- Two very popular destinations for expats and digital nomads
would be Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand,
and then Da Nang, in central Vietnam.
And, while I absolutely love both of these cities,
they are incredibly different.
In today's video I'll be breaking down some of the pros and cons,
from my perspective, of living in either of them,
which hopefully will help you in deciding which one is best for you.
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Chiang Mai is the largest city in northern Thailand,
it's very popular among travelers,
and it's often considered to be the digital nomad hotspot of the world.
If you are just starting out on your digital nomad journey...
I really hate that term.
If you work remotely
and this is your first time trying it from somewhere other than your home country,
I would say that Chiang Mai should be top of your list.
There's a large expat community to connect with
and nightly events to meet other foreigners living in the city,
from stand-up comedy to live music,
to weekly sessions on cryptocurrency and Amazon FBA,
and anything else related to building a business online.
Wi-Fi is excelent, there are a ton of co-working spaces,
and then there's also this really great cafe scene.
So, many of the cafes, when you walk into them,
you'll see a ton of other expats just working on their laptops.
They're essentially like co-working spaces,
but it's very normal to camp out in a cafe for a few hours in the afternoon
and get some work done.
Chiang Mai is a place where you can essentially show up
and have absolutely everything you could possibly need or want
to be productive, make a lot of new friends,
and have a lot of fun, all at the same time.
Da Nang is an up-and-coming tourist destination
and it's a coastal city that is located right between Ho Chi Minh city
and Hanoi in Vietnam.
Da Nang has a much smaller expat community
and it certainly isn't nearly as catered to digital nomadism as Chaing Mai is.
There are a few co-working spaces,
some of the cafes are suitable for working on a laptop
and then there are weekly events and meet-ups for expats,
but the majority of foreigners that are living in the city long term
are teaching English.
There's definitely more of a vacation vibe in Da Nang than in Chiang Mai
as the beach is lined with these beautiful, big resorts.
When it comes to things to do, Chiang Mai gives you options,
lots of options.
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The last time I was in Chiang Mai
it was for a big international event called Nomad Summit.
I was there for a month and, in that month,
day-to-day life looked like going from a cool cafe to the gym,
browsing the markets,
and then usually meeting up with a group of people
for some kind of event in the evening.
In the city, I went to a bunch of different cafes
from the Dog Cafe to the Hedgehog Cafe,
a trampoline park, the movie theater,
massage, an optical illusion museum,
the shopping mall, temple hopping,
indoor ice skating...
There is honestly so much to do and so much to explore,
and then, if you want to get out of the city,
you also have a ton of options,
from hiking in the mountains to elephant sanctuaries,
climbing the Sticky Waterfalls.
It honestly doesn't matter what it is that you like to do;
there's a lot to do and a heck of a lot going on all the time.
Day-to-day life in Da Nang is pretty similar if I'm working,
because I'll just find a nice cafe and spend most of the day working there.
I did mention that there are fewer workable cafes in Da Nang,
but there are definitely a few winners,
and I just kind of find the ones I like and go back to the same places.
Outside of work my life definitely centers around the beach.
I go to the beach probably every single day,
for long walks while on the phone, listening to podcasts,
or even with a friend.
It's so clean, it's wide, you can walk for hours,
the water is warm, the waves are gentle,
there's no, like, seaweed and jellyfish to creep you out.
You can also just put your beach towel down
and do some yoga or some reading.
Going to the beach on a daily basis
and then getting massages several times a week
are probably my favorite things to do in Da Nang.
Outside of the main area, I hiked Marble Mountain,
went to an awesome amusement park that was completely empty,
went to the shopping malls, the local markets,
visited the nearby city of Hoi An for their monthly lantern festival,
had clothing tailor-made, watched the bridge breathe fire,
motorbiked the famous Hai Van pass,
and then also you can visit the Golden Bridge.
I know, you're probably wondering,
"What does this all cost?"
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For $1,000 a month, you can have a very good quality of life
in both Chaing Mai and Da Nang.
Overall, if you want to live a local life, not a westernized life,
I feel like you can do that cheaper in Da Nang than you can in Chiang Mai.
However, if you are looking for things like a state-of-the-art gym,
international cuisine,
co-working spaces and an expat scene,
living that type of westernized lifestyle
is going to be cheaper for you in Chiang Mai.
I did a full cost-of-living breakdown for Da Nang a few weeks ago
and, honestly, my costs are quite similar in Chiang Mai.
