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Pieter Levels, an indie hacker and entrepreneur, found success right from his laptop at home — "home" being 40 different countries and 140 cities.
With some 40 startups to his name, the self-taught developer said his various business ventures now generate over $2.2 million in revenue. (Levels regularly writes online about which of his startups make money — and which failed.) And he's been able to create those startups around the world as a digital nomad, a remote worker who travels freely.
In a recent episode of the "Lex Fridman Podcast," Levels revealed that his favorite place is also the home of one of his biggest startups — Nomad List.
In 2014, Levels met other digital nomads while living in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He said that while remote work, which wasn't as popular at the time, seemed "like a cool thing to do," he noticed that "internet everywhere was very slow."
"I wanted to find other cities where I could go to work on my laptop and travel, but we needed fast internet," Levels said. "So I was like, 'Let's crowdsource this information with a spreadsheet."
That spreadsheet eventually became Nomad List, a site for digital nomads that provides data about cities worldwide, such as their cost of living, internet speed, and safety.
A decade and millions of users later, Levels said the best cities he's been to are still Bangkok and Chiang Mai.
"I think Thailand is very special," he said. "I've been to Vietnam and I've been to South America and stuff. I still think Thailand wins in how nice people are, how easy of life people have there."
Thailand was ranked the sixth-best country overall in the 2024 annual Expat Insider report, a study by InterNations that surveyed over 12,500 expats representing 175 nationalities living in 174 countries or territories.
The study analyzed several indexes, including personal finances, ease of settling in, and expat essentials (which covers language barriers, affordable housing, digital life, and admin topics). Thailand placed eighth, sixth, and 15th in those categories, respectively.
Lola Méndez, a freelance journalist, previously told Business Insider that after visiting 90 countries, Chiang Mai was the only place she wanted to live because of its affordability and lenient legislation on marijuana use and same-sex marriage.
"In Chiang Mai, I pay $355 per month for rent, $300 less than what I was paying in Puerto Vallarta and four times cheaper than my New York City rent," she said.
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Numbeo, a website that provides crowdsourced summaries of the cost of living in major global cities, estimated the monthly cost, not including rent, for a single person in Bangkok is around $670 and roughly $530 in Chiang Mai.
Levels said Bangkok is getting more expensive, and he still recommends Chiang Mai as a more affordable option.
"I think when you're starting out, it's a great place," he said. "The air quality sucks, it's a big problem. And it's quite hot. But that's a very cool place."
Levels also expressed love for Brazil, which ranked seventh in the Expat Insider report, although he said that the country's "safety issue" is still a problem.
"It's like in America — it's localized," he said. "So if you go to the right areas, it's amazing. Brazil's amazing. If you go to the wrong areas, maybe you die."
Brazil ranked in the bottom 10 of the survey for political stability and personal safety, at 48th and 52nd, respectively. However, the country came in first for friendliness toward foreign residents, with 92% of respondents rating Brazil favorably in this category.
