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Living abroad in Thailand, specifically Krabi, offers a beautiful and enriching experience with a unique blend of natural scenery, delicious food, and a relaxed atmosphere, making it a highly desirable destination for long-term stays and exploration.
The video chronicles the host's arrival and initial experiences in Krabi, Thailand. They express awe at the beautiful, quiet beaches and the stunning natural scenery, noting the pleasant weather outside of the upcoming rainy season. The host streams live from a beach, discussing the advantages of this particular location, such as fewer longtail boats, and the overall immersive experience that Thailand offers, contrasting it positively with larger cities.
The host reflects on the appeal of Thailand as a long-term living destination, citing its beautiful beaches, delicious food, favorable weather, and vibrant culture. They discuss future travel plans, including potential extensions in Thailand, a trip to Vietnam, and aspirations to visit Argentina and Costa Rica. The conversation also touches upon the unique vibe of Krabi, describing it as a more chill alternative to other Thai destinations, and mentions exploring local wildlife and food options, including unique items like onigiri and electrolyte drinks.
A significant portion of the discussion shifts to Japan, with the host sharing positive experiences from a previous visit and expressing a strong desire to return, particularly to explore Tokyo. They highlight Japan's beauty, culture, politeness of its people, cleanliness, and the surprising affordability for tourists, especially with the current exchange rate. The host also discusses potential future travel plans, including exploring more of Asia, and reflects on the transformative nature of living abroad, emphasizing the personal growth and broadened perspectives it provides, despite potential challenges.
Krabi, Thailand offers a beautiful and tranquil beach experience, especially outside the rainy season, with fewer tourist crowds than other popular areas. It provides an immersive experience with delicious food, friendly people, and a rich culture.
The appeal of living in Krabi lies in its stunning natural scenery and beautiful, quiet beaches. It offers a more relaxed atmosphere compared to bustling cities, making it ideal for those seeking a tranquil long-term stay.
Living in Krabi, Thailand, allows you to explore diverse and delicious food options, particularly at local night markets. You can find a wide variety of authentic Thai cuisine and unique local specialties.
Krabi can be an attractive destination for digital nomads seeking a beautiful and serene environment. Its tranquil beaches and pleasant atmosphere offer a refreshing change from more crowded locations, supporting a balanced work and lifestyle.
Living abroad in Thailand offers an enriching experience with its beautiful landscapes, delicious food, and vibrant culture. It provides new perspectives, personal growth, and a deeper appreciation for different ways of life.
0:07 To see everybody, I know we're starting a little bit early here, but it's the perfect flight right now. Krabby, I made it to a beautiful, quiet beach, and it's just so beautiful.
0:22 Feel free to chime in with any questions. I read here from Hot Y a few days ago, and it's just been amazing weather. Yes, it is. Uh, it's hot and humid, but I think it's the perfect time to come to Krabby because the rainy season hasn't yet started, so you still have a lot of clear and sunny days.
0:41 It got a little bit overcast today during the day, but it didn't end up raining. Although I believe next month it will be raining.
1:01 I'll go after six, right? So I'll, I'll stay on the stream. I'm going to shoot for an hour, hopefully, unless it gets to be too dark, maybe hard for you all to see me. So yeah, I'll just give people some time. I know this is early, and people are expecting to jump on here in about 25 minutes.
1:40 The advantage of this beach is that there's not as many longtail boats as there are in the other part of Krabby. But I'm going to take you all over to the beach real quick just to show you.
1:52 Having to grab my bag, just walk over there. This is blowing my mind. I'm streaming on the beach.
2:18 Is it doable to do this on the beach? I don't want to get S laptop. How beautiful this is.
2:46 It's so, so amazing. It's probably been incredible so far. It's just such a beautiful place. The experience is like we're in a movie or something. I mean, it's just so intense. The colors you see like here, the green with the blue with the sand, the brown. It's really this kind of like mind-blowing color scheme here.
