Monthly Life Update: February 2018

Can you believe that I’ve now been living in Chiang Mai for almost 4 months? That’s a third of a year… where did the time go? This month, I’ve been super focused on being.. focused! And I’m more content than ever with where I am. Chiang Mai finally feels like home and I can’t really imagine leaving. In Korea, I was pretty much always thinking about “after Korea” so, it feels nice to feel this settled in a home away from home.

Here’s how I spent the past 4 weeks!

What I’ve been Up To

Jai Thep Festival

As soon as we got to Chiang Mai and heard about this cool, arty festival called Jai Thep, we knew we had to get tickets and, at the beginning of the month, it was time to go!

A lot of you guys don’t know this but I love music festivals- up until moving to Korea, I had been to some festival or another every year since I was 16! For me, though, music festivals usually consisted of getting drunk, losing friends and spending far too many hours standing beside a speaker in some techno cave. (And not seeing any of the main acts!) Jai Thep was a bit… different. It was very chilled. There were workshops like dreamcatcher making, drum circles and reiki…

Can you imagine Scottish people actually sitting down and behaving themselves for long enough to do something productive like making a dreamcatcher?!

I defos can’t!

To be honest, I think I’m getting a bit too old for camping at festivals unless there’s a really big treat and I didn’t really think this was worth it. None of it actually excited me  Maybe it’s because I drunk far too much wine on the first night and had the hangover from hell on Saturday (whoops) but, I think that’ll be the last time I devote a good night’s sleep in a comfy bed for hippy things I don’t really care about. In saying that, though, lots of people loved it and the location was gorgeous- it just wasn’t my thang!

Ted X Chiang Mai!

The weekend following Jai Thep, we had another completely packed weekend with a completely different vibe. We made our way to the Meridien Hotel to see Ted X. This was my first time attending a Ted event and I would love to attend some more.

There were so many inspiriing talks and….. a huge lunchtime buffet! (Always got my priorities straight..) They even threw an after party with unlimited booze which was unfortunate timing for me since, I’m aff it! (But, more on that later!)

Huay Theng Tao Lake

You know how in my last few life updates, I’ve been like a broken down record telling you guys how I never leave this city! Well, a couple of weeks back, we dragged ourselves about 30 minutes outside of it. The destination for our big trip was Huay Theng Tao Lake which is probably the easiest escape from the city.

The lake has loads of little huts around it with restaurants attached. It’s a great place for a lazy day of eating, drinking and swimming. Actually, it’s a pretty popular piss-up spot- we saw loads of Thais getting stuck into their bottles of whisky then napping before driving home.. Eeeek! (Exactly why I won’t ride a scoter here!)

Doi Suthep

We finally made it up to see Doi Suthep Temple with my Thai Language School and it was gorgeous! I really need to get back up earlier in the morning for some sunrise photos but it’ll be better to wait until all the smog has cleared after burning season. There is literally a layer of smoke covering this city and it’s horrendous! I checked yesterday and the pollution is worse than in New Delhi here…

All kinds of biz events

One of the reasons I’m feeling so content in Chiang Mai is because I’ve found a great community of people who are interested in working remotely. As an expat, more often than not, the whole community just revolves around the fact that everyone is foreign and wants to get drunk. I was lucky enough to make great friends in Korea but a lot of people do struggle to find people they connect with about things other than their nationality.

Chiang Mai is a refreshing place to be. Because there are so may foreigners and you can easily find people on your wavelength. There are dropshipping millionaires, vegan wellness folks and a huge community of women starting out on their entrepreneurial journey. Unsurprisingly, I’ve falled into the last camp rather than the former 2!

I spent most of last month going to loads of different events and meeting loads of people.

I went to a mastermind event, a business planning bootcamp, a facebook marketing workshop and a couple of women’s co-working days for good measure, too! I’ve learned so much about how to set up a successful business, so my next helping of life news shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise!

Big Life News

I’m Launching my Own Business!

So, as most of you know, I’ve been working as a freelance writer for the past year and a half. I’m at the stage now where I have consistent clients, am easily making as much money as I did in Korea and don’t have to stress about accepting crappy jobs or finding new work.

But, I’m ready to do my own thing.

I’ve been wanting to start my own business of some sort for a while so I can move from being a freelancer to being an entrepreneur.

And I’m finally ready to take action and even have a timeline in place!

I’m hoping to launch my new biz by mid-April! I’m not going to go into details about what exactly it is right now- all you need to know is that it’s what’s taking up most of my time at the moment. Actually, I’ve decided to spend this whole weekend just working on it. The fact that I couldn’t be more excited to spend the weekend at home on my laptop has to say something, right?

It’s not going to be related to Wee Gypsy Girl but it will overlap in some ways. I’ll be writing a bit more about it closer to my business launch date!

Whole 30

I’ve been saying for a while that I need to lose all that beer and taco weight from Mexico. Honestly, whoever loses weight when they travel needs a medal. I do the exact opposite! I eat more rice, carbs and less vegetables than I would at home and my body can’t handle it. After a year of travelling, I needed to shift some pounds and just be a bit healthier overall. I’d heard about Whole 30 a while ago, and decided to put it to the test!

I’m almost finished it now and have only had a few slip ups- I dipped my sashimi in some soy sauce one night, have eaten a few peanuts and have also had a bit of tofu. But, apart from that, I’ve been sticking to a diet free of grains, legumes, dairy, sugar and alcohol for most of the month.

The funny thing is, my cravings are completely different than what I thought they’d be. I’ve always been a big fan of a wee bit of chocolate after dinner but Ive had no chocolate cravings. What I have been craving, though, is plain digestive biscuits- wtf! I literally never even biscuits anymore but that’s what I’m wanting. And, noodles… I really miss all kinds of noodle soups. Since I’ve been eating a lot more meat than usual, I’ve also been missing my usual meat-free proteins like tofu, chickpeas and lentils. So, it’s funny that the things I’ve been missing fall in the relatively healthy category.

Another thing I’m surprisingly not missing? Cheese! I don’t think I could stomach eating any form of dairy and I don’t miss it at all.. so that’s a nice surprise! Especially since cheese is neither good nor cheap in Thailand. ^^

I Hit a New Bloggin Milestone!

So, I’ve been spending a lot of time behind the scenes updating my blog posts to make them more SEO friendly. The hard work has paid off- last month, I surpassed a milestone of 30k page views in a month. Thanks to everyone for reading and supporting me! 🙂

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Most Popular Instagram Photo

A post shared by Nicole Arnott (@weegypsygirl) on Feb 22, 2018 at 3:43am PST

What’s Happening in March?!

Did you know that it’s my birthday month…. I have less than 2 weeks left in 27 Club. When on Earth did I get so close to 30 And, I’ll actually be out of town for the big day.

Because the burning season in Chiang Mai is getting too intense, we’re escaping down to Koh Chang for a week or two. It’ll be very nice to see the ocean again and finally see a Thai Island! Kind of crazy that I’ve been here for 4 months and haven’t seen any of the things Thailand is famous for- longtail boats, gorgeous beaches and buckets filled with whisky and red bull. Haha!

Thanks again for all your support throughout the past month!

And, until next time,

Nicole xx