people are leaving their homes
behind, seduced by the promise
of faster career progression,
cheaper cost of living and a
sense of adventure in growing
expat hubs around the world.
It’s little wonder 79 per cent
of Aussie expats say they’re
‘generally satisfied with life
abroad’. And stats suggest more
young females (aged 1534)
are taking the leap than men.
Whether it’s commerce and
clubbing in Beijing, designer...
well... everything in Dubai, or
just a better pace of life (and
taxfree salaries) in Bermuda,
increasing numbers of young,
single women are packing their
bags and carving out new lives.
For 29yearold JasmineClark*, it was the lure of a f ly
bytheseatofyourpants job
market that got her on a plane
‘I KIND OF LOST
MY HEAD THE
FIRST MONTH
I LIVED THERE.
THE GLAMOUR
SUCKS YOU IN’
to Beijing. ‘I had
an admin job at the
embassy, then started
working for a small
business whose
company was growing.
I didn’t have project
management skills, but
they were prepared to
train me up,’ she tells me.
Now a successful and quite
senior project manager, she
explains that ‘back home [in
the UK], everyone seems to
have their job role and it’s
accepted that you stay in
that position and work your
way up. Here, there’s more
scope for diversifying. If you
have passion, you can get
further quicker than back home.’
Something that may explain
why so many Australian expats
are young, welleducated and
highly skilled.
But while it was work that
drew her to Beijing, it’s play- or, rather, Beijing’s 24hour
party scene – that has kept her
there for six years. ‘It doesn’t
matter how old you are, every
one hits it hard,’ she reveals.
‘People go crazy in a way you
would on a wild holiday. I saw
a couple at a festival who had
taken so many drugs, they
started having sex in the middle
of the crowd.’ Unbelievably, no
one reported them. Getting
caught in f lagrante delicto in
China, however, would have
almost certainly meant jail.
Partying hard
When she says ‘crazy’, Jasmine
is talking about staying out ’til
5am on a work night, f littingbetween cocktails at the city’s
rooftop bars, private rooms in
Michelinstar restaurants and
backstreet dive bars where beers
are just 50c each and you can
share tequila shots with total
strangers. In summer, there
are allday pool parties with
worldclass DJs – naturally.
‘It’s common for people to keep
going to sunrise. Clubs some
times don’t close until the last
person stops dancing.’
It’s a similar story in Bali,
where freelance stylist Jennifer
Smith* now lives and works. In
the day, people go about their
jobs as they would do anywhere
else, but at night and on the
weekends... ‘We get high on
mushrooms and acid at this
villa. They hold crazy parties
where everyone strips naked,
swims in the pool and >SOME EXPATS
FORGET THE
RULES... AND
END UP ON
THE NEWS.