3:08 I just the way it looks because really, Thailand is a beautiful country in general, but down here, it just takes it to another level.
4:04 Wow, we got a bird friend right there. Check out our bird.
4:36 I never imagined that Thailand could be like this. It's providing a contrast to Bangkok and the big cities. I could see why so many people want to live down here.
4:42 I was always a little bit skeptical because I really like that sense of immersion in Thailand, and I think sometimes when you're in more touristic areas, you sometimes struggle a little bit with that. And you know, this hasn't been the case for me here at all.
4:59 You know, you came here in like December, January, maybe a little bit, but I found the Thai people here to be friendly and kind. The food is tasty. I don't feel like I'm missing out. I don't like the word authentic, but I don't feel like I'm missing out on authentic Thailand by being here.
5:17 It's just so beautiful. It's all different, right? Like everywhere in Thailand is different from everywhere else, and so you do get this immense variety in the country.
5:41 I think it's so beautiful. Like, just get this backdrop because I love this area. Like over here, there we go. Yeah, it's so beautiful.
5:48 Hey, we got a viewer. How's it going? I thought I'd start early because the sun's going down, and I didn't want to be sitting in the dark for most of the stream. So I thought I want to just get started early. If folks are able to join, then they're able to join.
6:03 I think once we get some questions or comments going, then I'll probably sit back down and get to those questions and comments.
6:22 And I'm streaming with my, my, the hotspot of my phone. So I'm using my phone as a hotspot, and that's how I'm able to be super conspicuous on this beach with a laptop.
6:42 Looking crazy. Hey, we got a couple of viewers in here. Welcome, welcome. And let me know if the ocean is too loud, like it's overwriting my voice or making it not as pleasant to watch.
6:54 Just mind blown here.
7:20 Way, that's a nice background. How's everybody doing? How's your week going?
7:27 I had a preliminary job screening last night, and I've got one tonight as well. Um, if I'm being totally honest, I'd like a few more months in Thailand. It's just such a special experience to be here, and I feel so happy here.
7:41 And it's just a, it's such a lovely place. You've got so much in one country. You've got beautiful beaches, you've got delicious food, you've got the weather, you've got the wildlife, you've got the dating. It's like it's such a special country.
8:00 And a lot of times when I'm going to other countries, I have this subconscious comparison to Thailand. Like it has everything that I love.
8:25 I think that'll be the better light. Oh, there we go.
8:34 I guess I'll just go with the sunglasses for a.
8:59 I did do the rebrand, by the way, to Eastern Dreamer. Um, it is a, it is still kind of a rough estimate there, maybe changing again, but so far I'm liking it. It's differentiated, and I've got my name on there.
9:51 At some point, I still need to do some research on Koh Lanta. I've had some Thai friends recommend going to Koh Phi Phi, so that's up there for me as well.
10:10 Chiman to, if you've been to any of the Thai Islands.
10:38 So chill. I'm so glad I found this beach. It's actually part of a national.
11:04 Yeah, I think I'll walk back over to the bench because I don't have something to hold my laptop up.
11:58 I'm kind of worried about my signal because normally we have some viewers on, but I have had some challenges off and on with streaming. We may check the YouTube site just to see if I'm popped.
12:50 Hey, hey, how's it going? Looks like we got a viewer. Just stunning here.
13:00 I'll be going back to Bangkok about three and a half weeks to do my final immigration extension. And so I'll fly up there from here in Krabby and get that done. And then I've got, assuming I don't get an offer back home that's to my liking, then I'll have two and a half more months in Thailand.
13:24 Assuming I don't get something in that two and a half months, and I'm looking at going to Vietnam next. Haven't been to Vietnam yet, and everybody's been telling me how awesome it is, especially some seasoned travelers, friends of mine. And I really enjoyed Cambodia, so I think that's going to lend itself to me enjoying Vietnam.
