Chiang Mai Thailand
Of all the places in Asia, why Chiang Mai?
Well, the real story is that Simon was living here for a year when I decided to join him and start one2crowd, but there is more to it, especially when you compare it to Bangkok
- Sabai sabai lifestyle (relax). Life is good. No traffic jams, good food, very nice cost of living and you still live in a city of 1m habitants, the second largest in Thailand
- People. Very friendly and open, makes a big difference on your mental health.
- You can go hiking in the mountains in less than 10 minutes. Actually you can get anywhere within 15 minutes of a motorbike ride
- It has all the infrastructure you need for a start-up: many computer stores, available office space, competent support (lawyers, accountant, etc…)
- You can party 24/7, no problem, without ruining yourself
In other words, it has all the good things you find in Bangkok (thai people, food, beer, shopping) minus the craziness (pollution, noise, traffic jams, insane distance). Trust us, when you work 60 hours a week and more, it makes a huge difference. Of course, it is not a paradise, there are some little things that can be annoying, but for having traveled throughout Asia, it is realy hard to beat if you intend to stay a while and work.
UPDATE: Just found this article on another blog (merci praized). in our case, it is so true, only we pushed the concept a bit further haha (the article talks about small towns in USA)
The Pros of planting a startup in small towns (BusinessWeek)