I Left USA and Moved to Thailand (My Cost of Living in Koh Samui as a Digital Nomad)

If you're ready to escape the cost of living crisis and start a new more affordable and sustainable life abroad, we can help you get started with resources, courses and community: https://www.costoflivingabroad.com/signup

Pros & Cons after 6 years in a Thailand Beach Town (Thailand Cost of Living - Full interview) and How Much it ACTUALLY Cost To LIVE in Koh Samui Thailand in 2025 and Why I left USA and Moved to Thailand (You Should Too!)

This week on The Cost of Living Abroad Podcast we talked with Mike Holp an expat American who has lived for 6 years in Koh Samui Thailand about 'Why I left USA and Moved to Thailand (You Should Too!)

Look him up here: https://linktr.ee/mikeholp

We compare the best affordable places to live and retire early in SE Asia, including a full monthly budget breakdown of the cost of living in Thailand and discussion of the pros and cons of digital nomad life in Thailand in 2025.

0:00 episode highlights
2:00 Cost for food, bills, monthly budget in Thailand
20:00 Monthly Budget Breakdown living in Thailand
27:00 Visa system, visa runs and DT Visa in Thailand
32:30 Cost of Living USA vs Thailand
36:00 Why this American chose Vietnam vs Thailand
38:30 Starting a business and being a youtuber
42:45 Pros and Cons of living in Thailand (Koh Samui)
50:00 How this American met his wife in Thailand
51:00 Biggest misconceptions of Vietnam
53:30 Advice for moving to Thailand

If you're ready to escape the cost of living crisis and start a new more affordable and sustainable life abroad, we can help you get started with resources, courses and community: https://www.costoflivingabroad.com/signup

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This week on the Cost of Living a broad Pod,
we talked to Mike Abroad, a YouTuber in digital nomad
from Austin, Texas. He told us about his cost of
living in Kosumui, Thailand, an affordable lifestyle ranging from fifteen
hundred to eighteen hundred dollars a month that allows him
to live on a beautiful island in paradise. Mike shared

(00:21):
a personal story about moving to Thailand, including how he
coped with running out of money while living abroad and
how a chance encounter on Tinder changed his life and
he then built a thriving Facebook business with over one
hundred and sixty thousand followers. Make sure to stick around
to the end to find out how he did it.

(00:42):
I'm Evan A and you're listening to the Cost of
Living a broad Pod. For full interviews, find us on
YouTube at cost of Living a broad Pod. But before
we get started, I just wanted to let you know
that if you're struggling with the cost of living crisis
and looking for a sustainable and affordable way to relocate
your life abroad, check out our resources, courses, and community

(01:05):
at cost of Living abroad dot com.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
It's about fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred dollars a month
to live on a beautiful island in Thailand. Number one
the beautiful beaches and also delicious food.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
And then also three at number three is the friendly people.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
I had just finished a motorbike trip and I was
going through Tinder and she popped right up. Long story short,
that's uh, and did this when I moved to Thailand,
and then I just did, you know, I just did
whatever it took to stay in Thailand because I just
feel much happier there.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
You know, I've run out of money a bunch of
times in Thailand. It's not for everyone. Even better, if
you can have a.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Remote job line up, there's something you can do online
that just you know, that checks all the boxes.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
Bought a condo in Simula. It's like almost a million dollars.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
She feels cooped up and it's a little bit hard
to leave the island. They do have the international airport,
but the flights can be a bit expensive. Over Development
is an issue for sure, and also just the number
of tourists coming to the island getting more and more busy,
and also cost of living is going up.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
I think of Simili as one of those places where
it's really become a brand or a destination of its own,
even before the whole white Lotus thing is happening, I went.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
I'm partially to blame for that, I will say, because
I've been posting a lot, mostly on Facebook and including
the YouTube channel, and it's just getting you know, millions
and millions of years every single month.

Speaker 4 (02:31):
Hey, I'm Evan, Like, nice to meet you. Man, Introduce yourself.
Let me know a little about you.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
Okay, So yeah, my name's Mike.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Been living in Thailand for five years now, originally from
the US Austin, Texas. I really kind of just took
off for Bali in twenty nineteen and then I haven't
returned since I left.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
Nice, long story short.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
I remember here in Vietnam we started hearing like about
pandemic things around November December twenty nineteen when you took off.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
Did you know that?

Speaker 2 (02:57):
I was about to say, I had no idea whatsoever.
That's actually the month I left was November.

Speaker 4 (03:02):
So you didn't know the pandemic was coming.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
No idea. I don't think any of us did. Did
I mean, anybody know this?

Speaker 4 (03:08):
No? No? But I mean, like, depending on when you
left right like, yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
So that was November twenty nineteen. I bought that one
way ticket to Bali. I've been wanting to visit Bali
for a long time because I saw it as like
an up and coming digital nomad destination.

Speaker 4 (03:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
I remember, what's the Canadian guy who's there? He runs
a he does like a creator school, and he's he
was one of the first like.

Speaker 4 (03:29):
Oh big crops.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, lost the blank man.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
I remember whenever I first got And he's young too,
but like when I first got into YouTube, Kim Casey
like ten years ago, right like, yeah, he's been around
for a long time. So you actively you were like
actively thinking about doing the creator thing relokaying pretty much.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, that was just I hadn't launched my YouTube channel
at that point. Shortly after I left Bali that I launched.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
The channel when I got to Thailand. Nice is around
early twenty twenty.

Speaker 4 (03:58):
When did you relocate to some movie to Thailand?

Speaker 2 (04:01):
That was so I visited for the first time in
like around March twenty twenty, I believe something around then.
So I was basically just traveling all over Thailand and
found myself going to Samoui for the first time.

Speaker 4 (04:15):
That was definite.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Like that was when lockdown and things really started to
shake out.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, that was in the very beginning phases of the pandemic.

Speaker 4 (04:23):
Okay, and I like that. So you're like bold, You're like,
I'm not going to go home. I'm looking for.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
Okay, nice and in it to win it.

Speaker 4 (04:31):
You're on Samoui. You have a Thai partner.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
Thai partner, yet we've been together four years, met online,
similar to like you were saying with your wife and
I've been.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
Together ever since.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
She's still there while I'm here because she has to
work at the school.

Speaker 4 (04:44):
We have that. Like we have visa troubles too.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
My wife and I went not in Southeast Asia, but
often we were talking about traveling or trip planning elsewhere
that happens.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
I've heard that it can be quite challenging to stay
here long term in Vietnam. You have to do the
border runs every ninety days.

Speaker 4 (04:57):
Yeah, I don't because I had a temporary as a card,
first through work and now through as a spouse.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
Okay, it's actually one of the biggest myths I wanted
to spell.

Speaker 4 (05:07):
That is what you're doing if you your tourists.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
But even though there's no and there's investor views, which
is kind of like it's not cold the retirement, but
that's you know, like sort of like the Malaysia game plan,
Like that's the clear path if you really are serious
about retiring here, but you can't you can't online, you
get like a you get a resident card. It's like
depending on how much you invest three to five years.

(05:31):
So one of those you see there's an enormous number
of Korean and then somewhat lesser Japanese and Taiwanese expats
here and that's what they do. They'll come here, invest money,
open businesses, and then stay forever. And it's I mean,
it's completely available to Westerners too.

Speaker 4 (05:48):
It's just not done.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
I had no idea that it even existed.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah, I have a sort of deeper breakdown in my
last month like monthly Q and A on which I
post on like members only Patreon for that's like in
depth stuff. Let's dive right into your cost of living abroad. Sure,
what do you spend breakfast, lunch, and dinner and your
sort of every day and then for the month.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
So you say you discovered me through my interview and
retire working few that was about.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
Two years ago.

Speaker 4 (06:12):
I think so. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
So back then I was, you know, I was living
on that was two years ago, so about one thousand
dollars a month. And key point was that was for
both me and my fans, so two people, very very cheap.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
But now obviously the costs have risen and they're continuing
to creep up.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
There's more tourists coming to similarly, so now i'd say
on average monthly, I spent about fifty.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
Thousand a month, fifty thousand bots so in dollars, that's
fifteen hundred dollars a month roughly.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
Roughly fifteen sometimes less.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
Okay, so in two years, your cost of living has
gone up fifty percent roughly.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
I've also upgraded my house a little bit so moved
into a new place.