13:59 It's interesting the dichotomy between here because the beach down there, you've got like nightclubs, you've got bars, you've got restaurants, you've got live entertainment. And then here, it's the opposite. There's also longtail boats down there. Here, you don't have that. You have just like peace and quiet.
14:22 You've got some small islands. I'm not sure if these small islands you're able to visit. I think the bigger ones further away you can visit. But it's certainly a unique vibe. It's really chill.
14:38 Here. Good to see you. Welcome, welcome to the channel, the live stream.
14:48 I've been drinking a ton of electrolyte beverages here. Um, I buy the electrolyte powder at 7-Eleven and I pour it in the water bottle and, you know, and then drank that. And it's sugar-free, so I do think I like it a little bit better than the.
15:12 Gatorade. I'm going to have to explore further down there later this week, maybe middle of next week.
15:27 Feel free to try in.
15:43 Here, there's a lot of interesting wildlife in Thailand, very different from what we have back in the States. No monkeys on this beach, which is kind of a good thing to be honest. Sometimes they can be mischievous.
16:03 There are monkeys near the Monkey Cave Temple walk. It's a really steep walk, about like 1200 steps, and they do have some monkeys over there. And yeah, I mean, sometimes the monkeys will take your stuff, and you got to give them fruit to get it back. But then that makes them associate people with food, which is something that we don't want.
16:25 So that's been kind of one thing I did experience, especially in Songkhla Province. The monkeys there, they really want your fruit, and they don't want to be friends with you. I should have done a stream when I was at Songkhla just to show the monkeys.
16:44 They're kind of wild. They're more than kind of wild. They're not domesticated at all.
16:57 Trying to decide what I want for dinner. I had, what did I have? I had like a chicken sandwich and a smoothie. Really good. At a kind of a local spot, and that was really cool. Then I got an onigiri. I'll show you all that.
17:14 I picked this up for something to have, probably after the stream, before dinner. It's got the salmon teriyaki with the rice.
17:26 Heck, I could show it on here. Normally not wanting to eat on stream, but this is something that's kind of unique. You don't really see much of in America outside of California. You might see it in New York. That might be one place you would see it.
17:46 Of course, this is a lot cheaper than the one in California. The one in California would be.
17:59 And this was about a dollar. No, this is like 60 something.
18:20 wrap it up. I did it in perfect here, but you see it's got the seaweed on the outside and on the inside. It's got the rice, and then inside the rice, there's this salmon or the salmon teriyaki.
18:53 I am looking forward to this evening because it'll cool off some. It's been a hot day.
20:13 Any weekend plans? Friday morning back in the States. It's probably like late morning in Europe.
20:27 I do have some exciting news. Do I want to share it on here? I'm not sure. I may wait for my next stream. Although the news might be out by my next.
21:13 And if you are watching, let me know if the stream is choppy. This maybe one of those days where the signal is not wanting to cooperate because I've noticed that's been an issue occasionally, maybe every third stream or something like that, where it just, I don't know how that works, but just doesn't pick up the signal and distribute the data in the way that I'd like.
21:33 So sometimes it'll, I'll record for like a half hour. The last time that happened, I was in Bangkok at an outer wash and dry place, and I tried to stream there for like 30 minutes, and I went back and checked it out later, and only like two minutes of the 30 minutes was recorded. I hate to disappoint everybody that way, so I do apologize if that ends up being the case with this one. I'll try to make it up to.
22:19 Everyone. I'm going to pull some files onto my.
22:35 I had to re-shoot some stuff because the audio was not where I wanted it to be.
22:51 Be gentle here because this memory card could disappear in the.
23:29 For now, the sun's going down. I know if I can swap back to my regular.
23:55 Glasses. Hey, there we are. On a bit early, just pulling over some files.
24:37 Feel free to chime in with any comments or any.
25:22 Great. Okay, cool. So I've got to files I need. I just wanted to double check. I don't know if I'm going to put this out Sunday. Sunday seems either tomorrow or Sunday.
