What is culture? Have you lived in multiple countries as an expat or digital nomad. You will realize the first month you are back to a city or country how apeople behave. The language they use, the different slang words, pedestrian rights etc and more will be explored in this episode contrasting malaysia and thailand.
Marijuana weed or Cannabis as it is known in Canada is legal since Oct 17 2018. It has a long history in Canada if you google it, but today we are going to be talking about what is it like to access marijuana in Vancouver in October 2019. Many digital nomads spend time in Asia where as this time you don’t even bother trying to smoke it as it is difficult and penalities can be severe. We spend our time in Asia not smoking about it, but we talk about it a lot maybe because we cannot access it. Craft beer is a luxury item in Asia, but is a commodity in Vancouver Canada. We want what we cannot have.
When I was in Vancouver in December 2018 a lot of dispensaries were still operating and offering marijuana for sale like lotus land. However, when I returned in October 2019 I found many of them were closed. In it’s place there are online options that you will find on google map, and there are a few shops like Cannabis Co and Hobo where you can buy. Check out my interview with Chris from Asia to share my Vancouver Marijuana Report.
You can check a directory of marijuana dispensaries from this page
The time is ripe to be a digital nomad in Asia. You may have heard of the remote year that organizes groups year round in Asia and around the world to remote work. They organize accomodation, co-work space, and logistics for you. However, it is quite expensive and sometimes you may want to organize your own trips, but need some inspiration and information to do so.
Filming the Hua hin video guide
I’ve been working Remote since 2013 and invested time to live and experience the laptop lifestyle from Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Bali, And South Korea and more. There’s a lot this side of the world has to offer: Fast Internet, Cowork spaces, Community, Food, Cheap Travel witin the region, good hot sunny weather, and cost of living that are about 1/3 of the cost of Vancouver Canada. h
If you were interested in arming yourself with essential info like survival guide, co-working, and developing production skills. Click to check out some of the free lessons in the course which is set to launch soon
#remotework#coworking#asia#onlinecourse
The Digital Nomad Course was designed for Remote Workers, Digital Nomads, and Freelancers that want to start their entrepreneurial journey and do a workation or working holiday in Asia. Included in the course are living guides that contain essential information for the digital nomad in locations such as Bangkok, Chiang Mai Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cebu and Bali. There is deep information on locations such as Taiwan, Malaysia, Taiwan, and South Korea. You are also going to get some additional tips that you may encounter living this lifestyle on a long term basis. Some examples are the lifestyle design, productivity, and time management tips.
Digital Nomad in Asia Free Lessons
You are going to learn more than just the guides though.
As a Digital Nomad Videographer of 7 years I share tips for producing Video and Audio Content. I also share some Business and Marketing tips I’ve learned that any freelancer or entrepreneur could apply to their business. You can join the course here
Podcasting is a mature platform and a great way to reach a new audience on itunes, spotify, google music, stitcher and more. I’ve been podcasting since 2015 and have since published 40 episodes. Here I share why you should podcast and tips for doing it.
I study a Social Media Videographer Influencer called the full-time filmmaker with over 700k subscribers on Youtube. I study how he is used social media, his business model, and other keys to his success. My Podcast on itunes https://t.ly/28DGO Fulltime filmaker Youtube https://www.youtube.com/user/pawalbeck
In 2011 I took a major risk. I sold my apartment in Vancouver Canada to fund my dream of starting a travel related business. I left a stable high paying IT manager job in Vancouver after getting my MBA degree. Why? I wasn’t happy. I knew it was time for the next chapter of my life. I discovered my passions for Travel, Video, and Business. After the travel venture didn’t work out I ended going on a tour of Asia for my friends wedding in Taiwan along with my SLR camera. It was eye opening, but I eventually ran out of money.
