Eight Reasons Thailand Is The Best Digital Nomad Destination

[Fabricus]

7 minutes ago, seancbk said:

You have a great memory.  Unfortunately I have nothing to go on to even guess who you are out of the many people I've met here.  

But that's ok, you can stay anonymous.  

BTW, I've now dated 2 Thai girls.  The aforementioned bar girl and the most recent one who was off the charts hot, from a good family, with a good job but who left me for a very rich Thai guy.  

 

Ha!

 

So your ex left you for a rich Thai guy.

 

My son's mother left me in 2010 for the Manager of Muang Thong United Football Club. He was a 63 year-old Belgian. Back in 2010 he was voted coach of the year. His team won the Premier League, came second in the FA Cup and got to the semi-finals of the Asian Cup.His salary was several million Baht per month. He sold African MTU players to clubs in Belgium and structured the contracts so that he got commission from goals they scored. He had a luxury house in Nichada Thani, drove a company Lexus and was loaded!

 

I had immense alcohol problems: I got drunk three times a day, neglected dental hygiene and lost two teeth. I've still got two teeth that are loose and one that is half black. I look like shit!

 

But I'm clean now and no longer take Thai women too seriously.

 

Stay cool, Sean. 

[seancbk]

17 minutes ago, Fabricus said:

 

Ha!

 

So your ex left you for a rich Thai guy.

 

My son's mother left me in 2010 for the Manager of Muang Thong United Football Club. He was a 63 year-old Belgian. Back in 2010 he was voted coach of the year. His team won the Premier League, came second in the FA Cup and got to the semi-finals of the Asian Cup.His salary was several million Baht per month. He sold African MTU players to clubs in Belgium and structured the contracts so that he got commission from goals they scored. He had a luxury house in Nichada Thani, drove a company Lexus and was loaded!

 

I had immense alcohol problems: I got drunk three times a day, neglected dental hygiene and lost two teeth. I've still got two teeth that are loose and one that is half black. I look like shit!

 

But I'm clean now and no longer take Thai women too seriously.

 

Stay cool, Sean. 

That is very weird, I've got a Thai friend (UK educated, wealthy family) who worked in the Football business.... I'm totally not into football so I didn't pay too much attention to who he worked with but I thought it was a very rich Thai guy (owned a team in the UK but again couldn't tell you which one).   I reckon he'd know exactly who your are talking about.

Glad to hear you are clean and sober, pity about losing teeth but that can be fixed whereas some things caused by alcohol can't (as easily).  

I've had my ups and downs but things have been gradually improving year on year and this coming year will hopefully see some major changes for the better (finger crossed!).

Hope you get to see your son, despite his mother leaving.

Thanks for being cool yourself despite the mystery surrounding your identity 5555 :) 

[Bulldozer Dawn]

Just now, Fabricus said:

 

Ha!

 

So your ex left you for a rich Thai guy.

 

My son's mother left me in 2010 for the Manager of Muang Thong United Football Club. He was a 63 year-old Belgian. Back in 2010 he was voted coach of the year. His team won the Premier League, came second in the FA Cup and got to the semi-finals of the Asian Cup.His salary was several million Baht per month. He sold African MTU players to clubs in Belgium and structured the contracts so that he got commission from goals they scored. He had a luxury house in Nichada Thani, drove a company Lexus and was loaded!

 

I had immense alcohol problems: I got drunk three times a day, neglected dental hygiene and lost two teeth. I've still got two teeth that are loose and one that is half black. I look like shit!

 

But I'm clean now and no longer take Thai women too seriously.

 

Stay cool, Sean. 

 

If you got drunk three times a day, how could you tell when you were sober?

[Rc2702]

Chap/s the fact you both had this same convo on this forum before and are now having it again just 4 months later and yet you both do not recall. Is very interesting. 

[seancbk]

33 minutes ago, Rc2702 said:

Chap/s the fact you both had this same convo on this forum before and are now having it again just 4 months later and yet you both do not recall. Is very interesting. 

