I occasionally did some consulting jobs. Put it this way, some people make about $500 a month in Malaysia (which is more than enough to survive comfortably on). When you charge $100+ an hour you can make more in a day than the locals make in a month.
Having been in Malaysia on and off for the last few years: you can survive with $500 a month. But you don't wanna put a guy in his late 30s in the kind of accommodation you'd have to put up with for that budget.
Let me put it this way. A 1000$ rental gets you much more luxury than the same amount would get you in the west. But a 500$ monthly budget is pretty poor lifestyle in the long run even in South-East Asia, though I agree not quite as desolate and impoverished as you'd be in Europe or America :))
