You'd do just as well moving to Perth Australia. You'd have a one year work visa, and much cheaper living expenses. Plus, English, constant power and internet connectivity.
My pc hardware supplier runs a IT shop, and has ~130 programmers working in Thailand for dirt cheap wages. She is ethnic Chinese, and employs ethnic chinese at her thailand shop. She wins her contracts here in the US, and does 2 or 3 months working vacations to Thailand to finish the work. She spent at least 8 months in Thailand in 2004, making her pc hardware business suffer, BUT she's making better money doing the coding projects. Even then, they are the best paid locals in the small city/large town the shop is located. Worse yet, they keep getting smart, and demanding 100% pay increases, because they are learning english, and using IT marketplaces to find their real value.
If your resume is real, you'd do just as well starting an IT shop here, and outsourcing the coding to freelancers just located in one area of the phillipines, then when you travel there, it's for business, and is tax deductible, plus you'll have a source of income. You'll also be part of the community you'll be living in.
/Get a personal trainer. It's cheaper.
Disjointed response. The lady I know started with just 4 or 5 programmers in Thailand in 1999. She's built the business up, a lot of hard work, some setbacks, and a few great successes, and is planning on permanently moving there within a few years, when she loses the last of her hardware/networking contracts in NYC metro area.