Digital Nomads in Chiang Mai – Oliver von Herder

At the beginning of September 2014 me and my girlfriend Gemma arrived in Chiang Mai, and we were going to stay for two weeks max before spending 3 weeks in Laos, Cambodia and the Islands of Thailand before flying out of Bangkok.

If someone had told me that a month later not only would we still be in Chiang Mai, but that both I and my girlfriend had both started new businesses I wouldn’t have believed them.

After a week in Chiang Mai we came to stay at CMStay. We had come to the city because I was working on a blog and wanted to meet like minded people. When I mentioned this to our hosts Stephen and Ketsuda, Stephen directed us to a Facebook page called ‘Chiang Mai Digital Nomads’.

Over the course of the next few weeks Stephen revealed himself to be very involved in the digital nomad scene in Chiang Mai. That piece of advice led to us making connections that quickly developed into friendships. Soon we were working alongside entrepreneurs working across a broad range, attending workshops, retreats and learning like crazy – and every time we spoke with Stephen he offered information or advice that made a serious difference over the course of our stay.

The community in Chiang Mai is exploding right now, and in my mind it’s one of the very best places in the world to start your own location independent business. The cost of living, and the support network is incredible. Me and my girlfriend are both still working on our businesses and plan to return to Chiang Mai for an extended stay next year.

Ultimately staying at CMStay made the entire experience very easy – the rooms were clean and spacious, our location had some of the best value for money food we found in Chiang Mai (which is really saying something) and our hosts were happy to help us with anything – no matter what it was. Chiang Mai is an amazing city, and discovering what it has to offer can be this easy and enjoyable for everyone.