After a wonderful few weeks of travelling around Singapore and Malaysia, we were ready to get back to work and start planning the next lot of adventures around Southeast Asia.
I don’t remember ever coming to a decision on Thailand, but Joe and I have both been before (separately) and it just seemed the right place to start our remote working / digital nomad journey together.
Although I really wasn’t a fan of Bangkok the first time I visited in 2016, Joe had only visited as a child so he was keen to go back and see the city, eat the world famous street food, and experience its nightlife. I figured that I should give it another try, so we booked a month in an AirBnB on the outskirts of the city.
I know, a month is a long time to give somewhere you once hated another try, but we needed to settle after a busy few weeks travelling and being on the go non-stop. It was also over the Christmas and New Year period, so it felt like the right time to settle into a little home away from home for a month.
We stayed in a lovely little apartment near the Watthana district, about a 20 minute skytrain ride from the centre of the city. The building had a state-of-the-art gym, library, conference room, swimming pool and saunas, so we felt like we were living in luxury! It was great to make use of the facilities and get into a pleasant daily routine of working, going to the gym or for a swim, nipping out the nearby shop for groceries, cooking our own meals, working some more, and spending relaxing evenings watching Netflix or reading.
Looking back now, it was a great choice to stay out of the city centre as we weren’t tempted to go out for food and drinks every night, so we were able to really formulate a good, healthy routine throughout the week and then explore the city and indulge a bit more on the weekends.
At the end of the day, our goal whilst we are out here living and working is to get our heads down and earn enough to continue travelling. As much as we would love to be out and about as much as possible, we also have to give ourselves time to slow down and churn out some work.
At the time of writing this, we are well over 3 months into our digital nomad journey and we are finally getting the hang of balancing work and play. It all has to be sustainable so we can continue living our dream life. Essentially, our everyday routine is similar to when we are back home in the UK (work, eat, sleep, repeat), but with the added bonus of good weather, exotic food, cheap living, and having these amazing places on our doorstep to explore at the weekend.
We both loved our month in Bangkok and found it was a good amount of time to stay in one place. Joe definitely loved it more than I did and has already said he’d love to go back and do the same again for a few months. I, on the other hand, feel like it prepared me for digital nomad life, gave me a taste of the work/life balance whilst on the road, and allowed me to see the sights, but I wouldn’t rush back. For me, there’s too many other places on my bucket list. I also feel like more than a month in a huge city like Bangkok would be too much, so I’m happy doing 2-4 week stints in slightly smaller cities, rural areas, and on quiet tropical islands (!!).
Do you have any questions about living for a month in Bangkok? Let me know in the comments or pop me a DM on Instagram @ wheresliv_
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