My dream country to settle in, is Indonesia, at first I didn't like what was going on there, following the Bali bombings and the terrorists, but as far as life and nice Asian women it wins out, as soon as you go you will be about 7 times richer , the average monthly salary is about $100.
Many Brits are retiring there, it might be possible to invest in a house, and rent it out at good rates, those people were offering me luxurious homes for like 600euro a month, when the purchase price is about 50K, but I'm not sure if they
really find people to rent them out to.
To be honest I don't believe in real estate investing, but there are other, more difficult investment ideas that would be very successful in Asia, it depends on you.
the question is how far would 50K go in that area, there are for example people who might want to start a Biofuel project or a recycling project, they have the technical knowledge, there's plenty of raw materials, but they don't have the tools and the capital to get started. This kind of 'green' investing can far outperform real estate, and you can test the waters with a fraction of the capital, maybe only 3k-5K, before you need to get licensed.
as crude oil can only rise from now on, alternative fuels will be one of the best markets in Asia
That would involve some hard work. These guys want to spend ten minutes a day on their computers and make money.