Having lived in Chiang Mai for so many years, I have witnessed enough moments of rise and fall in this small city, such as 2018 when ordinary coffee shops were crowded, and 2020 when a large number of restaurants closed down due to lack of customers...
Today I saw an article by a European and American blogger on Facebook, which touched me a lot. I plan to discuss with you the topic he mentioned, "Chiang Mai is losing a large number of digital nomads."
This blogger's article received many hot comments from netizens on Facebook. TIMES believes that it does speak out the voice of a group, that group is those who once lived in Chiang Mai for a few years and finally chose to leave. The blogger wrote in the article that he remembered that when he first arrived in Chiang Mai, he felt that he had found the place he longed for in his heart, the place that all digital nomads are looking for - cheap rent, milkshakes everywhere, and fast wifi workplaces. Even if you have a full-time job, Chiang Mai will make you feel like you are in a semi-retired state.
He went on to write: "For a while this was indeed the case, and in fact it was even better."
In the early morning, he could stroll through the alleys of the ancient city, drink coffee in a quiet cafe, go to the temple to listen to the monks chanting, and see the temple still shrouded in the dawn light. Sitting in the shared workplace, he could hear people speaking five accents, such as Germans who were developing applications, Brazilians who were trading cryptocurrencies, Australians who were editing blogs...
At that moment,the air seemed to be filled with a common ambition, and everyone was silently fighting for the "freedom" in their hearts.
But then, something changed, and this change was not just for the blogger.
After having coffee and chatting 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 reason is not what most people think.
When people hear that "Chiang Mai is losing a large number of digital nomads", it is easy for them to identify an objective reason: Chiang Mai has suffered from serious air pollution in recent years, 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 is agreed by me, TIMES.
He believes that if you just started to have a remote job, just started to live overseas, just started to pursue freedom, then Chiang Mai will be a place where you can easily land. It is gentle, affordable, and full of exploration. It can satisfy all the fantasies of many freelance beginners at the beginning.
But in the end, the factors that make Chiang Mai look "perfect" will gradually become its constraints. There is a sense of "success and failure are all due to Xiao He".
The blogger explained that the conversations in the cafe began to become just repeating the same story, everything is just the same script being run by a new group of people.
Some digital nomads start to fall into an unspoken cycle - not engaging with their work, themselves, or the country they are in, and nothing ever really goes deep.
Then the blogger started to notice how isolated he felt. Even though he was in Thailand, he felt like he knew very little about the local area. Sure, he attended some local festivals, ate street food, and learned some Thai, but he still didn't fit in.
He believes that "most of us have never really integrated."
This is the sadness of foreigners in Thailand. You can live in Thailand for many years, but you can still only float on the water like duckweed, and you can't really take root and integrate.
In addition, the city of Chiang Mai itself is also slowly developing, the rent has begun to rise,
the cafes are more glamorous, but for some reason the business is quieter, and visas are more difficult to obtain. Some friends he knows have also begun to move out of Chiang Mai.Unconsciously, Chiang Mai is no longer just a place, but a brand. It exudes the atmosphere of remote life of freelancers,but the MACBOOK computer on the table has become a performance, and performance always requires a mask.
The blogger said that Chiang Mai gave him too much. Here, his work motivation was improved; here, he learned to be thrifty; also here,he faced the loneliness he had never experienced before,having everything he thought he wanted, but still felt that he had lost something.
To sum up, he believes that those who leave Chiang Mai should resonate with it.
As a half-digital nomad who came to Chiang Mai very early, TIMES not only agrees with the blogger's statement, but also wants to praise his excellent observation and expression.
What a coincidence, my British friend and I talked about this topic on the way home from dinner the other day. He and I have both lived in Chiang Mai for more than 10 years. At that time, we talked about the disadvantages of Thailand, because compared with the British policy, if a foreigner has lived in the country for 10 consecutive years like him, he would have been able to obtain local permanent residency or passport.
But what is the current situation in Thailand? Even if he bought a house and had a long-term visa, he was still an outsider in the end. Not to mention the 90-day immigration report, even traveling to the southern islands for a week or two without a passport and only with a pink card would cause problems. (Because some hotels only recognize foreigners' passports, they don't believe in local driver's licenses or ID cards)
Thailand's policy of "not easily accepting outsiders" has created a sense of alienation. "I don't ask for integration or a sense of belonging anymore. I just hope they can make my life simpler and stop making complicated policies." said my friend helplessly.
In the comment area, a reader's comment was also recognized 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 the air quality. It's more like a state of mind. You are tired of the same old life. When everything becomes normal, there is no excitement. Then it's time to leave and find another place to stay for a while. In my opinion, digital nomads are people who travel around and don't stay in the same place for many years. If you settle down, your nomadic life will end, so this is also a normal process."
At this moment, a word suddenly came to my mind - "inner demon". There is also a wise saying - "If your heart has no place to rest, you will be wandering wherever you go." 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 the "heart demon" itself, not the city's fault. I hope that each of us can find that peace of mind and place to settle down, not just the temporary kind.
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