Living in Thailand & Japan

During our recent trip to Japan it was difficult not to compare things to Thailand. I lived in Japan from 2004 - 2006 and I have been living in Thailand for a year and a half. I thought I would share some of the differences and similarities.

Noise

Bangkok is noisy. There's no escaping it. The traffic never stops and it is frequently poorly maintained so motorbike and lorry engines deafen you. For all that I love it, there is a vibrancy to the streets that makes you feel alive.

Japan is quiet... to paraphrase every horror/action movie... maybe a little too quiet. If you enjoy peace and time to think then Japan is a great place to be. The only downside is that sometimes it really is too quiet. I only realised this when I found myself whispering to talk to people in public. It gets to you eventually.

Price

This is going to be no surprise but the price difference between living in Bangkok and Tokyo is huge! Here is the average differential according to numbeo.com:

When I was living in Japan I had a full time job so my earnings were proportional, as shown by the local purchasing power index. However, visiting there after living in Thailand was a real gut punch! That said, being a tourist in Japan isn't too bad. Similar to Thailand, people eat out a lot more often than Europeans, especially Britons. As a result, restaurants are cheaper relative to other costs. According to numbeo.com restaurants in the UK are 85% more expensive than Japan while other costs are more similar. This is great for me because I LOVE to eat out. During our trip to Japan we ate our way around the country and it was great!

Attitude

Thai people and Japanese people are both great but in completely different ways.

Japanese people will go out of their way to help you any time. I and others have asked for directions to somewhere and received a lift to our destination instead. Even for basic enquiries they really want to make sure you get a positive result. Japanese people are famously reserved but will be delighted and break into huge smiles if you attempt to speak the language.

There is also a completely different aesthetic. When I was in Japan I worked for Nova - at the time the largest English school in the country. I was hired in the UK and Nova's international branding on their correspondence was a conservative yellow lotus on navy blue. When I got to Japan I realised that the local branding was a maniac pink bunny rabbit. Check out the commercial... there are no words.

Thai people love to laugh and smile... which can be disconcerting at times. I have felt like I was being laughed at, only to realise that the Thai person was laughing to defuse a nervous situation. That probably says more about my own mental state than Thai culture! Thai people love to have fun and it's great to see so many smiles. Everybody from taxi drivers to shop owners will try to joke with you. This contributes to a great atmosphere.

These are just a few of my observations from having lived in both countries. I love them both and I hope I get the chance to live in other places too. Get in touch if you'd like to know more.

What's It Really Like to Work and Travel?

I talk a lot about how Agi and I work while we are overseas... it's sort of the whole point of this site. We do give ourselves vacation time but usually we continue working when we are travelling. During our recent trip to Japan a thought struck me; am I missing out on experiencing the places I visit because I take time to work? Would other people actually want to do the same?

Let me start by giving an example of our schedule in Japan. This is not a fixed schedule but an approximation of what happened.

• 06:30 Wake up and shower
• 07:00 Work
• 09:00 Eat breakfast
• 09:30 Go out sightseeing
• 16:30 Get back and relax or do some work if necessary
• 18:30 Go out for dinner
• 20:00 Relax: read, watch a movie

We fit in roughly 4 hours of work and 7 hours of sightseeing without staying up late or cutting short our activities. Your mileage may vary but I think that's pretty good.

The thought I had was: would I regret using those 4 hours to work instead of seeing more sights or doing more activities? Would I look back in a year's time and think "Man, I should have got out and seen more of Japan."?

The conclusion I came to? No. I don't think so. We saw everything we wanted to in Japan and were tired out everyday from walking / cycling / snowboarding. The recommendation these days is to walk 10,000 steps per day; during our time in Tokyo & Kyoto we averaged 12,000 steps per day.

What would I have been using that working time for otherwise? If I look back on other holidays before I became a freelancer (AKA The Before Times) I don't think I did more sightseeing or activities. I probably fit in some more reading or had longer lie ins. To be honest there is a limit to how much sightseeing it is actually possible or desirable to do.

