I have $2000 and I want some time alone without spending a lot of
money, so I can read for about 3 months. I want to be in natural
surroundings (not in a city) and would like to be on a natural if not
all-organic diet. I am willing to go to another country. I have heard
that one can live on 5 US dollars a day in China for instance. China
probably is not as pastoral as I would like however. I would even camp
in a tent, a house is not necessary.
A good spread of varying ideas would be nice. What is most important
is the having the time/space to read and extreme inexpensiveness; you
can experiment with variables such as housing, working for rent/food
(like WWOOF farms), and even possibly consider city living.
The price for this one is a bit low b/c of the variability of the
answer. I will tip well for an answer with many varied possibilities.

Provided you are presentable with references the logical answer is not
only be cheap but paid. House sitting is a great way to do exactly
what you want and get paid for watching animals, watering plants and
taking care of the home. Pick your locations, run ads in the papers
and have a profile and bio on the new cheap website you put up and
reference in the ad. No references? No problem. Do it for free for a
week or two for a couple of families and your there provided Spot can
still fog a mirror when the homeowners return. This is to easy.

Become a Minister of Religion.

It requires only a few hours work per week and it's a job for life.

Maluca has a good idea, but I must say that your sentence "China
probably is not as pastoral as I would like however" sounds a bit
weird to me: China is a huge country, with everything from
almost-empty deserts to a city like Shanghai. I don't mean to
criticise you saying that, but it seems to me that your notions of
this three-month are a bit romantic if China is "not pastoral enough"
for you.

Darjeeling, India?  View of the Himalayas in clear weather, and very
conducive to reading in the raining season (June to ?September) when
its surrounded by clouds, but occasionally they break and you get to
see the mountains.
darjeelingnews.net
There are probably  - assuredly -  "guesthouses" that are cheaper than
the hotels on the website.
If Indian vegetarian food meets your description of "all-organic
diet", that desire is also well settled.
House-sitting is a great idea, but I'd go to Darjeeling

Or, if you don?t happen to have a free ticket to fly around the world,
and dysentery, or lack of decent police protection are of any concern,
you might check out the cost of setting up a tent in any of various
state or federal parks.

You might need to move a few times but that's easy and you may find a
private campsite which is a good alternative.

I am still for sending you to Darjeeling.  It would be a once in a
lifetime experience, and they have internet cafés there.  Dysentery is
only a problem for the first couple of days, and I don't think lack of
police protection is any problem, not from my experience a couple of
years ago, and not 35 years ago (well, once in Kashmir, but that's
another story.  Beautiful place, but now unfortunately so off-limits
to tourists that the Lonely Planet guidebook for Indian skips it
entirely.  Get it (library), if you're even halfway tempted by my
suggestion.).

And think about cheap ways of getting to Calcutta or wherever, if you
don't choose to housesit or tent.  This could be such a great chance
to see somewhere exotic.  That subject could cost you a couple more
questions here, but could get some interesting suggestions.

I agree that a trip to darjeeling would be quite an experience and
worth it on that basis but the client wants a quiet place to read.

how about shoplifting in front of security camera, 3 months jail with
free food and accomodation.

recommending criminal activity is a violation of answers.google
regulations, even if meant humorously.

You would probably like the Ithaca, NY area (scenic, inhabited by many
people who follow vegan/organic diets).  Maybe you could do
house-sitting for a professor who is away on sabbatical or find a
cheap summer sublet.

Although it may seem at times that this is just another online chat
room, it is actually a serious attempt by paid professionals to answer
questions from serious clients.

I have done housesitting and it probably doesn't meet the client's
needs because it requires a considerable effort to find a good gig and
also places quite a few legal obligations on the house sitter. Often
it also imposes a fair amount of work which would also defeat the
client's purpose.

I like this idea of house-sitting, although it IS a lot of work just
to get the job. Politicalguru- I just don't know anything about China,
my mental picture is cities and trashed deserts, I guess I am totally
wrong.
This is great...keep going!

SiliconSamurai: Take your attitude and yourself to your room and grow up.

