The mass exodus of digital nomads from Chiang Mai: the ideals and realities behind low-cost living.

Author: Chiang Mai TIMES

Having lived in Chiang Mai for so many years, I have witnessed enough ups and downs of this small city, such as the overcrowding of ordinary cafes in 2018, and the numerous restaurant closures in 2020 due to lack of interest…

Today I saw an article by a Western blogger on Facebook, which resonated with me. I plan to discuss the theme he mentioned about “Chiang Mai losing a large number of digital nomads” with everyone.

Chiang Mai’s digital nomads are experiencing a significant exodus, the ideals and realities behind low-cost living.

This blogger’s article has received many enthusiastic comments from netizens on Facebook. TIMES believes that it indeed expresses the voice of a group, which consists of those who have lived in Chiang Mai for a few years and ultimately chose to leave.

The blogger wrote in the article that when he first arrived in Chiang Mai, he felt like he had found the place he had always longed for, the place that all digital nomads are searching for - affordable rent, milkshakes everywhere, and workplaces with fast wifi. Even with a full-time job, Chiang Mai can make you feel like you are semi-retired.

He went on to write: “For a period of time, that was indeed the case, and in fact, things were even better.”

In the early morning, he can stroll through the alleys of the ancient city, sip coffee in a quiet café, listen to the monks chanting at the temple, and see the temple still shrouded in the dawn light. He can hear people with five different accents in the shared workspace, such as a German developing applications, a Brazilian trading cryptocurrency, and an Australian editing a blog…

At that moment, it seemed that a shared ambition permeated the air, and everyone was silently striving for the “freedom” in their hearts.

But later, some situations changed, and this change did not happen only to that blogger.

After chatting over coffee with some people who have lived in Chiang Mai for a long time, he heard a saying that Chiang Mai is losing a large number of digital nomads, and the reasons are not what most people think.

When people hear that “Chiang Mai is losing a large number of digital nomads,” it is easy to attribute an objective reason: in recent years, the air pollution in Chiang Mai has been severe, which has scared many people away.

But for this blogger, he believes that air pollution is not the main reason for the loss of digital nomads in Chiang Mai, which I agree with TIMES.

He believes that if you are just starting remote work, just starting to live abroad, and just starting to pursue freedom, then Chiang Mai is a place where you can land easily. It is gentle and charming, affordable, offers limitless exploration, and is highly inclusive. At the beginning, it can fulfill all the fantasies of many beginner freelancers.

However, in the end, those factors that make Chiang Mai look “perfect” will gradually become its limiting factors. It gives a sense of “success and failure both depend on the same factors.”

The blogger explained that the conversations in the café have started to become nothing more than a repetition of the same stories, just the same script being performed by a new batch of people.

Some digital nomads begin to fall into an unspoken cycle—neither investing in work, nor in themselves, much less in the country they are in; everything has never really gone deep.

Thus, the blogger began to notice how isolated he was from the world. Even though he was in Thailand, he felt he knew very little about the locals. Of course, he had attended some local festivals, tried street food, and learned some Thai, but he still hadn’t integrated into the community.

He believes that “most of us really have never truly integrated.”

This is the sorrow of foreigners in Thailand. You can live in Thailand for many years, yet still only float on the surface like duckweed, unable to truly take root and integrate.

In addition, the city of Chiang Mai itself is slowly developing; rents have started to rise, and cafes have become more glamorous, but for some reason, business has become quieter, and getting visas has become more difficult. Some friends he knows have also started to move away from Chiang Mai.

Unknowingly, Chiang Mai is no longer just a place, but a brand. It exudes an atmosphere of freelance remote living, yet the MACBOOK on the table has turned into a performance, and performances always require a mask.

The blogger said that Chiang Mai gave him too much. Here, his work motivation was enhanced; here, he learned to be frugal; and it was also here that he faced a loneliness he had never experienced before —

Having everything you thought you wanted, yet still feeling like you have lost something.

In summary, he believes that those who leave Chiang Mai should all resonate with this.

As a digital nomad who arrived in Chiang Mai quite early, TIMES not only agrees with this blogger’s statement but also wants to praise his excellent observation and expression skills.

What a coincidence, just the other day I was discussing this topic with a British friend on our way home from dinner. We have both lived in Chiang Mai for over 10 years, and we talked about the disadvantages of Thailand because compared to the policies in the UK, if a foreigner like him had lived in the country continuously for 10 years, he would have already been able to obtain local permanent residency or citizenship.

What is the situation when it comes to Thailand? Even if he buys a house and obtains a long-term visa, in the end, he is still a foreigner. Not to mention the immigration bureau report every 90 days, even traveling to the southern islands for a week or two without a passport but only carrying the pink card can cause problems. (Because some hotels only accept foreign passports, they don’t trust local issued driver’s licenses or ID cards.)

Thailand’s policy of “not readily accepting outsiders” has created a sense of alienation. “I no longer seek integration or a sense of belonging; I just hope they can make my life simpler and not come up with more complicated policies,” a friend said helplessly.

In the comments section, a reader’s comment was also acknowledged by other netizens. He summarized the blogger’s article with the following comment:

“If you read the article, you will know that this has nothing to do with air quality, but rather resembles a mental state, feeling bored with the monotonous life. When everything becomes normal, there is no excitement at all. At this time, it’s time to leave and look for another place to stay for a while. In my opinion, digital nomads are people who travel around and do not stay in the same place for many years. If you settle down, the nomadic life comes to an end, so this is also a normal process.”

At this moment, I suddenly thought of a term - “inner demons.” And that famous saying - “If the heart has no place to rest, it wanders everywhere.”

I agree that Chiang Mai is losing a large number of digital nomads, and air pollution has accelerated their departure, but the core reason for their complete departure is still the “inner demons” themselves, rather than the city’s fault.

I hope each of us can find that place of peace and security, not just a temporary sense of comfort.