The things that start riding up the money more in Chiang Mai
would be doing the extra things, like going to the elephant sanctuary,
or the cafes that are specialty, like the Hedgehog Cafe.
To be honest, I wouldn't factor in prices being a deciding factor here at all;
you can do very well in both cities for very inexpensive prices.
What I would factor in in deciding between the two of them is weather.
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It really varies depending on the time of year that you're planning your trip.
If it's going to be between September and December,
definitely consider Chiang Mai.
This is the best time of year to be there
as the temperatures are a little bit cooler
and you're basically going to have full-sunny days every day.
On the contrary, in Da Nang, this is the rainy season,
so it's a little bit cold.
And, when I say cold, more around 20º.
And then...
raining, every day, most days.
On the flip side,
mid-February to mid-May is the hottest time of year in Chiang Mai.
It is also burning season,
which is when the Thai farmers are going to be burning their fields,
and, with Chiang Mai being in a valley,
all of that smoke just kind of hovers and ends up covering the city.
Some people will say it's not that bad.
I personally found it absolutely unbearable to stay,
and I would say anyone that is living there
and has the option to leave should leave.
My eyes were burning, I had black all under my fingernails,
it's hard to breathe.
All the mountains around the city disappear
and it's just covered with smoke.
It is not a pleasant time of year to be there,
and then, again, mixed in with the incredibly hot temperatures,
it's not pleasant to be outside at all.
It's the same time of year - around February -
when Da Nang starts going into more of their summer season,
so it gets hotter and warmer
and, while it does end up being their hottest time of year,
it is my favorite time of year,
between February and probably June,
because there is this beautiful, nice breeze all the time.
It honestly never feels as hot as I feel in Chiang Mai,
and then you also have the ocean.
Overall, weather-wise, I prefer Da Nang.
The next category is accommodation,
which I'm not going to spend too much time on
as I do have full videos on both the apartment-hunting experience
in Da Nang and in Chiang Mai.
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Chiang Mai definitely has more apartment buildings
and larger apartment buildings than Da Nang.
Overall it's easier to find a place and settle in
with the landlords speaking English, the buildings actually having names,
and then there' generally little paperwork involved.
It's very easy to just show up in the Nimman area
and walk door to door, to all of the different apartment buildings,
going to the front desk, which is almost always staffed,
and be able to ask for same-day move in.
Finding a place to live in Da Nang is also relatively easy
because the supply of apartment rooms far exceeds their demand.
It's just a little bit trickier
because many of the apartment buildings are smaller
and then they're family-owned,
so they'll be advertised on sites like Facebook,
and then they're not often staffed all day.
So, if you were just walking around the city,
you would usually need to have some sort of booking
to make sure that you'd be able to see the rooms,
because, if you just walked in, it would either be gated off
or there would be no one at the reception desk.
Usually they just don't have a reception desk.
It's easier to find a nice place that is clean,
where everything works, nothing is broken,
the Wi-Fi is reliable,
in Chiang Mai than it is to find that place in Da Nang.
But, if you take the time to look,
scroll the Facebook groups, look at dananglandlord.com,
and then book a few different viewings before making your decision,
I feel like you can find a better-quality place
at a cheaper price
in Da Nang than you would in Chiang Mai.
It's easy to get to both Chiang Mai and Da Nang
as both of them have a major airport.
However, the Da Nang airport is more internationally connected
than the Chiang Mai airport is.
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When it comes to transportation,
Chiang Mai is a clear winner.
There are so many different options for you to get around the city,
so many people will buy a motorbike or rent a motorbike
for this period of time that they're there.
But, if you're not interested in doing that,
which I personally don't,
you can walk pretty much everywhere from the Nimman area
and into the old city.
There's a bus system, there's taxis,
there's tuk-tuks for hire,
there's also the Grap app that you can use on your phone to call a Grab taxi.
And then, my favorite part of it,
there are songthaews.
Songthaews are basically these red trucks that drive around the city
and, when you see one, if it's going in the direction that you're heading,
you flag it down, let the driver know where it is that you are going,
and, if he nods, it means it's along his route.
You then get in the back and the songthaew driver,
which somehow remembers
where every single person in their songthaew is going,
will go along their route
and drop people off in the sequence of the destinations that they hit first.
So, when it gets to your destination, you simply get out
and you hand the driver the equivalent of 30 or 40 baht.
so, around USD 1.
