Latest / Babes, how did you get here / From Drunk Flight to Bangkok to Full-Time Creator | Keis' Wild Journey

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From Drunk Flight to Bangkok to Full-Time Creator | Keis' Wild Journey · Babes, how did you get here

• 0:00
  They're like, I was drinking with a bunch of mates in Australia
• 0:03
  and we'd been drinking for a few days.
• 0:06
  Do you remember the first time you arrived in Thailand?
• 0:08
  I was drinking with a bunch of mates in Australia
• 0:11
  and we'd been drinking for a few days.
• 0:14
  It was sort of the end of a bit of a benda.
• 0:17
  And one of my mates is like, let's go to Thailand.
• 0:18
  We'd booked a trip for like later in the year.
• 0:20
  I'm like, yeah, we're going and it's like, like now.
• 0:23
  And I was like, you're my place.
• 0:25
  I walked into my bedroom and go, I'll passport.
• 0:27
  I'm like, oh, cool, you bluff.
• 0:28
  And it was like, I booked a taxi, we're going.
• 0:31
  And I'm like, all right, fuck it, let's go.
• 0:34
  And we just went.
• 0:35
  If I had no luggage, I took like a phone charger
• 0:37
  and like something ridiculous.
• 0:40
  I had to buy everything.
• 0:41
  And I went with two friends and we just said,
• 0:44
  like, fuck it, let's go.
• 0:45
  I arrived in Bangkok and I had to work the next day.
• 0:50
  I had to like call my boss.
• 0:52
  I called the boss and I was like, hey man,
• 0:54
  I can't come in to work tomorrow.
• 0:56
  It was like, what about today?
• 0:57
  I'm like, shit, yeah, of course.
• 0:59
  I'm like, who can come today?
• 1:00
  And he's like, why?
• 1:01
  And I'm like, mid-Banko.
• 1:02
  He's like, what?
• 1:04
  I was like, we came drunk.
• 1:05
  Like, I've sobered up on the plane
• 1:06
  and I've just realized like, what's happening?
• 1:09
  And I was like, how long have you booked for?
• 1:11
  I was like, I don't know.
• 1:12
  I asked my friend, he's like, I just got one way ticket.
• 1:14
  So he's like, you can have a week.
• 1:16
  Adam, affectionately known as Keyes,
• 1:18
  ditched his corporate career in 2017 in search for adventure.
• 1:23
  This landed him in Seoul, South Korea,
• 1:25
  where he lived until the world locked down in 2020.
• 1:29
  Before moving to Thailand, a place he had already visited
• 1:32
  seven times, he always felt drawn to keep coming back.
• 1:36
  Now a full-time content creator,
• 1:38
  he has designed a life that he loves.
• 1:41
  We will be discussing what it takes
• 1:43
  to break through the noise online,
• 1:45
  but also the challenges and beauty of living abroad.
• 1:48
  But first, I must ask, babes, how did you get here?
• 1:52
  I, exactly like you said, it's true circumstance.
• 1:56
  The world shut down.
• 1:58
  I was living in Seoul.
• 1:59
  And at the beginning of the pandemic,
• 2:03
  you remember it was like, always, it was just like six weeks.
• 2:05
  I say in the media, it was like six weeks to flatten the curve.
• 2:08
  I was in the Philippines.
• 2:09
  I was taking a holiday for my birthday, which is in February.
• 2:12
  End of February.
• 2:13
  And then I was just sort of like there having some fun and partying
• 2:16
  and sort of would roll into March.
• 2:18
  And I was, I think, coming in towards mid-March.
• 2:22
  And I was about to head back to Seoul.
• 2:24
  And my parents were freaking out going,
• 2:27
  is it OK?
• 2:29
  It was very much an Asia thing at the beginning.
• 2:32
  And Australia was fine.
• 2:33
  So I could just go there and wait for a few weeks
• 2:35
  for the rest of the world to fix itself
• 2:38
  or whatever the plan was.
• 2:41
  And I was like, I'd love to go spend some time with my family.
• 2:44
  So yeah, I'll go there with two weeks in.
• 2:46
  So it's only going to be four weeks.
• 2:48
  I was like, yeah, cool.
• 2:49
  That sounds like fun.
• 2:50
  Korea shut down.
• 2:52
  Australia shut down.
• 2:53
  And I got stuck there.
• 2:55
  It's like nine months, I think.
• 2:57
  OK.
• 2:59
  Which is a lot longer than the initials for a band.
• 3:01
  I went with a tiny bag, like a carry-on luggage.
• 3:05
  And I still had an apartment with all my things in Seoul.
• 3:08
  Not.
• 3:08
  And I just kept thinking like, the news
• 3:10
  was like, you know, a few more weeks, a few more weeks,
• 3:12
  and few more weeks.
• 3:13
  And then I eventually gave up my apartment in Korea.
• 3:18
  OK.
• 3:18
  I had to get friends to go and like pack it up.
• 3:20
  Because I was just paying rent every month.
• 3:21
  Sure.
• 3:22
  I wasn't earning anything.
• 3:23
  I was like, really difficult on me financially.
• 3:26
  And then Australia had a flat out trouble band.
• 3:30
  Right.
• 3:30
  Australia's good and challenging.
• 3:31
  But quick one.
• 3:32
  You know how CEOs lead teams with clarity, strategy, and calm?
• 3:36
  Now, imagine parenting just like that.
• 3:39
  My course, Parent Like a CEO, helps you build a home
• 3:42
  that runs with confidence, not chaos,
• 3:45
  no shouting, no guesswork, no guilt.
• 3:48
  Just systems, structure, and a mindset
• 3:50
  that works for you and your babies.
• 3:53
  I will show you how to lead your family
• 3:55
  like I have led my teams with vision, compassion,
• 3:58
  and a plan that sticks.
• 3:59
  This is about applying business principles
• 4:01
  to raise happy and healthy kids.
• 4:04
  So if you're tired of winging it
• 4:05
  and ready to parent with intention,
• 4:07
  click the link to check out Parent Like a CEO.
• 4:10
  You've got these waves.
• 4:11
  And now you'll have the tools too.
• 4:13
  This couldn't travel anywhere.
• 4:15
  But that I was exempt from that
• 4:17
  because I was living abroad.
• 4:19
  OK.
• 4:19
  So Thailand opened like a tiny little bit.
• 4:23
  I just wanted to get into Asian and figure
• 4:24
  I could kind of bounce my way back to Seoul.
• 4:28
  Thailand opened up just a tiny bit.
• 4:30
  I had to go through like two in quarantine
• 4:31
  and I had to get this whole application process.
• 4:34
  But I was approved.
• 4:35
  Right.
• 4:36
  And I was like one of the few people
• 4:37
  that got to fly out of Australia.
• 4:39
  To Thailand.
• 4:40
  It was insane.
• 4:40
  Like the airport was empty.
• 4:42
  There was no immigration.
• 4:43
  Like there wasn't one immigration person.
• 4:45
  Like no lions.
• 4:47
  None of the restaurants were open.
• 4:49
  It was like VIP treatment.
• 4:50
  Yeah, it was like super weird half the lights were off.
• 4:53
  It was like a crazy time to fly.
• 4:55
  There was like 12 people on my flight.
• 4:58
  So I ended up here and made a red hot go
• 5:01
  at being a content creator, a YouTuber.
• 5:03
  And my plan was always to move back to Seoul when it opened.
• 5:06
  OK.
• 5:07
  It took, I think at least another year.
• 5:09
  And by then I was already doing really well here
• 5:11
  and I have a life here.
• 5:12
  So I hadn't been back and I still haven't been back.
• 5:15
  I'm actually going next month.
• 5:16
  OK.
• 5:17
  So take me back to when you have been in Australia
• 5:21
  and you're in your corporate job.
• 5:22
  What are you doing?
• 5:23
  So I originally started off in like working
• 5:25
  like restaurants and bars.
• 5:27
  OK.
• 5:27
  I originally started in cafes, restaurants, bars,
• 5:30
  and then eventually into hotels.
• 5:32
  And I sort of worked my way up through hotels
• 5:35
  into the corporate side and I had a great job.
• 5:37
  But it wasn't me at all.
• 5:40
  I was good at what I did.
• 5:42
  I wasn't passionate about it in the sense that like the second
• 5:46
  I walked out the door like I was done.
• 5:48
  Checked out.
• 5:48
  Yeah.
• 5:50
  Tied off in the car, jacked it off.
• 5:53
  Like I want to be me again.
• 5:54
  Right.
• 5:55
  Right.
• 5:56
  And I always just, I always wanted
• 5:59
  the experience of living abroad.
• 6:01
  I'd looked into it like it's really difficult,
• 6:04
  as I'm sure you know, just finding ways
• 6:07
  to be able to live abroad.
• 6:09
  And I didn't really want to teach English
• 6:11
  because I didn't seem like fun.
• 6:12
  I just wanted to have fun and chase the experience.
• 6:14
  Right.
• 6:15
  So I just, I was working basically
• 6:20
  until I had enough money to be able to leave.
• 6:21
  Right.
• 6:22
  So you save up 10K?
• 6:23
  And then at 10K was what I came here with.
• 6:25
  OK, it was Thailand.
• 6:26
  Yeah, yeah.
• 6:27
  What did you save up before you moved to Seoul?
• 6:29
  Oh, it wasn't a tremendous amount.
• 6:31
  OK.
• 6:31
  Maybe like 30K, 40K.
• 6:33
  OK.
• 6:34
  And you moved to South Korea with a job or no job?
• 6:37
  No job.
• 6:38
  No job, no plan.
• 6:40
  So can you tell me how old are you at this point?
• 6:43
  35.
• 6:44
  You're 35.
• 6:45
  You're telling your family, I have some savings.
• 6:49
  I don't have a plan beyond that.
• 6:50
  Can you tell me what they're thinking?
• 6:52
  They will support it.
• 6:53
  Really?
• 6:54
  My vision for it all was like, if I run out of money
• 6:58
  or if I can't figure it out, I'll come back and do the same thing.
• 7:01
  OK.
• 7:02
  Like, it's an easy industry to get into.
• 7:04
  I had a great resume.
• 7:06
  I was known within that industry.
• 7:08
  I felt like I could get a landed job.
• 7:10
  I could land a job extremely easily.
• 7:12
  Sure.
• 7:13
  You know?
• 7:14
  So I kind of approached it with that mentality.
• 7:16
  It's like, if it doesn't work.
• 7:18
  And I thought going, I was like, this will probably
• 7:20
  be like six months.
• 7:21
  OK.
• 7:22
  But I lived in Korea like two and a half years.
• 7:24
  Why did you choose Seoul?
• 7:26
  Ah, so like, I loved Korea.
• 7:29
  And like, I had a Korean girlfriend in Australia many, many years ago.
• 7:33
  And I just started to like learn things about Korea and Korean food.
• 7:38
  And I traveled there.
• 7:40
  I didn't travel with her.
• 7:41
  We went together all that long.
• 7:42
  But just it opened my eyes, and I love travel.
• 7:45
  And I went to Korea.
• 7:47
  It was the first time I ever kind of solo traveled.
• 7:51
  And it wasn't by choice.
• 7:52
  OK.
• 7:52
  So I went over with a mate.
• 7:54
  Right.
• 7:55
  And he got called back on a work emergency.
