hey YouTube Alex here um I thought I'd to live stream just because I had some extra time and yeah how's everybody doing it's pretty late night uh in the US so I don't know how many people will be
able to make this but I thought I could talk about a few different tips or topics thoughts on changai in particular so about changmai what can I say I I'll go through positives I'll go through I would say
at least five solid positives that I really like about the city the first one is that Chang ma hasn't really changed a lot in the last five years it feels very similar to how it felt five years ago
when I first visited the city that was in May of 2018 and I spent that month here in shangai I ended up going to Dental World changai getting a wisdom tooth out felt that was really really good value
and also really liked the city and I've been to a lot of different places around the world since that trip five years ago but something that sticks with me is how much I enjoyed changmai it definitely has a
a certain charm I think for some people I I don't think it's for everybody some people find that it's boring or some people find that it's just there's not a lot to do but I actually like that a
lot about shangai it's very peaceful it's very relaxing there's not a major party scene it's mostly kind of relegated to a couple of roads in one part of town and this is different than a Bangkok or a ptia
where it seems like there's a party everywhere right so that's something to think about when it comes to whether or not it might be right for you is do you like places that don't change as much places that
perhaps are not as dynamic is some places that you may be used to I know in the US it's a dynamic country where it seems to change every five or 10 years pretty significantly in some ways right where
it seems like here there's a lot of things that really just don't change a lot I know that some restaurants unfortunately did have to close during the pandemic uh some businesses closed but a lot of the businesses that
at least I'd say numerous businesses I used to freak with 5 years ago they're still open right now today so they survived the pandemic and they're able to um you know still function and succeed in spite of that
so that's something that's been really nice there's there's been some changes I would say one change uh that's been positive as well is I I noticed it seems like they're doing more upkeep of some of the roads uh
here in the uh here in the city of changmai and I'm specifically speaking about the changma university area also the area near mayam mall near nimon seems like they're doing more to update the sidewalks which is really really
nice I've noticed they're doing a lot of Paving and trying to repair some of the parts of the sidewalks that are crumbling and I think that's really nice that they're doing that I know it's not always easy because
there's a lot of foot traffic in these areas uh but certainly it definitely helps to reduce uh discomfort and when it comes to people like myself that I walk a lot right I don't have a motorbike here I'd
say it's um you know I'd say it's about the same in terms of just like accessibility you will still need to uh oh hi there we got a one viewer excellent uh you will still need to be cognizant
of where you go as a pedestrian there's not always the easiest access to be able to walk around compared to what you may be used to like if you're com coming from a big city in the US you're
used to being able to walk around your neighborhood you're used to being able to walk to the grocery store or walk to certain events that kind of thing it's going to be tricky here in changai unless specifically all
the things that you like happen to be in your neighborhood which seems unlikely to me then you'll probably I need to rent like a bolt or a grab or um yeah hey great to see you Matt yeah walking
surfaces in chai are simply not what I'm used to right in America uh specifically when I think about like Bay Area California it's relatively pedestrian friendly now people don't always drive the best in the Bay Area but that
aside setting that aside it's very easy to be a pedestrian and most uh Urban or Suburban Bay Area cities right they have buses they have uh places benches places for people to sit down they have wide Lanes they
have buttons you can press to cross streets here you kind of have to wing it sometimes in certain areas like uh at the intersection between Maya and nimon uh then they have lights where you can press it and
it will give you a crosswalk sign but that's certainly not at every intersection and that's something that you have to be cognizant of if you are going to come here to changai and I'd say Thailand in general there's
other parts of Thailand I've been to that are similar in that regard like I'd say Pat is not the most pedestrian friendly and Bangkok is decent but I think especially outside of Bangkok it's something that hasn't really changed
a whole lot since I was here five years ago it doesn't mean uh it's all bad but certainly it's something to consider especially I would say if you have a physical disability like if you struggle a bit to
get around then you might find it challenging and feel like well it's going to be too difficult for me to get around changai and I'd rather be in a larger City or something like that where then um it's
just easier to get around how are you doing mad and we got another viewer great to see you I thought I just Chang my what else about Chang my it's definitely taking some adjusting for me uh oh great
great to hear that Mt glad to hear you're you're doing well I would say another thing that's taken a lot of adjusting for me is the pace right I'm coming here from like I said Northern California which is
a very very fast-paced place to live people are working very hard working long hours um it's really a go go go kind of a place to live and being here in uh changai it's just so much slower than
