Chiang Mai, Heaven or Hell? (Tourist Destination Review)

that's what I mean it seems to be this
thing of like trying to glamorize something that's not glamorous yeah because that's all that that's what they've got to work with because there is nothing glamorous in the first place about being in Chiang Mai the less let's get back because the question asked you was to look at the ideal you had yeah versity reality so cuz again look when you say you thought it was a tropical paradise I don't really know what that means to you you know means everything's different people so how was your idea of tropical paradise different from what you what you actually encounter well yeah when I got here that was like man like my partner can account for this like the first few days I was like in shock I'm like what what have I got myself not to be fair this was Bangkok but I'm like that's funny that's funny cuz you're more honest with her than you are with me we have a lot of honest conversation really I was terrible I was like having a mental breakdown it was it was so I was like you would not want to be around me for those two days but it was like okay I was a Bangkok that was a more like established shitty what does chiang mai going to be like oh so yeah I guess like that the tropical paradise is like I said it was like the the amazing fruit that everyone's here like the fruit is just like ten out of ten here and looks like the the luxurious with the weather like I thought okay sunny weather what could go wrong with that you know and just like like I say just like living this this just like holiday life where it's just like you just sit around and seemingly do nothing all day not so luxurious when you actually get here and realized it actually is really not much to do all day right yeah yeah it's weird so I just say you know something I I think I've said I haven't said it on YouTube but you know I I could understand if you want to have a fruit festival vigan festival in Egypt you can see the pyramids you can visit the pyramids in Egypt if you want to have a fruit festival in Auschwitz Poland you can visit the concentration camp no stress like there are places in the world where there's a major attraction that either has historical value or artistic value there's some obvious reason to be there but for me part of what's weird is like today I was talking we're going to go to the muse today and now for me because I have a certain kind of background I'm problem you know we're probably going to talk about i'm probably gonna make it more fun for Jake because i'm inside boredom along yeah we're going to say oh this is interesting for this reason or something have some connection to the history and what have you but if you don't have that connection you know that there's nothing here that's equivalent to the pyramids there's there's no like in a sense there is no tourist attraction and I mean in terms of activities I I can't let see a family now I hate that don't you have of exploiting animals I'm over hot yeah that's true as time went on it was like what am I going to be doing for 21 days in Chiang Mai like it is this all that there really is just like eating fruit riding up a mountain and but but then what I'm like I start to think about those vlogs at itm Mike what happens in between they do the same thing every yeah ah it's weird I mean you know look I mean the fruit here is okay okay that's what i watch ponyo do it I mean little like you don't like your thinking gonna say exact same thing yeah the fruit here is okay look but it's just some people then move here for the fruit and I'm just like you gave up everything you had in your countries except for the fruit well look no keep it look so when people say because you will hear the Senate that there are tons of like charming cafes here or char bars or nightclubs that's true but if you're a vegan who doesn't drink alcohol ninety percent of what you see like walking in the street means nothing to you yeah like I'm not saying Chiang Mai is such a terrible place I'm just saying I have lived in and visited other cities in Asia but also even with in Thailand that I think would be so much better for a vacation for a living long term of whether you're a business person or what have you and and I don't Better Place's riding a bicycle because of the long distance cycling anyway so look we took your story up to the difference between be ideal and the shock so what came after the shock like cuz I mean I you're on to a new phase that you're no longer shocked like most of them you walked most of the city now yeah you've seen I mean that's what we're doing honestly for the most part just like just walking around yeah sure and it's it's kind of a third-world channel know if I'm gonna be honest and not try paint this picture like it's something that it isn't then yeah good i got to put words in your mouth yeah but yeah I think a lot of people are quite afraid to actually you say it for what it is yeah and and that's what I wasn't expecting because I had never seen that aspect of chiang mai anh like videos people had painted this picture where it's like this luxuries paradise you come to you have a carefree holiday and it looks like you walk around it's like all I want to do is go back home honestly because I had intended to stay here for 21 days of my partner for like the entire duration of the festival but we're going to actually be traveling alcohol chiang mai to places like chiang rai and then we actually going to be hitting to Singapore because they're really okay didn't oh yeah but like that this was just like recently organised just to see Singapore instead of well it was like what what am I going to be doing here for 21 days yeah and you know I just say so I have a background as a scholar of Buddhism but when people ask me for advice and what to see here I do say to them honestly like if you're not a specialist if you've been to three different Buddhist temples they all start to look the same like for a normal person if you don't have a highly specialized in jerz like I had and because there's a scholar in that field I can't recommend you spend your time like going to visit every Buddhist temple and you know if you're not a geologist I think all the mountains look the same like you can you can see a mountain and you can go back the next day but you know that's that's I have trouble giving people positive advice of the valley I'll just sell to do Angie I was talking to my partner it's like if I if I hadn't met ISIL here oh I'm the main tourist dress no no this is like no I know it's funny cuz im a girl asked a question you know like how's your trip going in Thailand and have you had have you had any authentic vegan food like thai vegan food yeah and it was like I mean I've been too simple I haven't been to many places but like the only authentic Thai vegan food was when you took me to a place that seemingly no one else goes right yeah because it's a place that's not for because that's what I mean it's like yesterday I was walking home with my partner Nadine after the karaoke night that I met up with ISIL and a bunch of other vegans yeah so no kidding five seconds later after i mentioned rats three rats like pop out from like the sewers like these little holes and like as you walk down