Speaker 4 (06:57):
So that that's such thanks.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, I've my cost of living has gone up as
I've like become first a couple and then a family.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
Uh huh, sure, sure, but it's still relative.

Speaker 4 (07:07):
Well, I guess I was wait a second, and I
know that.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
The cost of living here is about thirty to forty
percent cheaper compared.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
To place like SAMOUI.

Speaker 4 (07:15):
Yeah, I would guess, thank you, Kellen.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
I would guess that the cost of living in Samui
is pretty parallel to the cost of living in sort
of an expat suburb in ho Chi Minh, the part
of Hoochim and I was.

Speaker 4 (07:26):
Living into it.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
It's very close to Bangkok. It's probably cheaper for like
your food and your dailies, but it's actually more expensive
for rent. In some of those places, the housing costs
and property costs, especially in the cities and Vietnam of skyrocketed.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
Really.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
I still have not been to Hochi Man, only Hanoi
before going up to Haijan Lu.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Ho Chi Minh's a great expat city if you're living
or starting a business. Hanoi is a much better tourist.

Speaker 4 (07:51):
And visitor friendly city if you're looking for like a short.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
Term or although I will point out that when I
was there the pollution was horrendous, like nothing I've ever seen.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
It's like ninety Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
So if it's rice burning season here too, and a
few months a year during rice bursing season.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
But yeah, something you got to deal with me.

Speaker 4 (08:08):
Yeah, I mean Bangkok, Hanoi. I hope you man.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
I think Hanoi is the worst, but they're all pretty
comparable now.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
Also, chain wise, burning seasons, it's getting away at the
same same.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
Two or three you now walk me through what the what.

Speaker 4 (08:20):
Do you have in breakfast, lunch, and dinner? What are
you and your.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
Wife or a girlfriend? Okay, you'll hold off my congratulations.
What do you like to eat in today?

Speaker 4 (08:30):
Are you eating out? Are you cooking at home? Mixture
of both?

Speaker 3 (08:33):
So, yeah, we we do a mixture of both.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
She's a really good cook, so she'll cook a lot
of time meals, which is just a good way to
save on going out because going out to.

Speaker 3 (08:43):
Eat all the time gets a bit expensive.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
But generally, like we go out to maybe five or
six times a week, pretty pretty pretty often.

Speaker 4 (08:51):
So what's a weekly grocery bill look like?

Speaker 3 (08:54):
Groceries?

Speaker 2 (08:54):
Honestly, we don't really go to the grocery store all
that often. Occasionally, maybe once a week we'll go to
the grocery store, and that'll typically run around two thousand bought,
two thou thousand bought a week.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
So it's about sixty US dollars.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
Sixty dollars, okay, so it's about thirty dollars, is about
one thousand bought, okay, exactly.

Speaker 4 (09:12):
Okay, so sixty dollars, that's pretty decent and.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
That provides for the entire week cooking for cooking at home.

Speaker 4 (09:19):
For two people, So the equivalent would be about one
thousand bought for a per person for a weekly grocery.

Speaker 3 (09:26):
Bell I don't really do any cooking. She's always cooking.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
Pretty lucky there. And I love Thai food too, so
it's just like amazing.

Speaker 4 (09:35):
I talked to when Will Travels is on.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
We talked about the direct Thai food versus the AT
food comparison, which I think it's nack and neck.

Speaker 4 (09:42):
They're different cuisines.

Speaker 1 (09:43):
But Will said fifty one percent Thailand forty nine percent
Phetnomene could be right.

Speaker 3 (09:48):
Pretty even balanced.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
Yeah, I think seventy.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Seventy thirty typhoon seventy thirty on typoo, what's your favorite
dish that your wife cooks?

Speaker 2 (09:57):
Oh, she cooks a pats at you mmm, So I
don't know why it has.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
You in the name, because it's delicious.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
Patsy is pretty good. And then chicken penang chicken really
with rice.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
I love everything about panag Icy, Yeah, especially the penang
curry and the chicken.

Speaker 4 (10:14):
That's a lovely place too.

Speaker 2 (10:15):
I went to this restaurant called Firefly last night which
is close to Old Town. I don't know if you've
been there, no, might want to check it out. They
have curry chicken, curry with rice.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
There's excellent, beautiful, excellent.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
Okay, So sixty dollars groceries five to six times a week,
you're going out, so almost every day.

Speaker 3 (10:32):
What's the much?

Speaker 1 (10:33):
What's the meal you're sort of what's the difference between
your sort of like your casual meal out the cost
of that versus the like, you know, date night night.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, So you're going off the questioning
Chris asked as well.

Speaker 4 (10:46):
It did.

Speaker 3 (10:46):
He asked some of these questions.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
I feel like the reality is there, the questions are
always kind of the same.

Speaker 4 (10:52):
Yeah, yeah, hopefully.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
That's exactly why I started doing the interviews, because the
answer is always the same, right, it's the the answer
changes the question itself for the cost of living.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
Actually, this is a slight digression.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
There used to be a great blog series, like I
think it's called Refinery twenty one and it was called
like Money Diaries, and it was like a weekly money
diary series. It happened to be for young professional women.
But that that one, for me was a big inspiration
where I thought, oh if I could figure it a
way to because I just found them so engaging.

Speaker 3 (11:22):
Yeah, and you've really cut your costs by coming here.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
You're originally from Canada, right, wearing Canada from Toronto?

Speaker 4 (11:30):
Yeah, super expensive, never been. It's so you don't have
to go.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
Just Vancouver Calgary.

Speaker 1 (11:35):
I lived in Calgary for I actually lived in Calgary
for a few years basically because of cost of living reasons.

Speaker 4 (11:41):
And then cheaper cost of living there.

Speaker 1 (11:44):
Now yeah, now it's probably up to yeah, but ten
years ago it was there was it was still significantly
lower than Vancouver or Toronto.

Speaker 4 (11:52):
You see what you're asking. Yeah, we'll just go Yeah,
back on track.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
So, what's the cost sort of casual meal out for
you and your partner versus the cost of like your
fancy night out or your sure.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
So casual night out could be anywhere. It's like one
hundred and fifty to two hundred bought for both of us.
So that's that's just going out to like a local
it's like nothing special restaurant in town or something.

Speaker 4 (12:14):
Five or six dollars.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
It's about ten dollars at the well, three hundred buy
is ten dollars, so like six dollars, Yeah, six to
seven dollars versus you know, going out for a date night,
maybe going to Italian restaurant, gets a pizza, spaghetti, something
along these lines. That could be five hundred and six
hundred bot fifteen to eighteen dollars.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
Yeah, I mean still extremely affordable, extremely affordable by any sort.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
Of maybe some drink mixing, some drinks too.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
Yeah, So that's it's interesting. I think of Simili as
one of those places where it's really become a brand
or a destination of its own, even before the whole
white lotus thing is happening.

Speaker 4 (12:54):
I went, and.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Partially to blame for that, I will say, because I've
been posting a lot, most on Facebook and including the
YouTube channel, and it's just getting you know, millions and
millions of years.

Speaker 3 (13:05):
Every single month.

Speaker 4 (13:06):
Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
So that's both good and bad. More tourists coming more.
There's a lot of it's getting over developed now. There's
so much construction, always building new villas, destroying the nature.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
I haven't been since twenty eleven, Oh wow, long time,
almost fifteen years on my first sort of trip through
Southeast Asia.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
Have not been back to Samui. I went at that time. Yeah,
I did.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
The like we just spent a night in Samoui to
catch the boat to Copagne, full full moon kind of jag. Like,
you know, it was my original backpacker like calson road
overnight bus to some movie movie party up, like the
most stereotypical banana pancake trail backpacker thing. But I do
remember time ago, very long time ago. But you know,

(13:53):
it was quite developed then. I'd say even then, it
was significantly more developed than most parts of the now.

Speaker 3 (14:00):
Though it's just getting to be a bit too much.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
Yeah, it's a little sad to see. Actually, there's another
YouTuber ride with Gabby.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
I don't know if you follow him.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
He just made a video about the beginning of the
end for Smoothly, how it can be turned into another
pouquette because of the old overdevelopment.