that it's even slower than compared to Bangkok so something I've had to adjust to that is ultimately I think good for my health is understanding that most people here are not in a hurry now I do encounter this
with some foreigners especially people who have I assume just gotten here where they'll walk really fast and they'll walk around you really quick and I was guilty of that too when I first got here uh but since I've
been here now for about I'd say about six weeks then I've slowed down my walking a lot I've accepted hey if I'm going to be in a hurry then maybe I just need to restructure my schedule which I
do have that flexibility here which I really like as an example if there's a certain thing I want to do but I'm not sure if I have enough time to do it before I need to move on to
something else I might just skip it right where that's not really as often doable back home in the US it seems like if you want to get certain things done there's it's much more deadline oriented where here uh
certain things are I don't know people could just trust each other more easily here in Thailand than in the US and that's something else that hasn't really changed in changai is that uh too something that really shocked me
that might shock you if you come here is that to reserve a table like if people are at the mall and they want to reserve a table for them and them their uh themselves and their friends to sit
down and eat then they'll just put their wallet on the table or they put their backpack on the table and everybody else sees oh somebody's claimed that uh now on one hand I think it could be not the
most expedient or fair right because there's a limited number of tables people are already struggling to find a table at peak hours but on the other hand uh it's nice that people can trust each other so much that
they're willing to leave a wallet or some other kind of valuable out and having the belief that nothing will happen to it uh nobody will take it so that's something that I really like about shamai it generally feels
like a high trust city to live in and that you don't have to worry uh to the same extent you do in the US about petty crime about robbery alongside that something that I noticed hasn't changed it's still
a very safe City to walk around at nighttime um that's something that's not the case about um uh great CR great question Will Smith uh will and I'll get back to to what I was saying just about the
the peacefulness of um of the city but uh are you hi Will Smith says hi Alex are you working there at the moment or just on like an extended vacation to see how you like it there I would
say more extended vacation I'm doing some studying online studying computer science online researching some courses that I'd like to take some certifications I've thought about getting but uh yeah I I kind of so it's kind of work or
it's kind of vacation and kind of study as well but no I don't have a a job here in changai I'm I'm on an education Visa so I think to get a job here I'd have to Pivot to
a Visa that allows for a work permit maybe like a business Visa and I think that's doable but uh I don't know that I will stay here after next summer when my Visa runs out so my Visa is
extendable through next July I think late June I'm thinking about going to Vietnam Next and and so I'm trying to determine do I want to stay in Vietnam for 30 days or 90 days uh and that would be
in April that would be in April well April or somewhere between April and July it kind of depends on how long I want to extend my trip out uh I do plan to leave changmai specifically in March uh
so my lease here in changai is up in March and I'm thinking um from there I I'm looking at hin not sure if you've heard of huahin will but uh it's a really nice Beach town um in uh
in Thailand Matt says go to deot you know that's a great idea Matt I think what I'm gonna try to do is I'm gonna try to fly from changmai or I may be in Bangkok actually by the time
I'm ready to leave Thailand but fly to Hanoi and then work my way south and so hit a bunch of the beach cities um but yeah I'll definitely make a note to check out D lot in Vietnam but
yeah back to my earlier point you know Point number two I like that it's safe to walk around at night I noticed in the time I lived in the Bay Area from like 2018 off and on until um
earlier this year that it went from feeling you know fairly safe to walk around at night to uh feeling fairly sketchy at night right got to the point where um what's it called uh I don't know it just
um you just see kind of sketchy characters out you know I got my car broken into two weeks before I moved away and that individual like left some stinky clothes in my car um which was really gross and
they got my credit card and made a bunch of fraudulent transactions and that was a really big mess and you just don't feel that here in shangai right I don't ever see people um whacked out on the street
here in shangai I don't see people breaking in the cars I don't see people living in tents on you know it's just uh yeah it's just wonderful to be in a city that is safe and you can at
any hour walk around I've walked around at 2 3 a.m. 400 am 5 am here in changmai on this trip and no issues at all of course services are less easily accessible late at night as you'd expect uh
but it's not because of crime it's just people got to go to bed and sleep right oh Matt do you you said tough north to south do you recommend going from south to North starting in huchi Min City
and then going up uh to Hanoi love to love to hear more about your thoughts on that because I'd be happy to switch it up if you think it's more efficient it's better to go from south to North
I never been to Vietnam so this will be a first time for me Will Smith says great makes sense thanks for that I love hen they're starting the highspeed rail from Bangkok to hen from next year which will
cut the journey time to under two hours from nearly five yeah that sounds incredible I didn't realize they're doing a highspeed rail but that's a really really good idea and it's um it just seems a lot better um