I went back to corporate life again in 2013 all the while I was experimenting with creating my first product. It started as a trip to Asia on vacation and then a working holiday to Taiwan in 2013. I sold my apartment, car, and packed a laptop and my camera with my dreams. 6 years later I found myself sharing my lessons learned with the next generation of travel videographers
After a 13 year career in IT in Vancouver Canada and a university and MBA degree from SFU I decided to needed a change. I went through a process of self discovery to determine what my values and passions were. (Travel, Business, Video). It started as a trip to Asia on vacation and then a working holiday to Taiwan in 2013. I sold my apartment, car, and packed a laptop and my camera with my dreams. 6 years later I found myself sharing my lessons learned with the next generation of travel videographers in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Chiang Mai, was an important part of my Entreprenuarial journey and it’s great to be able to give back some knowledge to the community.
Huahin Digital Nomad Expat Guide The Danang of Thailand. Chiang Mai with a beach. Whatever you want to call it Hua hin was off my radar until a month ago. My Digital Nomad Journey Began in Taiwan and Sophmore year was in Chiang Mai Thailand, but it seems as though there are many destinations that are becoming great options as well like Hua Hin Thailand.
Filming the Hua hin video guide
The main draw for Hua Hin is the beautiful long beaches, the ease of getting there from Kuala Lumpur, how quiet and uncrowded it is, and the laid back vibes. Add in the overall fast Wifi, quality low cost condos on Airbnb, Grab Taxi, Golf courses, Tennis Course and a lot of what you may love about Thailand (cheap massage, thai food, 7-11, Pools) and you’ve got a great destination to either to go into mini-retirement or live as an expat/digital nomad. At the time I went there were 2 co-work spaces. If you stay near the True Arena then you are close to both of them. One of them is called Gopro and the other you will see on your way to Cicada market. They are a bit pricier than Chiang mai or Bangkok at 350 baht per day. There are a few cafes that are laptop friendly like coffeelism and the Truesphere cafe in the Bluport Mall. I recommend getting a condo with at least AIS fiber.
I’ve only seen one beach and the sand is a nice texture, clean, and white. There are some options to drink at the beach or you can go for a walk. One of my favorite things to do was to check out the various restaurants, cafes, and bars along the beach. Check my instagram for exact locations, but some suggestions are Mourakesh to catch a sunset, or Azur’s freeflow 699 baht at the Intercontinental. Huahin is a turning up to be the sleeper hit destination of the year. It has a beach. The air quality is better than most Thailand destination’s as it’s further South. Internet Speeds are fast in cafe’s and the home with AIS fiber very common. Good modern condos are cheap and available built by Sansiri similar to the condos built by Dcondo out in Chiang Mai. Good flights in from Kuala Lumpur on Airasia, but not to the rest of Thailand. Getting around on Grab is available, but a bit pricier and hard to get in the hot spot tourist areas. You can motorbike here for short distances as the traffic is less than larger cities. There are 2 large malls with everything that you need from movie theathers, gourmet market for all your culinary needs, and pletny of massage shops. There is an understated upmarket feel to Huahin and you can expect prices to be a bit more than Chiang Mai. Cafes and cowork spaces aren’t as plentiful yet, but there are options in the mall and you can work from home.
There isn’t that many tourists here in general and less Digital Nomads, but that can be a good thing. This is not just some beach town. Huahin hosts many gems if you know where to find them.
Sample Prices Motorbikes 1600 baht Sim AIS 7 days plan 150 baht Accomodation 450 cdn for 2 weeks inluding utilties and wifi with proper gym and super duper long pool Thai Meal 100-150 baht Western Breakfast 200-250 baht Beer 100 baht IPA beer 200 baht bottle wine 500 baht Taxi from airport to city 200 baht (need to take regular taxi from the airport, Can grab to the airport due to the mafia) cowork space per day 250 baht. Internet Speeds 20mbps- 200mbps #huahin#digitalnomad#locationindependent#expat
Recommended for: Beach Lovers, Motorbikers, Sabai sabai Thai lifestyle, Red light District Scene, Hot Weather
Best Time to Go: November – April ( I was there for the 2nd half of May and it was super hot)
How do I live this lifestyle as a Videographer?
I use my skills and content to create a lifestyle of time and location freedom as a Travel Videographer. I fly my drone and license my aerial footage and do videos for clients. Check out my Online Courses for more Info.