I recall having the same convo, I just don't remember who Fabricus is.    Doesn't help that he's given me very few clues, whereas I'm pretty open about who I am.

It's all good. He's clearly a good guy.   

 

[Fabricus]

9 minutes ago, Bulldozer Dawn said:

 

If you got drunk three times a day, how could you tell when you were sober?

 

That's a very interesting comment.

 

It goes likes this:

 

1. When I was very young (still at school, in fact) my friends started giggling. Apparently they'd been to a pub on Friday night. That was just so adult.  

2. I simply HAD to do the same.

3. So I went to the pub.

4. I queued up and asked the man for "a glass of beer".

5. The man laughed at me and gave me half a cider.

6. Eventually I worked my way up to three pints of ciders per night.

7. And then something odd happened.

8. The following day my friends laughed about their hangovers, but I never had one.

9. Truth is -- I felt invigorated the following morning.

10. I used to wake up at 6am the following morning and go jogging.

11. My mum looked at me strangely. She said I might have a problem with alcohol.

12. But my mum was just an adult, and what the hell do adults know about life?

13. I started drinking alone. I used to go to pubs at 11am or 1pm or 6pm or 9pm. I did so because it felt good.

14. The other people in pubs were dull farts or alcoholics.

15. I was different. I went to pubs to read newspapers.

16. One day I bought a newspaper prior to going to the pub and noticed it was unusually slim. I guess journalists had been on strike the day before.

17. I remember feeling a tinge of anxiety. Why? I'd never felt that before.

18. I figured I couldn't possibly go to the pub with such a slim newspaper, so I bought another one.

19. By the time I left England, I was on three newspapers per day.

20. Alcoholism is a progressive disease. Everything they say about it is true.

 

When my son's mother went with the Football Manager, my disease went from stage X to X+1.

 

The high I experienced from being drunk three times per day was amazing. It was like floating on air without a care in the world. My "home" was a wooden bench in the office. I slept on that bench for about three months. I didn't shower or wash. I just got drunk , and then drunk again, and then drunk again, and then drunk again.

 

I was in a terrible state. And then I realized I was an alcoholic, and always had been. I have a rogue gene which makes me react to alcohol differently to other people.

 

Most people can limit or moderate their alcohol intake. I can't. If I start drinking, I can't stop. If I have a drink on day one, I'll crave a drink on day two; if I drink on day two I will NEED a drink first thing in the morning on day three.

 

So I quit.

 

Quitting is unbelievably hard. It only takes a day, but going that single day without alcohol is almost impossible. The only thing on your mind is alcohol: you freeze; you shiver; you suffer from massive anxiety attacks; and then you realize it's not gonna work. It's a stupid idea. You simply can NOT NOT NOT quit alcohol. It was only ever a dream. And a stupid one, at that.

 

But if you make it past day one, you're clean. I've heard (from Keith Richards, in fact) that quitting heroin is pretty much the same but takes three days.

 

And that's that.

[JLCrab]

6 hours ago, duanebigsby said:

You lost me there. The people who are really talented  with computers don't have to work on line?

What does that mean?t

Maybe that there are really talented persons who don't have to sit alone at a computer at a coffee shop in Bangkok  but work at some start-up in San Francisco ... but stay lost it's more fun.

Edited January 12, 2017 by JLCrab

[JB300]

@Fabricus... you're either making all of this up or carpeting over the facts.

Cut your cloth accordingly...

[sorry, its Friday & I couldn't resist ]

[rubl]

12 hours ago, Fabricus said:

 

Thanks bro, but I think I've already seen it.

 

Maybe someone should make a movie about Thailand-based digital nomads. You could play the part of the fumbling Thai immigration officer; I could be the digital smart arse who manages to stay one step ahead of you. I guess Jessica Alba could be my love interest.  

 

I'm afraid I've got to decline. I already have a full-time job and also 'being a movie actor' is not in the description in my work permit.