There are definitely not as many options for getting around the city of Da Nang
as there are for getting around Chiang Mai.
I'll pretty much walk everywhere,
because, if you are staying in the central My An area,
you will be withing walking distance of the restaurants,
the markets, the grocery stores,
the convenience stores, and, of course, the beach.
If I'm going somewhere further out,
like maybe to Marble Mountains or to the city side to explore there,
I will book a Grab, either a motorbike or a Grab taxi.
I believe the rates are even cheaper than booking a Grab in Thailand.
There is also a bus system.
I don't see it running around the city all that often,
but I have taken it to get to the nearby ancient town of Hoi An several times.
When it comes to safety,
I would say that both cities are incredibly safe
and I would feel comfortable walking around either of them alone at night,
which is not something I can say for most Canadian cities.
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In Chiang Mai my biggest concern would be the mosquitoes.
Because Chiang Mai is in a valley, they all just tend to hang out there
which can be an issue for catching something like dengue fever.
And then, in Da Nang, I would say petty crime as well as drunk driving.
In both cities I would also be on the lookout for stray cats,
dogs or monkeys.
As for food, there is a clear winner here.
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I would say the biggest complaint that I hear
from anyone that has gone from Chiang Mai to Da Nang
is that they're very disappointed with the food scene in Da Nang.
This is because Chiang Mai's food scene is absolutely out of this world.
It's inexpensive and you can find anything from the authentic local Thai food
to amazing Indian food, to burgers, to pizza. All of it.
And it's all at a very reasonable price.
There's also a phenomenal street-food scene,
so you walk out your door and can grab a smoothie and a kebab
or a roast fish.
There are just vendors that are lining the streets
and the food is delicious and inexpensive.
Local beer and alcohol is also very inexpensive,
but there is no local wines,
so getting a glass of wine tends to be on the pricier side.
You also have water refill stations,
which is something I would love to see in Da Nang.
The Vietnamese food in Da Nang is delicious and very cheap,
cheaper than getting Thai food in Thailand.
But, while there are western options for burgers and pizza,
as well as all international cuisines in the My An area,
the cost jump when you go from local Vietnamese food
to international cuisine is significant.
There is also not a street-food scene like in the majority of Thailand,
so, if you do want to eat out somewhere,
you have to go to a restaurant and either sit down and order there
or order takeout.
If you shop the local markets and you enjoy Vietnamese food,
you will be very happy and so will your wallet.
If you're still not sure if you should head to Chiang Mai or Da Nang,
there are a few ways to make the decision a little bit easier.
The first one would be the time of year that you're planning to go.
As I mentioned, if it is between February and May,
do not go to Chiang Mai, go to Da Nang;
it makes the decision easy.
Another thing to consider from a practical standpoint
when making the decision would be to look at the visa options.
They are changing.
It used to be considered easier to spend a longer period of time in Da Nang,
and in Vietnam in general, than in Thailand.
However, visa laws are changing
and, with the latest updates, this may no longer be the case,
so I recommend you look at the government websites
and do your own research.
In making your decision,
know that I would say probably three out of four people I meet
that are living the digital nomad lifestyle
would say that they prefer Chiang Mai over Da Nang,
and that Da Nang can be kind of boring.
I'm not arguing this.
Otherwise, all things considered equal,
if you haven't traveled a lot
and this is your first time going off as a digital nomad
or working remotely while you're traveling,
I would say hands down go to Chiang Mai.
This was the first place that I went
and I can't imagine doing this any other way.
You will meet so many people.
There will be so many things to do, so many events,
so many activities.
It's conducive to helping you stay productive
as well as having a lot of fun, and, honestly, you'll love it.
You'll also feel incredibly welcomed.
So, even when I look at this list,
I'm like, "Yeah, Ciang Mai sounds way better."
And I love Chiang Mai,
but still I will find myself going back to Da Nang year after year
and just loving the lifestyle.
And, again, it really comes down to living on the ocean;
that's just something that makes me so happy.
I don't even know how to explain it.
There you have it, that's an overview of living in Chiang Mai
or living in Da Nang as an expat, from my perspective.
The beautiful thing is that they are both very close to each other
and there is a direct flight,
so you have no excuse not to check them both out.
Let us know down in the comments which one you would be more interested in going to.
Don't forget to give this video a thumbs-up.
And I hope to catch you back here for another video again next week.
Thanks for watching. Bye.