I’m in Bali right now as I write this. Bali is better, it has a higher cost of living and most of the people here are doing pretty well for themselves. However, the expat scene is skewed heavily to people living here and working locally as yoga teachers, alternative health practitioners and the like.
There’s people working online of course, but not the same numbers as elsewhere. So Bali is a good alternative, but the wifi sucks.
#thirdworldproblems when you chase wifi around, buying a coffee and realizing the wifi is down – do you drink it and leave? Try and work offline? Take the afternoon off? You know going to the next place and getting another coffee is going to leave you too buzzed…
I like Bali, but I don’t think I would base myself here long term, purely because of how bad the wifi is. Perhaps it will get better in a couple of years?
Bangkok
I still can’t get my head around Bangkok. The place is just a cluster-fuck.
I like it, but only in very small doses. It quickly becomes too hard to get around and I just couldn’t deal with the disorganized-crazy on a daily basis when trying to get shit done.
Other people love it, so perhaps you can integrate in to the scene there and get to grips with it?
Saigon
Right now I lean towards Saigon as the best place in South East Asia for Digital Nomads.
Saigon is the place I’ve been where people have their head screwed on and you will meet actual winners, people who are building successful businesses. It has the perfect blend of being cheap and easy, as is the rest of Asia, but developed and thriving enough to keep things moving forwards.
It’s a totally different vibe in the cafe’s of Saigon compared to Chiang Mai, and one that I think is more conducive to success.
There is a much higher chance of meeting people who might be useful for your business or just masterminding in Saigon.
I’m heading there next year for a while as it has the perfect big city vibe without being complete chaos that I find Bangkok to be.
Where should you base yourself?
It really depends on your personality and where you are in life. Do you have your head screwed on, a clear mission, and need the cheap cost of living to get things flying…great, Chiang Mai will be perfect for you.
If you need to be pushed by your peers, you tend toward laziness and ‘just doing enough’, or you don’t work well without having other people to bounce ideas and mastermind with…you might want to look elsewhere.
Chiang Mai is great and I really enjoyed my time there. In fact I’m going back for a while next week. I just don’t think it is the best place to base yourself if working is your goal. It’s a city that is very easy to live in, but not a city with a great deal of opportunity or money changing hands.