[muzmurray]

12 hours ago, eisfeld said:

 

I'm not into the Digital Nomad scene but if these western folks can't make 50k THB at least per month then I dunno, they must be doing something fundamentally wrong. But no matter if it's 20k or 200k, I think they are clearly a net plus for the Thai economy. Nobody said they are a big advantages, they are miniscule compared to the tourist, car, manufacturing etc industries. Doesn't negate the fact that they are a positive thing.

 

You not having any troubles to get a work permit is nice if you work for a local company. But these folks are working for foreign companies for which it is impossible to get a work permit. It shouldn't need to be made easier for them to get visa+work permit, it should be possible in the first place.

 

The global trend is to make it more difficult? On a global scale... maybe. The other countries around Thailand seem to make it easier. And even if everyone was to make it more difficult, that doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. "A thousand flies can't be wrong"?

 

Sorry, but there are a number of companies that will provide wp, all the correct tax payments and entry into the Social security fund. The options are there for the "nomad", but the simple facts remain that they do not want to be legal, they do not care about the law and for a lot of them, they don't have the minimum monthly income to afford to become legal, (and are therefore not putting anything back into the Thai economy).

[rubl]

11 hours ago, eisfeld said:

 

That's a minimum monthly budget as I understand. Nobody wants to live on the minimum budget. Do you have some actual numbers about how much these people are contributing to the Thai economy and how much they are "using"?

 

Regarding your second paragraph about "why stay in Thailand and complain?": this is getting really silly. 5th grade style of argumentation. But let me help you: there's more to a country than work permits. And suggesting how things could be done better is a good thing.

 

The Forbes article is about the best places to stay on a minimal budget, or just the cheapest places to stay without compromising what is needed (for some).

 

As for the argumentation, seen nothing to suggest these 'digital nomads' are a real, valuable contribution to Thailand. They just 'use' the place for their own convenience, stay on the fringe or even outside Thai society. Interested in surviving, making money and moving off when a better place is found. Nomads. Those who settled dislike them for their 'can uproot any time' attitude when society comes too close for their comfort. Luckily they're not shot, or forced to settle in reservations like we did with the Indians.

[YeahSiam]

3 hours ago, muzmurray said:

 

Sorry, but there are a number of companies that will provide wp, all the correct tax payments and entry into the Social security fund. The options are there for the "nomad", but the simple facts remain that they do not want to be legal, they do not care about the law and for a lot of them, they don't have the minimum monthly income to afford to become legal, (and are therefore not putting anything back into the Thai economy).

 

There are options for those here longer term to become legal by going through BOI companies and giving up 30% of their income but, by definition, a "nomad" is itinerant.

It's not practical for them to get a work permit for a year when they might only be here for 6 months before moving on.

 

For those staying long-term, the options start to make more sense but, even then, many make less than $2,000 a month which while being enough to live reasonably comfortably in Thailand, isn't enough to meet the criteria some of the facilitators insist upon.

 

Your claim that anyone not meeting your arbitrary and notional level of income to put money into the economy is idiotic.

Even though an online worker making less than $2,000 a month isn't exactly loaded, he or she is still bringing more into the economy than many foreign retirees and others on fixed incomes.

It's funny because I've never heard a digital nomad bragging about how important his or her income is to the Thai economy but I do hear an awful lot of self-important dinosaurs with an inflated sense of their worth saying how Thailand would collapse if they, as a group, left the country.

 

 

[Fabricus]

6 hours ago, JB300 said:

@Fabricus... you're either making all of this up or carpeting over the facts.

Cut your cloth accordingly...

[sorry, its Friday & I couldn't resist ]
 

 

Ever wondered who made what ten years ago was the most famous design on the internet?

 

Ever wondered who wrote Wikipedia's best article about Thailand?

 

Ever wondered who right now is writing what will be the best article ever submitted to the Journal of the Siam Society?

 

Wonder no more. Fell free to PM me and I'll happily tell you more.