• 7:58
  OK.
• 7:59
  And he's left me like two days in.
• 8:01
  And we hadn't really done much exploring.
• 8:03
  And I was like, way out of my comfort zone.
• 8:06
  Seoul's quite difficult.
• 8:07
  The language barrier is crazy.
• 8:09
  Right.
• 8:10
  And I was like, really nervous about it.
• 8:11
  I wasn't sure what to do.
• 8:13
  And I just like, push myself to go out.
• 8:14
  And I was like, I'm just going to walk into a bar by myself and just see what happens.
• 8:18
  Yeah.
• 8:18
  Had a couple of beers first and get some Dutch curry.
• 8:21
  And I just got talking with some guy.
• 8:24
  And he's like, come join me and my friends.
• 8:26
  And then I met other people.
• 8:28
  And then just like, I had this incredible experience.
• 8:30
  And then my whole week was like, the rest of my time there was like booked out.
• 8:33
  And I'm like, Korean people are amazing.
• 8:35
  The culture's great.
• 8:36
  All these people showed me an amazing time.
• 8:39
  And like a local, you know, it wasn't touristy at all.
• 8:42
  So I had this great experience that I wouldn't have otherwise had.
• 8:45
  And then I just fell in love with the place.
• 8:46
  And I traveled back there a couple of times.
• 8:48
  OK.
• 8:49
  I just wanted that to be my starting off point.
• 8:50
  I didn't know if it would be home for as long as it was.
• 8:53
  Right.
• 8:54
  And that it, yeah, it became home.
• 8:57
  So you stayed there for a couple of years.
• 8:59
  What are we doing?
• 9:00
  Are we still running on the 30K?
• 9:01
  All sorts of things.
• 9:02
  No, no, no, 30K went quick.
• 9:05
  I went over and I like, I spent way too much of the beginning.
• 9:08
  Right.
• 9:09
  I just was having so much fun.
• 9:10
  I feel like everyone does, right?
• 9:12
  It's a ride of passing.
• 9:13
  Yes.
• 9:13
  You go in that holiday mode.
• 9:15
  And then like, I don't know how far in.
• 9:17
  I was like, I was trying to make YouTube videos.
• 9:20
  OK.
• 9:21
  And I had hopes of becoming successful, but it wasn't.
• 9:24
  And I wasn't doing it right in hindsight.
• 9:26
  But I was doing all sorts of odd jobs.
• 9:29
  I was doing some acting, some modeling and extra type work.
• 9:32
  OK.
• 9:33
  It was just like the token white guy.
• 9:36
  And I was getting plenty of work for that.
• 9:38
  It's really affordable to live there.
• 9:40
  OK.
• 9:41
  I could get one gig and it would pay a month rent.
• 9:43
  So I only needed a handful in a month to live really well.
• 9:48
  So did that.
• 9:48
  I worked in a pizza restaurant for a while, which
• 9:52
  was an amazing experience thinking back on it.
• 9:55
  What did it was amazing?
• 9:56
  So I worked in this tiny little, have you
• 9:59
  been in Japan?
• 9:59
  No.
• 10:00
  OK.
• 10:00
  It's on the list.
• 10:01
  Similar, they've got those tiny bars with six people.
• 10:04
  So I worked in this pizza restaurant like that.
• 10:07
  I was making the pizza, which I'd never done before,
• 10:10
  apart from for myself, and I just
• 10:13
  managed this little shop that's, oh, I don't even know if it's.
• 10:15
  Yeah, I've probably sat six people.
• 10:18
  And the first day, the boss, the owner,
• 10:21
  he shows me how to make the pizzas and taking notes and everything.
• 10:25
  And then after an hour is like, so you got it?
• 10:28
  And I'm like, I'm figuring it out.
• 10:31
  And he left.
• 10:32
  And he's like, he let me there on my own.
• 10:33
  He trusted you with his business.
• 10:35
  So he's with the shop.
• 10:36
  And then like, so I didn't love being the thing.
• 10:38
  I was in there by myself.
• 10:39
  So I was just like, self-managing this store.
• 10:42
  And I was like sketchy with Korean language at that point.
• 10:45
  It wasn't great.
• 10:46
  I was getting better.
• 10:47
  And I got better really quickly from doing that.
• 10:50
  But it was just like this amazing adventure.
• 10:53
  I was just like terrified the whole time.
• 10:55
  But I got good at it.
• 10:56
  And I got good at making pizza.
• 10:58
  And then I was like, teaching him how to be more efficient.
• 10:59
  OK.
• 11:00
  Because I had a background in hospitality.
• 11:02
  In hospitality.
• 11:02
  And I was like, teaching him how to do better
• 11:05
  with his business, and so on.
• 11:06
  And I ended up being a whole lot of fun.
• 11:07
  Can you make money from a six-seater little place?
• 11:10
  I don't know.
• 11:11
  He didn't share the final screen that much.
• 11:13
  But like, I think it was just like a passion project.
• 11:17
  Sure.
• 11:18
  I had restaurants.
• 11:19
  That's what I am by profession.
• 11:22
  And so whenever you talk about these, I'm like, hold on.
• 11:24
  But how are the margins working?
• 11:26
  Like, I think the margins were OK.
• 11:28
  Like, it all made sense.
• 11:30
  They did quite a lot of delivery.
• 11:31
  OK.
• 11:33
  And there were days, like, the takings would be quite good.
• 11:36
  I just don't know what the rent was.
• 11:37
  What the backend?
• 11:38
  And the whole thing, all that.
• 11:40
  But for me, it was a whole lot of fun.
• 11:42
  But then eventually, I got to a point where I was like,
• 11:45
  I took on more hours, and I was doing more.
• 11:46
  And then I was like, five days a week.
• 11:49
  And then sometimes, like, people are calling sick.
• 11:51
  And I was doing like six days a week.
• 11:52
  And I was like, hang on, I'm working.
• 11:54
  And this is what I came to sort of get away from.
• 11:56
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 11:58
  And I just sort of had enough of the one day
• 12:00
  and pulled the plug on that.
• 12:03
  And then I was just sort of like bouncing around
• 12:04
  doing the acting work and stuff again.
• 12:06
  And just doing like, odd jobs, like, odd commercials,
• 12:09
  and like, make videos for people for like their ads
• 12:12
  and stuff like that.
• 12:14
  It was just an adventure, which is what I was after.
• 12:17
  Right.
• 12:18
  And when you go back to Australia during that
• 12:19
  little lockdown period, can you tell me what you're feeling
• 12:22
  when you realize that it's not going to be four weeks,
• 12:24
  but no, it's going to be an extended period of time?
• 12:26
  The thing was, it was never told to us like,
• 12:30
  oh, it's going to be six months.
• 12:33
  And I actually would have preferred that.
• 12:35
  Because they kept giving like glimpses of hope.
• 12:37
  Oh, we're flattening the curve.
• 12:38
  And I was checking the news every day.
• 12:40
  I never watched the news.
• 12:41
  I don't care about news at all.
• 12:43
  Right.
• 12:44
  And I was on there like every day, like,
• 12:46
  you know, what are the numbers?
• 12:46
  What's happening?
• 12:47
  What's happening in the world?
• 12:48
  Where's open, where's closed?
• 12:50
  And I hated that.
• 12:52
  And it just we kept having this hope and I just kept thinking
• 12:55
  else, and they're going to be a few more weeks.
• 12:56
  And they're going to be a few more weeks.
• 12:57
  And that's why I kept my place for so long.
• 12:59
  Sure.
• 13:00
  And that's why I say I was living with my parents, which
• 13:02
  is like not ideal for some of my age.
• 13:05
  Have a great relationship with them.
• 13:06
  And looking back on it was actually like a really nice
• 13:08
  experience.
• 13:10
  But there's not where I wanted to be in my third back,
• 13:13
  living at home in the spare room, which became my room, I guess.
• 13:19
  So it was hard in the sense that, like, I just
• 13:22
  wanted to know an exact time.
• 13:24
  Definitely.
• 13:25
  When you were going to be able to live.
• 13:27
  Because then I can look at, like, OK, maybe I can start
• 13:29
  making some money here.
• 13:30
  I can move out.
• 13:32
  Like, eventually, I did.
• 13:33
  I moved in with a mate.
• 13:34
  OK.
• 13:35
  And you would have probably done that sooner if you had known.
• 13:38
  Would have done that soon, yeah, yeah.
• 13:40
  There was uncertainty the whole way through.
• 13:42
  But in some ways, it probably made it better as well.
• 13:46
  What do you think you wanted to leave in Australia?
• 13:49
  Because a lot of people, they're trying
• 13:50
  to move to Australia, right?
• 13:51
  They talk about the sun.
• 13:52
  They talk about being like fit, the good food,
• 13:56
  and all positive things.
• 13:57
  What were you trying to get away from?
• 13:58
  I see, when I think of Australia,
• 14:00
  I didn't think of any of those things.
• 14:01
  I think of like cost of living is really high.
• 14:05
  It's super competitive, especially like in the industry.
• 14:08
  I was in it.
• 14:09
  It's a hustle.
• 14:10
  OK.
• 14:11
  You know, Sydney is almost like a smaller version of New York,
• 14:14
  in the sense of like everyone's hustling.
• 14:16
  Everyone's grinding.
• 14:17
  Everyone's got a mission, and it's just like,
• 14:19
  I didn't want any of that.
• 14:21
  Like, I'm not motivated by money.
• 14:24
  I'm not motivated.
• 14:24
  Like, obviously, I need money.
• 14:26
  But I'm not.
• 14:27
  I would look at the people in the jobs above me
• 14:30
  that were like making insane amounts of money.
• 14:32
  And I'm like, I don't want to be you.
• 14:34
  You got the boat.
• 14:35
  You got the nice car.
• 14:37
  But I don't want your life.
• 14:38
  Sure.
• 14:40
  So I wasn't motivated by those things.
• 14:42
  For me, more motivated by like fine and experience.
• 14:45
  And I was willing to trade money for that.
• 14:47
  So my idea was to like make that 30 grand last as long as possible.
• 14:51
  And like supplement that with earning small amounts of money,
• 14:54
  but having a hell of a lot of fun, living life sort of on my own terms,
• 14:58
  like no schedule apart from when I had to go do things.
• 15:01
  But like, it's funny because you talk about the time in Australia
• 15:04
  and that the uncertainty made you uncomfortable.
• 15:06
  And yet, a lot of what you describe about your life outside of Australia
• 15:10
  feels very uncertain to me.
• 15:11
  Yeah, but that's up to me.
• 15:13
  That's on my terms.
• 15:16
  And that's kind of what I chase.
• 15:17
  Like, I don't like routine.
• 15:19
  OK.
• 15:21
  It's boring to me, especially when like wake up, drive to work, work 10 hours,
• 15:27
  stress, drive home, today was shit, eat food, go to sleep,
• 15:32
  and like rinse and repeat five days a week, all year to get a four week holiday.
• 15:37
  I hated that.
• 15:39
  So I wanted that uncertainty.
• 15:41
  And I was willing to, I was fine living on like two minute noodles
• 15:46
  and like living a very cheap, basic life for the sake of the freedom.
• 15:50
  For the sake of the freedom, yeah.
• 15:51
  There was some days I would spend like $5 and all I do is just like,
• 15:56
  I go for a walk, like somewhere, like so is beautiful.
