Living and working in Asia
Three years based in Chiang Mai — what it costs, what it takes, what breaks, and the parts nobody puts in the brochure.
- 03
- Years based here
- 04
- Sub-pillars
- Chiang Mai
- Base
I moved to Thailand in 2023 and have been based in Chiang Mai since. This section is the long-form version of that: the cost structure, the seasonal problems, the gear, and the part most writing on this skips — that the logistics are easy and the belonging is hard.
Most of what's published about this life is written by people ninety days into it, when everything is still novel and nothing has broken yet. I've been here long enough for the second year to happen, which is where the interesting information is.
- The base
Chiang Mai Life
What it actually costs, where to live, what the burn season does to the year, and how the day runs — from someone based here rather than passing through.
- Cost of living
- Apartments & accommodation
- Weather & seasons
- Food & cafés
- Day-to-day lifestyle
- Local culture & customs
- The hard part
Building a Life Abroad
Making friends, handling loneliness, and building routines that survive a move. The logistics of living abroad are solvable admin — this is the part that actually breaks people.
- Loneliness
- Making friends
- Routines
- Productivity
- Long-term planning
- The kit
Tech & Digital Nomad
The gear that travels, how to handle internet and banking before you leave, and the AI tooling that makes a one-person operation work from anywhere.
- Gear
- Internet & connectivity
- AI tools while travelling
- Productivity setups
- Remote work tips
- Coming
Dating
Cross-cultural relationships, apps, and social dynamics as a foreigner in Thailand — written with a constraint most writing on this topic ignores.
- The editorial rule
- What this will cover
Thin, and honestly so — this pillar is new and most of what I've written until now has been about building rather than about living here. That's the gap this section exists to close.