 

[seancbk]

1 hour ago, JLCrab said:

I thought maybe you 'hear' about them when dining at the TescoLotus Food Court as opposed to 'reading' about them unless you use some kind of a speak-out-loud software.

 

 

My P.A. reads the posts to me and then I dictate my replies for her to type.

 

[HooHaa]

On 1/10/2017 at 1:14 PM, Fabricus said:

The article doesn't say how these guys pull in the green.

 

Are they coders or bloggers?

 

EDIT: Has anyone ever met a digital nomad? Are they mainly Europeans / Americans?

 

i worked for a major thai multinantional for 12 years. I then worked at home freelance in BKK and Koh Phangan (primarily but i do travel) for an additional 10 years.  design, 3d development, some content creation.

im north american, working digitally is remarkably easy if you keep your head down. all payment to Hong Kong.

[HooHaa]

10 hours ago, JLCrab said:

Maybe that there are really talented persons who don't have to sit alone at a computer at a coffee shop in Bangkok  but work at some start-up in San Francisco ... but stay lost it's more fun.

 

odd, the best coders i know take jobs at will and are constantly being sought out for more. they fly from client to client for initial consultations then go to wherever they want to do the work. 

 

they dont work in coffee shops in bangkok, but at the oriental or similar hotel wherever takes their fancy. usually on somebody else's dime and often with their family in tow.

 

they did the start up thing years ago and now pick and chose their projects on their own terms, often for shares in the company on top of their fees.

[JLCrab]

 

2 minutes ago, HooHaa said:

 

odd, the best coders i know take jobs at will and are constantly being sought out for more. they fly from client to client for initial consultations then go to wherever they want to do the work. 

 

they dont work in coffee shops in bangkok, but at the oriental or similar hotel wherever takes their fancy. usually on somebody else's dime and often with their family in tow.

 

they did the start up thing years ago and now pick and chose their projects on their own terms, often for shares in the company on top of their fees.

As I said in the post before the one you quoted, the really talented ones aren't the ones sitting in the coffee shops. You're talking about the best coders, not the average. But at a certain those in the San Francisco area are certainly many of the best coders who want to be onsite and be around and feed off the talents of similar high-end coders and other IT professionals.

[JB300]

 
Ever wondered who made what ten years ago was the most famous design on the internet?
 
Ever wondered who wrote Wikipedia's best article about Thailand?
 
Ever wondered who right now is writing what will be the best article ever submitted to the Journal of the Siam Society?
 
Wonder no more. Fell free to PM me and I'll happily tell you more.
 

I take it you do know I was joking (Punning on your nom de guerre of Fabricus, Fabricated, Fabrics etc...)

But would be fascinated to know what was the most famous design on the Internet 10 years ago (honestly can't think of any that stand out head & shoulders above anything else).

Will probably palm slap my head when I find out but do tell us [emoji1303]

[rwdrwdrwd]

43 minutes ago, Fabricus said:

 

Ever wondered who made what ten years ago was the most famous design on the internet?

 

Goatse?

[rwdrwdrwd]

11 hours ago, JLCrab said:

Maybe that there are really talented persons who don't have to sit alone at a computer at a coffee shop in Bangkok  but work at some start-up in San Francisco ... but stay lost it's more fun.

 

There are some people that choose to do both. It is perfectly feasible technically and certainly makes financial sense.

 

Modern development processes (for example code reviews, agile methodology, pair programming) combined with instant text, voice and video communications (slack, hangouts, skype etc) and even collaborative screensharing (screenhero) means that colleagues do not need to be physically colocated in order to work together and "feed off" one another.

 

Plenty of SFO based startups and even some very established orgs are 100% remote, many more whilst not being 100% remote have large percentages of their workforce that are. Mozilla and Automattic spring straight to mind.

Edited January 13, 2017 by rwdrwdrwd

[rwdrwdrwd]

4 minutes ago, Fabricus said:

 

What's Goatse?

 

Probably the most famous design on the internet 10 - 15 years ago. Not providing links cos it's very NSWF.

 

Glad it's not that though!