Speaker 3 (14:16):
You got to take the good with event.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
You know. Beautiful Island Thailand does have a history though,
when something reaches a tipping point, completely shutting it down.
So I one of the things that brought me to
this region originally, like northern Vietnam particular, is rock climbing.

Speaker 4 (14:30):
Oh yeah, back in the day.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
I think I'm old enough to officially say back in
the day, Back in the day, Chang Mai had a
huge like butte called either Kicking Horse or Crazy Horse.
I think it was crazy the Crazy Horse and a
massive crag, you know, hundreds of roots, world famous and
it got like some of the beaches in Thailand. This
is like going back to like that, you know, Alex Garland.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
The vich era and the shut down.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
And they completely shut it down, just close, just like
from a massive you know, must have been pulling in
tens of millillions of dollars or more a year for
Chang Mai and then just like boom, done overnight, your
ruining nature.

Speaker 4 (15:09):
We're going to take it. And I think that that's
you know, at the time, there's.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
A huge sort of log room chat sort of message
board backlash.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
But in hindsight, you know, that's fantastic. That's what countries
need to do if they're right.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, sure, it's definitely good for the economy and all
these things.

Speaker 4 (15:25):
Yeah, okay, we're getting what we.

Speaker 3 (15:26):
Need places to live way off.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yeah, but that's a good thing. That's why I'm doing
the like full interviews on one channel. And then I'm
a bit ad d so you know, Okay, total food
and beverage costs for a month, between the sixty dollars
groceries and the five or six meals out, what's your number.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
That's about ten thousand per month.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
It's about three hundred dollars a year, roughly three hundred dollars. Yeah,
and that's where to includes everything for two people. Yeah,
key point right there.

Speaker 4 (15:52):
Okay, So that's that's really good.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
And you know, I think that's comparable to hear so
Piland sometimes gets a rep as being more expensive. Yeah,
then Vietnam for a couple that includes one expat, or
you know, any couple that's doing somewhat some mix of
local and western food, I think you'd be hard pressed
to go under three hundred dollars a month here for
a couple.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
I mostly just find myself eating a lot of fa
soup here, like every single meal.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
Almost we got to introduce you to to me kwang
buncha bunka.

Speaker 4 (16:23):
There's there's a whole variety of noodlesup.

Speaker 3 (16:25):
I do like the quong noodles as well.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
All right, so do you what's the nightlife like for
you and your fiance?

Speaker 3 (16:31):
And so nightlife really not too active.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
We pretty much just stay at home and Netflix and
chill a lot of nights, so we're not really going
out partying, drinking sessive amounts pretty much just kind of homebodies, Okay,
be honest.

Speaker 4 (16:45):
I mean I can relate to that as having two
little kids.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
Let's use that to segue into the monthly subscriptions. So
what's your cost for the Netflix for maybe VPNs you have,
you know, if you're subscribing to newspapers, is there a
Patreon or any of those monthly ticks you got things
to create your videos and your content?

Speaker 2 (17:06):
Yeah, that too also, so I use cap cut for
all my editing, which is owned by TikTok.

Speaker 3 (17:11):
So that one's.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
About it's about three hundred per month, so ten dollars
a month. And Netflix is I think it's like fifteen
dollars a month. And I also have Hbo now because
I have been watching the White Lotus HBO series. That
one's like twenty dollars a actually ten dollars dollars.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
Of much for you, well, thirty five dollars for sort
of media stuff.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
Yeah, pretty much.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
I have other tools, like I use a VPN bitdefender
for my VPN. That one's like thirty five dollars a year,
very affordable.

Speaker 4 (17:41):
I got to change.

Speaker 1 (17:42):
NordVPN charged me one hundred dollars yesterday for my annual subscription.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
Oh my gosh, yeah, I got too much.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
I got to ditch them. I saw it was one
of it hit me and I was like, whoa Nord VPN.
Your affiliate program's not even that good.

Speaker 3 (17:54):
And Bitdefender's better.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
I pretty much guarantee it. Oh they have a VPN
and then also the firework.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
Okay, so that's just like three dollars a month, So
twenty you're up to around thirty eight dollars a month
in subscriptions. Any other ones you can think of? Are
you a Spotify or YouTube premium guy?

Speaker 2 (18:12):
I also have YouTube premium of course because I hate
watching commercials during my viewing sessions.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
So that one's about twelve. I think it's like twelve
dollars a month fold bucks.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yeah, again, it's totally worth It depends where you access
from your VPN too, right sure? Sure, okay, so you're
getting your cloak cruising in. I'm fifty dollars a month
in subscriptions. Nice is there anything?

Speaker 2 (18:32):
And also metaverified, So that's the blue check mark on Facebook.

Speaker 4 (18:37):
How much does that cost?

Speaker 3 (18:38):
That's about ten dollars a month?

Speaker 4 (18:40):
Wow? Fifty five bucks a month the cost of the
cost of business. I don't know, mad. One of my
biggest ones I do now.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
Is I do Notion Team, which I think I'm in
a ditch. It's about twenty bucks a month, Canba, the
Camba team. Canva Yeah, it's another twenty Do you do
Canva two?

Speaker 2 (18:57):
I had Camva Pro, but I don't really use and
they keep charging me, so I just finally canceled.

Speaker 4 (19:03):
Good for you.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
I'm like, please stop charging me for this.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
I use it for all those thumbnails, but it's it's
it's quite expensive.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
It is and you don't actually need pro for the
thumbnails unless you use this something with a watermark A
lot of times. I use the AIG use Transparent, make
things Transparent?

Speaker 1 (19:17):
Yeah, I use the AI a lot, but I could
use AI somewhere and bring it else.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
It's worth it then for you.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
Okay, So fifty five a month and subscriptions, that's a
real Then what about real life person to person outdoor
subscriptions to go to a gym, to pay for yoga sashions?

Speaker 2 (19:33):
So actually I should be going to yoga but I
haven't been to yoga for years, even though there's a
really like a famous yoga studio in some movie called Ficasa.

Speaker 3 (19:42):
I have some pretty attractive instructors there too, but I
just never go.

Speaker 2 (19:47):
It's got a beautiful view from there, but usually I
just go to the for the gym membership. Actually don't
have a gym membership. There happens to be this gym
on a little fishing island in Smoothly.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
With an incredible view. It's open air.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
They've recently like renovated the place, so I just used
that and you leave a donation any amount you want,
twenty forty.

Speaker 4 (20:07):
Bill That sounds good.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
Equipment's not great, but what do you expect. It's basically
free gym.

Speaker 4 (20:13):
I mean I try and work out primarily on.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
Like the calisthetics stuff at the beach here now right,
it's so beautiful in Dnangan h Hooian.

Speaker 4 (20:19):
Trying to do outdoor workouts.

Speaker 3 (20:21):
That's good too.

Speaker 2 (20:22):
Also I love going for walks on the beach. It's
a great way to start the morning, go for a
walk on the beach. It's very meditative.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
I used to do a lot of running and jogging
in a meditative way. And then I slowed down after
I had two knee surgeries from.

Speaker 4 (20:36):
The rock climbing.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
Oh so now I'm I jog a bit, but mostly
mostly mostly walks too. Speaking of which, and now I say,
what about health insurance or health costs? Do you do
medical cost health insurance?

Speaker 3 (20:48):
I did have safety wing.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
I was using safety wing for about a year, and
currently I do not use healthage, but I should.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
I should be doing that.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
And what do you if you average out a car
for your medical costs of whatever, you know, sort of
visiting the dentist, the doctor, et cetera, pharmacy cost, how
much do you spend roughly a month or a year dentist.

Speaker 3 (21:08):
I rarely go to the dentist unless absolutely necessary.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
Like about a year ago, I had a chip in
my front tooth, so I had to go get that
grinding down. But that was I think that was like
three thousand bots. And as far as a doctor's concerned,
I don't really go to the doctor that often either
because I'm still relatively young and healthy.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
So that's a very very small cost.