25:32 I can finish editing it tonight. Um, but I want to make sure I've got something for Sunday because Sunday seems to be the best day for a lot of folks to watch videos. I think everybody's off work.
25:47 And if people have religious observations, usually it's in the morning or maybe midday, so that gives a lot of people time. And plus, if I do it Sunday morning, then that helps people in the States if they want to watch Saturday evening and Sunday night, then they've got all day Sunday to watch.
26:20 It's just so chill. It's really chill. I've heard Krabby being compared to like a more chill version of Cati. Like if you're more of a party person, then I may move to a quieter spot. If you're a more chill person, then you'll like Krabby.
27:00 And we're approaching 6 o'clock, the originally scheduled time. So hopefully then our viewers will pick up, just because I know I started a bit early.
27:25 Here. Oh, I should text my roommate, ask him what time he wants to.
27:29 My roommate asked him what time he wanted to meet. I've never been to Krabi before and I'm starting to feel a little bit more social. I'm doing a house share with a guy I met through Facebook. It's really nice; it's like a 10-minute bike ride from Ao Nang, so you get the proximity to Ao Nang for great restaurants, all the 7-Eleven needs, and walking by the beach. But it's further back up, so it's quiet. You don't hear a lot of motorbike noise all night. It's very peaceful.
28:29 Feel free to chime in, anybody that's joining us now. And if you're rewatching this, I think that you can be notified about the live streams and the videos I do in general if you hit the bell icon. I think that's what will allow you to be notified whenever I do a stream or whenever I put out a new video. I'd like to keep doing them Friday night because I think that's just a good time for me and hopefully it's a good time for you as well.
29:22 I put my sunglasses away; the sun won't be up until tomorrow morning.
30:05 Does anybody have any summer travel plans coming up in the next couple of months? If anybody has plans to go maybe to Latin America or Europe, or where all is popular in the summer, let me look that up. Popular summer destinations include the Amalfi Coast, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Bryce Canyon, Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, Zion, and the Great Barrier Reef. Wow, that's something I do want to see is the Great Barrier Reef at some point. Also the Canary Islands, Grand Canyon, and Costa Brava, which is Northeastern Spain. So Spain is popular in the summer. Italy is popular. The United States is popular. That kind of makes sense.
31:44 I could show some pictures of Krabi, actually, because my photos are so to adjust. Yeah, this is a great shot. You see the longtail boats. I'm wondering if this photo was taken during COVID because it looks like there aren't a lot of people in the shot.
32:28 I do want to check out the Tiger Cave Temple, but at the same time, I'm not the biggest fan of heights, so it may be something I handle at another time. Wow, that looks beautiful. And I'll pull up Koh Phi Phi because my Thai friends recommended this. That looks stunning.
33:59 And then what else do we want to share? I have some friends that have been telling me about Koh Lanta; they live there and they really enjoy it. And what else? Oh, okay. I guess I could show Phuket. So it still has the longtail boats, and I think it's a ferry ride, maybe a four-hour ferry ride from Krabi. I do want to see this temple that looks... yeah.
35:15 It looks like you know, it might be a signal issue. I may cut the stream early. Oh, hey, we got a couple of people. Feel free to chime in. I just sometimes when I don't get yours, I'm not worried about people wanting to engage; it's just the signal can be an issue, and that can disrupt people's ability to enjoy the stream.
36:51 I should probably text my friend. Feel free to chime in. I haven't gotten any comments, so I'm not sure if this stream is working for everybody. The sun's going to go down, and we're not going to have the light that we have during the daylight hours here.
37:20 Here we go. The beach behind me, and the AQI, the air quality here is good. So I'm going to take a moment and grab a screen wipe and just wipe the screen because that may be part of the issue. Is that better? I don't know. It does look a little bit... yeah.
38:56 There are definitely some flies here.