the I guess the partial sidewalk that's actually there's not that's what the holes are full yeah yeah they make special holes in the sidewalk that are big enough for rats and cockroaches to breed them in low and come back up it's basically like a rat habitat faucet project you know it's perfect yes yeah do go on no I like I said increasing the biodiversity of this beautiful city the holes in the car something something i'll actually comment on later but yeah as I was saying no kidding like five seconds later we walk past in these three rats pop out and Nadine just like jumps and sushi she's actually sitting in the back now listen to this and he's like curling up in the corner just thinking about this and then that that was just like and then of course like the cockroaches that are just like always walking around and it was like I I have seen I have seen a cockroach eating the blood of a dead rat you know Rattata brick but yeah that the cockroach game is on point the rat the rat game is on point and I mean all we ever hear on the internet is that this place is paradise you know you hear these things from him you're like really and then a few days later you're like oh well he was right my god but whether whether your walk and we've drawn a bicycle the scenery moves more quickly I guess it doesn't feel as hot you get a bit more of a breeze but god damn it's ugly walking past the 7-elevens just the the rotting broken-down buildings one after another I had people on my facebook were saying to me like I had just a photo of me doing something they're like they couldn't believe the incredibly ugly power lines in just the sense that everything is rotting not to mention it's infested with rats and so on it's like it's like even if you go to my apartments look out the window you've got buildings that are like half being taken down and half being yeah and they just they just in this right this snake of like nothing's ever going to happen to them they're just sitting there as they are yeah well that's okay so that touches on another interesting thing which is the Chiang Mai I think when I was here 10 years ago there was optimism for its future and there was a of new investments including and tourism and now when I walked four cities your made the empty buildings I see empty buildings of every kind like I see at the office buildings empty houses some abandoned like halfway through construction but some complete and the business out of business has gone but especially in tourism like obviously chores and hit a peak at somewhere in the past and then declined but you know nightclubs hotels tourist-oriented buildings and tours range restaurants there are tons of them that are abandoned even in the wealthiest parts of the city in the most durable and in the downtown core the downtown core is really kind of rotting and in floating you know well I sir I don't want to seem like I'm beating you up Jake no no it's so many this is exactly ality if you hear there seems to be this thing of like trying to glamorize something that's not glamorous yeah because that's all that that's what they've got to work with because there is nothing glamorous in the first place about being in Chiang Mai and I it's sad that so many people aren't willing to talk about what they really see or if they even really see it it was just right well looking because like you can't miss it like walking down the sidewalk you can't miss just like the rubble and the you trash just literal rubble yeah like not kidding it's just like it's like it's like they've started constructing the sidewalk they've got to finish it they've got all the mess left them there just like well let's just leave it there right so look for this video we're not going to get into it but I said we've talked about it's okay I feel like on a larger scale the fact that Thailand's democracy has collapsed you know the failure of government here the fact that this is now a military dictatorship I feel this is related to bad government as you see it in these things that in a sense you know the fact that the government is failing to manage the sidewalks and I'm just obvious things in this and the you know the rain rain water reflects the fact that currently you know there is no Prime Minister there is no Constitution there are no civil rights that this country was taken over as military tissue so and that's happened repeatedly in the last 10 years they've had long periods of this so you know some level of mismanagement or worse than it would be management to those public public problems is is perhaps inevitable yeah it's interesting because I remember watching one of your videos and you are really up saved by the fact that no one is willing to talk about this no one that seems like like I can and I remember kind of you know kind of sympathizing with you and me like oh yeah I kind of understand where he's like but when you actually get here and you witness just how bad it is and you see all these people just walk around just not talking about it's like how can you not yeah to even admit it to yourself like that this isn't the place that you're portraying it to be is it's sad it really is even wrap it up it partly is the Instagram effect yeah just changing a moment to your life that are the most beautiful or what have you but I think there's there are many other kinds of self-deception going on and ultimately I mean I think the the cost is a loss of potential I just want to say some people misrepresent what I say about the vegans and shame I is if I think you're all idiots I don't I think you could be doing something better with your time I think you have the potential to something better even with in Thailand or even with in Chiang Mai you know that's why I talked about social engagements why I think you should be concerned about the government about politics about these problems if I thought you you were Complete Idiot's I wouldn't care i'd say well and you know look think about how you guys if you guys are watching this the young the young people who think your hip and cool here in Chiang Mai how do you guys feel about the retired guys who over 70 years old to sit here you don't look to them to save the world you don't look to them to make the world a better place Nick well he's 75 years old he's just retired and drinks beer in a bar somewhere um well I can't look at you that way you know I really am looking I'm looking to members of my own generation and Jake's generation Jake is a few years younger than me obviously I'm looking for us to take responsibility to shoulder that burden to make Thailand a better place to make chain my better place if you choose to live in Chiang Mai and whether it's through veganism ecology other forms of activism organization to be concerned and and not just to live a life that revolves around fresh fruit bikinis and bicycles and again if you did have a job here or you were doing humanitarian work something that engages you with the society that could be rewarding that could plug you into the reality of Chiang Mai but if you don't you know whether you're here as a so-called digital no mad or on vacation you know I think what's meaningful here you know the struggle you know that what life is like for real people join mine you have you have no connection with either