Edited January 13, 2017 by rwdrwdrwd

[seancbk]

*Removed post edited out*

 

Sadly there isn't any decent text to speech or speech to text software for Linux (that I've been able to find) and since I refuse to use Windows or MacOS I'm unable to take advantage of Intuit Dragon or similar. 

 

Edited January 13, 2017 by Scott

[seancbk]

10 minutes ago, Fabricus said:

 

What's Goatse?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goatse.cx

 

[JLCrab]

10 minutes ago, seancbk said:

 

Sadly there isn't any decent text to speech or speech to text software for Linux (that I've been able to find) and since I refuse to use Windows or MacOS I'm unable to take advantage of Intuit Dragon or similar. 

 

Gee that's too bad -- so I guess the P.A. will be relegated to Dictation & Typing instead of other hands-free mode activities.

[eisfeld]

8 hours ago, muzmurray said:

 

Sorry, but there are a number of companies that will provide wp, all the correct tax payments and entry into the Social security fund. The options are there for the "nomad", but the simple facts remain that they do not want to be legal, they do not care about the law and for a lot of them, they don't have the minimum monthly income to afford to become legal, (and are therefore not putting anything back into the Thai economy).

 

It's a good point that the option to work for a local company exists but let's be honest. The market is rather tiny compared to the number of western companies they can work for. I don't know why you claim that this group of people don't want to be legal, I can't believe that. It's your opinion and not a fact. I am not sure if a lot of them have less than 50k income per month, I would love to see some proper numbers (impossible). And even if they make only 30k or 40k, how does that make them put nothing back into the Thai economy? By definition they'll put 30k/40k in it...

[A1Str8]

I think Dubai is better. 

[eisfeld]

8 hours ago, rubl said:

 

The Forbes article is about the best places to stay on a minimal budget, or just the cheapest places to stay without compromising what is needed (for some).

 

As for the argumentation, seen nothing to suggest these 'digital nomads' are a real, valuable contribution to Thailand. They just 'use' the place for their own convenience, stay on the fringe or even outside Thai society. Interested in surviving, making money and moving off when a better place is found. Nomads. Those who settled dislike them for their 'can uproot any time' attitude when society comes too close for their comfort. Luckily they're not shot, or forced to settle in reservations like we did with the Indians.

 

The Forbes article is about where to leave cheaply while retaining quality of life that's true. But that doesn't mean that all these people live on a minimum income. If I write an article about the best places for illegal immigrants from Africa to stay in Europe and list Paris as the top spot, that doesn't mean that all people of African descend living in Paris are illegal immigrants.

 

That you see nothing again doesn't mean that it's not there. They contribute their own culture, knowledge and yes, income. You dislike them because they can move on? Well that's just jealousy because you are not as flexible. I can't see anything wrong with being able to move out of some place when things are not as good anymore. If everyone had that freedom, then maybe local administration would have more incentive to improve things.

 

And regarding your last phrase: it's a bit unnerving and am not sure what you even mean by that comment. You realize though that it was nomads/settlers from Europe who invaded the land of the native americans and did all these horrible things to them? That would be like the digital nomads invading Chiang Mai and killing the locals and forcing them out.

[JLCrab]

29 minutes ago, eisfeld said:

I don't know why you claim that this group of people don't want to be legal, I can't believe that. 

I don't know whether this group of people wants to be legal or not, but if the Thai officialdom really wanted them to be legal, they would find a way to do it.

[rwdrwdrwd]

38 minutes ago, JLCrab said:

So there remote and contract workers working for Silicon Valley and other US companies -- is that who you typically see sitting in Starbucks or shared work space in Chiang Mai which is who the Article in post #1 (remember?) seemed to be addressing?

 

Wouldn't say typically, but certainly some of them are.

Edited January 13, 2017 by rwdrwdrwd

[JLCrab]

2 minutes ago, rwdrwdrwd said:

 

Wouldn't say typically, but certainly some of them are.

That's what I said on post 45 [page 2.