• 16:00
  And you can go like really nice like walks, like mountains everywhere.
• 16:03
  And there was one behind my house, I could just like walk up the mountain.
• 16:06
  I was like, really beautiful.
• 16:08
  And like, I was really, I just had like this amazing day.
• 16:11
  And I spent like $5.
• 16:14
  And that's what I chased.
• 16:15
  How is life different in Thailand versus South Korea?
• 16:21
  It's so different for me in that like in Korea, I was completely integrated.
• 16:27
  Like all my friends, I had a couple of like, I think I had like one American friend,
• 16:31
  one German friend.
• 16:32
  But all the rest of my friends were Korean.
• 16:34
  OK.
• 16:34
  My lifestyle was very Korean.
• 16:36
  I spoke Korean.
• 16:37
  Oh, really?
• 16:38
  You have to.
• 16:39
  It was like that.
• 16:40
  I don't know if it's changed.
• 16:41
  But there's not a big expat.
• 16:42
  No, no, and I didn't live in like there is a like a foreign
• 16:47
  of friendly part of Seoul, but I didn't live.
• 16:49
  I actually didn't like it there.
• 16:51
  OK.
• 16:52
  I don't want to go hang out with other foreigners.
• 16:55
  That's changed now living in Thailand.
• 16:57
  But like the way I integrated there was far greater than here.
• 17:02
  And it wasn't really through lack of trying.
• 17:05
  I found it really hard to meet Thai guys at the beginning to become mates with, I can
• 17:09
  meet girls.
• 17:10
  But that's like a completely different thing.
• 17:13
  I was trying to find guys with similar interests.
• 17:16
  And the language barrier got me and I had a really hard time learning Thai.
• 17:20
  OK.
• 17:21
  It's super difficult.
• 17:22
  I picked up Korean really easily.
• 17:24
  Really?
• 17:25
  I mean, I worked hard, obviously.
• 17:27
  But like I could learn 10 words in a day like fine every day.
• 17:33
  And I'd just sort of aim for like 10 to 20 every day.
• 17:36
  And then just build your book out.
• 17:37
  And you build that.
• 17:38
  And like I knew all basic phrases and things like that.
• 17:41
  I tried learning when I was here in quarantine with like nothing to do.
• 17:44
  And I used the exact same like methods, everything.
• 17:47
  And I just really struggled with like the tone.
• 17:50
  Nothing sounds like anything like for Korean.
• 17:55
  All the Korean words, it rolls off the tongue the same as English.
• 17:57
  OK.
• 17:57
  And words that you will say will sound like other words in English.
• 18:03
  So I can just sort of like remember how to remember that word.
• 18:07
  The Thai is like nothing is like it.
• 18:09
  I thought I was good at languages until spending some time here.
• 18:13
  It's just the words don't sit in my mouth.
• 18:15
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 18:16
  The way they're supposed to.
• 18:17
  And I wake up the next morning and they go on.
• 18:19
  But I have this thing.
• 18:20
  If I can't pronounce the word, I can't remember the word.
• 18:23
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 18:23
  Like it just doesn't register.
• 18:25
  And so I completely completely get them.
• 18:27
  Let's go about the only one.
• 18:28
  No, I'm just.
• 18:30
  Yeah, my experience here is like very much shaped by that.
• 18:34
  And you can really live here in a bubble of speaking English.
• 18:39
  I have met a lot of people who live particularly in Bangkok.
• 18:42
  And whether they've come from the States or the UK.
• 18:45
  And they've picked up the same bubble, right?
• 18:47
  And they've just basically put it in Bangkok.
• 18:49
  It's not that they've necessarily immersed themselves into Thai culture.
• 18:53
  They're friends with the same types of people
• 18:54
  that they would be with if they were at home.
• 18:56
  And it just happens to be in an environment that they prefer.
• 18:59
  And I wonder how you have been here obviously for years.
• 19:03
  Is your experience more that you have now figured out how to integrate?
• 19:07
  I mean, I have integrated much more.
• 19:08
  OK.
• 19:09
  And especially I've moved out of the city.
• 19:11
  So I used to live not far from where we are now in Asok.
• 19:14
  And where I lived, like you can get away, English is fine.
• 19:19
  I've moved out into the suburbs.
• 19:20
  And I live like in a sort of a housing complex.
• 19:23
  And I meet more like Thai neighbors through that way.
• 19:26
  Also over the years, I started skateboarding again.
• 19:29
  And I'll meet guys in the skate park.
• 19:32
  Right.
• 19:33
  And I started to meet more friends.
• 19:34
  And then I was modifying a motorcycle and a car.
• 19:36
  OK.
• 19:37
  And I met people that way.
• 19:38
  So I have been able to over time.
• 19:40
  Sure.
• 19:41
  But my Korean friends, who are still my friends to this day,
• 19:45
  I met the majority of them in my first week.
• 19:48
  OK.
• 19:49
  So it's just a lot easier.
• 19:50
  Yeah, I found it much easier.
• 19:52
  And having that language base really made the difference.
• 19:56
  Also, this sounds terrible.
• 20:00
  I don't want to learn another way.
• 20:02
  I do want to get better at my time.
• 20:04
  My Thai is like survival.
• 20:07
  I'm fine day to day.
• 20:08
  But I can't have an in-depth conversation with someone.
• 20:12
  Do you still able to speak Korean?
• 20:14
  Yes.
• 20:15
  OK.
• 20:15
  Yeah, I've lost a lot.
• 20:17
  But I still watch career movies and dramas and stuff.
• 20:20
  And I have lost a lot.
• 20:22
  But I'll see it next month when I go.
• 20:24
  I'll see if it all comes back.
• 20:26
  But why did you choose to move a little bit
• 20:28
  further out of Bangkok?
• 20:30
  I just got tired of the traffic.
• 20:31
  The traffic is no joke.
• 20:34
  I've never seen, I've lived in New York.
• 20:36
  I've lived in London.
• 20:37
  I've lived in cities with traffic, babes, these traffic.
• 20:41
  No, it's stressful.
• 20:42
  It's stressful using, yeah.
• 20:44
  So I lived on one of the worst streets.
• 20:46
  Soy 21, which is like the main road through us all.
• 20:49
  OK.
• 20:50
  And if I would go do something, like,
• 20:52
  I'm out shooting videos every day.
• 20:54
  So I'm out somewhere.
• 20:55
  And if I want to just like, I'm tired,
• 20:56
  I want to just take a taxi home.
• 20:58
  I can't.
• 20:58
  Or like the last part of my drive sucks.
• 21:01
  It takes forever.
• 21:02
  And I go to motorbike, which I like never rode
• 21:04
  because like my streets sucked.
• 21:06
  And like, it's the first experience I have
• 21:08
  and then the last.
• 21:09
  So just like battling that, like, it's insane.
• 21:12
  Like, I will send you some video over, like, if you want.
• 21:15
  But just like the traffic with the bikes in the afternoons,
• 21:18
  I would park the bike.
• 21:20
  I remember I parked the bike from like,
• 21:21
  I'm never riding that fucking thing again.
• 21:23
  And I love riding bikes.
• 21:24
  Sure.
• 21:25
  So I got to make the lives on the other side of the river
• 21:27
  over, like, I can say, I'm working.
• 21:29
  And one day I went to hang out with him
• 21:31
  and he just like, picked me up in his car.
• 21:33
  And I was like, well, this is ambitious.
• 21:35
  And we just like drove to a spot for lunch.
• 21:36
  And then we drove to like a cafe.
• 21:38
  And then it's like, when to get a kid up from school
• 21:40
  and we drove there.
• 21:41
  And I was like, oh my god, this is this level of freedom
• 21:43
  that I have experienced.
• 21:45
  And it's half an hour out of the city.
• 21:46
  Like, we're not far at all.
• 21:48
  But you gain a lot more.
• 21:49
  Gain a lot more so I don't have a car or a bike.
• 21:51
  And it's just like a completely different experience.
• 21:55
  I loved living in the city, but it was time after three years
• 21:59
  I was there.
• 22:00
  Do you remember the first time you arrived in Thailand?
• 22:02
  My very first time?
• 22:03
  Yeah.
• 22:04
  Oh god, that's a story, actually.
• 22:05
  Oh, really?
• 22:07
  It's a good one, actually.
• 22:07
  I was there, yeah, yeah.
• 22:08
  So like, I was drinking with a bunch of mates in Australia.
• 22:12
  And we'd been drinking for a few days.
• 22:15
  It was sort of the end of a bit of a benda.
• 22:17
  And one of my mates is like, let's go to Thailand.
• 22:19
  We'd booked a trip for later in the year.
• 22:21
  OK.
• 22:22
  I'm like, yeah, we're going.
• 22:22
  And it's like, now.
• 22:25
  And I was like, we're at my place.
• 22:26
  I walked into my bedroom and got my passport.
• 22:28
  I'm like, oh, call your bluff.
• 22:29
  And it's like, I booked a taxi.
• 22:32
  We're going.
• 22:33
  And I'm like, all right, fuck it.
• 22:35
  Let's go.
• 22:36
  And we just went.
• 22:37
  And like, literally, you drove straight to the airport.
• 22:39
  I had no luggage.
• 22:40
  I took a phone charger and something ridiculous.
• 22:43
  I had to buy everything.
• 22:45
  And I went with two friends.
• 22:48
  And we just said, like, fuck it.
• 22:49
  Let's go.
• 22:50
  I've arrived in Bangkok.
• 22:53
  And I had to work the next day.
• 22:55
  So I had to call my boss.
• 22:57
  I was much younger, way more irresponsible.
• 23:00
  I didn't have a serious job.
• 23:01
  It was just like, I just worked in a bar of a restaurant.
• 23:04
  So I called the boss.
• 23:05
  And I was like, hey, man, I can't come into work tomorrow.
• 23:08
  And he's like, what about today?
• 23:09
  And I'm like, I've shipped with lost a day.
• 23:11
  Yeah, of course.
• 23:12
  I'm like, I can't come today.
• 23:13
  And he's like, why?
• 23:14
  And I'm like, I'm in Bangkok.
• 23:16
  He's like, what?
• 23:17
  I was like, we came drunk.
• 23:19
  Like, I've sobered up on the plane.
• 23:20
  And I've just realized, like, what's happening?
• 23:23
  And he's like, how long have you booked for?
• 23:25
  I was like, I don't know.
• 23:26
  Like, I asked my friend.
• 23:27
  He's like, I just got one way ticket.
• 23:28
  So he's like, you can have a week.
• 23:30
  OK.
• 23:31
  Your boss is doing much better than me.
• 23:32
  It was a legend.
• 23:33
  He's like, it's a cool story.
• 23:34
  He's like, you're in trouble when you get back.
• 23:36
  But this is cool.
• 23:36
  So I'm going to let you go.
• 23:37
  I love that.
• 23:38
  Have a week.
• 23:39
  And I think we pushed it out to like 10 days.
• 23:40
  I think I like texted him halfway through.
• 23:42
  And I was like, hey, we want to check out Puket.
• 23:43
  Can we see more?
• 23:45
  And he's like, yeah, yeah, go for it.
• 23:48
  So it was a wild experience my first time.
• 23:50
  Right.
• 23:50
  But yeah, it's incredible as well.