Speaker 1 (21:26):
I would say, yeah, so what if we said it
was three thousand bought a year, say ninety bucks if
we were talking about maybe ten dollars a month.

Speaker 4 (21:35):
It sounds about right, Yeah, something like that.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
I did go into a Bangkok hospital recently for a
full checkup. They were running some special promotion and that
was like nineteen hundred BOT, so sixty sixty dollars.

Speaker 4 (21:48):
Yeah, so I mean even say to that, say to
a dental.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
It's one of the best hospitals in Thailand.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
A dental and a medical check once a year, one
hundred and fifty bucks. You're talking about, Yeah, twelve dollars
a month, Sure we can, will We'll add twelve dollars
to your total, just because.

Speaker 3 (22:02):
Okay, we got to be good.

Speaker 4 (22:04):
I like popping up graphics. I like to pop up
the numbers. Twelve dollars a much. What about utilities, electricity, water,
Wi Fi, data package on your phone?

Speaker 3 (22:17):
All that's yeah, sure. So we just moved into a
new house.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
It's slightly bigger than the old one and that's it's
brand new. So we for electricity, like cooling. We don't
have no heating of course because it's very very hot usually.

Speaker 3 (22:31):
So air conditioner.

Speaker 2 (22:32):
We got one air conditioner and that's comes out to
around sixteen hundred a month, sixteen hundred BOT for.

Speaker 3 (22:38):
One bedroom, one bathroom house, and water.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
Is essentially free, so it's like twenty bottom months something
like that. And we also have a deep well on
the property, so we can basically just take out the
water from the ground.

Speaker 4 (22:53):
Beautiful natural purifier.

Speaker 3 (22:54):
It's it.

Speaker 4 (22:55):
And what about the Wi Fi phone package?

Speaker 2 (22:58):
WiFi five hundred bottom month, and that's for it's around
five hundred megabits per second.

Speaker 3 (23:03):
It's pretty pretty damn fast.

Speaker 4 (23:05):
Yeah, good interest, good Wi Fi infrastructure.

Speaker 3 (23:07):
Yep, that's we use forget the name of the company.

Speaker 4 (23:12):
That's okay, AIS.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
Is that your is your phone tied into that? Is
your phone an additional.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
Yeah, so phones additional.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
I spend two hundred per month for the mobile data
plan through AIS, so it's just like seven dollars a
month roughly, and that usually gets me through the entire month.
And I'm not really making all that many calls on
a monthly basis, mostly for texting.

Speaker 4 (23:34):
Wi Fi calls. Wi Fi fifteen hundred, five hundred, seven
hundred twenty seven hundred bought is like, what's that? That's
under one hundred.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
Dollars eighty five dollars, that's.

Speaker 4 (23:45):
Right, eighty five dollars a month. Utilities all on.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
And in the US that would be just for the
mobile data plan, not including internet. Internet would be like
an additional two hundred dollars a month or something.

Speaker 4 (23:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
Phone, there's about two or three companies, but it's like
an oligarchy that functions as a monopoly in Canada because
it's there, they're price fixing, like it's just it's insane
the banks.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
That's the direction we're headed in America now too with musk.
So let's not get into that.

Speaker 4 (24:11):
No, we won't. That's why we laughed.

Speaker 3 (24:12):
Bro, I can't handle it anywhere.

Speaker 4 (24:16):
Cheers, cheers.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
Okay, yeah, I mean it's funny. And the other questions
will get more into the quality of life. Yeah, you'll
start with the cost of.

Speaker 4 (24:25):
Living and then get into the quality of life.

Speaker 3 (24:27):
Okay, cool, cool, So what.

Speaker 4 (24:29):
About transportation costs? Do you have a motorbike a car?

Speaker 2 (24:32):
Yeah, so we're actually we were renting a motorbike for
a long time, two years I think. Okay, but that
was so that was adding up and we weren't actually
investing into owning something the motorbike. So we about a
year and a half ago we through my fans.

Speaker 3 (24:48):
She's tied.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
So it's very easy for her to finance automobiles or whatever.

Speaker 3 (24:53):
So we just decided to finance a Honda Click.

Speaker 2 (24:55):
And that's like twenty five hundred a month now for
a brand new bike, and we're actually paying it off
every single.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
Month, and twenty five hundred is about seventy five dollars roughly.

Speaker 3 (25:05):
Yeah, is there is gas a real cost there?

Speaker 2 (25:09):
It's a cost, but it's not a significant chunk, say
maybe monthly three thousand bott a month for guests, and
I drive a lot.

Speaker 1 (25:17):
It's a fairly big island, right, I remember taking a
pretty close maybe an hour long road trip or something
the one time I was there.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
And they just have a ring road that goes around
the entire island. Pretty good infrastructure as well. I'd say
it's about half the size of Pouquette in terms of land.

Speaker 4 (25:32):
Awesome.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
Seventy five bucks a month transportation all in. Yeah, what
about travel or travel and or visa related costs? Them
separate or together for a lot of people that end
up being the same costs.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
So for the visas, I'm currently doing the visa, which
I maybe shouldn't get into.

Speaker 1 (25:49):
But yeah, okay, so let's dive right back into the
visa explanation.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
Sorry to have interrupted, so I don't want to get
into too much detail about this, but I am currently
still on visa exemption, so basically that will allow you
to stay for sixty days.

Speaker 3 (26:03):
They are going to be rolling that back.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
I think starting May first might be good for your
viewers to know they're going to reduce it from sixty
down to thirty days.

Speaker 3 (26:11):
I believe starting on May first, the visa exemption.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
If you're coming to Thailand and you're in one of those, However,
many countries you're most likely to get going to get
thirty days starting May.

Speaker 4 (26:22):
First, So are you doing so.

Speaker 3 (26:25):
Right now?

Speaker 2 (26:25):
I'm doing the sixty days plus thirty so I can
just go to immigration and extend that in additional thirty
days for nineteen hundred bot then I have to do.

Speaker 3 (26:34):
The border run, okay, and what it's way to Malaysia.

Speaker 4 (26:37):
Tell then to call them for a flyer.

Speaker 3 (26:39):
No, we actually just do.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
It's like a six hour border run to Malaysia.

Speaker 3 (26:44):
I use a visa agent.

Speaker 4 (26:45):
And take a bus.

Speaker 2 (26:46):
Yeah, they're just people. Get on the bus and that
way you're pretty much guaranteed. They're guaranteed to get you
back in right and then you just have to pay
a little bit extra for that. So I think total
for the border runs is like thirty nine hundred BOT.

Speaker 4 (26:58):
So total say almost six thousand.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
Six thousand bought every three months.

Speaker 4 (27:03):
That's a huge it is.

Speaker 3 (27:04):
It is a big expense.

Speaker 4 (27:06):
That's interesting because so, oh wow, what is that in ust.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
That's that's two hundred dollars two hundred dollars every three
very close to two for the border run plus the extension,
which is I'm getting really tired of it at this point.

Speaker 3 (27:19):
I've been doing this for maybe a year now. Eight
hundred dollars a year, Yeah, something like that.

Speaker 4 (27:25):
It sounds about right. Oh my goodness. So now one of.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
The reasons I came to Vietnam not only for Nomadfest,
which maybe I'll mention later, but also because I've applied
for my.

Speaker 3 (27:37):
DTV visa, which is the Destination Thailand visa. You probably
know about it already.

Speaker 2 (27:43):
That's a five year essentially digital nomad visa, and then
you just you leave every six months, maybe take a trip.
I could come to Vietnam, or I could go to
Japan or whatever, any number of places, and then just
do that every six months, and that really solves the
headaches of doing these border runs.

Speaker 3 (28:01):
Yeah, I think it's getting very annoying, and I think
you do.

Speaker 4 (28:04):
You have a full explainer video on the DTV I do.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
I was actually one of the first YouTubers to make
a video about it.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
I definitely watched your video on that, so I'll link
that below too, excellent to micro Broad's YouTube channel and
you can watch the full please throw DTV.

Speaker 4 (28:18):
Thailand B's explanation on his channel, and.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
I will say that, actually, the first time I applied,
my application was rejected and I did that in at
the Consulate Illinois, and basically I just made one small
typo on my application and it was rejected within two days,
non refundable, so you don't get the money back.