Busan South Korea is South Korea’s 2nd largest city. Why would you want to come here? The biggest draw aside from the korean food, fast internet, decent air, top notch public trains, are the beaches. Haeundae and Gwangan (Gwangalli beach) are the most well known. I’ve been here twice both for 1 week stints. Let’s get down to business.
Essential Info for Busan
I recommend going during the summer in June for nice warm weather. They also hold a famous film festival in October. I visited in early March this year, which is a bit cold and sunny. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom end of March.
Who is Busan for? It’s for a digital nomad that isn’t as price sensitive, wants to enjoy the beaches, a dose of korean culture, fast internet, perhaps a free co-work space, and a developed city in asia that can offer good direct flights to Western North America. Bring out XE currency or your favorite convertor as I will be quoting prices in various currencies. If you need to complete some fast uploads then some of the fastest internet speeds are located here.
Getting in. There are direct flights from Kuala Lumpur to Busan via air Asia. They do leave kuala lumpur late around 2am and you arrive in around 9am in the morning. I paid about 1400 MYR for mine. As a Canadian I get 6 month for my visa just for visiting! For sim cards I use an android phone and needed phone number and data so I went with KT at the airport. Price was 38,500 won and is good for up to 10 days and reliable throughout South korea. This will cover all your internet needs. Basically there is solid fast wifi from most places from starbucks to Holly’s cafe.
You can get into the city using subway, limousine shuttle or taxi. From cheapest to most expensive. Subway is about 4000 won to the city and the shuttle was 7000 won one way. I took the shuttle as I had some heavy luggage to carry.
Where to stay in Busan South Korea
I recommend staying in Huaeundae or Gwangalli as they are both walking distance to the beach and offer convenient access to the subway and restaurants. Other areas you could try are Centum City or Seomyeon. I checked out hotels, but airbnb offered a more comfortable experience and better value plus extras like a kitchen,washing machine, access to a local host, and living like a local is an experience I value. I paid 338cdn for my airbnb for a modern, well-located condo with kitchen, washing machine, wifi, japanese style toilet, heated floors, walking distance to the beach, and a view. No fancy amenities though and it’s not as spacious as malaysia. Yes it’s a bit pricey.
You can work at Starbucks Reserve or any starbucks, holly’s cafe, or check out the creator’s content studio at centum city for what they call a free co-work space. Wework is opening soon so there are many options. Be sure to bring a plug adaptor as North American style plugs will not work.
What to do in Busan
I recommend checking out all 3 beaches: Gwangalli, Haeundae, and Songjeong beach. The Gamcheon cultural village known as the Santorini of SKorea is nice for photos and also close to the Jagalchi fish market. As for food I recommend trying a lot of beef (beef shabu, beef bbq, beef bugolgi), dumplings, bim bam bop, and if you’re into seafood there is a ton of variety here as it is a sea port. The subway station is pretty cheap and efficient. You can try visiting different areas and working out of cafe’s and enjoy the fast internet speed. Can you fly your drone in Busan. I flew at Haeundae beach with no problem and have flown at Gamcheon cultural village last year. Check the rules, and fly at your own risk. Standard Aerial Videographer rules.
Cost of Living
I haven’t lived in Busan for a month for so I’ve made an estimate based on my week here. You’ll notice that the exercise and gym has a gap as I haven’t had time to figure out costs of using the gym yet. My total accounts to $2050 US which is about $500 US more than Kuala Lumpur. Use this as a guide as this varies with everyone’s lifestyle and you have to make certain assumptions to project out costs and how you will spend your time. In general accomodation costs are higher than south east asia at 1126 US, but not bad considering I’m looking at an apartment less than 5 minutes to the beach. One way ticket from Haeundae to Centum city if 1400 won. Coffee is about 3800 won from starbucks. A nice noodle soup dish is about 9000 won. Taxi ride from Haeundae to the Busan station is about 16000 won. Craft beer is about 7000 won a pint.
