Live from Chiang Mai

Introduction to Chiang Mai

0:07 Hey YouTube, Alex here. I thought I'd do a live stream just because I had some extra time. And yeah, how's everybody doing? It's pretty late night 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 Chiang Mai in particular.

Chiang Mai's Charm and Lack of Change

0:31 So about Chiang Mai, what can I say? 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 Chiang Mai 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 Chiang Mai. I ended up going to Dental World Chiang Mai, getting a wisdom tooth out. It felt that was really, really good value.

1:04 And I 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 Chiang Mai. It definitely has a certain charm. I think for some people, I don't think it's for everybody. Some people find that it's boring, or some people find that there's not a lot to do. But I actually like that a lot about Chiang Mai. It's very peaceful, it's very relaxing. There's not a major party scene.

1:36 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 Pattaya, where it seems like there's a party everywhere. So that's something to think about when it comes to whether or not it might be right for you. Do you like places that don't change as much? Places that perhaps are not as dynamic as some places that you may be used to?

2:02 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. But here, it seems like 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, and some businesses closed. But a lot of the businesses that I used to frequent five years ago, they're still open right now today. So they survived the pandemic and they're able to function and succeed in spite of that.

2:42 So that's something that's been really nice. There's been some changes. I would say one change that's been positive as well is I noticed it seems like they're doing more upkeep of some of the roads here in the city of Chiang Mai. I'm specifically speaking about the Chiang Mai University area, also the area near Maya Mall, near Nimman. Seems like they're doing more to update the sidewalks, which is really, really nice.

3:13 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, but certainly it definitely helps to reduce discomfort. And when it comes to people like myself that walk a lot, I don't have a motorbike here.

3:38 I'd say it's, you know, I'd say it's about the same in terms of just like accessibility. You will still need to, oh, hi there, we got one viewer, excellent. 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 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.

Pedestrian Accessibility Challenges

4:13 That kind of thing, it's going to be tricky here in Chiang Mai unless specifically all the things that you like happen to be in your neighborhood, which seems unlikely to me. Then you'll probably need to rent like a Bolt or a Grab. Or, yeah, hey, great to see you, Matt. Yeah, walking surfaces in Chiang Mai are simply not what I'm used to, right? In America, specifically when I think about like the Bay Area, California, it's relatively pedestrian-friendly now.

4:46 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 in most urban or suburban Bay Area cities. They have buses, they have 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 at the intersection between Maya and Nimman. They have lights where you can press it and it will give you a crosswalk sign, but that's certainly not at every intersection.

5:21 And that's something that you have to be cognizant of if you are going to come here to Chiang Mai, 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 Pattaya 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 it's all bad, but certainly it's something to consider, especially if you have a physical disability, like if you struggle a bit to get around.

5:56 Then you might find it challenging and feel like, well, it's going to be too difficult for me to get around Chiang Mai, and I'd rather be in a larger city or something like that where then it's just easier to get around.

Adjusting to Chiang Mai's Slower Pace

6:24 Matt, and we got another viewer, great to see you. I thought I'd just, Chiang Mai, what else about Chiang Mai? It's definitely taking some adjusting for me. Oh, great, great to hear that, Matt. Glad to hear you're doing well. I would say another thing that's taken a lot of adjusting for me is the pace.

6:41 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. It's really a go-go-go kind of a place to live. And being here in Chiang Mai, it's just so much slower than that. It's even slower than compared to Bangkok.

7:02 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.

7:23 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.

7:43 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, certain things...

8:07 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 Chiang Mai. It's that, too, something that really shocked me that might shock you if you come here. To reserve a table, like if people are at the mall and they want to reserve a table for 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.

8:32 And everybody else sees, oh, somebody's claimed that. Now, on one hand, I think it could be not the most expedient or fair, because there's a limited number of tables, people are already struggling to find a table at peak hours. But on the other hand, 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.

Safety and Trust in Chiang Mai

8:58 Nobody will take it. So that's something that I really like about Chiang Mai. It generally feels like a high-trust city to live in, and that you don't have to worry 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.

9:40 Great question, Will Smith. Will, and I'll get back to what I was saying just about the peacefulness of the city. But 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?

10:00 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 yeah, 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 job here in Chiang Mai. I'm on an education visa.

10:28 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 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.

10:50 I'm thinking about going to Vietnam next, and so I'm trying to determine, do I want to stay in Vietnam for 30 days or 90 days? And that would be in April, or somewhere between April and July. It kind of depends on how long I want to extend my trip out.

Future Travel Plans: Vietnam and Hua Hin

11:11 I do plan to leave Chiang Mai specifically in March. So my lease here in Chiang Mai is up in March, and I'm thinking from there, I'm looking at Hua Hin. Not sure if you've heard of Hua Hin, Will, but it's a really nice beach town.

