After two months of intense travel.
It was time to slow things down.
This is Chiang Mai.
Thailand's laid back northern capital.
Probably best known for it's ancient walled city.
Beautiful temples and it's many animal sanctuaries.
But I think that the real appeal of Chiang Mai lies in the lesser known areas away from
the tourist sights which are best explored by staying here long term.
My name is Ryan and I've spent the last month living in Chiang Mai with my girlfriend Emma.
And this is my long term travel guide focussing on where we stayed, the hidden gems that you
have to see and of course the realities and costs of living here.
Now there's an area of Chiang Mai called Nimman which is where most blogs will tell you that
you have to stay as a long term traveller.
But I dont agree and I'm going to tell you why later on in this video.
So let's start off with a tour around the little piece of paradise we've been calling
home in Chiang Mai away from the hustle and bustle of the ancient city.
This is where we've been living for the last month at the Dcondo Campus Resort.
We had spent the vast majority of the last couple of months in big busy cities so when
we looked for a somewhere to stay we wanted somewhere to really unwind and relax and this
place is a real oasis.
So this is the condo.
It's quite minimal sort of perfect size for 2 people to live here.
It's a nice bright space which I really like.
You've got a dining area here which doubles up as a sort of desk when we want to work.
Sofa, coffee table, TV.
Got a nice double bed.
Back around here you've got the kitchen which is quite basic.
Bathroom with shower.
And here we have.
Hello.
Hi.
A balcony which is kind of functional more than anything for drying clothes.
And let's not forget the amazing mountain views from the main window too.
So how much does this all cost well we booked this condo on airbnb for 442 pounds for the
month and that includes professional cleaning every week as well as unlimited gym and pool
access.
Which is a pretty good deal.
If you're staying more long term though its much easier to get yourself even better deal.
We've met some people staying in the same complex who are only paying around the 200
pounds mark for the month.
I'm always thinking of what the equivalent would be back home and I'm from the outskirts
of London in England which is a very expensive area and there's no way you're gonna get somewhere
like this for the price we are paying here.
If you're interested in staying here yourself I've left a link to the airbnb listing down
in the description below and if you end up booking you get some discount and I get a
little kick back too so it's win win.
So that is our place and now I want to show you around our local area.
We are actually quite far away from the centre of town in an area called Suthep so it's about
15 minutes drive from the city centre.
Suthep is best known for the mountaintop Doi Suthep Temple which you can actually see from
our condo window.
But locally it's also known as the home of Chiang Mai University and its sprawling green
campus.
And living in a studenty area had a lot of benefits for us.
We spend a lot of our time working from cafes and drinking copious amounts of coffee.
There are a lot of different coffee shops all over Chiang Mai but honestly I like the
small amount of cafes in Suthep the best because they tend to be less crowded
and a little bit cheaper too.
But my favourite thing about Suthep only opens at night.
So I'm just out here on the main road outside of the condo and the great thing about this
place is that in the evening this whole road turns into the most amazing street food market.
There's obviously amazing fresh Thai food that's made right in front of you but then
if you're not really fancying that there's fresh fruit smoothies there's sushi there's
even a steak shack.
And the coolest thing about it is you'll most likely be the only foreigner here.
While a lot of the options are fast food there are some healthy options too so we did find
ourselves coming here most evenings to eat.
I don't think I've ever spent more than 100 baht for dinner which is very good for the
travel budget.
On the opposite side of the uni campus is the Chiang Mai Complex which is another student
market but more focussed around clothes and technology and once again you're very unlikely
to see another tourist here.
Now obviously its not all good news if you're looking to experience some nightlife or just
have a beer at the end of the day you're not going to find that here in Suthep so if you're
looking for a drink you're going to have to head out to the ancient city or to Nimman
which we're going to look at later on.
What Suthep may lack in nightlife it completely makes up for in the amount of nature around.
I personally prefer being around nature than being in the centre of the city and if the
university is on our front doorstep then our back garden is Suthep Mountain.
As I mentioned before the mountain is most famous for Doi Suthep temple which is a major
tourist attraction with some amazing views over the city.
But if you want to experience this spiritual mountain without the hoards of people there
is a trail you can take which starts only 5 minutes from Dcondo.
A uphill hiking route named after the holy men that made it.
The route is marked out by these orange bits of cloth.
Some of these aren't very orange anymore.
As you can probably tell from my breathiness there it's not the easiest route to climb
and it's best undertaken in the early morning before the heat of the day.
You go on this semi tough trek and on the other side is just serenity.
Pha Lad is unlike any temple I've ever seen.
Set amongst the trees and over a waterfall.
It's really like something out of a fantasy film.
It's like Rivendell and it really is worth the hike.
Once you're finished there head out to the main road and flag down a Songthao which are
the red taxi buses and they can take you either up to Doi Suthep or back down to the bottom
again.
If you're thinking of coming to live in Chiang Mai or stay for an extended period of time
you've probably read up on a lot of blogs and watched a lot of videos that recommend
Nimman as the place to be as an expat.
Nimman is only a 10 minute drive from DCondo and it's undoubtedly the coolest area of Chiang
Mai.
You get a lot of your western comforts here and I think the general vibe of the place
is a little bit Californian you know you've got healthy salad places you've got quirky
cool coffee shops for me personally though I'm quite glad that we didn't stay there.
Because I find the area to be quite expensive and I dont know I'd rather like that little
bit outside of Nimman, little bit outside of the city and get my choice of both while
having things cheap like the street food that we have.
That being said we found ourselves spending.
a fair amount of time in Nimman mainly because of the good cafe options.
But our favourite place there is the Maya Mall.
It's got all of the big chain clothes shops and restaurants as you would expect from a
modern shopping mall.
But it also has two amazing food courts which serve really affordable local food and they
also have whatever this drink was.
There's a great co-working space and also a really cool rooftop viewing point which
is great for sunset.
But as a cinephile who's not that interested in shopping my favourite part of the mall
is the cinema you can see all of the latest western releases in English with a standard
ticket costing only 280 baht which is half of the price that a ticket costs for me in
England.
Chiang Mai also caters to another one of my passions which is watching live football.
Which it also offers at a very reasonable price.
We are on our way to the 700th anniversary stadium which is the home of Chiang Mai FC
so we're going to be supporting our new local team.
Going to see a football game in Chiang Mai is a great experience for a number of reasons.
Firstly a ticket is only going to cost you 120 baht which is cheaper than going to the
cinema.
And of course there is some awesome street food options which at this point is just a
given.
You can buy drinks and food outside the stadium and they let you take it inside as well.
So this beer, this giant beer cost £2 so love it!
The crowd inside is made up of locals and some really passionate expats too.
Regardless of whether you like football or not its still a fun evening out I mean you
could just got and enjoy the snacks that's what Emma did.
Chiang Mai was the first place that I ever stayed for this long away from the UK and
honestly it felt like home so quickly.
I highly recommend staying in the Suthep area which keeps you close to all of the best places
in the city but also give you at the chance to disconnect.
In the next episode we are staying in the city putting its affordability to the test
by seeing how much you can get for 10 dollars in one day.
Thank you so much for watching this video if you liked it or found it helpful leave
it a like and subscribe to the channel and I'll see you next time.