I want to be careful not to write the article that annoyed me when I was still in Paris, considering the move. You know the one — all golden-hour motorbike rides and "I just eat pad thai every day and life is perfect" energy. That is not this.
This is twelve months in. The honeymoon is over. And I still don't want to go back.
Why I Left
I was 34, working as a UX consultant on a mix of French and international clients, and I had done the math maybe forty times. Paris was costing me €3,200 a month in rent and basics before I'd had a single dinner out. My quality of life — actual hours of enjoyment, actual sunlight, actual space to think — was not matching the price I was paying for it.
I knew three people who had moved to Southeast Asia. Two were in Bali, which felt too much like a scene. One was in Chiang Mai and kept sending me pictures of her morning runs in Doi Suthep with mountains in the background. I booked a one-way ticket in October 2024.
The First Three Months
Honestly: chaotic and exhilarating in roughly equal measure.
The practical stuff took longer than I expected. Finding an apartment that wasn't aimed at tourists (furnished, overpriced, next to a pool with a DJ) took six weeks. I ended up in Nimman area, which is where the young professional expat community has settled — coffee shops, co-working spaces, bookstores. My apartment is 65 sqm, two bedrooms, brand new kitchen, in a building with a small pool. I pay 18,000 THB/month. That is roughly €480.
The first month I kept converting prices in my head and being irrationally happy about it.
Setting up a bank account took three visits to three banks. The internet was better than Paris, which I was not expecting. Healthcare: I had a dental procedure in month two — a crown that would have cost me €900 in Paris cost me 6,500 THB (€175) at a private dental clinic with English-speaking staff and genuinely modern equipment.
What was hard: the language barrier is real outside of the expat bubble. My Thai is still elementary after a year. I can handle markets, motorbike taxis, restaurants. Deep conversations with neighbours are beyond me. It creates a layer of low-level isolation I hadn't anticipated.
The Real Cost of Living
People ask me about this constantly so here are my actual monthly numbers:
| Category | Monthly (THB) | Monthly (€) |
|---|---|---|
| Rent (65sqm, Nimman) | 18,000 | ~480 |
| Food (mix of local + farang) | 12,000 | ~320 |
| Transport (Grab + motorbike rental) | 3,500 | ~93 |
| Co-working membership | 4,000 | ~107 |
| Gym | 1,200 | ~32 |
| Phone + internet | 800 | ~21 |
| Entertainment / going out | 6,000 | ~160 |
| Miscellaneous | 4,000 | ~107 |
| Total | ~49,500 | ~€1,320 |
I live well. I eat at good restaurants. I travel regionally. I am not cutting corners.
Compare that to my Paris life at €3,200 minimum. I work the same hours, earn the same. The delta goes into savings, into a small property investment I made back in France, and into experiences I was too broke-in-Paris to afford.
What Nobody Told Me
The air quality in burning season (February–April) is serious. Chiang Mai regularly hits hazardous AQI levels when farmers burn the fields. I bought an air purifier immediately. I went to Koh Samui for three weeks in March because I'd had enough. This is the biggest lifestyle drawback of Chiang Mai specifically — and the one I see most underrepresented in the "move to Chiang Mai" content.
The expat community is warm but can become a bubble. It's very easy to spend 90% of your time with other Europeans and Americans and have your Thailand experience be mostly co-working spaces and brunch. I made a deliberate effort to take Thai language classes, join a local running club, and spend time in non-Nimman neighbourhoods. The richer version of Chiang Mai is outside the bubble.
Loneliness is real, episodically. Not constantly — I have a good social life here. But there are Tuesday evenings when Paris feels very far away, and the people I love are 9 time zones and a €700 flight away. Video calls help. They are not the same.
You will not miss the things you think you will miss. I thought I would miss French cheese, the Metro, the architecture. I miss none of those things. I miss two specific friends, occasional weekends in the Alps, and the specific feeling of a Parisian autumn. That is it.
Would I Do It Again?
Without hesitation.
The version of my life I am living here is not possible in Paris at my income level — not with this space, this light, this freedom of schedule, this ability to travel, this quality of sleep. I work better here. I think more clearly. I have projects I would not have had the bandwidth to start.
The life I am building in Chiang Mai is the one I wanted in Paris but could not afford. The only thing that changed was where I opened my laptop in the morning.
Sophie Laurent is a UX consultant and writer based in Chiang Mai. She writes about the practical and emotional reality of building a life in Thailand.
