A Day in the Life in Chiang Mai, Thailand

We’re a couple who shares our experiences about living and traveling in Thailand and helps others learn how to do the same through our blog. So, you’d probably guess that we’re often asked, “What do you do during a typical day?” Our daily schedule has flip-flopped around a lot since moving here, so before it changes again, here’s a look at a day in the life in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Our daily schedule has been all over the place over the course of nearly two years living abroad in Thailand. It has included taking time to settle into Chiang Mai and learn the city, teaching ourselves the ins and outs of photography and blogging, becoming a health teacher at a private school, growing our circle of friends, visiting new cities across Thailand, picking up a rigorous exercise routine, and tackling new online projects.

Our daily schedule certainly doesn’t offer the same constancy as it did back home, but in a way, that’s pretty cool.

So What Do You Do All Day Long?

So what do we do now that we have broken away from our office lives and retired early in Thailand? In a nutshell, a day in the life in Chiang Mai goes like this:

• Wake up
• Answer emails and Facebook and website comments
• Make breakfast of eggs, pancakes, and fruit with tea or French press coffee
• Draft blog posts, edit pictures, work on other online projects 
• Work out
• Buy Thai food from a local restaurant or food stall and fruit smoothies
• Watch the news, cop drama reruns, or our current favorite TV series
• Study Thai
• Go to the market and cook dinner or go out for dinner with friends  
• Sleep

We wake up anywhere between 8:00 to 10:00 am. We know it’s a big swing, but some days we like to sleep in, or at the very least, relax in bed for a while. We usually spend our first hour answering emails and comments from the blog and Facebook. We also like to set and review our goals for the day in the morning.

Most days we cook a simple breakfast at home. It’s technically lunch time by then, but we usually stick to a cheap and simple meal of eggs (fried, scrambled, or an omelet) and fruit. Chris also makes these incredible protein powder banana pancakes topped with oatmeal that would put IHOP’s pancakes to shame.

If we are craving different breakfast food or if we’re in the mood for lunch, we go out. Sometimes we grab a wrap or a salad, other times we hit up a mom and pop Thai restaurant for a curry dish or a stir fry.

We’ll let our food settle and put in a few solid hours working on the blog. We draft and edit new posts, go through supporting pictures and edit them as well. We take care of general site maintenance, brainstorm about blog improvements or upgrades, and discuss our site stats and traffic for the day.

We’ve also been working hard on designing Chiang Mai Travel Itineraries, which are packed with everything you need to know for a stress-free and unforgettable trip to Chiang Mai. And since launching our Thailand Coaching Sessions, we’ve been giving aspiring expats the opportunity to pick our brains (reveal all!) about how to best prepare themselves both before and after their big move to Thailand. A big thanks to all who have already signed up!

We go to the gym in the afternoon. About three months ago we began working out regularly and now spend about an hour and a half weightlifting every day. Along our way home, we stop at our favorite smoothie lady and our rotisserie chicken guy to refuel our bodies.

We get home, clean up, and either watch TV, browse through social media, read a few (who are we kidding, a lot of) online articles, or peck around at an online project. Lately we’ve been streaming a few of our favorite shows including Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, True Detective, and House of Cards. Next on the list is The Wire.

If it’s a slow blog day, then we’ll study Thai. We’d been here long enough that we’re a bit embarrassed that we still stumble over simple Thai conversations. So we’ve put in the effort and make it a point to study more.

We stay in for dinner most of the time, but once or twice a week we eat out. If we’re not ready to call it a night, we’ll hang out with friends and grab a few beers and play pool.

We almost never get to bed before midnight. The last thing we do before going to bed is make our rounds through emails and social media accounts. Don’t we all?

So Life Isn’t a Perpetual Vacation in Chiang Mai?

A day in the life of Chiang Mai doesn’t feel like a vacation. We like to say that living in Thailand feels like an everlasting three-day weekend. We sleep in, leisurely do our activities, run errands from time to time, and hang out with friends. We wake up knowing we don’t have to go to a job that day, or even the next, so we’re able to fully relax and take things slow. But we don’t try to squeeze a vacation in that time, either.

Simultaneously, it feels like a perpetual work week. You can pretty much count on at least one of us sitting in front of the computer on and off throughout the entire day working on our online projects, brainstorming new ideas, or responding to emails. It’s rare if we take a full day off away from the computer.

But We Still Take Plenty of Mini Vacations

Although we wouldn’t call our everyday lives in Chiang Mai a vacation, we do make a point to travel about once a month.

We have friends who are doing a ’round-the-world trip visiting us in the near future. We’ll probably take a few mini vacations to nearby towns, such as Pai and Chiang Dao. We’re also looking forward to spending some time exploring our own backyard in Chiang Mai’s Old City while they are here. Sometimes it’s a welcomed change to look at this gorgeous city through a fresh set of eyes!

How Does a Day in the Life in Chiang Mai Look for You?

Is this what you were expecting for retired life in Chiang Mai? Is it too slow or monotonous? Is it stress-free and simple? Did you think our days to be more exciting and filled with city adventures, taking tours, and site-seeing?