Did I feel like I hadn't had a holiday? Not at all, we loved our time in Japan and were able to spend longer there overall than we could have when we were salaried employees. In the past 6 months we have spent more time on holiday / travelling than any year of my salaried life. While writing this I just added it up:

• Koh Lanta: 5 days
• Kanchanaburi: 2 days
• Taiwan: 7 days
• Australia: 10 days
• Chiang Mai: 7 days
• Japan: 17 days
• Total: 48 days

That's on top of being based in Bangkok which is pretty cool in its own right.

I don't want to labour the point but this was a real debate I had, first internally and then with Agi. I wanted us to be honest with ourselves. We talk about how cool it is to work and travel but are we fooling ourselves and shortchanging our experiences?

I love being productive and I get bored doing nothing. I have never enjoyed holidays lazing by the pool. It's possible that our experiences are not representative of everybody but if the things I have described above sound good to you then freelancing is probably the way to go! Drop us a line and we'd love to discuss it with you.

We've Worked in... Japan

This series is about places that we've been able to visit because of our freelance lifestyle. This isn't just so that I can share my travel photos; there is a larger point! We have been able to take more holidays or stay longer because we could combine our work with travel. I want more people to get involved in online freelancing and I hope that this series will inspire you. Yes, you.

We've Worked in... Japan

Seeing as it was ski season and Agi and I had been living in South East Asia for the past 2 years we wanted to get a snowboard under our feet. We decided to go to Japan. Agi had never been there before so we decided to visit Tokyo and Kyoto on our way to the mountains and make it a 3 week trip because you can do that when you're an online freelancer! Read on for details of probably our best trip to date...

Tokyo

We started in Tokyo and had an amazing time. We walked miles and miles and saw all of the fantastic sites: Meiji shrine, Harajuku, Shibuya crossing and Asakusa. I worked in Japan as an English teacher from 2004 - 2006 so I dragged Agi on a trip around my old haunts in Ikebukuro.

There were almost too many great things that we saw but my favourite had to be the giant Gundam mech suit in Odaiba. Odaiba is a very modern district built on reclaimed land with shopping malls and entertainment centres. I had heard there was a large Gundam statue in the area and wanted to see it. When I turned the corner I wasn't quite prepared for a 2 story tall robot. I hope the photo captures the scale, it was amazing.

We stayed at the FlexStay Inn in Higashi Jujo in a tiny room that had more amenities cleverly packed into it than most hotel rooms I have seen. The hotel had a comfortable reception area where Agi and I worked most mornings before going out sightseeing.

Kyoto

From Tokyo we took the Shinkansen to Kyoto. This time we stayed in a traditional Japanese style room with tatami mats on the floor. I had a room like this when I lived in Japan and I loved the smell and feel of the mats under my feet again. Our hotel, Peace House Sakura rented bicycles so Agi and I took 2 and went out to see the sights.

I visited Kyoto for a week in 2005 and saw more temples than I could take. With that in mind I gave Agi the greatest hits tour of my favourites: Kinkauji - the golden pavilion, Ginkakuji - the silver pavilion, Nijo Castle, Kiyomizu temple and a new one for me; Fushimi Inari-taisha.

They were all great but really spread out so we continued our exercise: walking in Tokyo, cycling in Kyoto! Even after cycling miles and seeing sights we had time in the evenings to do some work and keep the money rolling in. We also found a street market near our hotel that sold the best fried chicken I have tasted.

Hakuba

Once the sightseeing was over we headed into the mountains for some snowboarding. Hakuba, site of the 1998 winter olympics was our destination. We stayed at the confusingly named Pension Hakuba Airmail which was a lovely little hotel. We had 10 days of a routine I could easily get used to: wake up early, go snowboarding, come home, do some work, get something to eat, watch a movie, sleep, repeat.

Hakuba is absolutely gorgeous with mountains on all sides of a small town full of alpine style buildings. Best of all, I proposed to Agi on top of Goryu ski resort and she said yes!

We had an amazing time and were both really upset to leave. Agi has declared Japan to be her favourite country in the world and we now have to plan a trip to go back.

Another great trip enabled by freelancing! Get in touch with us and see how you can freelance and have more holidays.

We've Worked in... Chiang Mai

This series is about places that we’ve been able to visit because of our freelance lifestyle. This isn’t just so that I can share my travel photos; there is a larger point! We have been able to take more holidays or stay longer because we could combine our work with travel. I want more people to get involved in online freelancing and I hope that this series will inspire you. Yes, you.