• 23:53
  And when you arrive here in Bangkok, you're sobered up.
• 23:55
  You kind of get what's going on.
• 23:57
  What is striking you?
• 23:58
  Like, what is super different?
• 24:00
  What are you noticing?
• 24:01
  I mean, the first thing was the weather.
• 24:02
  I remember because I'd go on in like jeans and hoodies.
• 24:04
  OK.
• 24:05
  And I had to buy clothes because I'm packing
• 24:06
  in because I'm a moron.
• 24:08
  So I was out to buy shorts.
• 24:10
  And I got to sing a beer t-shirt, like a typical tourist.
• 24:14
  Right.
• 24:14
  The fake Rolex, which later got stolen off me.
• 24:18
  But just the first thing was the chaos.
• 24:25
  And it's something I've grown to love is Bangkok
• 24:27
  has a real energy.
• 24:29
  And I love the energy here.
• 24:30
  It excites me.
• 24:33
  And yeah, I was just like sensory overload.
• 24:36
  Right.
• 24:37
  Really.
• 24:38
  And then you mix in like the heat, the community,
• 24:40
  like the pollution, the noise, everything else is like,
• 24:45
  wow, this is like another world.
• 24:46
  Right.
• 24:47
  But it opened up my eyes to travel.
• 24:50
  Because I've been to the US, I've been to New Zealand,
• 24:52
  I've been to other Western style countries.
• 24:54
  It was my first place in Asia.
• 24:56
  OK.
• 24:57
  And then just eating all the food and seeing how people live.
• 25:00
  And it's just like, how are you this place?
• 25:02
  Oh, I'm great, especially after living in Korea.
• 25:06
  But just, my parents always gave me
• 25:08
  like great, my parents are foodies.
• 25:10
  OK.
• 25:11
  Which was rubbed off for me.
• 25:12
  And then I was enjoyed eating, even when I was young,
• 25:15
  we eat Chinese food, Korean food, Japanese, Thai a lot.
• 25:19
  So I got lost with where I was going.
• 25:23
  But it was just an amazing experience for me.
• 25:26
  And made me want to travel more.
• 25:28
  Right.
• 25:29
  So then I became obsessed with Asia.
• 25:30
  And I just visited everywhere basically.
• 25:33
  And what kept you coming back?
• 25:35
  Because you described that you kept feeling like there
• 25:37
  was something drawing you back to Thailand.
• 25:40
  I mean, if you come with a group of boys,
• 25:42
  and that's what we always did, I was single.
• 25:44
  We got a lot of voice trips.
• 25:46
  And it's almost like, and I was probably the worst
• 25:49
  tourist thinking back.
• 25:52
  I didn't break any rules or anything like that.
• 25:53
  But it's got this lawless kind of feel to Thailand.
• 25:56
  Like anything goes.
• 25:57
  Right.
• 25:58
  You get that vibe.
• 25:59
  And when you're in your early 20s and you're
• 26:01
  coming here in holidays, you're just like,
• 26:04
  it was really affordable, it was the main thing.
• 26:06
  And I was broke all the time when I was young.
• 26:09
  And I get my tax return, come here and just live it up
• 26:12
  like a king for like two weeks, and then go back to work.
• 26:15
  Right.
• 26:16
  So it was just fun.
• 26:19
  And it was like a massive escape from the reality
• 26:22
  of working back in Australia.
• 26:24
  I actually wanted to leave here when I was younger,
• 26:26
  but just could never figure out how to do it.
• 26:28
  How to make it happen.
• 26:29
  So you decide that you're going to go full-time
• 26:31
  into content creation.
• 26:33
  When is this decision made?
• 26:34
  Is this because I'm in terms of timeline, right?
• 26:37
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 26:38
  So when I moved to Korea, I wanted that, obviously.
• 26:41
  And what did that mean?
• 26:42
  Because I feel that content creation
• 26:46
  means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.
• 26:48
  For some people, it is they create content for other brands,
• 26:51
  for other people.
• 26:52
  They are the brand.
• 26:53
  When you are initially making this plan,
• 26:55
  what was the vision for you?
• 26:57
  So to backtrack, I had a YouTube channel in 2016
• 27:03
  reacting to Korean hip-hop videos.
• 27:05
  OK, there's a lot of Korean hip-hop videos.
• 27:08
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 27:09
  It's a massive genre.
• 27:11
  And I was like a white guy reacting to that.
• 27:14
  Right.
• 27:15
  Incredibly interesting to Korean people.
• 27:17
  And because I could pick up on the language a bit.
• 27:19
  When you say reacting, I was one of those guys that
• 27:22
  would watch a music video.
• 27:23
  Right.
• 27:24
  Like, yeah, oh, this is cool.
• 27:25
  I like how he's doing that.
• 27:26
  I like this.
• 27:28
  They're awful.
• 27:29
  I watched him back now.
• 27:31
  But that channel was wildly successful.
• 27:33
  OK.
• 27:33
  Because it was so unique and new.
• 27:35
  But I didn't know back then that you could monetize YouTube.
• 27:37
  So I did nothing with it.
• 27:39
  I eventually got bored and deleted the channel.
• 27:42
  But videos were wildly successful.
• 27:44
  Right.
• 27:45
  Then I started to learn that you can make a living off YouTube.
• 27:47
  And I was like, OK, this could be something I can do.
• 27:50
  YouTube's easy, because I've already done it once before.
• 27:52
  OK.
• 27:53
  When I moved to Korea in 2018, I was pursuing that,
• 27:56
  but not seriously enough.
• 27:59
  I was still doing reaction videos?
• 28:00
  No, no, no, I'd finished that long before.
• 28:02
  What is the format when?
• 28:04
  Vlogs, like a terrible version of what I do now.
• 28:08
  OK.
• 28:10
  So I would, I got to Korea and I was like,
• 28:12
  I started off really strong.
• 28:14
  And I was like, making videos every day and doing it.
• 28:17
  And I wasn't getting the success that I got the time before.
• 28:19
  Right.
• 28:20
  In hindsight, the success I was getting was good enough.
• 28:22
  OK.
• 28:23
  But I just didn't say it that way.
• 28:25
  Is it because you were just judging on numbers?
• 28:27
  Yeah, judging on numbers.
• 28:29
  And based off my previous experience,
• 28:31
  like a channel just exploding and like,
• 28:34
  I don't think like my fourth video got like 100,000 views.
• 28:36
  Right.
• 28:37
  So I'm like, this is what I should be getting.
• 28:39
  And when you're getting like 20 views on a video,
• 28:41
  I'm like, this is failing.
• 28:43
  But there was growth there.
• 28:44
  And it just wasn't at the rate that I had expected.
• 28:46
  Before.
• 28:48
  So I kind of gave up on that dream
• 28:49
  and I started doing like the jobs and stuff.
• 28:51
  But I would still make videos for fun.
• 28:52
  OK.
• 28:53
  I'm a creative person.
• 28:53
  I enjoy that.
• 28:54
  And I like documenting the experience.
• 28:56
  Right.
• 28:57
  Then I just kept doing it.
• 29:00
  And I was like, you know, getting more and more views
• 29:04
  and getting better at doing what I was doing.
• 29:06
  Then right before the pandemic, I was in the Philippines,
• 29:10
  except for my birthday.
• 29:11
  And I made a video that went viral for me,
• 29:14
  which was like a couple thousand views.
• 29:16
  When you're only getting like 30, 40, 50 views of video,
• 29:19
  like this is a big deal.
• 29:20
  What is the video?
• 29:22
  Oh, it wasn't even anything special.
• 29:23
  Like the same thing is what I've been doing.
• 29:25
  Sure.
• 29:26
  So I was like, OK, maybe there is something to this.
• 29:30
  And then I think I only made like one or two more videos
• 29:32
  and had to go back to Australia.
• 29:34
  What I did in that time in Australia
• 29:36
  was start to learn about how to be better on YouTube,
• 29:40
  how to understand the algorithm, how to still stuck at home
• 29:43
  by having nothing to do.
• 29:44
  So I started like obsessing over all this.
• 29:46
  OK.
• 29:47
  How to learn the backend stuff, which is super important
• 29:50
  that I wasn't doing any of.
• 29:51
  Right.
• 29:52
  And also how to be a better creator, a better filmmaker.
• 29:56
  See, I can't get my head around YouTube.
• 29:57
  I should just tell you.
• 29:58
  First of all, I definitely was not giving content creation
• 30:03
  the respect that it deserves like a year and a half ago.
• 30:07
  I think I'm really old fashioned.
• 30:08
  And I love this.
• 30:09
  I love real people hearing.
• 30:11
  And I just see the way social media has changed people's
• 30:14
  behaviors in terms of constantly living
• 30:16
  for the sake of showcasing it.
• 30:19
  And it just didn't sit with me.
• 30:20
  And then I do these TV shows in the UK.
• 30:22
  And I'm thinking that those are going to be the things
• 30:24
  that are going to help my career progression.
• 30:26
  And then you do a show on like a real station, you know,
• 30:29
  it's national.
• 30:30
  And you're like, OK, this is going to help.
• 30:32
  And you're like, babes, no.
• 30:34
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 30:35
  And then I would, my agent would just be like,
• 30:37
  but what are you doing on your socials?
• 30:39
  TV commissioners would bring up your Instagram like in a meeting.
• 30:42
  And just like, what are you doing?
• 30:43
  I see your kids, what's that got to do with anything, right?
• 30:46
  And I realized that if I wanted to continue in the media space,
• 30:49
  I had to treat the social media aspect
• 30:52
  as I would any component of my business.
• 30:54
  And I started to like really put in the work and post daily
• 30:58
  and not just show a cute picture of my children
• 30:59
  that have nothing to do with anything.
• 31:01
  And then I realized how much work
• 31:03
  like goes into making it all happen.
• 31:06
  I think I focus first on Instagram.
• 31:09
  Then I started with a TikTok vibe.
• 31:11
  And my brain just can't get onto like long form content.
• 31:15
  And I think for a lot of people who are considering moving,
• 31:17
  the main thing people think about is,
• 31:19
  how am I going to live, right?
• 31:20
  How am I going to generate income so that my life is sustainable?
• 31:23
  And I do think a lot of people see content creation
• 31:27
  as an easy answer.
• 31:28
  And the reason I put it in air quotes
• 31:30
  is because if you have done it for any time at all,
• 31:32
  on any level, not necessarily even as successful as you,
• 31:35
  but on any level for consistency,
• 31:37
  you know that it is so far from the easy route.
• 31:40
  And I saw that you said that you did like a hundred videos
• 31:43
  in three months, which is serious volume, right?
• 31:46
  And I just wondered what allowed you to be motivated to be like,
• 31:51
  I'm just going to focus on volume.
• 31:53
  Even though you say you weren't getting the immediate traction
• 31:56
  that you received before.
• 31:58
  So that was, I did the hundred videos in a row
• 32:00
  when I came here.
• 32:02
  When I moved to Thailand, I had only $10,000 to my name,
• 32:06
  Australian dollars, which is like probably like $6,000.
• 32:11
  You are.
• 32:12
  OK.
• 32:13
  And this is like the end of the line for me.
• 32:14
  Like the pandemic had wiped me out.
• 32:17
  And I had a bit of savings, but like getting over here
• 32:20
  was expensive and everything.
• 32:22
  And so it was pure desperation.
