Digital nomadding + safari? | Issue #0008

As life gets closer to normal for many in Chiang Mai, we’re getting back on track too. Great to see so many digital nomads and expats help out the local communities around the city where they could 👏👏

On with this week’s packed update on what is happening in the world of digital nomadism.

This week:

 🦒 Digital nomads x safari = a unique dn experience
 🤖 AI you might not know about, from a leader in AI
 🤑 How savvy are you when it comes to scams in new countries?
 🍫 Do you know your candy?
 🤝 Connect with your people if you’ve just landed in Chiang Mai
 🤑 How savvy are you when it comes to scams in new countries?
 📋 Resources from our previous issues you might find useful

Enjoy your week, wherever you are!

NEWS
The most unique digital nomad visa on its way?

Kenya has announced a new Digital Nomad Work Permit.

Africa may not have featured high on too many digital nomad’s lists so far, but to have safari and pristine beaches, stunning African landscapes, and a vibrant cultural experience, Kenya could tick a lot of boxes.

Announced by President William Ruto during the Magical Kenya Travel Expo this month, details are slim currently, but you’d need to be earning $55,000-plus as a minimum requirement.

Like many countries, it’s an effort to boost tourism and the local economy and is allowing remote workers to work online while enjoying the unique blend of adventure and culture the country has to offer.

Kenya also introduced visa-free entry for 90 days for many earlier this year, so it’s fairly easy to give it a test drive first.

Kenya’s digital nomad visa is part of a larger African trend, joining countries like Namibia and South Africa (which we featured in a previous issue) in welcoming digital professionals.

Keep an eye on Africa though, as the next few months will see a few new visas pop up for digital nomads.

WHAT ELSE…

☀️ The clean-up basks in sunshine: For those of you who saw last week’s issue, you’ll be glad to know that Chiang Mai has seen plenty of sunshine as the river recedes. The latest up-to-date news on it is best found here, or to find out how you can help see last week’s issue.

🇮🇩 Bali in the news again: Not a week seems to go by without a visa news story from Bali. Indonesia are tightening up it seems, so make sure you don’t fall foul of any laws or overstay while you are there!

🌆 Another list, albeit an odd one: Choosing where to go next is pretty personal, but there is always a list somewhere of the “best digital nomad spots”. We can only assume that Chiang Mai isn’t considered a city for this one, but it’s a pretty comprehensive breakdown of capital cities.

🇲🇾 Malaysia making upward moves: The Star reports nearly 2000 applications have been approved this year for their DE Rantau Nomad Pass - their digital nomad visa.

AI
The top 10 AI tools you haven’t heard of yet

We don’t often fall for clickbait titles, but Sabrina Romanov is fast becoming one of THE people to listen to when it comes to AI, so couldn’t help but click on this interview.

Behind the Brand interviewed her last week, and she dropped 10 of the top AI tools or uses that haven’t fully hit the mainstream. We’ve played with a couple of these and there are some uses we think some of you might not have really considered that could really save time and cash.

Here’s the list, but for the in-depth discussion, watch the interview on YouTube. The actual list starts at just over 30 minutes in, and we’ve timestamped them all for you here too 😀 :

1. Heygen - AI video editor that will help you produce a video in other languages. 34:00

2. Relevance AI - build an agent that can help you with lead generation. 36:38

3. NotebookLM - Google’s new tool can create an audio podcast from large bodies of data and articles to help learn it. 39:50

4. Cursor AI - coding with AI. 45:10

5. Bland AI - Automate your phone calls for your business. 46:50

6. Air AI - Like Blandai but better for longer calls. 46:50

7. ChatGPT - Ok, not unheard of, but using it as the workhorse in a workflow automation saves a lot of time. 50:50

8. RAG-powered chatbots - personalized customer service. 52:17

9. Ideogram - been around a while but vastly improved image and infogram generation. 54:55

10. Perplexity - another o.g., but interesting uses of it here. 56:30

Sabrina’s honest about AI’s limitations, the need for human interaction, and even she writes her own content still as it’s not quite good enough for her yet. The message there is that while AI produces better than most non-writers, they often don’t know what makes great though. This is leaving us consuming - and not connecting to - a lot of average content!

Even so, these really are some excellent ways to use AI in your business.

SPREAD THE WORD

Do you have friends who are digital nomads, roaming the world? If you think they could use a quick weekly fix of what’s happening in their world, share this link so they can get The Digital Nomad each week too.

Or, share it on your socials with the links at the top of this newsletter.

TRAVELLING SAFE
Have you been caught out yet?

The stories of the first few hours or days in a new place are nearly always the most memorable - for good OR bad!

Being scammed - or at least attempts to scam you - are part of the travelling experience in almost every country. We spotted a list of scams that seasoned travellers had come across and picked out some of the more interesting and rare ones.

How many have you fallen foul of, or managed to dodge?