11:30 In Thailand. Matt says, go to Da Lat. 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 Chiang Mai, 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.

11:51 But yeah, I'll definitely make a note to check out Da Lat.

Safety Comparison: Chiang Mai vs. Bay Area

12:02 Back to my earlier point, 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 earlier this year, it went from feeling fairly safe to walk around at night to feeling fairly sketchy at night. Got to the point where you just see kind of sketchy characters out. I got my car broken into two weeks before I moved away, and that individual left some stinky clothes in my car, which was really gross. They got my credit card and made a bunch of fraudulent transactions, and that was a really big mess. You just don't feel that here in Chiang Mai. I don't ever see people whacked out on the street here in Chiang Mai. I don't see people breaking into cars, I don't see people living in tents. It's just wonderful to be in a city that is safe and you can walk around at any hour. I've walked around at 2, 3, 4, 5 a.m. here in Chiang Mai on this trip and had no issues at all. Of course, services are less easily accessible late at night as you'd expect, but it's not because of crime, it's just people got to go to bed and sleep.

13:42 Oh Matt, you said tough north to south. Do you recommend going from south to north, starting in Ho Chi Minh City and then going up to Hanoi? 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 or better to go from south to north. I've never been to Vietnam, so this will be a first time for me.

Vietnam Travel Discussion: North to South

14:07 Will Smith says, 'Great, makes sense, thanks for that.' I love Hue. They're starting the high-speed rail from Bangkok to Hue 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 high-speed rail, but that's a really, really good idea. It just seems a lot better to be able to do it by train if it's going to be faster. You save people a lot of time because certainly five hours, like if you go down back to Bangkok, that's another day gone. You got to think you got to get there early, you gotta make sure 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 Hue for at least a month, but if I was going there for a weekend, five hours each way, like five hours on a Friday, come back on Sunday or Monday, that's a lot of time to go for something like that.

15:13 But yeah, I'll be sure to make some content on Hue. I've been really busy studying a lot on programming, but I need to make some videos on Chiang Mai because I really like the city. I really enjoy it, but I just haven't had a chance to get around to that yet.

15:30 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 have some friends from Vietnam, and they've mentioned that as well, like that it's just a bumpy ride and it's sometimes a lot of time too. You're not saving any money. I did some comparisons as far as comparing the cost of flying versus taking a bus, and the price isn't that different. So, one thing I'm curious about, Matt, is it possible to fly to Da Nang? Is there an airport in Da Nang? Because I thought, why don't I fly into Ho Chi Minh City and then fly to like Nang or Da Nang or some of these other beach cities and go from there? Maybe I can't do all of them right. Maybe I do a few of them this time, like a month in each or something. I don't know. I was thinking like a week in Ho Chi Minh City, and then finding a cool beach town for like a month, and then finding another beach town for a month, and then maybe a few weeks in Hanoi. And after that, thinking about moving on to Indonesia. I've been thinking about going to Indonesia after Vietnam.

16:59 Matt says, 'It's not far from Saigon.' I see. Okay, so 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, except it's not so far you necessarily want to fly. So I could see how that would be challenging.

Travel Warnings: Nha Trang and Pattaya

17:39 Matt says, 'Beware Nha Trang. What's wrong with Nha Trang?' Is it very touristy? It looks very beautiful, but it could be that it's quite touristy, which there's nothing wrong with that, but certain places definitely feel over-touristed. Like Vung Tau is cool, Nha Trang is dangerous. What makes Nha Trang dangerous? I've never heard that about it. Of course, I have to say Pattaya, after I spent a month there, I definitely noticed that it's not the safest place in Thailand. I definitely encountered some odd characters late at night, especially walking around even in Jomtien. You know, everybody's saying go to Jomtien, but I definitely encountered people that were very, very strange. I had people approaching me trying to offer services I'm not interested in, and people hitting me up for money. It was really just almost like the total opposite of Chiang Mai, which I think is cool if you're there to party or something like that. It's not really a place that I'd want to live long-term, just my personal experience. It just felt over the top. I could see how it could be perfect for some people, but it just isn't for me. I gave it a shot, and I'm glad I gave it a shot, and I can have my honest opinion on it from firsthand experience as opposed to just assuming you know one way or another from watching videos. I try to be pretty tolerant and open-minded, but even then, it just felt like in Pattaya, you really have to go there.

19:58 Yeah, you totally get it, Matt. I had some people 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 going to ask you for money. I've even had well-dressed people hit me up and ask me for money. I'm just, I've lived in too many big cities and spent too much time in big cities to be falling for that kind of thing.