39:13 And if you want me to do more streams as well, comment in the post, just because I should start doing some of them at different hours. I know people are all over the world and have different schedules, and certain times you're going to be more convenient for some people, and vice versa, some others might not have as many convenient time slots.
39:41 And there are these ants all over this tree. That's interesting. You've got one viewer. Feel free to chime in with any questions. It's all good.
40:18 I could walk all the way down the beach. That might be a nice little walk.
40:57 Some kind of tropical bird. Yeah, I guess it is a tropical bird. There are some really interesting birds here. I think we'll give it about 15 more minutes, everybody. Maybe having some signal issues.
42:06 It's been a good time in Krabi so far. I'll be here for several more weeks. I'd like to do some day trips to Samui land. I'm going to do some research on the best way to get over there. Wow, we've got three viewers. Great. It's uh oh, four viewers. So maybe my signal is starting to cooperate a bit more. Feel free to chime in down below. We're here. The beach is this. Let me pull up the map. I can show you exactly where I'm at.
42:56 Here we are. We're not in Phuket.
43:07 So this is kind of the area near where I'm staying. I'm not staying quite at, you know, beachside, a little bit further back up here where it's a bit quieter. But this is where I'm at actually, the Hat Nopparat Thara-Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park, and at Nopparat Thara Beach. So these okay, so we have Koh here, and we have Koh. We got Crab Island. I wonder what I guess there's some crabs there. Maybe let's check out the reviews. Oh, so during low tide, you can just like walk out there. That makes a lot of sense. I'm gonna have to come back here probably Monday or Tuesday. Maybe tomorrow, but probably Monday or Tuesday. Imagine tomorrow it'll be super busy just because people will be off on the weekend.
44:33 Check out what they have to say about... Oh, so I guess these don't have review pages. That's okay. On Koh Thoi Beach, okay, so I have to check this one out next time as well. Of course, I'm not sure how you'd get across there. I don't know, you may have to take a boat because I'm not seeing... I guess you could go. Is there? Oh, so there is a bridge. So you'd have to come back up here. Yeah, you'd have to come this way and then right around and then come back down to the beach on the other side.
45:34 Hey, Male Marcus, great to see you. Welcome to the stream. I'm just enjoying the beautiful weather here in Thailand. And I think here shortly, I'm gonna run and grab dinner with a buddy of mine.
46:11 Oh, he's getting his bike repaired, so I may push it back just because I don't want him to have to take a taxi. May push it back to later in the week, next week. There's this cool night market called Landmark.
46:28 Here, and it's a weekend market as well. So I think I walked through here during the weekdays, but not a whole lot was going on. So this will be interesting. Laidback and local night market that has a great choice of food options, live music, and a chill area to hang out in the evening with a bunch of friends. Highly recommend if you're looking for some quick bites and an easy night.
47:00 Love the signage and the lighting. See if they've got any food that they're serving out. Okay, so they got shrimp, prawns, like different kinds of fish. Looks like red snapper.
47:37 Feel free to chime in with any questions or thoughts that you have. I'm just checking out what I'm gonna have for dinner. Lots of Thai food, that looks really good. That's crispy pork with some cucumber and maybe soy sauce, maybe some kind of spicy sauce. And oh, pork, they got pork here. More pork.
48:24 I got smoothies. Improved it's like mango sticky rice. Very nice. Oh, wow, they got the mochi. Very cool. These are something I like. I've had them throughout Thailand. I had too much of those. They even serve jellyfish. I don't know if I how I feel about having the jellyfish, but anyway, this looks really cool. See if I can think of anything else that you might all enjoy.
49:11 Oh, I found this hammock. I don't know if the hotel is closed right now, but there's a cool hammock like somewhere back in here, maybe over here. And that was enjoyable. I didn't get the best lighting sitting in the hammock, but it was nice to just relax away from the beach and kind of have some chill time.
49:36 I do want to check this out, the boxing.