Summary
Busan is probably too expensive and the language barrierr will leave you with a level of isolation that won’t be as long-term friendly. I could probably do a month here or a few weeks for a visa run in the summertime to enjoy a beach lifestyle in a developed city with good flight routes to Canada. You can take the the high speed train (KTX) from busan station to Seoul if you want to check out another city or a cheap flight to cities in Japan using Air busan.
The Gluten free Nomad and I explorer where we are on our entrepreneurial journey and how we would spend 20k on our business. It’s a fun exercise to go through to think how would you invest those funds back into your business. Would you spend it on office space, new software, new camera gear, or some assistant or interns? find out.We also explore a number of topics from the Golden Age of Chiang mai to co-working in Kuala Lumpur.
at the Colony cowork space Eco city in Kuala Lumpur
I’ve recently jumped off the Apple Macbook train and back to Windows 10 after 6 years. As a Video editor I was using Final Cut Pro X and have made the Switch to a huawei Matebook Pro X laptop running Windows 10 and Adobe Premiere CC 2019. Get some tips on the transition in this podcast
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In this episode I’m going to reveal 3 scams I was exposed to in Vancouver Canada including the Wedding Video QuickBooks Scam, Fake Google Rep scam, and the spam government calls. In my 9 years providing video services internationally I’ve never been scammed until in December 2019.
I think various locations outside Vancouver are targeting our province because of the wealth in this city. As a videographer I’m going to expose them as I ended up losing $200 through a fake wedding where I was encourage to sign up for quickbooks.
I grew up in Vancouver beginning in 1991 in Richmond and then moved to Vancouver Island before returning in 1995. I’ve seen how Vancouver has changed very quickly most notably after gaining global attention after the olympics.
Vancouver attracted global attention and started ranking as one of the top cities to live in. This attracted foreign investors to purchase a lot of property. Many locals (myself included) that had property at the time cashed in, but now prices in 2019 have become still affordable for most locals. There has been a trickle down effect from this property market. Locals with families have been forced to move further outside of Vancouver and make long commutes for work. Restaurants are close and younger talent are moving out of the city because its just too expensive. Salaries have not increased along with the property prices.
In this context is there still a future in Vancouver for new residents, university graduates, and locals that for whatever reason don’t own property post 2010 olympics. I explore this topic in this podcast.
In 2020 I will be offering an opportunity for Videographers and Creators to take a unique workation experiences with me through Taiwan and Malaysia. These are 2 overlooked country hotspots for digital nomads. At the end of the journey you will have a good understanding of video editing, stock footage, creating your own youtube channel, marketing, and building your own website
In January we will begin in Taipei , which is where I started my working holidays. Let me show you around, teach you some chinese, and learn to get to know you and your goals. We will eat delicious Taiwanese food and shoot some footage.
We will then travel to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia where we will have everything we need to focus on building your future skills and assets.
We will then get down to business in Malaysia. We will travel to the city capital to get setup for a month in your apartment. I will then set you up in a co-work space where will spend the next several weeks on your online business.
For those of you that want to create your own course we will take a trip to Hua hin Thailand to film our courses. We will set up the studio for recording and over the course of the week we will film and edit our courses.