Speaker 4 (28:37):
How much does it cost?

Speaker 3 (28:38):
Three hundred and forty dollars.

Speaker 4 (28:39):
It's expensive application, but it's five years.

Speaker 3 (28:43):
It's a five year visa.

Speaker 4 (28:45):
So it ends up being left six seventy dollars a year.

Speaker 3 (28:48):
So it's still very affordable.

Speaker 2 (28:49):
So then I basically just reapplied, I paid the I
sucked it up. I paid the cost again, and that
one is getting very close. I've only got like another
three more days here in Vietnam, so hopefully good luck.

Speaker 4 (29:02):
I'm sure it'll work out.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
What's the income requirement or what's the.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
It's five hundred thousand BO so that's roughly sixteen thousand dollars.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
Oh, that's locally. I was able to.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
Get access to the funds just put it into a
wise account. You have to upload a bunch of documents, including.

Speaker 4 (29:21):
Proof of funds.

Speaker 1 (29:21):
It's not an annual income like a digital nomad visa
in Europe, it's a chunk of money in the bank's right,
like Malaysia.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
It's yeah, similar to like a retirement visa.

Speaker 4 (29:31):
Right.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
You just need to show that the proof of funds
in the bank. That's like the number one thing they're
looking for. And then you also need to register your company.
So basically just registered a company in the States in Wyoming,
uploaded that and then I just need to see like
salary payment slips to YouTube and Facebook for example.

Speaker 1 (29:50):
Have you looked into a new tax service. I think
primarily for Americans. I think it's called like nomad savvy.
I've seen people.

Speaker 3 (29:59):
Heard about this. I've heard about it.

Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yeah, so this is an American only thing. It's not
a Canadian thing. But it's basically it creates like a
domicile for you in Florida, So essentially you become a
Floridian where there's no income tax, right and you really Yeah,
it's the whole thing. I want to look into their
affiliate program. Maybe by the time you watch this, we'll
be able to put an affiliate link below.

Speaker 3 (30:19):
Yeah. Sure. Shout out for Nomad Savvy. Yeah, I think
I've actually used them.

Speaker 1 (30:23):
No, Mad Savvy. I haven't either, but I've heard some
good word of mouth reviews.

Speaker 3 (30:26):
I think there's this guy, Josie the Nomad. Yeah, he's mentioned.

Speaker 4 (30:30):
You just talked about using Whys. Yes, I use Wise
constant Love.

Speaker 1 (30:35):
I'm a big refer Wise. My most popular video just happened.
You know, I didn't know what was going to do
so well, obviously you never do. Yeah, and I literally
have a direct pitch for Whys in it, which is great.
A lot of Americans comment that they can't Americans specifically
can't use a Wise card in Vietnam.

Speaker 4 (30:55):
Well, I actually, you're an American in Vietnam with a
Wise card right now.

Speaker 3 (30:59):
I have Wise card.

Speaker 4 (31:01):
Yeah, dude, I do too.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
I can't use it for anything, even in Thailand. If
I scan with this, it doesn't work.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
Okay, so it's that's interesting because I use this card everywhere,
and everyone's gonna think this is a pitch, so it is.

Speaker 4 (31:13):
I'll put the affiliate linkbo out.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
But but apparently not for American so yours doesn't work.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
Can you use it anywhere any even if I try
to look it up to like Google pay, that's unfortunately.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
I'll get up there either. Just scan with my.

Speaker 4 (31:26):
Yeah, so I have mine with Google pay. It works
for my friend.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
Bill, the Canadian guy I went on the Yeah, it
works for Canadians for sure, but it works for him,
but it doesn't work for me.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
That's so disappointing. So what do you use as an
alternative to use? Revolute or reap or something like that.

Speaker 3 (31:38):
I heard of Revolute, but I haven't. I don't have
a card.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
I have a PayPal card as well, but I can't
use that either, So I just have.

Speaker 3 (31:45):
A Taie Bank account. I use the Taie Bank account
for everything.

Speaker 1 (31:49):
Okay, hopefully that's a helpful conversation for everyone watching, And
then let's wrap it up. What's the total monthly spend
and budget for you and your taie fece in Kosomui
twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
So on, a monthly basis, we spend around fifty anywhere
from aroute fifty thousand to sixty thousand BT a month.
There's a little bit of wiggle room there, but generally speaking, yes,
it's about fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred dollars a month
to live on a beautiful island in Thailand.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
Now we'll jump into the more quality of life talk
and sort of the broader like you know, emotional social
costs of living abroad.

Speaker 4 (32:24):
But uh huh, I would say even if.

Speaker 1 (32:27):
You can find somewhere and there are places where you
can live on one thousand dollars or less a month,
and it's certainly it's part of the SEO and YouTube
and it's it's real here in Denayang and.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
Hui, Sure, I would think so I would still and
I do if I talk to people.

Speaker 1 (32:40):
Are I still strongly suggest you have at least a
couple thousand a month of income, which could could be
a pension, could be something else. But yeah, yeah, if
you're at a point where you have less than a
few thousand dollars coming in a month, you probably need
to work on that before you relocate.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
Yeah, I mean I was in that position for quite
some time. Right, I'm just barely scraping by and getting
my online income going. But now, luckily it's to a
level where I feel pretty comfortable. Could be even better, obviously,
always can be. I would recommend, like before you take
off and you just move abroad, have a little bit

(33:15):
of saving.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
That's one of the mistakes that I made.

Speaker 4 (33:18):
I only had five thousand, which a five thousand Canadian too,
which at the time was closer to parody, but it's
still it's about thirty five hundred bucks US. I only
had that much from just on.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
I had a job, a contract sign at a school,
and a job sponsoring me to come over. So they're
paying for flights, medical insurance, they give me a SIM card,
and they helped pay for the original twelve month visa
or whatever.

Speaker 3 (33:43):
Right, So oh, that's a good position to be in.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
Yeah, And I think either of those positions right, either
either finances as security or guaranteed income in the place
you're arriving at security.

Speaker 4 (33:55):
Yeah, But I do think the biggest.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
Recommendations is make sure you have a yeah, or have
more coming in that what you know is going to
be going out right.

Speaker 3 (34:05):
Sure, sure, yep, that's a good point.

Speaker 4 (34:07):
Awesome.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
Okay, so never hurts to invest too.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
I get some dividends gone. Yeah, So what do you
think you're a Texan?

Speaker 3 (34:17):
Well, originally from Michigan. I grew up in Canada, Lansing,
very close to Canada. But then it's way too cold there.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
So I after I graduated from college, I moved down
to Austin, Texas. So I lived in Austin for around
six seven years now, actually before our meeting. My friend
is there now, he's originally from Russia. I met him
in Sanui. Now he works for Apple in Cooper Tino.

Speaker 4 (34:38):
Oh. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
He told me he was passing through Austin. He said, boy,
what a shithole?

Speaker 4 (34:43):
Really yeah, he.

Speaker 3 (34:45):
Said, this place is a ship hole. And I'm like, well,
have you been downtown and there's still like a lot
of homeless people everywhere?

Speaker 2 (34:50):
Drugs or like what? And he said, no, just up
by the airport. There's a lot of ugly buildings everywhere.

Speaker 3 (34:56):
That's what he told me. Interesting, Maybe don't put that
in an.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
Yeah, we'll see, and it'll go on the full of
the full interview, we'll saym but not in the cuts
of the shorter cuts. But I was an Austin take
that out in two thousand and nine, right after the crash,
which is when I unfortunately graduated from college. You know,
I thought it was it's pretty beautiful. It's known as
a sort of liberal college town for Texas, and.

Speaker 3 (35:19):
It's gotten a sea of red.

Speaker 1 (35:21):
Yeah, it's and you know, it's a nice spot, very athletic,
a lot of outdoorsiness, a lot of good things happening.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
They got the green Belt so you can go cycling
running around the river.

Speaker 3 (35:31):
I did like that a lot.

Speaker 4 (35:32):
Why did you leave there for Thailand and for Bali? Right?
What's what was the driving force to live abroad?

Speaker 3 (35:38):
To be honest, it's very accidental.