20:26 Matt says, 'Snatch and grabbing on the train.' Yeah, I've got to be careful with that because I don't want to have to replace expensive electronics, like my laptop or even my cell phone. Of course, I have a cheaper iPhone, but still, even being a cheap iPhone SE model, people still might want to take it. But yeah, I'll definitely be careful if I end up on the train about snatch and grab, and I'll do more research as well because I don't want to be a victim of crime.

Retirement Plans: Malaysia vs. Thailand

21:26 Any weekend plans, anybody? 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 healthcare.' You know, I definitely agree. I think Malaysia is super underrated. I think a lot of people think about the having fun aspect of being retired, and I think that's what attracts so many people to Thailand, also to the Philippines. But I think if you want a more predictable or organized experience, I really like Malaysia. 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 similar countries influenced by the UK or Great Britain. It was so refreshing to have a certain level of order that I feel like some other countries that are not as aligned with my home country, the United States. Yeah, 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 to Malaysia at some point. I'm currently in a mode where I'm trying to check out new places, but it's definitely on my list, high up there, because it is so convenient, especially Kuala Lumpur. I haven't spent much time really outside of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. I've heard Penang is awesome. I've heard also Malacca is really cool. Actually, one of my friends is from Penang, and he grew up in KL, and he's told me a lot about just how nice his city Penang is. And so I think you'll really enjoy it. I like that English is spoken there. A lot of people think about the Philippines like, 'Oh, if you want to speak English, go to the Philippines,' because everybody there speaks English. But I think they often overlook Singapore due to high costs. Singapore is an expensive country, but they don't think about Malaysia, where I got around with English a whole lot. And I think that's something that I just think it's a really underrated aspect. Also the food. If you're somebody like you're in Hong Kong, where it's an international city and you have a lot of options, a big variety of food choices, then certain places, especially remote places, they're not going to offer what you're used to. Right? Where if you're in a large urban area in Malaysia, you're going to have great food options. Infrastructure as well, it just, I noticed at least in my experience in KL, the roads were well-maintained. You also had great public transportation. And apartments, I felt like the value for apartments was really good for the money, definitely much, much better than the United States.

24:51 Matt asks, 'Do you have a dual SIM card phone?' I think I can do an eSIM. I'm not sure, Matt. Can you elaborate more on that, please?

25:07 Will says, 'I was looking at KL or Penang, 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 no aircon required year-round.' That's a really good...

25:25 That's a really good price because I had a really tiny apartment in Pia. For basically after I paid their insane electric bill, which I've learned to avoid in the future, I was paying close to that. And that's not too far off from what I pay in Chiang Mai. And that's a really reasonable price.

25:47 I'm going to have to look into the Cameron Highlands. Nobody's ever mentioned that to me, but I definitely want to consider all the options out there.

26:16 It's nice too that you're not going to have to run your aircon year-round because that can really add up. When I was in Pattaya, that's kind of one of the ways or things that you have to look out for. They charged you a low price, it was like 5,000 or 5,500 baht for the apartment, but then they charged you like 10 baht per kilowatt hour.

26:37 So you end up paying like, I basically paid three or four times what I would pay here in Chiang Mai for the electric bill, or all like two and a half times. But the aircon was also less efficient than my aircon here in Chiang Mai.

26:50 So I paid like 5,000 or 5,500 baht for the rent, then I paid like 4,000 baht for the electric. So it wasn't really that good of a deal. Of course, I learned my lesson. One, they're going to get you somehow. In Pattaya, they're going to find a way into your wallet.

27:09 But then also, just to keep an eye out for government-rate electricity. But I feel like something like that's going to be much less of an issue in Malaysia. Things seemed fairly above board.

Phone Plans and SIM Cards

27:20 Matt says I need to keep a US phone number, so T-Mobile plus a Thai plan. I see. Yeah, I just 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.

27:39 I use that 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, but it's not always great about ringing.

27:58 So sometimes I have to pick it up and call the person back to complete that call. But yeah, Matt, it's awesome if you have the ability to have a US phone number and a Thai phone number, then getting a dual SIM phone, I think, will help you a lot.

Weekend Plans and Stream Wrap-up

28:23 But yeah, any weekend plans, guys? I think I'm going to be wrapping the stream up shortly, just because I have some stuff that I need to get to before much longer in the day. But 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.

28:44 So it's great to have some folks to chat with for me. Yeah, I just plan on doing programming this weekend. I think I'm going to go get some lunch tomorrow, maybe with a friend. I don't know, a friend of mine, he's been sick recently, but I think he's wanting to meet up and hang out. We haven't hung out in about a month, so it'll be nice to catch up with him.

29:16 Will says most places have no aircon 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 aircon and being in Southeast Asia where you have 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.

29:46 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.

Concluding Remarks

29:58 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.