The Workation 2020 – Creators Camp (Content Creation, Video Editing)
Benefit: A Remote Working Experience, Learn Skills in Video and Audio Production, Produce a Youtube Channel, Podcast, Website, and learn other essential marketing and business skills
Website and Seo
Learn the importance of owning a website
Form
Create your own wordpress site, choose a theme
Learn about popular plugins and how to manage them
Learn to Create Posts and Pages and Manage your media
Using your site to promote your services
Using your site to gain leads
Setttig up google analytics
Creating a Post to rank on google
Selling a Digital Product using gumroad
Youtube Channel
Learn why you need a channel for your business
Learn to Create a channel
Thumbnail game
Keywords, Titles
How to use the description
End screen and cards
Monitoring your channel using Creator Studio
Graphic Design
Adobe photoshop
Canva
Cloud Storage: Google Drive & Dropbox
Learn to use cloud storage for business
Client Videos
Backup and share footage
Backup, and store Online Courses
Gumroad Platform for selling Digital Products
What is it and why use it
Integration with Convert Kit
Creating a new product
Creating a Coupon
Creating a Lead Magnet
What type of products can you sell
Teachable for Self Hosting
Creating a Course
Which Plan
Free Versus Paid
Bundling your courses
Integration with Email Marketing
Course Creation
Deciding on a course topic
Structuring your course outline
Recording the Course
Gear
Editing the Course
Sales copy, Covert
Partnering
Where to host your course: Udemy, Skillshare
How to deal with 3rd part course hosts: Skillwise, photowhoa
Launch and reviews
Email Marketing: convert Kit
Creating a form or landing page
Automations with other platforms: Gumroad, Teachable
Creating a Sequence
Creating a Broadcast
Patreon Page
Payments
Learning Paypal
Transferwise
Podcasting
Finding Guests
Gear
Find Guests and topics
Workflow for editing and publishing a podcast
Stock Footage
What content to shoot
What settings do you use
Cutting footage from your batch
Workflow
Which agency or use Blackbox
Affiliate Marketing
DJI
Amazon Associates
Invoicing
Template
Terms
Pricing
Structuring a deal
Video Editing: Imovie, Final Cut Pro X, Adobe Premiere
Where is the Big Money
Licensing to business
Freelancing: Editing and Producing
Course Sales
We will run various workshop over the course of the month that will arm you with the neccessary skills. In between workshops you will have access to the workspace to spend time working on your business. I will be available to help and answer questions
I had a recent visit to Taipei Taiwan in 2019 & 2020. Is it still a great place to visit? Who is this destination for? This city changes fast. There are new places to stay, eat, and even get around. For example you can take the MRT from the Airport direct to the city. Let me help you get an Expat local insider view into Taipei.
Taipei is a great spot if you’re not too price sensitive, you want a blend of nature and the big city, great food, fast internet, and cultural experience.
Taipei is a destination for digital nomads or travelers that are looking for a safe, convenient, a relatively affordable food paradise. The locals are friendly and there is lots to see and it’s easy to get around on public transport. Internet is never an issue with their fast 4g unlimited data plans.
Check out Digital Nomads in Asia Course for in depth guides on destinations I’ve lived as a Digital nomad
There are lots of nice little pockets in Taipei. Some areas I enjoy are Daan especially near the Daan Park station, dongmen mrt, Xinyi Anhe, Songshan, and zhongshan just to name a few. If you want the ultimate convenience you can stay near Taipei main station, beimen, or ximen stations. The airport mrt goes directly to beimen and taipei main giving you less transfers to go through if you carry a lot of luggage.
South Korea has a lot to offer for digital nomads. Great food, fast internet, modern infrastructure, yes local craft beer, 6 month visas, and more. In the past couple of years I had a chance to visit Seoul and Busan several times over the years.
Who is Seoul For?
I think Seoul is for a Digital nomad that is more established and that loves the big city vibes. I found Seoul to be a bit overwhelming, but it’s great to experience. There are many co-work spaces, it’s modern, fast internet, easy to get around, and there are lot of difference areas you could base yourself or just transit through. Seoul has the incheon airport, which connects it to Malaysia as well as Vancouver Canada.
Who is Busan For?
Busan is the second largest city and it has several awesome beaches like gwangalli beach . I prefer Busan as it is more chill, and the city feels more manageable, and you still get a lot of the perks of South korea like fast internet, modern city, and safety. Busan also connects to Kuala Lumpur and Nagasaki Japan. If you want to find out more about Busan check out this article.
More about Seoul
Seoul has amazing food for the soul like pork rib bone soup, dumplings, bugolgi beef bbq, bim bam bop and more. I decided to make a visit to film and sample the food and use Seoul to fly to Vancouver. South Korea has potential for Digital nomads despiet the higher cost. We will be exploring some of the info that digital nomads want to here.