Speaker 2 (35:41):
I was planning on just going to Bali for one
or two months.

Speaker 3 (35:44):
That turned into five years.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
I was in Bali for two months, my visa expired,
so I went to Singapore for a couple of weeks
just because I wanted to go there. And I realized
that Singapore is just way too expensive, Like even to
get a basic hotel there is three hundred dollars a night.
So I'm like, I don't think this is going to work.
So I just picked Pouquette, Thailand out on a map
and flew into Pouquette, and that was, you know, shortly

(36:08):
before the pandemic. And then I just did you know,
I just did whatever it took to stay in Thailand
because I just feel much happier there, just like more
of a sense of belonging and peace in my life.

Speaker 3 (36:19):
I like the culture a lot better. It's mostly Buddhist.
One story short, that's and did the why I moved
to Thailand?

Speaker 4 (36:26):
Did the cost of living come into play?

Speaker 3 (36:28):
What would cost of living? For sure?

Speaker 1 (36:29):
If it's originally you're one thousand dollars a month in
Samui and now you're fifteen hundred to live the lifestyle
you're living today for fifteen hundred dollars in Samui, what
would it cost you in Austin, Texas?

Speaker 3 (36:41):
Also a question that Chris asked me.

Speaker 4 (36:43):
It's a must know.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
Yeah, sure, nowadays I don't even know, like I haven't
been back for so many years. I would say comparable
quality of life in Austin to Samui would probably be
around forty five hundred dollars a month, almost.

Speaker 3 (36:57):
Four times in the cost.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
And then you're in Austin and they's just like a
concrete jungle. You don't have easy access to beautiful beaches,
all of the amenities that SAMOI provides, beautiful hotels if
you want to take a little staycation or something.

Speaker 3 (37:11):
Yeah, I mean, it's just it's completely different.

Speaker 1 (37:13):
If you're comparison, if you do it in the year,
you're saying about eighteen thousand a year for some movie
versus fifty five thousand a year.

Speaker 4 (37:21):
Yeah, Austin and I.

Speaker 3 (37:22):
Would say that would even be on the low end.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
Thousand five thousand is probably a lot more than that
because a lot of people are making one hundred k
and they're still just getting by. It's also this lifestyle
creep too, the lifestyle creep where you just you make more,
you spend more, and it just keeps going like that
in the cycle.

Speaker 4 (37:39):
I think that's happened in Toronto where I'm from. You know,
a lot of if you're earning one hundred thousand Canadian
dollars after your tax rate, your take home is probably
around sixty or sixty five.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
Because of the taxes orbit in.

Speaker 4 (37:52):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
Yeah, for the baby boomers answers, yes, But for millennials
and gen zers, yeah, are you getting your money's worth
with thirty five to forty percent tax rates?

Speaker 3 (38:02):
I say absolutely not, okay.

Speaker 1 (38:04):
I remember going up in Canada when I grew up
in the nineties, it was a well known publicized fact
whatever those sort of surveys best places in the world
to live, Canada was literally just number one consumer reports,
not consumer reports like the Quality of Life Index, okay, right,
the literal quality of life index for the globe. I
think for a long time now it's been sort of
centered on Nordic places and maybe New Zealand, But in

(38:27):
the nineties it was every single year Canada was number one,
and it supported huge waves well educated, well funded immigration,
so you had you had highly skilled, highly educated people
immigrating to Canada and bringing their bank accounts with them.
I've heard that what happened was they messed up. They
basically messed up the immigration numbers because they need immigration

(38:48):
to sustain the economy. They blew it by locking them
down during pandemic and then tried to just open the floodgates,
open the floodgates after pandemic. Canada has an immigration based
point system, and they actually pushed it off to the
side for a few years and sort of let.

Speaker 4 (39:03):
Anyone in and they.

Speaker 2 (39:04):
And now they're and they don't have services to their
visa status. And Josh is a professor, he's my neighbor.
He's from Vancouver and he teaches for three universities in
Canada and he's.

Speaker 3 (39:17):
Now lost two of his jobs.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
This is down to one now and he's doing that
remotely from Samui, which is kind of crazy to me.

Speaker 3 (39:25):
Hours are all flipped around, but he.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
Said, like almost all of his students are either from
India or Hong Kong.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
And they're paying higher to issue rates in Canada. Yeah,
to pay for a prof who's now living in Thailand.

Speaker 4 (39:37):
That is a breath.

Speaker 3 (39:38):
That is a bro That's such a backward system.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
That is such a broken system. Right, how do you
make your money abroad? How do you make money living abroad?

Speaker 2 (39:46):
Yeah, so long story short, it's mostly just YouTube and Facebook.
But that's actually what I talked about in my speech
at Vietnam No Medfest, how I'm making money on Facebook
and YouTube and that they just pay me every single month.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
I'm sure that the people watching this more than intrigued
by that. So can you give them the sort of
the Cole's notes or the sixty second abbreviated talk to
which you delivered a nomadfast?

Speaker 2 (40:08):
Well, First of all, I will say that it has
taken me nine years to grow the following on Facebook,
so not an overnight success by any means. But yeah,
basically I can monetize my content similar to what you
would be doing on YouTube, where the ads are running
on your videos and you're just getting revenue every month.
Facebook has a similar program monetization program, where you can

(40:31):
just get paid based on basically the number of views
your content's getting. And if you're getting you know, let's
say millions of views every month, it can turn into
a pretty decent decent amount, and it really kind of
varies from month to month.

Speaker 4 (40:43):
Is that video based content tutorials tell them just imagine
you're talking to someone who has no idea who you are,
what you do. I mean, I certainly do, but you know,
for the person has no idea what the micro broad
business model is. Yeah, yeah, yeah, what is your content about? Samui?
What educating people on?

Speaker 2 (41:02):
So it's not really educational content, it's more like entertainment. Essentially,
a lot of my videos are just walking tours, very simple.
I don't do a lot of editing. I just you know,
take out my phone. This is how I shoot almost everything.
Then I also have a little pocket three here now
as well, which is I'm going to be using more often.
Just take out my phone and let's say I'm going
for a walk on the beach, make a little video

(41:23):
fifteen to sixty seconds, put it up as a real
Sometimes it gets a lot of views, sometimes it doesn't
get very many. Just doing something really really simple like that,
especially if you have a decent number of followers on Facebook,
can can do quite well.

Speaker 1 (41:37):
Two food content guys who've spent a lot of time
in Vietnam, Chris Lewis and Max McFarlane. You know, they
both have huge followings on YouTube, but I know that
both of them make more of their income off Facebook.
Yeah yeah, And it's because of where, like geographically, where
their audience is located, like in Vietnam, for example. The
saturation of Facebook is very very high. Sore where you

(42:00):
are most of your sort of viewers or your audience from.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
Good questions, so a lot of them are US, Canada,
then also UK. A lot of them are watching from UK, Australia, Germany,
these sorts of countries, and then also Thailand of course
as well, but I would say the majority are from US.

Speaker 1 (42:16):
I will also noticed when I look at your YouTube
channel at the microbroad channel sometimes when it comes up
in my feed, you have a shop and your book
like three books will come up rights direct your videos
and why have you noticed?

Speaker 4 (42:28):
Yeah? How does that work?

Speaker 3 (42:29):
You can do this as well.

Speaker 2 (42:31):
Since you have over ten thousand subscribers, you can basically
get into the.

Speaker 3 (42:35):
YouTube shopping program.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
Then you can sell either your own digital products or
affiliate products through like Lozada and Shoppy. So I've played
around with affiliate products, but I wasn't getting any sales,
so I just decided why not just sell my own ebooks.
So I've put those up there now for sale, and
they're about twenty dollars.

Speaker 4 (42:56):
In ebook Okay, and how's that going? Not? Well? No,
not well.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
Surprisingly, I'm getting a lot of views, like people checking
out my site, but they're not actually buying the ebooks
for some reason, and so I think it's just going
to take a while. Like anything, Well, what are the
books on Well, one of them is Facebook Income Blueprint
that's basically how to monetize your content on Facebook. And
then I got YouTube Success Blueprint, How to Start and

(43:22):
Scale a YouTube channel, Digital Nomad Handbook, How to become
a digital nomad.

