Hi I’m Derrick, travel cinematographer, founder of Paint your Lifestyle, and this is my top 5 best things to do in Asia for less than $100 per day.
Travel for me started early, my mother immigrated from Nigeria when she was 21, pregnant with me. She settled in Los Angeles where I grew up, but we moved around a lot in LA county so I’m not bound by one specific city. I grew up in Hollywood, Torrance, Hawthorne and Artesia just to name a few.
Growing up in Los Angeles molded me to understand the world I live in, that you need to be vigilante, take things at face value and understand not everyone is your friend, in other words be street smart. It molded me to understand that my life will not be a linear path, I will have challenges, be tested and struggle.
My mother is a nurse, growing up with her she would take a lot of trips to visit relatives in other states and sometimes international trips. She would send me off to visit relatives in Nigeria, to understand our family heritage, roots and know my cousins and extended family members. I hated traveling at this stage of my life because I was very young, I only cared about hanging with my friends at the time and stuffing my face with Mc Donald’s. These were my simple pleasures traveling on a plane took away from me. I could understand this is where the early seeds were planted that ignited the love for traveling later in my life.
My most recent big trip I took was backpacking through 5 Asian countries, it’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time.
I loved the nuance of it all, traveling from Los Angeles to the Asian continent was nerve reckoning but also exciting. I was most excited for what cultures I will interact with, new people I will meet and the new memories I will make. I’ve visited the Asian continent before but on a short vacation trip from work, this was different because I was on my own schedule and moving how I wanted to through these next countries. While traveling through Asia, countries like South Korea, Cambodia and Taiwan for example really took me by surprise. I love how open and curious the people were when they came across me, it was like I came from another planet, they had to investigate more of my entity.
I was really surprised how much I was being perceived in these countries; my entity alone sparked a lot of curiosity in these Asian cities. I suppose they don’t interact with a lot of people of color? They asked where I was from, that they love my skin and always asked to touch or inspect my hair. This was a surprise and an opportunity to educate, they made me feel like a celebrity, someone of importance, this is a feeling I would never receive at home so I kind of liked it.
Places like South Korea, Vietnam all the way to the Philippines were very different. It starts off modern like in Seoul, South Korea, then as I made my way south, the people, language and environment change overnight. It still remained humid, that doesn’t change but each country, city had a personality and charm to it. Places like Siem Reap where you have a city that’s integrated with the jungle and then you have another place like Taipei that has the tallest buildings I’ve ever seen.
I roughly spent 1 week per country I visited, the environment changed dramatically per city and country that I visited. Places like Seoul, Taipei and the Philippines, I didn’t struggle so much to communicate, the people spoke english very well. As for Vietnam, most of the cities I visited had a strong language barrier but felt safe most of the time. For someone who carries a whole production team on their back I never once felt in danger. That’s one good thing I liked about the environment.
Some of my favorite spots were the local mom and pop shops, markets and corner markets for food. I was on a daily $100 budget to do whatever I wanted but I would often spend my time at the markets looking for street food or trying street delicacies. I filmed tons of food tours through the continent but you can check this Seoul Food Tour I made of the market, trying a bunch of different Korean dishes, you can watch how I destroy and digest on the food in this video.
In the Philippines I discovered an Island, a small Island that I was able to rent for only $36!! You can find my breakdown on this special location below. It was a dream, very surreal opportunity and just how much nobody knows about this place in the Philippines. Left a great impression, just how heavenly and beautiful this place was and so cheap! I also made a reel about this place which earned 1 Million views! You can check that here as well.
Budget & Planning
I did extensive research on each country I wanted to visit and set a budget for the countries I wanted to visit. With my budget I decided to visit 5 Asian countries, within these countries I already knew the things I wanted to do from rumors and research. I went even further to read blogs, Youtube videos and even Tiktok videos of places that you won’t find on any google search. I used platforms like Viator and getyourguide but I also supported the local businesses of tours that I would casually come across. I covered my entire trip in a cost breakdown of these 5 countries, you can watch here for more in depth detail of the experiences and budget I had.
One of the most unique places I visited is a DMZ. It’s a line that separates North Korea from South Korea. I had the privilege of visiting the zone, understanding what this line means to the country and the history behind it. The DMZ tour is accessible to anyone once you visit South Korea. It was crazy interesting though because of the protocol and information I was told. Once I landed on the site, it was strange, felt like a theme park but not in a good way. My passport was confiscated and escorted to specific areas that could not be filmed or photographed. There I learned of the war, how it started and how it affected Korean families for generations. A lot of Koreans fled North Korea knowing they could not return. I covered this place in depth, if you want to know more about this experience you can watch my take on it here.
I’ve been to a lot of unique markets but never on a FLOATING MARKET! My first floating market experience brings me to Vietnam, 6 hours south east from Ho Chi Minh city, it’s called the Mekong Delta. This entire tour and market is floating on water, the water isn’t the cleanest and the city is very rural but the experience was worth it. Throughout this tour I learned a little about the Mekong Delta. Towards the end I got to interact and buy breakfast from these boats that the Vietnamese women cook and sell. I recommend anyone that’s wanting to experience something different. For a more visual experience you can watch my YouTube video on this market here.
My number one choice for adventure in Asia though, was definitely Island Hopping the most beautiful islands in the world, Coron Philippines and El Nido. This activity was a dream bucket list for me because I knew about this place for several years prior to visiting. Island hopping Coron and El Nido is a half day tour that I highly recommend to anyone who’s traveling to the Philippines. Both Coron and El Nido take you on a boat around the Palawan Islands and there’s a lot of islands to see, over 7000! In a day I was able to see around 10 different islands, all gorgeous and beautiful right down to the white sand. The islands were so beautiful it was almost unreal, kind of like a video game. This half day tour was a lot, and the most fun I had in the Philippines. Speaking about it won’t do any justice but I was able to document my experience island hopping during the tour, be sure to check both of them out, and say hi in the comments !
Photography, Cinematography & Authored by Derrick Akinyanju