a budding entrepreneur. He was asking about where to start a corporation and if he should even bother with it because his info product only makes 40K a year

It is edited a bit (took out the personal stuff and foul language) – and it may also be a bit hard to read because I am a lousy writer… whatever

With a US corporation can pay for all of your “operating expenses” pre-tax from corporate revenue – so you can pretty much expense anything out (I have even expensed gear, guns, computers, 1st class flights and hundreds of books and dozens of seminars).

And for personal taxes you don’t have to pay taxes on the first 87,600K (for 2008) if you are outside of the US for 330 days a year. To qualify you have to file a form with the IRS at the beginning of each year for your individual taxes.

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Overseas Life
Living, Working and Traveling the World

Smart Traveler: Cheap Hops in Asia
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/resources/st_air0509/asia.html Low-fare carriers are multiplying in the East.

This is a good article on Cheap Airlines in Southeast Asia from National Geographic Traveler

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The Good Life
The Best Hotels, 1st Class Flights, Expensive
Toys and the Finest Things in the World

One of my favorite things about flying 1st Class is the free airline swag. Singapore Air is by far the best Airline in the world no matter what class you are on. Good food, lots of booze, beautiful stewardess and generally great service.

Here are some pictures of the 1st class swag from my Indonesia to Dubai flight last month (Salvatore Ferragamo pajamas, a bottle of Givenchy Incanto cologne, hand cream, lip balm and facial mist and the usual things like a tooth brush, shaving kit, slippers, comb and eye mask). I also took a blanket and a spoon, lol

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Flashpacking
On the Road Doesn’t Mean Unplugged
Gadgets, Laptops and Technology for Independent Travelers

I picked up Nokia’s newest smart phone wile I was in the Dubai Duty free last month. The N90 has a qwerty keyboard, a Microsoft office compatible office like program, GPS with downloadable maps, tri-band, 3.2 MP camera with flash, MP3 player, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, records video and playback with real player, voice recorder, world clock, VOIP calls, AM/FM radio and just about every other feature you would need in a PDA.

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Reports From the Road
Worldwide Dispatches From Independent Travelers on The Road

I spent a few days fishing off of the cost of Pattaya, Thailand last month with some buddy’s. I was hoping to pull in a gigantic monster of a fish, unfortunately according to our guide fishing has not been so good lately, he thinks it has something to do with the increased pollution.

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Cost of Living Index
Our Regular Feature on the Cost of Living in
Different Countries and City’s Around the World

Last week a Friend of mine in the states asked me how much it would cost for her to live in Jakarta, Indonesia. Not an exotic lifestyle eating at the Ritz Carlton and drinking Crystal nor the starving expat life ether – more like the “average Joe or Jane” expat lifestyle.

My lifestyle is a bit on the “not average” expat scale now so I asked a British friend of mine whose lifestyle better represents the average independent expat to break down his monthly expenses. He is an English teacher for a private school here in Jakarta and also makes some money with a website and freelance photography.

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