seems a lot better to be able to do it by train if it's it's going to be faster you save people a lot of time because certainly five hours like if you go down back to Bankok that's another
day gone right because you got to think you got to get there early you gotta make sure um you have your stuff organized pack everything up it definitely takes a lot of time to be doing a five hour
trip each way especially if it's less than a month like I plan to go to Huen for at least a month but if I was going there for a weekend I mean five hours each way like what five
hours on a Friday come back on Sunday or Monday just that's a lot of time to to go for something like that but yeah I'll be sure to make some content and who I hin will I've been really
busy studying a lot on programming but I need to make some videos on changai uh because I really like the city I really enjoy it but I just haven't had a chance to get around that yet Matt says
it's so far and the buses are rough yeah I've heard that the buses are not a lot of fun I I've uh have some friends from Vietnam and they've mentioned that as well like that it's just uh you
get a bumpy ride and it's sometimes like a lot of time too you're not saving any money right I did some comparisons as far as comparing the cost of flying versus taking a bus and the price isn't that
different and so one thing I'm curious about Matt is it possible to fly to doot is there an airport in De lot because I thought why don't I fly into hiim Min City and then fly to like Nang
or Danang or some of these other beach cities and I go from there and maybe I can't do all of them right maybe I do a few of them this time uh like a month in each or something
like I don't know I was thinking like a week in Hoi Min City and then um finding a cool Beach town for like a month uh and then finding another beach toown for a month and then maybe a
few weeks in Hanoi and then after that um after that thinking about moving on to um Indonesia right I've been thinking about going to Indonesia after Vietnam Matt says say it's so far and the buses are rough it's
not far from Saigon I see okay so I I'll look it up on a map then let's see pull up the map oh it's about six hours I see so yeah that's still a long bus ride right six
hours except it's not so far you necessarily want to fly um so I could see how that would be uh you know that would be challenging maybe um huh how about vau uh let's see what's oh Matt says
beware n Trang what's wrong with n Trang is it uh very touristy Matt it looks very beautiful but it could be that it's quite touristy which there's not anything wrong with that but certain places definitely feel over touristed
like um vungtau is Cool N Trang is dangerous what makes n Trang dangerous i' I've never heard that about it of course I have to say pattia after I spent a month there definitely noticed uh that it's not
the safest place in Thailand I definitely encountered some odd characters late at night especially walking around even in John Tien you know everybody's saying go to John Tien but uh I definitely encountered people that were very very strange
I had people approaching me trying to offer services I'm not interested in and uh people hitting me up for money it was really just almost like the the total opposite of changai um which I think is cool if
like you're there to party or something like that it's not really a place that I'd want to live long term um just my personal experience it it just felt over the top I I could see how it could
be perfect for some people um some people you may be able be able to overlook some of those challenges but it just isn't for me um and I gave it a shot I'm glad I gave it a shot
and I can have my honest opinion on it from firstand experience as opposed to just like assuming you know one way or another just from watching videos I try to be pretty tolerant and open-minded but even then it
just felt like and Padia you really have to go there like I don't know I think for a lot of people just counting yeah yeah you you totally get it Matt yeah I had some people like approaching me
where I'm like don't talk to me like I'm used to San Francisco where if somebody approaches you on the street and it's a stranger they're gonna ask you for money like I've even had well-dressed people hit me up
and ask me for money and uh it's it's it's not no I'm just I've lived in too many big cities and spent too much time in big cities to uh be falling for that kind of thing but yeah
SN Matt says snatch and grabbing the train yeah I've got to be careful with that because I don't want to have to replace expensive Electronics right like my laptop or even my cell phone of course I have a
cheaper iPhone but still even being cheap iPhone the SE model um people some you know some people still might want to take it but yeah I'll I'll definitely be careful if I end up in the train uh about
snatch and grab and and I'll do more research as well because I don't want to be a victim of crime any uh any weekend plans anybody I'm will says I'm in Hong Kong having lived here for over 30
years I'm going to retire next year to Malaysia which I feel is the best for me in Asia in terms of food infrastructure apartment and health care you know well I definitely agree I think Malaysia is super underrated
I think a lot of people um you know they think about like the having fun aspect of being re re tired and I think that's what attracts so many people to Thailand uh also to the Philippines but I
think if you want a honestly like a a more predictable or organized experience I really like Malaysia like I felt when I was in Malaysia wow this is very calm this is very similar to some of the things
that I like about the US and about uh similar kind of countries influenced by the UK or Great Britain it just was so refreshing to have certain level of order that I feel like some other uh perhaps countries
that are not as aligned with my home country the United States um yeah I I really liked it I really liked Malaysia when I visited there I think you're gonna love it you're gonna have a great time I'd