50:07 Oh, very cool uppercut. Thai. Yeah, it's just something I want to check out. Are some dangerous dudes, I tell you what.
50:33 I haven't yet been to a Muay Thai event yet in Thailand, and so yeah, this should definitely be a cool experience. I want to say it's like 1,200 baht for a ticket, around $35 USD, maybe less than that with the exchange rate going the way it's going. It seems like a great value for money. I mean, I think you pay a comparable price for seeing MMA in the States, but I don't know if I'd really call MMA an American tradition. It definitely has been popularized in America, but you got fighters from all over the world, and you do that as well with Muay Thai. But Muay Thai, I think a lot of people do conceptualize as a Thai art form, and you do have a lot of Thai people that are really good at it, like the famous ones being Buakaw and Superlek. Those are two of the most well-known.
51:36 Yeah, we'll give it maybe eight minutes or so, and then I think I'm gonna roll.
52:11 Yeah, this is a good decision. I love Thailand. I wouldn't have a problem with spending the rest of my life here. I think if I do get a job, I'm gonna be planning my first trip after I get that job, maybe something in America. At this time, hey THC w335, great to see you. Um, yeah, I'm thinking about doing, you know, if I do states, I've been wanting to check out Argentina for a while. Argentina has been high on my list. It just seems like a really interesting place. I've heard it being called like a European city in Latin America, as far as like the urban development and public transportation and the walkability and the cafe culture, which is really appealing to me. I'm also interested in Costa Rica. So those are kind of next on my radar, but I'm undecided. That's pretty far in the future. I don't like to plan too far ahead, and I have to think about the time it takes to get there, right? If I'm flying from California, it's quite a long trip down to Argentina. I mean, like we're talking probably four or five hours to Bogota, Colombia, or like three or four hours to Mexico City, and then another maybe even six, seven hours down to Buenos Aires.
53:44 THC says, thank you, Alex. Oh, you're welcome. Thank you so much for joining. Have you ever visited Japan? Yeah, so I visited Japan actually. Four years ago, I visited Japan. I visited Osaka, Fukuoka, Kyoto, and then I visited my grandma's hometown in southern Kyushu, which was really cool. Love to go back. I'm actually my host here in Krabi is Japanese, and so I've been, and he speaks English, great English. And so I've been learning a lot about Japan from a different perspective, right? Because my grandma grew up there during World War II, but he's closer to me in age, and so there's really a lot to learn. Really interesting. I'd love to go back. And if I do get a job offer that's really compelling, I might reward myself for taking it by stopping back in Japan on the way back, right? Like flying to Japan, spend like a week in Tokyo or something like that, and then complete the trip, fly to San Francisco, where I'd like to find my next.
55:25 Japan, where did you go in Japan? I'm glad to hear you love Japan. It's such a beautiful country, it's just like it's so beautiful. I mean, and it's such a place of contrasts, like you've got the ocean, you've got the mountains. Most of the country is mountainous, so it's like this series of mountains out in the middle of the ocean. And of course, the culture is wonderful. Japanese people are very polite and helpful and work very hard. The country is clean, it's pristine. It's such a special place. I think everybody should go to Japan at least once in their life.
56:05 Yeah, THC says yes, I have Tokyo, Hiroshima, Osaka, Kyoto, and surrounding areas. Yeah, you've seen a lot. I think you've probably seen even more than I have in Japan, and that's wonderful. Like Tokyo is the one place that I really, really want to go that I haven't yet been to in Japan. My last trip was the priority to see my grandma's hometown, but this time, the priority will be Tokyo because that's like the biggest city in the world.
56:31 You've got like a hyper-modern, hyper-developed city, amazing transit, lots of museums, which I'm interested in, lots of different kinds of architecture, which is another really big interest of mine. Of course, you have to talk about Japanese food. I love Japanese food. It's going to be really cool. I want to see Yoyogi Park because they have these Elvis impersonators there, which is just really unexpected.