We've Worked in... Chiang Mai

Despite living in Thailand for a year and half and visiting multiple times before that I had never been to Chiang Mai. Agi visited in 2009 and loved it. When my parents visited Thailand we decided to take advantage of the opportunity and the four of us headed up north for a week.

Things started well as we were staying in a traditional Thai house made of teak. It was absolutely beautiful and a real change from our apartment in Bangkok. On the first day Agi went off to do an 80km run in the hills with some people she knew through the running club in Bangkok. I took my parents for a more sensible walk around Chiang Mai. The town is lovely, there are temples everywhere. It's also a foodie's paradise. One evening I had a Mexican / Thai fusion meal; pork enchilada in penang curry sauce. Delicious! Check out Ole Gourmet if you are in town.

We took a day trip to Doi Inthanon, the highest peak in Thailand. I had to laugh because there was a big sign stating that you were at the highest point in Thailand when you could clearly see steps behind the sign and a higher point beyond that. The main photo for this post is from the small shrine on top of the mountain. I loved the moss covered elephants. Also on the mountain were two pagodas dedicated to the King & Queen. These were spectacular and the views down into the valley were captivating. Definitely worth a visit.

Obviously Agi and I had to work some of the time we were there and it was an absolute pleasure! Our hotel had a covered seating area outside. The temperature was perfect, there was a cool breeze from time to time and we never got too hot. I'm seriously considering moving to Chiang Mai after this, Bangkok is too damned hot.

My mum had her birthday while we were there and she wanted to go and see elephants. She was adamant that she didn't want to go somewhere that teaches elephants to do tricks or offers elephant rides. We found the Thai Elephant Care Centre, a place that cares for elderly and sick elephants. She had a wonderful time there. We helped feed the elephants, learned about the medicines that elephants need and helped bathe the elephants in the river.

All in all Chiang Mai is a wonderful place. Nice Thai food, not too hot, plenty of sights and activities. I can see why everybody has been telling me to go there for years!

Another great trip enabled by freelancing! Get in touch with us and see how you can freelance and have more holidays.

Working as a Freelancer Means WORKING as a Freelancer

I read an article recently about why you shouldn’t be a digital nomad and it really annoyed me. You can read it here. The article isn't new but I hadn't see it before. The author has "done the digital nomad thing" and said that he was unable to feel content without actually working. I’m not quite sure what he thought being a digital nomad was.

Digital Nomad ≠ Backpacker

I have written a lot of articles about how being an online freelancer has enabled us to travel a lot more. This is all 100% true and I am very happy with the lifestyle we have but we WORK to support it. I went to Taiwan for a week and I worked while I was there, often getting up and doing a morning’s work before going to sightsee in the afternoon.

I love the feeling of doing a good day’s work and earning my money. I read an article years ago that said that to be satisfied at work you need the following 3 things:

1. Autonomy: Being in control of our own choices
2. Complexity: Being able to master new skills and improve
3. Direct connection between effort and reward: Seeing the payoff—whether financial, spiritual, or other—of your work

(I couldn’t find the original article but this Buffer article covers the same topics)

I have never been happier in my work life than I am now. Being a freelancer means that I don’t have a boss; I have clients. I can pick and choose who I work for. That’s Autonomy right there.

I have learned new things and been challenged in ways I never expected during my freelance career. Complexity: check.

I know my hourly rate and how many hours I’m billing. Every hour worked has a clear dollar value. The connection between effort and reward could not be more clear. And that’s only financial; the improvement in my life through not commuting to work and being able to spend more time outside is noticeable.

What’s my point?

If you’re going to be a digital nomad you will still need to put in the hours. Being able to travel doesn’t mean that you are on permanent holiday.

I love getting up early, doing a decent day’s work and going out to see something and grab a bite to eat. Living at the same pace as the local people makes me feel like I live there. Also, because you’re working and not on vacation there is no pressure to move move move, see the next sight, take a photo and continue on. You can stay longer and really soak in each place.

Don’t become a digital nomad because you hate working. Become a digital nomad because you want to work in interesting places.

Get in touch if you'd like to know more.

Also, if you're looking for work, 24 Seven is a cool new agency. The link there is to one of their blogs on a similar topic to this post.