Speaker 1 (43:26):
Well, I guess, so if any of you are interested
literally in the logistics or sort of the back end
blueprint of what we've been talking about, definitely check out
those links on Mike's channel, check out one of his ebooks.
Have you lived in any other countries than Thailand and
the States?

Speaker 2 (43:41):
Not full time, so it's really just US Thailand. Those
are the only countries I've lived in long term.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
So let's get into the pros of living in Thailand,
maybe some movies specifically, and then after you know your
sort of your top three. You know, if you had
to tell someone who've never been to Kosamui, these are
the three reasons why you need to come here right now, I.

Speaker 2 (44:05):
Would say that the three reasons to visit or even
live as an expat in Samui. Number one the beautiful beaches.
There's a lot of beautiful beaches. I live very close
to Lami Beach, which I would say is one of
my favorite beaches on the island. And also delicious food,
lots of different foods to choose from. I love Thai food.

(44:26):
That's another reason. And then also three. Number three is
the friendly people. So everyone's very generally speaking, very friendly
in Thailand. I've found they're even more friendly here in Vietnam,
surprisingly enough, which is hard to believe.

Speaker 1 (44:40):
But there's still a stigma about Vietnam with Americans and
so a lesser extent Canadian.

Speaker 3 (44:47):
I just don't even say I'm American.

Speaker 1 (44:48):
But especially like the baby boomer generation, there's a stigma
about that, Whereas because the population back home is so
much older than here, they're more connected to that idea
and that notion of Vietnam. I was listening to a
podcast is Ezra Kleine and someone else in New York
Times or New Book, and they were using the single
word Vietnam as in the name of the country to

(45:12):
refer to the Vietnam War. Which these are guys who
are my age, right, guys who are around forty years old.

Speaker 3 (45:18):
Is Vietnam?

Speaker 4 (45:19):
This is something that happened.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
They're born, these are people who are born after the
fall of Sagon. That's what I'm getting at, right, And
they were going, well, when Vietnam happened, and then there
was Vietnam, Right, They were using a single words signifier.

Speaker 3 (45:30):
Just equating Vietnam to the war, correct.

Speaker 1 (45:32):
And I think that that still happens with Americans. Whereas
one in Vietnam. That war is called the America War
for obviously it's not called the Vietnam War here, and
two there were other wars in Vietnam, and there were
other wars after that's not even the most reason land war, right,
Like China invaded in nineteen eighty six.

Speaker 4 (45:53):
So if you walk around Hanoi and talk.

Speaker 1 (45:54):
To Anoi like who's your art rival, who's your number
one enemy, or who's your sort of most competitive.

Speaker 4 (45:58):
Thing, They're all going to stay China, China. No one's
gonna have any reference to America.

Speaker 3 (46:02):
So they forgotten about it in the past.

Speaker 1 (46:07):
It's an elderly person thing, okay, Right, this year's is
the fiftieth year, fiftieth anniversary of reunification of Vietnam, the
fiftieth anniversary in nineteen seventy five of the folds a gone.
And so I think it's something here that's really you know,
looked on the way, maybe World War two is at home, right,
you getting to the point where there's very few sort.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
Of people that are even still alive that we're in them,
that's right. And so to hear generational shift.

Speaker 1 (46:31):
To listen to a podcast today, an American political podcast
today on the New York Times, where they're referring to
the Vietnam War American War fifty years.

Speaker 4 (46:41):
Ago as just Vietnam.

Speaker 1 (46:42):
Well then Vietnam having this, it was like, you know,
I respect that as a client, as a journalist, ye
in your time. I like his stuff, but I'm also
just like, you gotta be fucking kidding me. Move on, man,
you know, it's like a historical obsession.

Speaker 4 (46:54):
That's yeah. Anyways, that was there's my rant over from.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
I was walking through these rice fields the other day
and there's like a big cemetery there.

Speaker 3 (47:03):
So I've walked through.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
It's a little depressing, but you could see people that
were that died in the forties and twenties.

Speaker 3 (47:09):
Oh, like last from the past.

Speaker 4 (47:11):
The young people. Yeah. People also ask me about Agent Orange.

Speaker 3 (47:14):
Oh, I don't even want to talk about that.

Speaker 4 (47:17):
Short answer. The half life is fifty years and it's
been fifty years. Nast question. What about the cons of
the movie?

Speaker 2 (47:22):
Okay, cons, it's getting I would say, like I was
talking about before the interview, a little bit too overdeveloped.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
Now it's a bit out of control.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
Actually, they're just like knocking down all the palm trees
and to build more villas and big trucks coming through
all the time. So I would say like overdevelopment is
an issue for sure. And then also just the number
of tourists coming to the island getting more and more busy,
and also cost of living is going up because more

(47:54):
tourists that are coming can obviously rise the prices of rentals,
and a lot of times you can't even find a
place to stay now it's just all fully booked, getting
so busy.

Speaker 1 (48:04):
I remember, you know, having been to Bangkok on and
off for two decades, going to Bangkok in twenty twenty
three or whatever, when it was the most visited city
on Earth and it was this is is it still?
It was visibly noticeable. It was like, yeah, it felt
like the equivalent to like being in Europe in summer.
It was just like, there are more tourists here on

(48:24):
Sulk and Bete than there are Thai people. Yeah, yeah,
like in a literal way. And it's a massive city,
not like a remote island like some movie.

Speaker 2 (48:31):
Right, So that's kind of how I feel about Copandhan,
which is the next island over.

Speaker 3 (48:35):
It's a little bit more hippie than the full movie
part yeah, and it just seems like there's all foreigners there.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
I sometimes refer to it as kofaran, yeah, because I
saw the word for foreigner.

Speaker 4 (48:46):
Yeah, I like that.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
And the only Thai people or Burmese people you see
are like working in the kitchen or at the hotel.

Speaker 3 (48:53):
But otherwise she's all foreigners. That's so I don't like
that so much.

Speaker 4 (48:58):
You know.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
I used to live in Mexico. That was the first
place I lived abroad, and they're on the coasts especially.
There are parts of Mexico like that, and you see
me and it makes me. It made me uncomfortable then
and it makes me uncomfortable now. It's an odd thing.

Speaker 3 (49:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
And I think parts of the Caribbean are like that too, right,
like say parts of the coast in Jamaica and Barbados
or it's like what is this?

Speaker 4 (49:19):
What is this that's happening?

Speaker 3 (49:21):
So yeah, Mexico too, like to Loom, Yes, to Loom.

Speaker 4 (49:24):
Exactly that and Mohara, yeah, all that stuff.

Speaker 3 (49:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (49:28):
How do you feel treated by locals and ties on Samui?
What is it? Do you feel tensions now as a
frang and Samui or what are you not?

Speaker 2 (49:39):
I wouldn't say tensions, but I do see that the
smiles are starting to fade a little bit, the Tiede
people because they're just getting maybe a little bit sick and.

Speaker 3 (49:48):
Tired of the foreigners all the time.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
So that's one thing I've noticed, Like if you go
into a seven eleven, there's a guy in there wearing
no shirt, which is a little bit disrespectful to the culture,
but people do it all the time anyway.

Speaker 3 (50:00):
And then you just you see the cashier at night
and she's just exhausted. Yeah, that's one thing I'm noticing.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
Yeah, maybe some burnout with the customer service culture.

Speaker 3 (50:12):
Yeah, you can start to see that creeping up.

Speaker 1 (50:15):
We were talking a little bit about, Yeah, the sort
of tension, whether it's there or not, about how locals
feel with more and more foreigners or tourists around Samoui.

Speaker 4 (50:27):
What do you think about how has the language bearer
affected you.

Speaker 1 (50:30):
I know, for my audience, they're always worried about that
coming to Vietnam, For English speaking foreigners, expats, retirees looking
at Samoui, the.

Speaker 2 (50:38):
Language barrier is probably one of the biggest challenges that
I have. Is just because and I feel a bit
guilty about this. I've been there five years right, But
I don't speak Thai, just very very basic sweaty cop, kumbu,
cop subide man, these sorts of things, very basic vocabulary.
So yeah, the language barrier can be a bit challenging,
but I would say nothing worse than in Vietnam. I

(51:01):
would say a little bit better. At Chase, most people
speak passable English.

