In a week I will be beginning my Asian trek slash study abroad adventure to Bangkok, Thailand, but I will be kicking off the semester abroad with a short stay in Hong Kong for 4 nights. I’m hoping to fly by the seat of my pants for most of the time I’m there, but there’s still much preparation needed (to my dismay).

Hong Kong’s a very expensive city relative to its Asian epicenter counterparts, so traveling on a shoestring in Hong Kong might be a challenge. However, I’ll be documenting every expense meticulously and reporting it here. In the end, every future explorer to Hong Kong should be able to laugh at and learn from my mistakes, and I’ll end up with a fairly comprehensive budget and expense model that any other future budget travelers will hopefully find pretty valuable.

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A while ago I received news that I was accepted to study abroad in Bangkok, Thailand (application covered here) for the upcoming fall academic session starting sometime in August 2009 - December 2009.  I will be studying at Thammasat University and traveling all around Southeast Asia in my spare time, which should be plentiful.

Thammasat University is set in the heart of Bangkok, nearby the famous backpacker’s haven Khao San Road, the recent Red Shirt riots, and the Grand Palace. All, I’m sure, will be covered in greater detail in my upcoming travels.

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Hello all. I have a few social networking updates to connect with me and BudgetGlobetrotting.

Twitter

I encourage everyone to start following Budget Globetrotting on Twitter since I finally got one. My new BudgetGlobetrotting account is Twitter.com/BudgetGlobetrot and Twitter is a great utility to stay up to date with friends and news sources your interested in. I’ll be posting relevant/interesting travel links, commentary, and links via the Twitter, and also be giving updates on blog posts, etc. So follow me, @ me (send me msgs), and watch for BudgetGlobetrotting’s future tweets. (you can follow me personally as well: read about me)

TravBuddy

I’m starting to get a little more into travbuddy as I’m solidifying travel plans, so at me as a friend. My username is nickobgt and profile can be viewed here: travbuddy.com/nickobgt

Facebook

Always open for Facebook as well. See about me if interested.

After a lot of travel research the past years I’ve finally concluded a study abroad program is the most economical and rewarding means to live abroad for an extended period of time.  After hours of research and introspection I’m happy to say that I’ll [hopefully] be studying abroad this Fall 2009 in Asia.

I just finished applying for my desired program(s) which go through my business school and are somewhat competitive from what I hear.  My business school has a multitude of programs, mostly of which are based in Europe and are not affordable for me.  However, fortunately they offer some great Asian programs too, and in my application I’m applying for three and ranking each one by preference.  Here are the possibilities:

Bangkok Thailand

Leading my favorite programs my miles is a program in Bangkok Thailand. I would be able to study at Thammasat University, which is the best university in the country and is well known throughout Southeast Asia.

I looked at it first for its great affordability and access to cheap travel everywhere, like Laos, Cambodia, and (more…)

As the rest of the world’s growth is finally starting to outpace the US economy’s growth, most of the new huge building projects are happening overseas and we tend not to hear about them, at all. Well these projects are massive, elaborate, beautiful, gaudy, and seem to be a fixture in future urban landscapes and urban tourism internationally.

So are these projects sustainable? And will they be budget friendly? Well probably not too nice on the pocket book, but that is yet to really be determined. But for theses massive building projects going on…

Kazakhstan - Entertainment Center

Norman Foster is bringing Kazakhstan (yes, the Borat kazakhstan) up to speed amongst it’s Asian neighbors with this entertainment center meant to show off the country a bit. Featuring retail space, a massive park, and some “entertainment center” Kazakhstan is looking to tap into some high end tourism. Maybe they’ll have some budget hostels in the normal part of the city so a day trip wouldn’t be too impossible.

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With the Olympics coming, China’s travel industry is about to get loads upon loads of promotion. NBC will undoubtedly feature Beijing-related pieces in between events. Bob Costas (or is it his writers?) will have some humorous monologues about the cultural differences between China and the U.S.

As long as anti-government protests don’t rage in the streets of Beijing, the games will be a boon for China’s tourism business.

That raises a question: will China’s newfound popularity make it into a giant over-visited Asian theme park? Will soccer moms toss around the words: “going to China this summer?” The same casual way that they now refer to Italy or The Bahamas or Hawaii. Most of all, will the games make China a more expensive place to visit?

Fear not!

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