• 32:25
  OK.
• 32:26
  I had that money, and when that money finished,
• 32:29
  I was moving back to my parents' place
• 32:32
  to figure out the next step, unless like by some magic career
• 32:37
  happened to open in that time, and I could get there
• 32:39
  and start earning.
• 32:40
  But like, I had no choice.
• 32:43
  So I came, and I knew that coming in.
• 32:47
  So I put in all the work to learn everything.
• 32:49
  I wanted to learn.
• 32:50
  And then I just had to come here and apply all those things.
• 32:53
  Right.
• 32:54
  And it was sink or swim.
• 32:56
  But I wanted to be, if I failed, and I was taking that plane
• 33:01
  back home, I wanted to be sitting on that plane
• 33:03
  with no regret saying there was nothing else I could have done.
• 33:06
  So for me, that was make a video every day.
• 33:08
  OK.
• 33:10
  Tired, make a video, hungover, make a video.
• 33:12
  Like, no excuses.
• 33:14
  Right.
• 33:15
  And only do, like I've always focused on so many things.
• 33:17
  I've like, you know, I mean, I'm doing it now, too.
• 33:20
  I've like, you know, modifying a car.
• 33:22
  I've got a motorbike, I mean, to skateboarding.
• 33:24
  I enjoy all these like hobbies.
• 33:26
  Right.
• 33:27
  But I was just all that.
• 33:28
  Laser focus is one thing.
• 33:30
  Because it had to work.
• 33:32
  Otherwise, I didn't know what the next chapter of my life was.
• 33:35
  Right.
• 33:36
  So I did all that learning.
• 33:38
  And I just came here and applied that.
• 33:40
  And I'd made, yeah, I'd made almost 100 videos
• 33:45
  before I don't ascend.
• 33:46
  OK.
• 33:47
  Off YouTube.
• 33:49
  Which was fine.
• 33:50
  But I started only really quickly once I started it.
• 33:52
  It started once the momentum got going.
• 33:54
  But I think going back to what you said of, like,
• 33:56
  people look at content creation as being easy.
• 33:59
  I think a lot of people do that, but they're not creative people.
• 34:03
  Right.
• 34:04
  For me, I already had like a little bit of a head start
• 34:07
  in that I enjoyed making videos.
• 34:08
  I made them for fun.
• 34:09
  I did it for no profit.
• 34:11
  Sure.
• 34:12
  And I think people will often look, especially for YouTube,
• 34:15
  like long form.
• 34:17
  We'll look at that and be like, that's easy.
• 34:18
  I can do that.
• 34:19
  And you've got to learn so much.
• 34:21
  You've got to learn how to use the camera.
• 34:22
  You've got to learn the editing.
• 34:23
  Do you do all your editing?
• 34:24
  Yeah, yeah.
• 34:25
  OK.
• 34:26
  I don't see myself giving that away.
• 34:27
  Why?
• 34:28
  I think that's where the magic is.
• 34:29
  OK.
• 34:30
  I think if I gave what I take to an editor,
• 34:33
  they'd be like, what the fuck is this?
• 34:36
  The way I edit, I think you tell a story in the editor.
• 34:42
  I go out and plan very much the story
• 34:44
  before I go do that.
• 34:45
  But the editing is something that I think really helps.
• 34:49
  Is there any aspect of that side of your business
• 34:53
  that you don't like?
• 34:55
  The only thing I hate is emails and invoices.
• 34:57
  OK, cool.
• 34:58
  That feels like work.
• 34:59
  But the creative process, I don't enjoy editing.
• 35:06
  I enjoy when the video is finished.
• 35:09
  And I enjoy the fact that I've created what I wanted
• 35:13
  in my brain, but the sitting down editing part,
• 35:17
  the having to post daily, I don't enjoy.
• 35:21
  But I enjoy chatting, because clearly that's
• 35:23
  what we're doing now.
• 35:25
  And but I grew to you in the sense that I have in the past
• 35:28
  like sent lots of clips to someone
• 35:30
  to see if they can create what I have in my mind
• 35:33
  with a brief, you know, outlining.
• 35:34
  And it just never hits the way I wanted it to.
• 35:37
  And so I end up being stuck with it myself.
• 35:39
  I will say that I was running restaurants, have two children,
• 35:43
  and a lot was going on.
• 35:44
  And I feel like if I had started this, a younger me
• 35:46
  where I didn't have those other responsibilities,
• 35:49
  I think, like you say, being able to kind of just focus on it,
• 35:52
  I think would improve my experience,
• 35:54
  because it just feels like there was never enough time.
• 35:56
  I went through that same feeling of I enjoyed starting
• 36:01
  to edit the video, hated editing the video,
• 36:04
  and then I enjoyed the finished products.
• 36:06
  That eventually, I think the repetition of like shooting something
• 36:11
  and then editing it and making it your own
• 36:14
  is really rewarding.
• 36:15
  And that's why you like the end part.
• 36:17
  But the repetition of doing that time and time again,
• 36:19
  you get better at that, you get more efficient at that.
• 36:21
  And it becomes more of an enjoyable experience.
• 36:24
  Now I love editing, because my timeline is so much better for that.
• 36:28
  I will shoot one day, edit, upload the next.
• 36:30
  And if I don't finish it, it'll be next time.
• 36:32
  Okay.
• 36:34
  I'm not...
• 36:35
  When I was posting every day, it's so I could earn every day.
• 36:37
  Right.
• 36:38
  Now I have more freedom.
• 36:39
  So I enjoy that process,
• 36:41
  because I get to take my time with a little more
• 36:43
  and there's this far less pressure on myself.
• 36:45
  Do you think that you can be successful online
• 36:48
  if you didn't enjoy the process?
• 36:50
  Because it sounds like you genuinely enjoy.
• 36:52
  You were saying you were making videos even before the money.
• 36:54
  And I'm just wondering, for people who are like,
• 36:56
  that is gonna be my ticket to financial freedom.
• 36:59
  It's a very different attitude
• 37:01
  to I actually just enjoy the process.
• 37:03
  Yeah, yeah.
• 37:04
  Then you need to approach it like work.
• 37:06
  Okay.
• 37:07
  And I do still approach it very much like work
• 37:10
  and I call it a business.
• 37:12
  Right.
• 37:13
  And I trade it like a business.
• 37:14
  But I think what I think is alluring to people is like,
• 37:19
  oh, I just get to walk around with the camera
• 37:21
  and just have fun and I'm just gonna live my life
• 37:24
  and the money's gonna come.
• 37:25
  Right.
• 37:26
  But it is work.
• 37:27
  And especially at the beginning,
• 37:28
  you need to put in God, I was putting in seven days away.
• 37:32
  Right.
• 37:33
  My whole life was about that.
• 37:35
  So.
• 37:36
  But did you feel like you were chasing this adventure
• 37:40
  and it sounds like the adventure was a little bit crippled,
• 37:43
  during the initial phases to focus on this?
• 37:46
  But you were still happy to trade one job for another job?
• 37:50
  Yeah, especially when you start getting the success.
• 37:54
  Okay.
• 37:54
  That motivates you.
• 37:55
  Right.
• 37:56
  It's really hard when you're not seeing success.
• 37:58
  When your videos are not doing what you hoped
• 38:01
  and you pour your heart and soul into something,
• 38:03
  you edit for hours and hours and nobody cares
• 38:06
  and people leave nasty comments.
• 38:08
  Do you think there's a science too?
• 38:10
  Because I feel as someone said that like social media
• 38:14
  is a bit like gambling at Vegas, right?
• 38:16
  Like a slot machine and you put through
• 38:18
  and the more you play, the more chances you have of winning.
• 38:20
  And from a personal perspective,
• 38:21
  the few videos that I have that have gone like super big
• 38:24
  and for me, super big is like three million views, right?
• 38:27
  I genuinely have no idea why so many people want
• 38:30
  to watch it.
• 38:31
  I have a beach video.
• 38:32
  I think you saw it, right?
• 38:33
  I bought a similar one.
• 38:34
  And I'm like, why has this generated so many views
• 38:38
  and so much interaction?
• 38:39
  And from someone like myself, I love to plan.
• 38:42
  I love like the academics and the formulas.
• 38:45
  And I want to understand why.
• 38:47
  And I have no idea why.
• 38:49
  I have since tried to create the same exact vibe
• 38:51
  on other beaches elsewhere.
• 38:53
  And it's like, you get five thousand.
• 38:55
  That's why I hate short form content to talk on Instagram.
• 39:00
  Because there is, obviously the content has to be good.
• 39:04
  I think shareable content seems to do well.
• 39:07
  Okay.
• 39:07
  So maybe people saw that similar on beach
• 39:10
  and that sent that to someone else.
• 39:11
  To people like, hey, let's go here.
• 39:13
  Right.
• 39:13
  And I think things like that help.
• 39:15
  You're bringing someone to the platform that wasn't on it.
• 39:17
  Sure.
• 39:18
  So I think I do think platforms reward that.
• 39:21
  But like my girlfriend has a TikTok
• 39:24
  and she just makes like cute videos of us
• 39:27
  and eating and stuff.
• 39:28
  But then we start getting these ones like over a million views.
• 39:31
  Right.
• 39:32
  And it's like, we're just eating lunch.
• 39:33
  Like there is nothing good about this video.
• 39:35
  It's just us being stupid eating food.
• 39:38
  Right.
• 39:40
  And they'll get millions of views like why?
• 39:41
  And then we'll make the exact same video
• 39:43
  in the same restaurant, same museum.
• 39:44
  And it doesn't hit the same level.
• 39:45
  And it doesn't hit.
• 39:46
  Yeah.
• 39:47
  YouTube is a bit more of a formula.
• 39:50
  Okay.
• 39:51
  It rewards how many people click it
• 39:53
  and how long they're watchful.
• 39:54
  Right.
• 39:55
  At its most basic form.
• 39:56
  So you feel that you can be more strategic
• 39:59
  from a growth perspective on YouTube compared to?
• 40:01
  Yeah.
• 40:02
  The knowledge that I learned in my time in Australia
• 40:05
  really helps me.
• 40:06
  Because I worked really hard at getting the engagement,
• 40:09
  getting people to watch the whole video.
• 40:12
  And that's something to this day.
• 40:14
  I'm quite good at it.
• 40:15
  It is retaining an audience.
• 40:19
  And YouTube, it's a tough one,
• 40:22
  but I think it's much more of a science.
• 40:24
  Short form, I don't know.
• 40:25
  And I've tried making videos for short form
• 40:27
  and they all tank.
• 40:28
  But I'm like, I can make a great video, a great movie,
• 40:32
  I can make a great ad, I can, like, short form.
• 40:34
  I don't know, I suck.
• 40:35
  I feel like it's the world's world's worst.
• 40:36
  And it's just, it's more chance.
• 40:38
  And I think the fact that it's more chance
• 40:41
  makes me more uncomfortable.
• 40:43
  Yeah, of course, yeah.
• 40:44
  I like the far less.
• 40:45
  You're gonna be skillful, yeah.
• 40:46
  I want to know what works.
• 40:47
  And I want to be able to repeat this again.
• 40:49
  If you had not been successful in this content creation,
• 40:54
  you said that you would have gone home.
• 40:55
  How do you think your life, as in not work wise,
• 40:58
  just you Adam, how would your life have been different?