Speaker 4 (51:04):
Well, and you there is especially on Samui. It's a
tourism based upon me, right, and then you.

Speaker 3 (51:10):
And then the hotels they all speak English.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
And you've met a fiance somehow, So yeah, how did
that come about? How did you make friends? How do
you socialize or meet other people? And how do you
start dating?

Speaker 4 (51:21):
In some sure?

Speaker 2 (51:22):
So I actually met Mary up in chain My I
had just finished a motorbike trip and I was going
through Tinder and.

Speaker 3 (51:32):
She popped right up and then we really hit it off.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
So then I kept traveling back and forth between Bangkok
and Samui because she had a job in Samelia, right,
so she worked there full time and then eventually I'm like,
I want to really want to make this work, So
I decided to move to Simoui, Okay, specifically to be
with her, and she ended up quitting her job finding
a new job where she's happier now at a school

(51:56):
teaching little kids.

Speaker 4 (51:57):
Beautiful.

Speaker 3 (51:58):
So now we've been together or four years, so this
is rest is history.

Speaker 1 (52:02):
Yeah, and I feel like this is exactly why you
do a long form interview because it takes an hour
to find out the real reason you moved to Samoura.

Speaker 4 (52:09):
Yeah, fell love, that's how you usually goes absolutely. Oh
I love that. That is too good.

Speaker 3 (52:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
What do you think the biggest misconceptions? Yeah, what are
the biggest misconceptions about Thailand or Simoi in particular that
foreigners have before they get there.

Speaker 2 (52:32):
Well, maybe they think it's going to be like just
just paradise, no ish problems, but everywhere has its problems,
so it's not what.

Speaker 4 (52:42):
Do you think some of what are some of the
struggles of living in paradise? Then for yourself, Well, first of.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
All, it's kind of like I have a friend who's
bought a condo in some it's like almost a million
dollars for this condo, and he lived in the States
for many years, and then he's originally from Poland actually,
and now he's trying to sell that though, because he's
not happy there, even though it's got the most spectacular
vial you've ever seen.

Speaker 3 (53:05):
He's still not happy.

Speaker 2 (53:07):
He's told me before that he feels like he's living
in a golden cage. That's the how he explains it,
And to me, it just doesn't make sense. You've got
this amazing place and he wants to sell it, right,
So his reasoning for that is that it's just a
little bit he feels cooped up, and it's a little
bit hard to leave the island once.

Speaker 3 (53:27):
You're there, right.

Speaker 2 (53:27):
They do have the international airport, but the flights can
be a bit expensive unless you've got the resident card.
So basically you live there full time, you have a house,
and then the only other way to leave is to
take a ferry to the mainland.

Speaker 3 (53:40):
So it can be a bit isolating.

Speaker 4 (53:42):
I guess maybe like the feeling of living in a
fish bowl.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
Or yeah, like a fishbowl, or maybe sometimes people get
island fever. Is he single this guy, No, he's been
married for forty years, fifty years.

Speaker 4 (53:55):
And his wife's there at the house.

Speaker 3 (53:56):
Yeah, they're both Polish.

Speaker 4 (53:58):
Oh, and they're still miserable.

Speaker 3 (54:00):
I don't I don't know.

Speaker 4 (54:01):
Yeah, I want to. Maybe it's like what maybe it's
an integration.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
Then I think, I think single or I guess couples too,
can feel really lonely when you relocate. I mean, yeah,
my wife and I have felt the struggle of leaving
Saigon to denying and having to reincorporate into social life
and stuff.

Speaker 3 (54:16):
So I do think that's real golden cage.

Speaker 4 (54:20):
I do like that. I want to know the parameters
of the cage.

Speaker 1 (54:23):
A friend whose father in law owns an absolutely spectacular,
the millionaire style villa, and he is a disgruntled individual.

Speaker 3 (54:32):
Really, he's miserable.

Speaker 1 (54:33):
Well, I mean, I'm getting the information second God, I
should edit this out secondhand, secondhand from.

Speaker 4 (54:39):
His son in law, but you can't trust what he says.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
Let's go to something a little bit more positive, at
least proactive. What's uh the for the person who's sort
of standing standing in the doorway, as Irene said in
our last interview, and they're thinking about stepping through the
doorway and making their first you know, their first move
abroad actually and living abroad.

Speaker 4 (55:01):
What would be a piece of advice for that person?

Speaker 2 (55:04):
Well, like we mentioned earlier in the interview, I would say,
have a couple thousand dollars saved up, preferably more than
ten thousand.

Speaker 3 (55:11):
It's even better. That way you have something to.

Speaker 2 (55:13):
Fall back on if if you run out, Like you know,
I've run out of money a bunch of times in
Thailand and I just somehow, some way find make more.
But not for everyone this entrepreneur path, I would recommend, yeah,
just just having some money saved up before you take off.
Just you know, pick a place right, go to a place,

(55:35):
try it out for two or three months, see what
you think of the place. You know, if it clicks
with you, then you can stay there, or you know,
worst case scenarios, you just go back to your own country,
try again another time.

Speaker 1 (55:47):
If you have, you've done the math to figure out
what your monthly cost of living is going to be,
and you have minimum six months to a year cost
of living enough to know that if it doesn't work
out when you go to the place, you can return
home and find work exactly.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
And even better if you can have a remote job
lineup or something you can do online that just you know,
that checks all the boxes.

Speaker 1 (56:08):
And yeah again and that that can be your pension
or it can be dividends. I couldn't agree more. The
number one, The first step for me is do you
have income? If you like, if someone comes to me
asking questions about relocating here, wants to consult, it's like,
it's not a question for the consultation, it's a screener,
like do you have income? If you don't have income yet,
you're not ready. Yeah, exactly right, exactly come on a trip.

(56:30):
You're ready for a vacation or a scouting trip. You're
not ready to move abroad. If you do, if you
don't have income.

Speaker 2 (56:35):
Especially if you have no savings too, then that's the
savings double screwed.

Speaker 4 (56:40):
Yeah, then you're gonna You're gonna end up on Calton Road. Yeah,
done that, boy v Road and Saigon.

Speaker 1 (56:48):
Before we wrap up, I like to do a little
thing at the end of the cost of Living a
broad pod where I ask you, as a guest, what's
something I didn't ask you about your cost of living abroad,
whether it's financial or emotional, that I can ask the
next guest.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
Okay, interesting, Do you feel like you made the right
decision or not in hindsight? Hindsight being twenty twenty, would
you do it over again? Right to actually leave and
move full time abroad?

Speaker 1 (57:17):
One of the questions that I was asked. A guy
named Eddie asked in the interview his intre isn't live yet.
Eddie asked, what's the one I'm asking this for real?
What's the one thing you're not doing that you know
you should be doing right now?

Speaker 3 (57:32):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (57:33):
Yeah, that's the exact response I had When he said.

Speaker 2 (57:35):
Okay, right, I was like, ooh, that's a tough one. Well,
one thing is I getting married. This is the one
I keep putting off to get people put it off.
And there's really not that many excuses at this point. Okay,
So that that's that would be my answer, is just
getting just getting married.

Speaker 1 (57:51):
That's a fantastic answer as a as a grown up person.
It's real, it's it's a lifestyle, you know. Yeah, it's
a life stage and about your own sort of self
process and maturity. But it's also about I think for
a lot of Westerners too, it signals a shift where
you go from friends or social life is parity family,

(58:14):
which is also a big East West thing. Right in
the East, family is always the most important social network.
And you know, I hope for you when you get
married and maybe have kids or become a part of
your wife's family, that's something you really can embrace. I'm Ebana,
and thanks for listening to the Cost of Living a
broad Pod. For full interviews, find us on YouTube at

(58:36):
cost of Living a broad Pod. But before we wrap up,
I just wanted to let you know that if you're
struggling with the cost of living crisis back at home
and looking for a sustainable and affordable way to relocate
your life abroad, check out our resources, courses, and community
at cost of Living abroad dot com.

Speaker 4 (58:54):
Thanks so much.

Speaker 1 (58:55):
New episodes air Sunday night in Bangkok.