like to go back uh to Malaysia at some point I'm currently in a mode where I'm trying to check out new places but it's it's definitely on my list high up there because it is so it's so convenient
right I've especially koal andur and I haven't spent time much really outside of koal andur in Malaysia I've heard panang is awesome I've heard also malaka is really cool actually uh one of my friends is U from panang
and he grew up in KL and he's told me a lot about just you know how how nice of his City panang is and so I think you'll really enjoy it I like that English is spoken there right
it definitely I think a lot of people when they think about the language R they're pointing at the Philippines like oh hey if you want to speak English go to the Philippines because everybody there or many people there
speaks English but I think they often uh Overlook Singapore due to high costs right Singapore is an expensive country but they don't think about Malaysia where I got around with English a whole lot in Malaysia and I think
that's something that I I just think it's it's a really underrated aspect also the food I really like lik if you're somebody like you're in a h in Hong Kong where it's an international City and you have a
lot a lot of options a big variety of food choices then you know certain places especially like remote places they're not going to offer what you're used to right where if you're in a a large urban area in
Malaysia you're going to have great food options right um infrastructure as well it just I noticed at least in my experience in KL the roads were wellmaintained you also had great public transportation um and apartment I felt like
I the value for apartments was really good for the money definitely much much better than the United States where I'm from Matt asks do you have a dual SIM card phone I think I can do an eim and
uh in a regular I I think I have a dual s I'm not sure Matt can you elaborate more on that please will says I was looking at KL or panang but ultimately I've decided on Cameron Highlands can
get a nice 1500 square foot apartment for 300 a month there believe it or not and uh no aircon required year round that's a really good price because I had a really tiny in Pia uh for basically after
I paid their insane electric bill which I've learned to avoid in the future I was paying close to that so and that's that's not too far off from what I pay in changai and that's that's a really reasonable
price I'm gonna have to look into the Cameron Highlands I've I've nobody's ever mentioned that to me but I I've definitely definitely want to consider um you know all the options out there oh I see so it's near
EO and it's nice too that you're not going to have to run your aircon year round because that can really add up I mean when I was in ptia that's kind of one of the ways or things that
you have to look out for is that they charg you a low price it was like 5,000 bot or 5,500 bot for the apartment but then they charged you like 10 bot per kilowatt hour so you end up
paying like I basically paid three or four times what I would pay here in changai for the electric bill or all like two and a half times but the aircon was also less efficient than my aircon here in
shangai so um I paid like 5,000 or 5,500 bot for the rent then I paid like four 4,000 bot for the electric so it wasn't really that good of a deal of course I learned my lesson um one
they're going to get you somehow and pattia they're going to find a way into your wallet uh but then also that uh just to keep an eye out for Government rate electricity but I feel like something like that's
gonna be less much less of an issue in Malaysia things seemed fairly above board Matt says I need to keep a Us phone number so t plus plus a tie plan I see um yeah I just I I
use Google Voice that's kind of how I do it to have a Us phone number it's not a perfect solution but it works decently well enough um I use that Google Google Voice and then I can do calls
over Wi-Fi and if I need to get somebody my phone number then I provide them that Voice number and it will let me know now I will notice it's not great about ringing and I don't know if that's
just a settings issue uh but it's not always great about ringing so sometimes I have to pick it up and call the person back uh to complete that call but yeah Matt it's it's awesome if if you have
the ability to have a Us phone number and a TI phone number uh then then yeah getting a dual SIM phone I think will help you a lot but yeah any any uh weekend plans uh guys I think
uh I'm going to be wrapping uh wrapping the stream up shortly just because I have some some stuff that I need to get to uh before much longer in the day but uh yeah glad thank you so much
for watching I wasn't sure because it's so late night in America right now I wasn't sure how many of my subscribers were perhaps in Europe or other parts of Asia so it's great to have some folks to chat
with for me um yeah I just plan on doing programming this weekend I think I'm going to go get get some lunch uh tomorrow um with a maybe with a friend I don't know a friend of mine he's
been sick recently but I think he's uh wanting to meet up and hang out we haven't hung out in about a I don't know I'd say about a month so be nice to catch up with him will says
most places have no aicon as it doesn't get above 24 or below 12 as its elevation is famous for tea plantations that sounds incredible not having to use airon uh and being in Southeast Asia where you have uh
that just sounds like perfect weather I have to research more about it because that just sounds like a wonderful place I love tea as well so I think being around a Tea Plantation would be very relaxing Matt says
painting my house have a good day thanks so much Matt I appreciate it I hope your house painting goes well and I hope you have a good day as well um but yeah thanks thanks so much everybody I
really appreciate you joining us today and I think I'm going to wrap up and we'll chat soon I'm always happy to do more of these in the future all right byebye
