What happened?
After being bored by my 9-5 job standard life, i resign my software development job and move to Thailand with some savings (see https://steemit.com/digital/@lifejourney/why-i-quit-my-job-and-moved-to-souteast-asia).
What is my plan?
My plan is to make money with Freelancing as a software developer for companies in the west while only having to pay the cheaper prices in asia. I have 0 clients yet though. Online research tells me Chiang Mai is the “Capital of digital nomads” and the perfect city to start this life. Visas in Southeast Asia are easy. So my plan is to just changes between countries there when my visa for one country expires.
Chiang Mai
The internets claim that Chiang Mai is the perfect city to start this life proofs to be correct fast. It is full of digital nomads. They are everywhere. Every week there is multiple events where 90% of the guests are digital nomads. If you want to find them just go to a coworking space and talk to people or join their Chiang Mai facebook groups.
And the city is cheap. Much cheaper than Bangkok or the tourist areas near the beaches. I moved to a serviced housing room (9€ a day, big enough room, small desk, cleaned once a week, contract for 1 Month, okay wifi, good location). The city is very safe too. And it is surrounded by beautiful nature.
Punspace and work
Punspace is a nice coworking space full of friendly digital nomads. The concept is so successful that they opened a second branch in in Chiang Mai. The price for the office where I’m currently writing this blog entry (Punspace) is 6€ a day. It has good wifi, tons of friendly foreign freelancers (like me), free water, cheap other drinks, a fridge, separate Skype rooms and a fingerprint scanner which unlocks the door so you can come when the reception is closed. Initially they copy your passport and they have cameras everywhere. People who leave the office for several hours usually don’t take their notebooks with them. It’s a very friendly atmosphere and it’s pretty easy to get to know other freelancers. There are events where strategies are taught how to make money Online from Thailand. For example last weak amazon came and hold a lecture about making money through FBA (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200229160). Last time I came here the three guys sitting next to me were Dutch, Australian and German. The following image shows some office guys and me at lunch.
Me at the mall
Getting wasted and the aftermath
Few days ago I went partying and drank alcohol for the first time in Thailand. We went to some bar pretty much next to my new room. There were only foreigners and everyone spoke English. I’m not sure if there was even one Thai person which was not part of the staff. Turns out alcohol prices in bars are pretty much the same as in Germany. Since I’m in a new country and I want to get a lot of stuff done, I decided not to drink much alcohol. That worked great. Until I started to ask people how fast they can chug a beer and met this guy who claimed to be a member of an American fraternity. At that point I realized, that there are far more important things than work. Like showing these American fraternity pussies how to drink properly. We chugged a beer and I won. Then we chugged another beer and I lost. Then we chugged another beer and I won again. Then we played some card based drinking game. Then everything got a bit blurry. I have to admit I went home pretty early while they kept partying. You know … when I was their age … I would have just been getting started at this point. But I’m old now and have new hobbies like walking, reading, yoga, swimming and telling younger folks stories about what I have been capable of when I was young.
Saturday morning I discovered that I had a hangover and that there is this street food guy next to my new place. I got a warm breakfast for 0.50€.
Here is a video a friend took of me immediately after I ate this:
http://giphy.com/gifs/spit-fire-3o6ZsVwQrqGlATGNyw
Turns out this a very common Thai dish called Krapao (stir fried, holy basil with pork, green chili and beans).
After breakfast I decided to spend the rest of the day doing the following things: Youtube -> Youtube -> Eat -> Youtube -> Eat -> Youtube -> Sleep.
Sunday me and my new neighbor who happens to work at the same coworking space went to some hotels pool (3€ / day). Afterwards we went to some Mexican place and had dinner, which was pretty spicy compared to German food but pretty sweet compared to Thai food.
Several coworkers suggested me to get a motorbike. They are dirt cheap and a lot of tourists use them to get around. I think if one of my coworkers ever seen me drive they wouldn’t be making these life threatening suggestions. Especially if you consider that Thai people drive on the wrong side of the road. And drive batshit crazy. To make things worse as a result of a seemingly systematic engineering mistake almost all cars were built with the steering wheel on the wrong side. Further more I argued I don’t have an international drivers license. One guy responded that this was no valid argument since he doesn’t have a drivers license at all and still drives a rented motorbike. Well … maybe I am too German for this approach.
Some temple.
great post. how is the DN lifestyle progressing in Chiang Mai?
I'm not constantly staying there. I always leave a country when my tourist visa expires. Usually at least once a year I go back there though.
Chiang Mai is awesome. Have you experienced the Songkran Festival there yet? I went back this year just for that lol
Hehe. Only did that in Ko Lanta. But heard it's pretty fun in Chiang Mai.
Just be careful, work laws have changed just recently and you may easily be slapped with at 400kTHB (10000EUR) penalty for working without work permit.
To my knowledge that is only enforced if your work is local. I never do local jobs. My clients are usually in the US. That is where I get paid.
Awesome post lifejourney , are you still around CM ? .. great group of steemians forming here..
Thanks for sharing your experience. Amazing! I just started practicing this lifestyle and until now I went only through positive moments. Regarding the decision to start with Chiang Mai. I would be very careful because I heard about big dangerous over there for tourists who are not familiar with local features - I am afraid to be chased by spiders, munched on by centipedes and eaten by snakes?? aren't you?
Biggest risk is the traffic :)
Where are you now? Greetings from Lisbon!
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