Internship And Being A Digital Nomad In Asia
What Can Remote Work And An Internship Bring Your Way?
Time is going by so fast. Recently, I realized that 4 months have passed since I had come back to Poland after my internship in Asia. I ran from the horrible winter in Poland, and flew to… Indonesia 🌴☀️ Right, exotic Indonesia. Oh, and by the way, my internship took place with Cyberius where, in any case, I’m still working. I’m a content manager, simply put, I’m responsible for everything related to content: a little PR, a little SEO, social media, and so on. 👩💻
So, hello everyone!
My internship took 3 months. Besides Indonesia, I had the chance to travel to other countries to work as well. ✈️ I got to feel what it’s like to be a real digital nomad, visiting some countries which I still have on my mind.
But, for now, let me tell you why exactly I’m writing all this… I’d like to give you a summary of my internship, describe life there, work, and travel. Maybe some of the information here could serve you as a tip if you’re thinking about becoming a digital nomad in Asia as I did 😁 So let’s get started!
WORKING AS A NOMAD
As I wrote above I felt like a real digital nomad. During my stay in Yogyakarta, we mostly worked in cafes where you could smell delicious coffee and feel in the air Indonesian students studying so hard. 👩🎓👨🎓 Yep, in every good coffee house (especially in Yogyakarta, which is a student’s city) you might meet a diligent student with his/her notes, books, and colorful pens.
Anyways, I wanted to give you a summary of my beloved cafes I found working in Jogja (Yogyakarta), so I wanna now present you with my first, cherished coffee house called Ekology. It’s a lovely space, full of green areas and wooden decor, with a coworking space on the second floor. A large glazed place with plants around you created a perfect harmony for work. 🧘The air conditioning also worked very well, so I didn’t have to worry about the hot weather outside and the sun reaching 11 on the radiation scale. The Wi-Fi (which is the most important factor in our work) worked well, and was fast for Indonesian conditions. However, you should be aware that in the afternoon the cafe was usually full of people, from students to working freelancers.
Every day at 10:00 a.m. kind, young staff of Ekology welcomed us with a smile, saying ‘Hello!’
- Me: ‘English breakfast tea, please.’
- Them: ‘Ok, Zaneta, right?’
- Me: ‘Yes.’
(PS. It’s nice when they remember your name because you’re a denizen, right? 😊)
The second place that was closest to my apartment (1 minute by scooter) was a Peacock cafe. It was opened 24/7. Really. Even if you wanted to eat cake at 3 am, you could go there and sit down. Peacock was much smaller than Ekology and very often after 12:00–13:00 p.m. there was no place to sit. Additionally, on the second floor you could feel like a chicken on fire because there was no air conditioning. But I also remember the days when the air conditioning was out of whack downstairs, and when it was 1:00 o’clock in the afternoon and the sun was so hot that no one could stand it there. However, the lychee tea served there was sooo delicious. Even now, when I think about it… yummy! 🍵 Also, the Wi-Fi wasn’t bad. Sometimes, the Wi-Fi wouldn’t work, but only for a short while.
And the third place that I want to mention, is Blanco Coffee. We stayed there only when we wanted to go to Malioboro after work (a famous street in Jogja for shopping), because it was far away from our place. The first thought that comes to my mind when I think about Blanco is uncomfortable chairs, when during my four-hour continuous sitting, my back let me know 😆 But, after some time I realized that there was a comfy couch on which I could also sit and work, haha. Despite the uncomfortable chairs and long distance from our apartment, the indie rock music in the background created a nice atmosphere. That, coupled with their delicious coffee, made it worth the trip — if we were going to go shopping afterwards as well. I have never had problems with the Internet there, so my experience being there was altogether a plus.
There are so many different coffee shops in Jogja, and other places in which we spent our time. The best thing about it was that sometimes these coffee shops were even hidden, and I had to explore Jogja to find my favourite place.
LIFE IN INDONESIA
Being and living in Indonesia isn’t so easy. Especially, when we talk about shifting around. There aren’t many good sidewalks, if at all, and only two types of transportation that I would recommend which I was familiar with. The first and easiest one is a motorbike.🛵 It isn’t hard to rent one, although, it can be hard riding the motorbike, following the rules (or maybe lack of rules — or at least the enforcement of rules) of the Indonesian streets, and getting used to the local drivers. I have to admit, that I wasn’t brave enough to do this, so I rode with my friend, haha. It can be dangerous of course, and you should always be as safe as possible.