• 41:02
  Oh my God, I don't, I don't know how that would have gone.
• 41:06
  I, that wasn't even an option in my mind.
• 41:09
  Okay.
• 41:10
  It was the last option.
• 41:12
  Right.
• 41:12
  If I had to take it.
• 41:13
  But you weren't considering it.
• 41:14
  But I was hell-bent on it.
• 41:16
  Like I had no plan B.
• 41:17
  Right.
• 41:18
  I don't believe in plan B's.
• 41:18
  Okay.
• 41:19
  I don't like them at all,
• 41:20
  because that means you're just accepting that it may fail
• 41:23
  and it may be.
• 41:23
  I always say, if you give yourself no other option,
• 41:26
  you will always win.
• 41:27
  And I don't necessarily meet it in terms of online.
• 41:29
  I say it with children.
• 41:30
  So my kids don't eat any refined sugar.
• 41:32
  They don't watch any screens.
• 41:34
  And people are like, oh, no, that's not realistic.
• 41:36
  I'm like, but if you pretended the television was not there.
• 41:39
  If you pretended it did not exist
• 41:41
  when you needed to go brush your teeth,
• 41:42
  your brain will find a way to make brushing your teeth
• 41:45
  without the TV work.
• 41:46
  And the minute you say, oh, I could just have five minutes.
• 41:49
  Oh, I could just have 10 minutes.
• 41:50
  Then that automatically becomes an option.
• 41:54
  Yeah, I think we also trick ourselves into thinking
• 41:57
  that having too many options isn't a problem.
• 42:01
  So I get why you don't have a plan B.
• 42:03
  And I'm laughing because yesterday,
• 42:04
  this whole project, right,
• 42:06
  like doing these interviews, speaking with people,
• 42:09
  for me, it's completely out of my comfort zone.
• 42:11
  And I don't have a plan B.
• 42:13
  I don't even know what hell I'm doing.
• 42:14
  And that makes me so uncomfortable.
• 42:17
  But I'm like, how long should I be uncomfortable for?
• 42:21
  I don't have the answer, by the way.
• 42:22
  I can't tell you, if you are uncomfortable,
• 42:24
  I can't tell you're doing a great job.
• 42:26
  But in your, did you have a timeline
• 42:29
  on how long you were willing to be in that space
• 42:32
  of uncertainty?
• 42:34
  Until that 10 grand disappear.
• 42:36
  Disappeared.
• 42:37
  And then the last thousand was the flat home.
• 42:40
  Or however much it was going to be.
• 42:43
  I started earning quite quickly.
• 42:45
  OK.
• 42:46
  Like, third month, I think I started earning.
• 42:51
  And then the success of saying that pushed me harder.
• 42:55
  Sure.
• 42:55
  And then that grew quite quickly.
• 42:58
  Do you think you could do the same exact thing?
• 42:59
  No.
• 43:00
  Obviously, you've been doing this for some time.
• 43:01
  And I feel like it's more competitive.
• 43:03
  Would that be fair to say?
• 43:04
  There's more people online.
• 43:05
  I often think about that.
• 43:07
  OK.
• 43:08
  My arrogance tells me, yes, I could.
• 43:10
  Because like, and so many people, like,
• 43:13
  I've heard this as a criticism.
• 43:14
  Like, I was easy for you during that time
• 43:17
  because those less competition and blah, blah, blah.
• 43:20
  But it's like, OK.
• 43:22
  But we're also at the forefront of what is now a niche.
• 43:26
  And the people that were successful then, if you look at them,
• 43:29
  they make the best content.
• 43:30
  Sure.
• 43:31
  And I think my competitive advantage is, when I started,
• 43:35
  I was already had a good understanding
• 43:38
  of what a good video was.
• 43:39
  And I was OK at making them.
• 43:41
  They're not to the level I'm at now.
• 43:44
  I think if I started now, a brand new channel, I'd be fine.
• 43:46
  OK.
• 43:47
  That's just the four years of experience I have
• 43:50
  being full-time with it.
• 43:51
  But I would like to think that the quality of content,
• 43:56
  the cream will rise to the top.
• 43:58
  Do you foresee it changing in terms of the industry?
• 44:02
  Do you foresee, like, for example, if you're an athlete,
• 44:04
  you know that you're going to probably
• 44:06
  be playing football until you're 35, right?
• 44:08
  And then you're like, cool retirement plan.
• 44:10
  How does it work in terms of your thought process
• 44:12
  on content creation?
• 44:14
  It's a fascinating thing.
• 44:16
  Because I don't know.
• 44:18
  It's really uncertain, especially with all the way.
• 44:21
  AI is advancing.
• 44:24
  I truly believe, and I hope that people
• 44:28
  will still crave human interaction.
• 44:32
  AI is going to get to a point where
• 44:33
  it's, you know, we won't have actors in movies, right?
• 44:38
  You'll tell them, AI, what movie you want to want?
• 44:40
  I want to watch, like, a Fast and Furious style movie
• 44:43
  with this and this, and this.
• 44:44
  And I'll create a movie for you.
• 44:46
  But I do think people will always want to see other human,
• 44:49
  like real people, or at least I hope that.
• 44:53
  I think the way AI is developing, I think.
• 44:57
  And also, like, I'm sure platforms are
• 44:59
  very aware of the future of content creators and everything.
• 45:05
  Platforms like YouTube rely on that.
• 45:06
  We make the videos that they advertise on that makes the money.
• 45:10
  So I would like to think they have our best interests
• 45:13
  at heart.
• 45:14
  What has been an interesting challenge that we've faced
• 45:18
  is like, with the uprise of short-form content, right?
• 45:22
  If you create a TikTok account today
• 45:24
  and you post a video, you'll get, I don't know how many views.
• 45:27
  At least 100, right?
• 45:29
  YouTube used to be, you post your first video,
• 45:32
  you might get one view, two views, five views.
• 45:35
  Like, it didn't show you to many people.
• 45:37
  Right.
• 45:38
  That makes TikTok really appealing to new creators.
• 45:41
  It makes YouTube very unappealing.
• 45:42
  Okay.
• 45:43
  Knowing that I got to make 100 videos before I get any kind
• 45:47
  of chance, turns people off.
• 45:49
  So they've started pushing you up from the get-go a lot more.
• 45:52
  Yes.
• 45:53
  And you may notice on your homepage,
• 45:54
  there'll be small creators or videos with not many views.
• 45:57
  I see stuff that doesn't even interest me on my homepage.
• 46:00
  Right.
• 46:01
  That's just YouTube trying to help the little guy
• 46:03
  and trying to help the new people.
• 46:05
  That has impacted larger creators.
• 46:07
  Okay.
• 46:08
  And that's a problem that I believe is being addressed.
• 46:12
  Because I look at a case study many people
• 46:15
  and just be creators I enjoy watching.
• 46:17
  So many people don't get the views they used to.
• 46:19
  Right.
• 46:20
  But that content hasn't gotten worse or anything like that.
• 46:22
  It's just being spread more.
• 46:25
  Right.
• 46:26
  And as a creator, I'm guessing the only thing
• 46:28
  that you can control is your consistency and your quality.
• 46:31
  And you kind of have to just leave the rest.
• 46:33
  That's right.
• 46:33
  I mean, I just want to always work on developing
• 46:35
  and having an ongoing storyline to keep people coming back.
• 46:39
  What is your ongoing storyline after four years?
• 46:42
  I think it's just been the evolution of my life.
• 46:44
  Okay.
• 46:46
  And that's something I think people have enjoyed
• 46:47
  I've had that in comments.
• 46:48
  Like I watch you come out here, you were single and like,
• 46:52
  I came with not much and then I started seeing success
• 46:55
  and I started seeing money and I was like having fun
• 46:57
  and partying and dating and like doing all this stuff.
• 47:00
  But then I settled down and I moved out of the city
• 47:01
  and I started doing up a car and got moved into a house
• 47:04
  and got a long-term girlfriend.
• 47:06
  So they're just with you in the journey?
• 47:07
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, I believe that's it.
• 47:10
  And you know, the travel always helps
• 47:12
  like going back to Korea next month.
• 47:14
  Okay.
• 47:15
  For the first time since I live there.
• 47:17
  So I think there's these little ongoing things
• 47:19
  that keep people coming back and stop you
• 47:21
  from becoming style.
• 47:22
  Okay.
• 47:24
  Your girlfriend, how is dating in Thailand before you met her?
• 47:29
  Because I hear it's a lot easier for the men babes
• 47:31
  and that the women are finding it hard out in these streets.
• 47:34
  It is, oh god, I'm gonna say something horrible here.
• 47:38
  Tell me.
• 47:39
  It's really easy to meet girls here.
• 47:40
  Okay.
• 47:41
  That's undeniable.
• 47:42
  Right.
• 47:43
  It's quite hard as a foreigner that doesn't speak Thai
• 47:46
  to meet someone that you would want to spend,
• 47:49
  have a long-term relationship with.
• 47:50
  Okay.
• 47:51
  The types of girls that you will easily meet
• 47:54
  or typically meet, they speak English
• 47:56
  because they've been with a bunch of foreign guys
• 47:58
  or the girls that I would want for a long-term partner
• 48:05
  typically don't speak English.
• 48:06
  Okay.
• 48:07
  That's where the language barrier really comes in.
• 48:11
  My girlfriend's not Thai.
• 48:12
  Okay.
• 48:13
  Where's she from?
• 48:14
  I don't really share that.
• 48:15
  Oh, sorry.
• 48:16
  No, that's fine, that's fine.
• 48:17
  I just, this is like a level of everything.
• 48:18
  No problem.
• 48:20
  She's very South East Asia.
• 48:21
  And you met her in Thailand.
• 48:23
  Well, Asia, sorry.
• 48:24
  Yes, yeah, I met in Thailand.
• 48:25
  Okay, cool.
• 48:27
  And but like, so dating's a whole lot of fun.
• 48:30
  He, if you're just looking at it for fun
• 48:32
  and they're not serious.
• 48:34
  I hadn't met anyone that I considered having
• 48:39
  a long-term relationship with
• 48:40
  until I met my current partner.
• 48:42
  Thank you.
• 48:43
  Funny, just weird fact is that only one of my close friends
• 48:46
  has a Thai partner.
• 48:48
  Okay.
• 48:49
  Everybody else here has...
• 48:51
  Someone international.
• 48:52
  Yes, someone international,
• 48:53
  whether it's other parts of Asia or...
• 48:54
  Sure.
• 48:55
  And that comes down to language barrier
• 48:57
  and us being awful foreigners
• 48:58
  that don't speak the local language.
• 49:00
  Sure.
• 49:01
  When you met your partner,
• 49:02
  were you meeting her with the intention of
• 49:05
  I'm looking for a long-term partner?
• 49:06
  Or was it just that the circumstances made you think
• 49:09
  actually this could be a long-term option for me?
• 49:11
  A little bit in the middle.
• 49:12
  So I met her.
• 49:14
  We met on Tinder.
• 49:15
  I was just about to ask.
• 49:15
  Everyone I have spoken to has met online,
• 49:18
  like every single person.
• 49:19
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 49:20
  And apparently Thai Tinder is upper level
• 49:23
  compared to like other tinders.
• 49:25
  In terms of the caliber of...
• 49:27
  It's great to be a Western guy.