1. Starbucks in countries where great coffee costs $1.

2. Being charged to print your boarding pass when the wifi in the airport doesn’t work!

3. Everything in Cambodia is $5.

4. Western food prices in overseas supermarkets.

5. Taxi drivers and their meters (that they often refuse to use).

6. Dual pricing - one price for tourists, one for locals. Usually in restaurants.

7. Bali.

8. Tinder.

9. Farmer’s markets.

10. Taxi drivers taking the long route (always have Google Maps on!).

11. Photos of hotels in Vietnam - nearly always 20 years old!

12. Coffee at any tourist spot in Europe. $10 for a cappuccino in Venice!

13. Bar prices in hostels - just go to the local store.

14. Spices in Marrakesh - you’ll almost always pay multiple times the real price!

15. Shoe shiners in Turkey. Careful if one randomly drops their brush!

16. Cheap bandaids.

17. An Irish pub without Guinness on tap!

18. VAT refunds are rarely the full amount.

19. AirBnBs charging for utility costs.

20. Tourist SIM cards.

21. Western Union fees.

22. Taxi prices when you book through the hotel.

23. Immigration officers demanding bribes to do their job.

24. Coffee in Vietnam airports costing more than 5x the price in the cities.

25. Not paying local currency with your card in shops and cafes.

Don’t shoot the messenger, but these were the ones that stood out the most to us as unusual or controversial takes!

Drop us a few of yours to [email protected] and we’ll feature them in a future post to pre-warn other subscribers!

WHAT DID YOU MISS?

If you are new to The Digital Nomad, or just want to go back and read a previous issue, then you can find them all here.

COWORKING IN CHIANG MAI

If you are in the city, or heading over soon, then check out the current packages - from day passes to monthly or annual memberships - here.

Or, just get in touch with Mickey or the team at Yellow Coworking at [email protected].

BRAIN FOOD
What we’ve been recommended this week

Book - Not one book this week, but an interesting list of books to consider checking off. One person’s take on the 100 best books of this century might help you pick your next one.

Movie - The Apprentice is released this week, despite attempts by the subject to block it. Timely maybe, or maybe not, but the press around it has resulted in it being the big release this week in some parts of the world.

Podcast - The Nomad Capitalist Audio Experience drops short podcasts every day or so about passports, visas, topical digital nomad conversation and where to go - and where to avoid!

YouTube - You guys are travellers, so might appreciate this. Find out how an airport SHOULD be designed.

Drop us an email at [email protected] if you have any recommendations we should share!

CONNECT TO CHIANG MAI
Fill your social calendar in Chiang Mai

Steve’s Email: A weekly resource and email for events around the city. Steve’s away for a couple of weeks, but bookmark it for next week!

Digital Nomad WhatsApp: A long-standing group that spawned a range of sub-groups for almost any niche and interest in the city.

ChiangMai Fit WhatsApp: If you want to do something active (trust us, being fit isn’t a prerequisite!) then here’s where to find wholesome activities in the city.

Yellow Coworking Telegram: For more about what is happening at Yellow, and to be part of their conversation, join here.

THE DIGITAL RESOURCE

We’ve shared some useful resources over the first few weeks, and while you can access back issues here, several have asked us to share them again. So, to save lots of email back-and-forths, or searching through previous newsletters, here are the most asked for resources:

• Safety Wing, who also offer digital nomad insurance, have started running community events in various locations around the world. A few participants in a Chiang Mai one even won a meal out at a top restaurant in the city!

• Genki also do worldwide digital nomad insurance.

• Healthy Junk is the go-to for healthy food near Yellow. Dine in, out or get it delivered.

• Get your meal prep from Chef Fuji. Healthy, macro-focussed food delivered in Chiang Mai.

• Contact Liselle for a LinkedIn or resume revamp.

• If decision-making is not your forte, get in touch with Hannah Wang - a decision-making coach for entrepreneurs, business owners and big corporates.

• Airalo - a marketplace for eSIM data packs for more than 200 countries. Get 15% off if you are new and use this link and the code NEWTOAIRALO15, or 10% off if you are an existing user using AIRALOESIM10.

QUIZ

Halloween is on the way. Can you name the five top-selling Halloween candies in the US (according to candyshop.com)?

There are no random or shock entries in there, but how many can you get?

COMMUNITY
Get seen by digital nomads everywhere

We would love to hear from you if you have some valuable knowledge, products or services, information, or just a fun or crazy digital nomad story.

This is an opportunity to get some extra eyes on your thing, or if you just like to write or provide information to other nomads.

Drop us an email at [email protected] if you:

• have a travel blog, channel or platform that we can spotlight

• took a photo worthy of our photo of the week

• have a product or service that could help other digital nomads

• know a great event or place in Chiang Mai we might have missed

• …just have a great digital nomad story!

NEXT WEEK

Promised this week, but definitely for next week, we’ll be chatting to an expert about tax as a digital nomad.

 🤖 Getting to terms with AI
 👩‍💻. Finding your next remote role
 ☀️ High season is on the way

…and news and events we spot for digital nomads everywhere.

See you then.

ANSWERS

1. M&M’s. 2. Reese’s Cups. 3. Sour Patch Kids. 4. Skittles. 5. Starburst.