Getting in, getting connected, and Where to Stay
I booked a 6 hour flight from Kuala Lumpur, but you can find cheap flights from Bangkok or Taipei. Unfortunately Ubers’s are expensive so I took an airport limo bus ($9 us) to the Ramada hotel in Dongdaemun. The bus pretty much stopped in front of the hotel. I decided to rent a mobile router as it would give me 4g Internet unlimited data up to 3 devices. This cost me $42 us for the 5 days. They also had single sim packages.
Where did I stay
I stayed at the Ramada Encore hotel in Dongdaemun. I did plenty of research between my friends, airbnb, and trip advisor. I found the airbnb’s more on the high end, and the Ramada had the right combination of value, convenience, location, good reviews, and it was a modern hotel. As I said I got dropped off right in front of the hotel. There is a starbucks, convenience store, bus stops, and the Shinseoldong Subway station within a 2 minute walk radius. This subway is on line 1 and goes directly to city hall station. The lobby has a decent work area and local coffee shop and nearby starbucks was spacious and featured a fast Internet connection. I got a good room on the corner of the 16th floor. The was room was relatively spacious for Seoul, everything was clean, modern, and I had a decent view. The wifi wasn’t as fast as I wanted, but I just used my mobile router. The staff spoke a decent level of English to help me get around.
What did I eat and drink
I ate everything from noodle soups, dumplings, fried chicken, beef bulgolgi, jap chae potato noodles, bim bam bop, and pork rib hangover soup to name a few. I marked some pins for the restaurants I went to. You could find a good meal for about 7000 won $6.2 US. The portions were large, and fresh kim chi and side dishes seemed to come standard. I tried the local beer Cass and also some craft beer in Hong dae and Itaewon areas. I recommend trying out the Magpie Ipa in Hongdae. It comes from Jeju island and goes for about 7000 won. Coffee’s ranged from 3000 to 4000 won and offered free wifi.
I took some pov footage from the bus and airport limos using DJI Osmo to capture that unique perspective. If you’re interesting in filming with this camera check out my course. I know its hard to unpack to get out the camera after a long trip, but I made an extra effort because I knew taxis would be expensive. I used the DJI osmo to capture some unique angles at Gangnam and Itaewon areas. I brought out the Canon SLR with the 50mm F 1.4 to capture some nice nightlife footage as well. I explored the hotel and discovered they had rooftop access. I took full advantage of this to get some aerials around Dongdaemun. I brought my drone, but from my research it seemed like if I didn’t fly at the designated drone park at Hangang park Seoul, then I might be at risk for a fine. From my research the footage from there wasn’t particularly scenic and it was at least 1.5 hours in transit just to get there. Instead I went to the DJI Flagship store in Hongdae area. I understand that there are only some official flagship stores worldwide so I made the visit. It was worthwhile as I got to see pretty much all the current gear and get some hands-on with the DJI goggles connected to DJI Mavic and touch the latest small drone dji spark. I ended up partnering with my local friend to complete filming of a Digital nomad guide to Seoul Korea.
I decided to switch my workflow to less laptop work and more content producing footage. This is always more fun and makes more sense on a short expensive trip. I rather do the laptop work from a location that I’m going to be more settled in. I worked at some cafe’s like Starbucks, the Ramada Encore lobby, my room, and the Noah Co-work space. I tried to make a visit to the free Dcamp cowork space, and Hive Arena and Wework at Gangnam They were closed due to holiday. Dcamp is free and the latter 2 are paid co-work spaces, which are not cheap The cafe Internet speeds were fast enough to get some work done.
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Summary
4 days is just scratching the surface of Seoul. It is a large city and although there is good public transport it takes a long time to get around to the different areas. I didn’t really explore the main tourist attractions nor did I visit many co-work spaces, nor did I visit Jeju island. If I did return to Seoul I would bring some company and might try out Gangnam or Hongdae areas. Seoul is not as expensive as you would think once you have taken care of your accomodation. It will just take time to fully expore what it has to offer.
What is the Next Step?
I recommend you enroll in my Digital Nomad in Asia course for a deeper dive into South Korea as well as other destinations in Asia I’ve liked in like Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, Taipei Taiwan, and Chiang Mai Thailand. You can check out the course as well as some free lessons here.
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