57:18 Do you have any travel plans, THC1? Any plans for this year? Tokyo is your favorite city in the world that you've been to. You know, it seems like it's going to be one of mine. I've heard that once you go to Tokyo, nothing really compares. There's like three downtowns, like one in Shibuya, probably one in Marunouchi, um, know if you'd count Akihabara as another downtown, but yeah, several big downtowns.
57:56 And super developed, lots of conveniences, very easy to get around as a pedestrian, which is a big thing for me. I love just like doing city walks, walking around cities, checking things out.
58:18 Cool, cool. Um, just confirmed with my buddy that we'll. It seems like if you want to have a jam-packed time in a safe place, it's impossible to be bored because you're not going to run out of stuff to do. You've got so many interesting neighborhoods. I've heard the best way to tackle Tokyo is just pick neighborhoods. Come in thinking I'm going to see the whole city, it's going to take forever. You could spend a lifetime, I think, in Tokyo and still not see it all.
59:04 But I think going for, you know, a few neighborhoods, like choice areas that are really high on your priority list. I know for a lot of people that are into anime, they want to go to, you know, a certain neighborhood. For other people who are into like the seafood, they want to go to Tsukiji Fish Market, which I think is renamed because they moved to a different location. I know for other people that are into architecture, they want to go see the Tokyo Tower. And so it offers something for everybody.
59:32 No plans as of right now. However, I hope to one day see more of Asia. China, Korea, and Thailand would be amazing. Yeah, Thailand is incredible. Thailand is so easy. I think if you like Japan, you'll enjoy Thailand because there's over 100,000 Japanese people in Bangkok. The Japanese food is fantastic in Bangkok. It's really, really good. I've enjoyed it a lot.
59:57 And they, a lot of the places get their fish from Japan, especially, I'd say the mid to high-range places are importing fish from Japan. Yes, you can spend easily two to three weeks a tourist in Tokyo easily. Yeah, that's what I'm hearing. Like there's just so much to do, so much to see. I've got kind of a short list of what I would like to do and see. One thing that really sticks out to me, and I'll just share that this down in the chat, is the Ghibli Museum.
1:00:38 Okay, so that's what I want to check out. This is the Studio Ghibli movies, and I wanted to check it out. It's up there for me for sure, just such a whimsical kind of a place. And what else do I want to see? Well, I guess we could check out. Why don't we look at some images of the anime area? Okay, so it's in Chuo.
1:01:43 Yeah, so this is one of those spots that a lot of Japanese entertainment fans want to check out. They've got these like AR. One of the big ones closed, but I imagine there's still that going on. It's just so dense. Like that's what's crazy to me about Japan is just how dense it is. Like they are absolutely willing to build up, and you get to see these neon lights. Like the neon lights in Japan are so beautiful. I have no idea how anybody there sleeps because the neon.
1:02:35 Um, I guess we could show. Why don't we show Shibuya? This is the famous crossing that some of you are probably familiar with. The, I think this is the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world by volume. It's really intense. You've got the classic beautiful neon sign crossing.
1:03:14 Wild. Has anybody ever stayed in a capsule hotel? I've never stayed in one of these, but I've always been curious about what it would be like. I've heard they're not, you know, of course, the most comfortable. You're having to be comfortable with a small space, but I still think it would be kind of an interesting, only-in-Japan experience. I've seen them a little bit outside of Japan, I want to say that maybe Changi Airport has something like this on site.
1:03:55 I really like Shibuya and Shinjuku area, Tokyo. Ah, okay, very cool, very cool. As you've been there and enjoyed it, that's Shinjuku and oh, on Tokyo. And this is kind of a touristic, like part district. And he mentioned there's a lot of these cool, tiny bars. Some of these bars only see like a couple of people, but it's really popular. And some Japanese also go here because they're looking to practice their English.
