
I stumble out of bed and shuffle to the kitchen to make coffee. Dishes can wait. (I have my priorities).
I sit in front of my computer and contemplate my semi-conscious state. I listen to the black parrots singing in the tree off the terrace, and the Caribbean breezes that rush through the luscious foliage of the surrounding landscape.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Soca music has just filled the entire house. I blink. Where is it coming from?
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Susan Hurley is a blogger and advertising copywriter. After starting her career in Boston and San Francisco, she paid off her sizable student debt by following the Dave Ramsey plan and relocated to Asia last year; first Hong Kong, then Singapore, and most recently Vietnam. She doesn’t have a master plan or even a timeframe but rather, just ventures to wherever her work takes her. Please enjoy this week-in-the-life of Su Hurley, as she makes her way from Vietnam to America with pit-stops in Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong.
Day 1
Vietnam to Malaysia
I’m glad to be leaving Vietnam today. For some reason, I didn’t make friends here like I did in Hong Kong. The expats in my neighbourhood seem strange and my coworkers keep to themselves. No one at the office goes out after work and if they do, I don’t know about it.
One huge exception is Nhung, a Vietnamese copywriter at my agency, who’s been there for me from the start. She pulls up to my place on her moped one last time, to ride with me to the Saigon airport.

While we wait for our cab, we have an in-depth discussion about why publicly picking one’s nose is perfectly fine in Vietnamese culture. As I understand it: Arm itches? Give it a scratch. Something on your knee? Brush it off. Something in your nose? Get it…get it good! The first she knew of anyone having a problem with unabashed nose picking was at her international school. The foreign teachers there would have none of it!
I’ve never been to Malaysia before. The first time I ever heard of it was in a Seinfeld episode where Elaine envies a man who got his glasses there.
After an evening flight to Kuala Lumpur, I check into the Reggae Mansion. It’s after midnight by the time I check in and the rooftop bar is in full swing. I stay up till 3am talking to two guys from Daytona, FL., Tom and Michael. They’re both engineers taking a few months off “until the money runs out”. After KL, they’re headed to Vietnam to motorbike from Hanoi to HCMC.
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A few weeks ago I wrote about balancing managing an online business while volunteering in trade for accommodation.
But in tackling this topic I realized I put the cart before the horse; let’s first discuss how to get free accommodation by volunteering.
These are often referred to as work-trade gigs; you work a certain number of hours on the property where you are staying, in trade for free accommodation and sometimes food.
The variety of possibilities are endless. Here is a selection of work-trade volunteer gigs that I’ve enjoyed over the years:
These were each wildly different and incredibly rewarding ways to stay somewhere for a while and live a slice of local life. Oh yeah, and get free accommodation.
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