The second type of recommended transportation is a car. 🚗But, as a tourist, in my opinion, it’s more fun to rent the motorbike, with which you can also go anywhere you want — get around traffic, and avoid taxi driver fees (but sometimes the police stop motorbikes, so it’s good to get an international driver’s license if you can. When it comes to bikes, it’s not recommended because of the chaos on the streets (at the beginning I thought that I would ride a bike, but after one day I knew that it’s probably a bad idea — for me at least).
The next the bigger challenge for us was… food!🥘🍲 Yes, food. Everyday, we thought about where to go eat something, and it had to be tasty, close, and more European when it comes to standards. At that time, tripadvisor was very helpful 😅 I could make a separate post with just recommended restaurants in Jogja, because it’s too long to write here.
TRAVEL & WORK IN ASIA
As I mentioned at the beginning, besides Indonesia I also had the opportunities to go to Malaysia, Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong. I had the time of my life. It wasn’t that simple to combine travel and work together, but I tried it with my friend. Sometimes, it was really hard to wake up and wonder where we should go to work to get a good wi-fi connection, which was also a cozy enough place to stay for a few hours? Tasks on our Asana didn’t disappear easily, but we tried our best. Did we succeed? Well, as you can see, Cyberius still exists and is doing well 😁 My stay in Malaysia was really short, so I tried to work at the airport, and before the flight I wanted to have everything done. Luckily, the weekend was without work. While in Taipei, I didn’t want to waste time wondering about space for work, so I stayed in a hostel because there was enough space there. We flew to Macau on the weekend, and thankfully, we got to spend a day sightseeing before starting the work week in Hong Kong across the river, which was probably the biggest challenge there — a whole work week in another country unable to really explore and enjoy it. Most of the time during that week I just looked for Starbucks in HK, because it was the safest choice (as Starbucks can be found around the world, and will likely have good wifi and a comfortable working space). The internet at my particular location was worse than expected, but it worked well enough. My friend, as well as I, didn’t want to work in our hostel, because of the claustrophobic room and so on. Anyways, my stay in HK would probably also be suitable for a separate story 😄
In general, when I think about traveling in Asia, it seems much more pleasant than traveling in Europe. I don’t know why, but for me, personally, it was. Prices for tickets are cheaper than in Europe and there’s generally no problems for someone (at least for me) to get out from one country to another. Additionally, living costs in countries where I visited (except for Hong Kong) were the same as in Poland, or even lower sometimes.
The climate, the atmosphere on the streets, the people, the exotic nature, and the greenery has been something special.🌴🌺🌱 Maybe it’ll be a surprise for you, but personally, I felt more secure there rather than in Poland. Especially in Taipei, where people are so kind to foreigners and polite. I know it’s going to sound unimaginative, but those places will stay forever in my heart, because of all the different stories that happened there. Thanks to those 3 months I know for sure that I want to go back there and stay for longer, and live life in another country.
Quick And Short Tips
Now, very quickly, I would like to add a few more tips for you relating to insurance and good medical stuff. I recommend you don’t try to pinch pennies when it comes to insurance, as cheaper is usually not better, just get the best one for you. Well, in my case I went once to a dentist in Indonesia (of course, I got lucky and my eighth tooth decided to start hurting for the first time ever in a foreign country). Luckily, prices weren’t high for a good specialist so I could cover my visit with my own money. Nevertheless, in Taipei, I had an emergency due to my eye.👁️ I went to the hospital, but I couldn’t make an appointment that day to an ophthalmologist, but I still managed to see one that day as I went to the emergency section of the hospital.🏥🚑 When I called my insurance company, they just said that I must go and search for a hospital by myself, and then just send them an email about repayment for my treatment. So, I paid by myself and well… I had to wait for one month to get my money, and after that, I didn’t even get half of it back 🙃
When it comes to medicine. Take with yourself some stuff for food poisoning. I got mine for the first time in life in Indonesia, and taking into consideration their pharmacies, sometimes it may be tough to find something appropriate, however, I was surprised when we found ‘smecte’ on the shelf!
…. Ok, now it’s time for a short summary.
My internship was successful. I met new friends in Indonesia, where we could work in a team environment together, enjoying our free time with karaoke, eating out, or going to the ocean. I explored new places, new cultures, and ran different lifestyles than I had been running before. I got a new position at a company, and learned more from friends who are more experienced in digital marketing than I am. I had a chance to see how digital nomadism looks like.🙆
In this last sentence, I finish my writing — it’s my first article, publishing on any medium, so I hope my articles will be better in the future, because I want to write something for you again!
Thank you for reading Cyberius’ blog
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