Why Chiang Mai is the perfect city in Thailand to be an expat

I say this with very limited experience of course. There have been people that have lived here significantly longer than I have, been to a lot more places, and have a lot more memories to draw up on to have this opinion. I have only lived in two cities in this country but I have visited new friends in many cities. In my experience I can't really imagine being as happy as I am in any other city in this country for some pretty important reasons that I will detail now.

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Chiang Mai is a big city and one of the most well-known ones internationally in the whole country. With a metro area population of around 1 million people, some might consider it to be overly populated. When you have a country smaller than California that has nearly 80 million people living in it, almost anywhere can seem overly populated though.

The thing that makes this city more manageable that other large cities in Thailand is that it seems to be one of the few ones that there was some sort of "forward planning" involved in its development. The roads have gotten larger before they needed to be for the most part and this is most evidenced in the very large "ring road" highway that encircles almost all of the downtown area. I have not been in any other city in Thailand that is like this and because of it and many other road projects like it in the metro area, traffic is rarely backed up in the way that you will see almost any other Thailand city. I've been here for years and I have almost never found myself impossibly backed up in a traffic jam.

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You can see the ring road featured in yellow around the perimeter of the map above. Once you get outside of that area, you probably won't even realize that you are living in one of the most visited cities in the entire country. I live in the north-east of this picture and if you are in my subdistrict in one of the neighborhoods, you have quiet roads, relative peace and quiet, and also a bunch of planned parks and natural areas. If I stay in my neighborhood, I rarely encounter any of the things that make big city life annoying such as traffic, advertisement trucks, and constant sellers of stuff driving by. Most neighborhoods have intentionally made very few entrances and also placed a ton of speedbumps to ensure that people don't try to use residential areas as a "shortcut" to get through to the other side. Because of this planning and the fact that the major roads are more than adequate, cars and trucks stick to the main roads and stay out of your hood. This is not something that I can say is true of other places I have visited in Thailand that is popular with expats such as Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya, or even the island places like Samui.

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Chiang Mai also has a very popular market-culture and while the most well-known ones are in the dead center of downtown, they are also prevalent in every outskirt of the city as well. It is so popular here that even the large shopping areas that one would think something like this would be banned to increase sales at the supermarket, they still have the markets there. Markets are where all the good deals are and where you will find locally sourced foodstuffs rather than things that are imported from other countries. If you are at all concerned about the various pesticides and other chemicals that are used in making food "global" this is the place to go. Everything is going to be cheap in the markets and there is no funny business or ripoffs going on at them. I don't even speak Thai very well and I always get a good deal. I don't know why this is but in my experience, Chiang Mai is just more honest than other places I have been in this country.

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One of the main things I truly enjoy about living here as opposed to other populated places in Thailand is because of the fact that even though there are a lot of people here you are only a short ride away from a national park featuring amazing scenery and enforced peace and quiet. There are so many of these national parks that all but the most popular ones don't even bother with charging an entrance fee either. This is a real problem elsewhere in the country where everything that can even be remotely considered a natural treasure has rather extortionate entrance fees. Of all the waterfalls and hiking areas that I have been to, very few of them charge anything at all to get in and when they do, it is only a couple of dollars for the entire day.

There are a number of other reasons why I think this city is amazing for expats but I'll keep it brief so as to not make this too long. One is the fact that there seems to be a higher-than-average level of English-speaking ability among the locals here that is just a lot better than other places I have been. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to learn at least some of the local language - and it is appreciated if you do - but it isn't necessary in most places.

Also, since Chiang Mai is a major shipping area for all of the North of Thailand, prices are kept low no matter what it is that you are looking for. I know that when I visit other areas I am kind of shocked about how prices on almost anything will be quite a lot higher than they are here.

For me, I like living somewhere that is large enough to have "everything" including an international airport, but I don't like the hassles of places feeling too crowded. I have honestly never been anywhere in the world, let alone lived there, where I felt this way. In Chiang Mai if you want to be in the hustle and bustle, you can be! But if you prefer to avoid the crowds, you are only a few clicks away from making that happen. Perhaps this is why Chiang Mai remains one of the most popular areas for expats to relocate to and this is unlikely to change.

Does it have some downsides? Well of course. However I think these same downsides (as an expat) exist anywhere in this country. I believe that anyone that is considering living abroad will find a home in this fine city and even though I have been talking about leaving for career reasons for many months now, I am finding it difficult to leave. It's just too great of a place to leave behind.