1:04:56 Food in Japan is much better than the states and a lot more affordable to eat out. Yeah, I absolutely agree. I think it's really a shock to a lot of people that, you know, they associate Japan with being a high-cost destination. But especially with the Yen devaluation, then Japan is economical. I mean, I've talked to a few Japanese friends like, you've got to come now. Your US dollars are going to go so far here in Japan. And I think they have a great point.
1:05:24 And you've got a lot of variety in Japan. I mean, I find that in the United States, outside of the big cities, you don't have much variety. I found even in the medium-sized cities, Japan has decent variety. And also, if you do go to the big cities, you've got, you know, a lot of restaurants. In Asia, they rely on volume, right? So I don't know that they, it's my impression, they don't make as much profit per customer, but they're able to offer better value and serve a lot more customers. So that's something I've loved about Asia. It feels like the food culture is a lot more inclusive.
1:06:08 Like, you know, you could spend a small, a modest amount of money and be happy, or you could spend as little as you want or as much as you want. I mean, I noticed, oh yeah, I had puffer fish. Let's pull a picture of puffer fish up. I had this Fugu in Osaka, and it was delicious, but it would be super expensive in the states, like probably a few hundred dollars. And I ended up going to this restaurant on like their 50th anniversary or something, and it ended up being like I ordered several different Fugu dishes, like fried Fugu with calamari, fresh sashimi, and I had some of this sashimi as well. It was like $23 equivalent. It shocked me.
1:07:04 Unfortunately, that restaurant did close during the pandemic, but that was an amazing meal in Japan. I really felt like I needed to spend a lot. I did try the Wagyu, that was incredible. This was in Kyoto. That was some of the best beef I've ever had in my life. What else did I have? A lot of the desserts. I mean, you know, I definitely went hard on the desserts while I was in Japan and gained some weight. The matcha-flavored desserts, the mochi, really, really epic.
1:07:44 Um, yeah, some of the fresh fruit. I, you know, a lot of fresh fruit is imported to Japan, but still, some of the fresh fruit can be quite delicious there. But feel free to chime in with any last questions or thoughts. It's getting dark, and so I think I'm going to wrap things up. I don't want to be streaming to you all in the dark. So yeah, it's been so wonderful. Thank you all so much for watching and really appreciate the support and marching closer to the next milestone. We hit 1,000, so hopefully we'll be able to hit 2,000 in the coming.
1:08:29 All right, we're going to wind it down. Thank you, everybody. What a funny topic to end on with the Japanese pufferfish. Oh, thank you so much, THC. Well, you know, this isn't permanent. I am doing some interviewing for jobs back home. This has been a longer discovery trip for me. I had only ever spent a few months in Thailand, and I wanted to do a year. And I'd gotten laid off last summer, and so I thought, well, where can I go that I really want to go and spend a long time and just job hunt, but really enjoy life for a bit because I've worked some tough jobs and really felt like I needed a break.
1:09:09 So Thailand has been wonderful for that. I think you'd have a great time. It's wonderful to live abroad. I found it to be just craving a lot of meaning in my life. It's difficult at times, but you meet so many interesting people, you get to try all kinds of cool food. I look at it like a firmware upgrade. It's like you upgrade your perception of the world in a way that you can't reverse. You just can't undo it. So many people warned me, oh, don't go to Thailand, it's so dangerous. And oh, this and that. And blah, blah, blah. And I've had a wonderful time. I've spent over a year in Thailand at this point, and my worst day in Thailand is better than my best day in the United States.
1:09:50 Feels like sometimes. But yeah, thanks so much for watching, everybody. I'm going to wrap it up here. Have an evening, all of you viewers inspire me as well. All of you supporting my channel and offering your words, suggestions, advice, and well wishes and input is just incredible. I've been shocked that over a thousand people would be interested in what I have to say, and I really love that we're building this great community. But yeah, until next time, we'll see you.
Follow the journey through expat life, travel experiences, and the realities of living abroad while exploring different places, cultures, and everyday life overseas.