• 49:28
  Is it?
• 49:29
  Yeah.
• 49:31
  On Tinder, it's amazing.
• 49:33
  So we met and just from talking to her,
• 49:36
  I realized, okay, this is not one of these girls
• 49:38
  that's just going to be like a one-night thing
• 49:42
  or anything like that.
• 49:45
  So I did meet a couple of interesting people
• 49:50
  that I saw that there was potential for a future.
• 49:53
  But every time I would travel
• 49:55
  and then I'd be gone for like three weeks.
• 49:56
  Right.
• 49:57
  And that would just fall apart.
• 49:58
  Okay.
• 49:59
  So I came back from a trip to China
• 50:03
  and then I had no more trips coming up
• 50:04
  for like the next three months.
• 50:05
  Okay.
• 50:06
  Do you tend to travel like around every three months?
• 50:10
  It's all over the shop.
• 50:11
  I don't really have a plan.
• 50:13
  A plan?
• 50:14
  We're on the adventure babes.
• 50:15
  Yeah, sort of like Vietnam,
• 50:17
  we're just, it was only just recently like,
• 50:19
  hey, let's get a Vietnam.
• 50:20
  Okay.
• 50:20
  So you needed someone that was going to be cool
• 50:22
  with the spontaneity of get up and go
• 50:24
  or you might get up and go.
• 50:25
  Yeah, yeah, that.
• 50:27
  But also like, I had no travel coming out.
• 50:29
  So I was like, okay, this is a good opportunity.
• 50:30
  Like I can meet this girl, go out and see if it has potential.
• 50:34
  And we just like clicked really well, really quickly.
• 50:39
  And the only obstacle that I,
• 50:41
  for saw was going to be traveled.
• 50:43
  Okay.
• 50:44
  And how is she going to take that?
• 50:45
  I'm going away for three weeks
• 50:48
  and I need to do this several times a year.
• 50:50
  Sure.
• 50:51
  And it went surprisingly well.
• 50:52
  So we've had no issues and it's been great.
• 50:56
  I'm anything.
• 50:57
  Do you guys foresee that you will stay in Thailand together
• 51:01
  or do you guys foresee that you could go elsewhere?
• 51:03
  I have no idea.
• 51:05
  Okay.
• 51:07
  She studies university here.
• 51:08
  She graduates mid next year.
• 51:10
  Cool.
• 51:11
  And then she'll do like work placement.
• 51:14
  Right.
• 51:16
  So she'll be given an opportunity here.
• 51:19
  And then I'm solid here.
• 51:22
  Right.
• 51:23
  I would like to say for the foreseeable,
• 51:24
  I would like to thank for this foreseeable future.
• 51:26
  Yeah.
• 51:26
  Open to living in other countries.
• 51:30
  We talk about the possibility of like Korea or Japan.
• 51:33
  Right.
• 51:34
  But within Asia.
• 51:35
  Within Asia, I think.
• 51:36
  Do you want to, Jen?
• 51:38
  Do you want kids?
• 51:40
  You know, for the first time, like, yeah.
• 51:42
  Oh, but I've always been on the,
• 51:45
  if I have kids, cool, if I don't,
• 51:47
  I'm also fine.
• 51:48
  Okay.
• 51:49
  I didn't want to rush it.
• 51:50
  I'm not that sort of person.
• 51:51
  I kind of friends that were like,
• 51:52
  if I don't have kids by 30 or whatever, you know,
• 51:55
  do men have that conversation too?
• 51:57
  I thought that was a very female, like, time.
• 51:59
  I mean, yeah, that's, that's very much a female thing.
• 52:01
  But like, some guys do too.
• 52:02
  Okay.
• 52:04
  Or will be the exact opposite.
• 52:05
  Like, I'm never doing it, I was doing it.
• 52:07
  I was always like neutral on it.
• 52:09
  Like, it depends on the person.
• 52:11
  If I meet the person and they,
• 52:12
  and it's the right thing to do, yeah, that's fine.
• 52:15
  And you think that you could raise a family here in Bangkok?
• 52:18
  I think Thailand's great for especially at the beginning.
• 52:21
  Okay.
• 52:22
  You know, things like having a nanny here.
• 52:24
  So I have one of my close friends,
• 52:27
  just had a baby recently or six months ago.
• 52:30
  But just the, their experience, you know,
• 52:32
  they have a nanny that they pay like
• 52:35
  under a thousand dollars a month for sure.
• 52:37
  And it's just like, just makes it all that so much easier.
• 52:40
  You can get tutors here really affordable.
• 52:42
  You can have a nanny that is a tutor.
• 52:43
  Right.
• 52:45
  So that takes a lot of the pressure off.
• 52:48
  So I think Thailand is great for that
• 52:50
  from a financial standpoint.
• 52:51
  Right.
• 52:52
  And you said early years.
• 52:53
  So as a child gets older, do you think that their needs
• 52:57
  are greater than what her group provide?
• 52:59
  I just don't know about the education here.
• 53:02
  And not to say that it's bad.
• 53:03
  I just don't know.
• 53:04
  Of course.
• 53:05
  And what are the, what are the international schools here
• 53:07
  like?
• 53:08
  Are there any close to where we live, sort of,
• 53:10
  all those logistics?
• 53:12
  And I just, I know nothing.
• 53:13
  So I'm pretty fluid in where I live.
• 53:18
  I don't really care.
• 53:19
  As long as I can.
• 53:20
  What do you mean when you're looking at a destination to live?
• 53:23
  What are the things that I'm like that about travel?
• 53:27
  I went to Barcelona many, many years ago.
• 53:28
  And I just didn't have good food.
• 53:29
  I know that lots of people would disagree with me.
• 53:31
  And if I don't have good food in your country,
• 53:34
  I am not coming back.
• 53:35
  Have you been to the Philippines?
• 53:36
  No.
• 53:37
  Go, go, go.
• 53:38
  It's an amazing place.
• 53:39
  I'm due to go later this year.
• 53:41
  And I hope I don't trace off the whole Filipino community.
• 53:44
  But I've been to Filipino restaurants in London
• 53:46
  who are like the cook, the owner is Filipino
• 53:50
  from the Philippines.
• 53:51
  It's not someone adopting the culture.
• 53:53
  And babe, the food doesn't have no flavor.
• 53:56
  Yeah, it lacks complexity.
• 53:59
  That's polite.
• 54:00
  I like it.
• 54:01
  So I love the Philippines.
• 54:03
  Right, but we won't be living there because the food
• 54:04
  that I want, that's the only thing.
• 54:06
  Right.
• 54:07
  Getting around is like not the greatest thing in the world.
• 54:09
  But I fucking love Manila.
• 54:11
  Right.
• 54:12
  It's a cool city, great energy.
• 54:13
  The people are wonderful.
• 54:14
  Right.
• 54:15
  Like the friendliest people in the world,
• 54:17
  there's no language barrier they'll speak in English.
• 54:19
  It's amazing.
• 54:20
  Uh-huh.
• 54:21
  But I, the food just leaves me wanting more.
• 54:25
  That's so funny, because I've had this conversation
• 54:27
  in so many times.
• 54:28
  Even with my friends from Cambodia,
• 54:29
  they're like, yeah, just Filipino food is just not the one.
• 54:31
  It's just lacking, like, little lacking complexity,
• 54:34
  I think is a good way of putting it, because there's not,
• 54:37
  like Thai food, you wouldn't know.
• 54:39
  There's like so many herbs and spices.
• 54:41
  And so much goes into it.
• 54:42
  There's even you have street food.
• 54:43
  You just watch all the things they're putting in.
• 54:45
  You're like, okay, that's what I'm saying.
• 54:46
  What's your favorite Asian cuisine?
• 54:50
  It always changes.
• 54:51
  I do think Korean, but only because I lived there.
• 54:54
  And I got to know, like, as a local, right?
• 54:58
  Like, I would be able to spot out the best restaurants
• 55:02
  that had like the mom and pup restaurants,
• 55:03
  like the little grandma in there
• 55:05
  that just cooks like amazing food.
• 55:06
  And I got to know all the food that's like uncommon.
• 55:09
  Mm.
• 55:11
  But I love everywhere.
• 55:13
  Balinese food took me by surprise.
• 55:15
  Okay.
• 55:16
  I haven't been about it.
• 55:17
  Really?
• 55:18
  Okay.
• 55:19
  This year, with zero expectations, I didn't know,
• 55:22
  I don't even know why I was there to be fair.
• 55:23
  But after getting there, I just felt that the flavors,
• 55:28
  there was, I was there for a month,
• 55:29
  and I still felt like I had more things to eat.
• 55:31
  And I was eating, like, locally,
• 55:33
  the little warrons every day.
• 55:35
  And it has spice, but not just heat
• 55:37
  that going like blow off your head.
• 55:39
  You have all the other layers going on.
• 55:40
  And I also felt that in terms of choice of protein,
• 55:43
  there was more than Thailand.
• 55:44
  Like, you would have duck, you would have just other proteins.
• 55:48
  Whereas here, I find it to be very like shrimp, chicken,
• 55:50
  or pork, like lead.
• 55:52
  I don't like fresh water fish.
• 55:54
  So again, when you go to restaurants a lot of times,
• 55:56
  it's like fresh water fish that's being available.
• 55:58
  And I kind of feel like, for me,
• 56:00
  the flavors of Thailand kind of rotate
• 56:02
  between like five things.
• 56:04
  Whereas Bali felt a little bit broad.
• 56:06
  I can't speak to the rest of Indonesia.
• 56:08
  But also, I will say, when you're traveling with it
• 56:11
  for your old twins, the constant trips to the bathroom
• 56:15
  when the bathrooms aren't very luxurious,
• 56:18
  are quite daunting.
• 56:19
  So my point is that when we're in Bali,
• 56:20
  it was also perhaps the environment being just easier
• 56:24
  with kids that also improved my experience,
• 56:26
  but I 100% recommended.
• 56:28
  And do the kids love?
• 56:29
  Baby.
• 56:30
  The universe knew I needed kids who would eat everything.
• 56:33
  Honestly, it would be painful.
• 56:35
  Like the whole picky eater thing.
• 56:37
  Because food brings me so much joy,
• 56:39
  the idea that, you know, oh, we can't order this
• 56:41
  or we can't do that, would just change,
• 56:43
  I know for some people that like, oh, it's just food.
• 56:45
  But for me, it would really change our motherhood.
• 56:47
  Like, food is such an important part of my day,
• 56:51
  every day, right?
• 56:52
  Like, when I make plans for my girlfriend,
• 56:54
  the majority of the time is like, where are we gonna eat?
• 56:56
  Yes.
• 56:57
  And then let's plan the day around that.
• 56:58
  100%.
• 56:58
  Not like, what do you want to do today?
• 57:00
  It's like, where are we gonna eat?
• 57:01
  I'm with you.
• 57:02
  What's near that?
• 57:03
  Okay, cool, we'll do that.
• 57:04
  My kids will eat spice.
• 57:05
  And sometimes I think it's hot, right?
• 57:07
  But I never tell them that it's too hot.
• 57:09
  I let them go for it first.
• 57:10
  And they'll tell you, oh, where'd you make them?
• 57:11
  We can eat spice.
• 57:13
  So no, I love food.
• 57:14
  I'm with you on the food front.