Maluca, that was a little harsh, and besides, S-S is going to tent
out:  at the base of Half Dome, rim of Grand Canyon, ...
There are some serious questions that cannot be given a precise
answer, so although the postings may seem like a chat room (and fun,
if not all terribly serious or to the point), we are really
brainstorming, an accepted method of developing a solution.  Enjoy!
Rohit24's suggestion is about 100 years old:  an O'Henry story about a
vagrant, who as Christmas was approaching, throws a rock through a
window while a cop is watching, looking forward to a few months off
the street, but the cop, full of Xmas goodwill, just speaks to him by
name and tells him not to do that again.
(terribly off the point)

What about living on a boat? A rule of thumb costing is about one
fifth the cost of renting. Many big boat owners would like a permanent
resident for security reasons, providing you keep a tidy 'house'.
There are lots of "old" big boats tied up that will probably never
again go to sea, but float. Modern marine 'facilities', onboard are
available, precluding the necessity of onshore facilities. Just to be
there, you may get one rent free. And what a nice way to get to sleep.

Boat? I lived on a boat in the Northeast for nearly a decade and it
was a lot of fun but isn't normally an easy way of life or one which
leaves you a lot of extra time to read.

That is certainly a possibility but house sitting is the better option
because if you don't pay attention to the job part of house sitting,
the house doesn't sink.

Nepal is nice too, but if you were going over there, I would still
plug for Darjeeling  (No, folks, I don't have any hidden website or
connections.)
As an erstwhile British Hill Station, it is a little more in tune with
Anglo-Saxon  tastes, might even have a Holywood instead of Bolywood
film in the cinema.
OH, and when the weather is clear, you don't just see the Himalyas,
Mt. Everest is visible.
You can tell  - I wish I were in your shoes  :)  or maybe - since I'm not  :(

Some of the countries where you can live cheaply have rigid
restrictions for getting a visa to do so. For example, in China, you
might find a very rural place where you can live cheaply, but to get a
visa for more than a month without an invitation is almost impossible.
But the small, poor rural areas would welcome you for an English
teacher and you could work a couple hours a day, get accomodations,
and have plenty of time for yourself. You can teach English in many
countries, have some compensation, culture and free time for yourself.
Buddhist monasteries also will accept visitors.
There is a book "The Gift of a Year" that gives some options on how to
take time off to give yourself time to do what you want to do.
Interesting reading.
Good luck to you. I hope you can accomplish what you hope to do.

This is one which could go on forever.  I used to own a house in
Hawaii (the big Island) and after having it a few years...I wondered
why?  There were many "squatters" who would go around and find an
empty anbandoned house and just "move in" and make it there own until
someone told them to leave.  Heck, I even made friends with this one
couple who had "squatted" there for over two years.  They ate banana,
picked fresh pineapple, macademia nuts, and anything anyone else would
give them.  Must have been ok because they had two kids and told me
they made less than $4000 a year doing odd jobs for people.

Go to Europe and live in Hostels while you travel (hitchhike) the countryside.

Join the Peace Corp and go to some exotic land.  Looks good on a resume too!

Canada's national parks are the cleanest and least expensive place to
camp anywhere in the world.  Their sites also provide you with wood,
water, and a shower facility.  Often less than $5 a day.

Volunteer to aid others in Sri Lanka.  See the world on someone elses
dime and at almost no cost.  You also get a warm and fuzzy feeling
because of it.

Check out my site:

www.freewebs.com/houseofblueskennel/index.htm

If you're looking for a pastoral place to spend your vacations I think
you should  come to Romania (South Eastern Europe). I think Romania
might be exactly the place you're looking for as you can go in the
mountains and camp in a tent or in someone's house (10$/night with 5$
more for 2 hot meals and breakfast); or you could go see the Danube
Delta and live there for a few weeks. I assure you that Romania has
some of the most beautiful landscapes you have ever seen.

For more infos you could open the following links:

http://www.travelnotes.org/Europe/romania.htm 
http://www.romaniatravel.com/index.php?url=gallery
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/romania/
http://www.spirit.ro/

It's me again (look above); I have another web site address related to Romania
http://www.visit-romania.ro/sectiuni/engleza/index_en.htm
See you !

Alina 

www.akela.ro