• 57:15
  I couldn't live in a place where I couldn't access
• 57:18
  like really, really good food.
• 57:20
  Is there anything about living in Thailand
• 57:22
  that you think people don't appreciate
• 57:24
  and that you have to be here to know?
• 57:28
  Other than traffic.
• 57:29
  Okay, I think people come here on holidays
• 57:33
  and I've just done the exact same thing.
• 57:35
  I was in Vietnam for five days.
• 57:38
  Yeah, five days.
• 57:39
  And the whole time I was saying to my girlfriend,
• 57:41
  we kept saying like, oh, I could live here.
• 57:42
  Oh, I could live here.
• 57:43
  Let's live here.
• 57:44
  But that's not like, it's not a realistic view
• 57:47
  coming on holiday.
• 57:48
  Sure.
• 57:49
  So I think people come out here on holidays
• 57:50
  and they see like this, like my experience here
• 57:53
  when I used to come here in my 20s on holidays was wild.
• 57:56
  You know, I was just like living up the two-week millionaire.
• 57:58
  Sure.
• 57:59
  But that's not a realistic way of living.
• 58:01
  I see the mistake.
• 58:02
  A lot of people come, they move out here
• 58:04
  and they have a hard time finding themselves
• 58:07
  and finding their friend circle and finding a routine.
• 58:11
  You do need to be really disciplined
• 58:13
  in moving out here and not getting lost in the sorts.
• 58:18
  So I think coming out here with a plan,
• 58:22
  I learned from when I moved to career,
• 58:24
  I made all the mistakes.
• 58:25
  Right.
• 58:26
  And I documented that.
• 58:28
  I made videos about that when I was there.
• 58:30
  So before I moved here, I watched those videos back.
• 58:33
  Like, what can I learn from myself
• 58:34
  on the previous mistakes?
• 58:36
  So I was very disciplined and very laser focused
• 58:38
  and I didn't go out partying too much at the beginning
• 58:40
  and I was able to get really stick to a plan.
• 58:46
  But it's super hard when you move abroad
• 58:48
  because everything is exciting.
• 58:50
  And if you make the wrong friends
• 58:52
  and your friends are into the partying scene,
• 58:54
  then that becomes your thing that you do
• 58:56
  because if you don't see them,
• 58:57
  you don't go party, you don't see your friends.
• 59:00
  So surrounding yourself at the right people
• 59:02
  is key but way easier said than done.
• 59:05
  When you go out just day to day,
• 59:08
  do you always have content being on?
• 59:10
  So the reason I ask is because as a restaurateur,
• 59:13
  when I go to restaurants, don't get wrong,
• 59:15
  I love the vibe, but best believe I'm like,
• 59:17
  why do they have so many staff?
• 59:19
  That person's not doing anything.
• 59:20
  If you have time to rest, you have time to clean something.
• 59:23
  Oh, the cotterie, hmm, the dishwasher needs cleaning.
• 59:26
  Like my brain goes into overdrive
• 59:27
  and luckily in the past, I've been with people
• 59:29
  who are also in hospitality.
• 59:30
  So it doesn't bother them
• 59:31
  because they're doing the same thing as well.
• 59:33
  Whereas when I'm around people
• 59:34
  who aren't in the industry,
• 59:36
  I kind of hold my tongue back
• 59:38
  because that's not interesting.
• 59:39
  That's not normal conversation.
• 59:41
  So I'm wondering when you're just out and about,
• 59:43
  are you thinking, oh, this would be good for content
• 59:46
  or is it completely separate?
• 59:49
  I do, I still do the restaurant thing myself.
• 59:51
  You do, right?
• 59:52
  Well, I sit in like a restaurant or a bow.
• 59:54
  I'm always watching people
• 59:56
  and I'm like, the thing that,
• 59:58
  and it happens a lot here,
• 1:00:00
  it's fucking dry, it's not.
• 1:00:02
  The like if white stuff comes,
• 1:00:04
  you know, they don't scan the room
• 1:00:05
  and you're like, standing, trying to order something
• 1:00:07
  and like, fucking waving your hands.
• 1:00:08
  Yes.
• 1:00:10
  This is a frustration of mine,
• 1:00:11
  but like, it's just like a completely different work
• 1:00:14
  culture here.
• 1:00:15
  I still do that in terms of creation.
• 1:00:19
  I never, I can't force it.
• 1:00:21
  Okay.
• 1:00:23
  Ideas come to me, concepts come to me,
• 1:00:26
  and then I develop them.
• 1:00:27
  So like anytime I just need a little bit of something
• 1:00:30
  interesting and I'll build a story around that.
• 1:00:33
  That's how that's what I like to do.
• 1:00:34
  I'd like to come up with like the video title
• 1:00:36
  and then build a story around that
• 1:00:37
  is what I quite enjoy.
• 1:00:40
  So anytime like an interesting concept
• 1:00:42
  will come to me, I'll just jot it in my notes.
• 1:00:44
  And that can be anything, can be walking.
• 1:00:47
  I can search for it sometimes and I find it.
• 1:00:51
  But it doesn't.
• 1:00:51
  Other times I can like do all the right things.
• 1:00:54
  I can go for a walk in the cinema music
• 1:00:56
  or go for a walk and not listen to music
• 1:00:58
  and there's nothing comes to me.
• 1:00:59
  Right.
• 1:01:00
  Other times I can get like five, six ideas
• 1:01:02
  just in a half-toned movie.
• 1:01:03
  Okay.
• 1:01:05
  So I'm always like looking for something interesting
• 1:01:09
  subconsciously and sometimes I see something like,
• 1:01:11
  oh, there's an idea there.
• 1:01:12
  Right.
• 1:01:13
  But yeah, it's not something I can force.
• 1:01:17
  How often do you go back to Australia?
• 1:01:19
  I only once a year lately.
• 1:01:21
  I would like to go more.
• 1:01:23
  It's a big trip and it's expensive.
• 1:01:25
  How long does it take to get there from here?
• 1:01:27
  It's actually not that big of a trip.
• 1:01:29
  So Jamaica for context is 32 hours.
• 1:01:32
  I realize like as soon as I'm saying that,
• 1:01:34
  see I'm like, she's not going to.
• 1:01:36
  And like going to the UK is a nightmare for me.
• 1:01:38
  It's really like so, I'm like,
• 1:01:39
  she's not going to like this inside.
• 1:01:41
  It's a nine hour flight.
• 1:01:42
  Okay, so that's like London to Jamaica.
• 1:01:44
  Yeah, but it's a nine hour flight I get to Sydney
• 1:01:46
  and then my parents live,
• 1:01:48
  I can take another short flight to where they live
• 1:01:51
  or I can drive like four hours,
• 1:01:53
  but like however I do that sucks.
• 1:01:56
  So the flight, like my international flight
• 1:01:58
  won't line up with a domestic flight
• 1:02:00
  because it's just a small town
• 1:02:02
  that they've retired and moved to.
• 1:02:04
  So like it's at least a full day of traveling to get there.
• 1:02:08
  It's expensive just getting there.
• 1:02:11
  And then when you get there.
• 1:02:13
  When I get there, yeah, it's not too bad.
• 1:02:16
  I stay with them.
• 1:02:17
  They live out in the countryside.
• 1:02:18
  So it's nice.
• 1:02:21
  I love that time and I cherish it.
• 1:02:23
  I just don't go all for enough.
• 1:02:24
  So I go once a year at Christmas.
• 1:02:26
  But I go three to four weeks.
• 1:02:28
  Okay.
• 1:02:29
  I have a really good time with them.
• 1:02:32
  But once a year isn't enough
• 1:02:33
  and I say that every year.
• 1:02:35
  But then I'm coming up to sort of,
• 1:02:37
  we just went past midway through the year
• 1:02:39
  and I was like, I want to go to Australia
• 1:02:40
  but then I had like, I just did Vietnam, China.
• 1:02:44
  I've got my trip to Korea coming up.
• 1:02:46
  I had a trip to Japan, which actually moves
• 1:02:48
  but it's like, oh my god, I'm running out of time.
• 1:02:50
  Yeah, yeah.
• 1:02:51
  So it is looking out.
• 1:02:52
  Did they come here?
• 1:02:53
  They haven't yet, they're coming soon.
• 1:02:57
  So my brother's got two little ones.
• 1:03:01
  Okay.
• 1:03:02
  Are you older or younger?
• 1:03:04
  I'm older.
• 1:03:05
  Okay.
• 1:03:06
  And they're like, they're getting to an age where
• 1:03:08
  like they'll be fine to fly.
• 1:03:10
  Right.
• 1:03:11
  So I can't wait for them all to come visit.
• 1:03:12
  I want to take them around and show them around Thailand.
• 1:03:15
  But that family time I have is really important.
• 1:03:17
  But it's just tough.
• 1:03:19
  I don't get back there often enough.
• 1:03:23
  But once a year without fail,
• 1:03:24
  like I'll spend Christmas there.
• 1:03:26
  Is there any part of this beautiful adventure
• 1:03:29
  that you have created that ever feels isolating
• 1:03:32
  because you seem to be the common factor of moving?
• 1:03:36
  And it sounds like your core, whether it's family
• 1:03:39
  or your core, people are staying, right?
• 1:03:41
  So the people that you made friends with in Korea,
• 1:03:43
  you mentioned that they're still in Korea.
• 1:03:44
  Your family is still in Australia.
• 1:03:46
  You're the one constantly mobile.
• 1:03:50
  It does, like if you look it up from our perspective, it does.
• 1:03:54
  Okay.
• 1:03:55
  I don't feel that.
• 1:03:56
  Okay.
• 1:03:56
  I actually speak with my parents more living abroad
• 1:04:01
  than when I lived there.
• 1:04:02
  It's always the way.
• 1:04:03
  Yeah.
• 1:04:04
  And I'd be blowing off family things.
• 1:04:06
  Like, sorry, I got work.
• 1:04:07
  Sure.
• 1:04:08
  Hospitality industry stuff.
• 1:04:09
  I was always working like weekends, public holidays,
• 1:04:11
  like major events.
• 1:04:13
  So I missed out on all that stuff.
• 1:04:14
  And I wouldn't keep in touch anyway near as much.
• 1:04:17
  So we talk more now, which in a sense makes me more close.
• 1:04:21
  The friends that I didn't get to see from Korea,
• 1:04:23
  that one sucked because that was out of my control.
• 1:04:26
  Right.
• 1:04:28
  And I met a friend and ex-bought in Korea
• 1:04:30
  really early on and he said,
• 1:04:31
  the worst thing about being an ex-bought
• 1:04:33
  is everyone leaves one day.
• 1:04:35
  And you, like your friends, sort of, like disappear.
• 1:04:38
  You lose friends.
• 1:04:39
  Yeah.
• 1:04:40
  And I remember thinking like,
• 1:04:41
  oh, don't worry, I'm not leaving.
• 1:04:42
  Like it's not.
• 1:04:43
  And I ended up having something to make.
• 1:04:44
  Sure.
• 1:04:46
  Now, my close friends here are all very settled here
• 1:04:49
  and also getting married and having kids
• 1:04:53
  and being old and boring.
• 1:04:55
  But they may come apart where I leave again.
• 1:04:59
  So yeah, there is that.
• 1:05:02
  And that is a really tough thing about living abroad
• 1:05:04
  that no one really thinks about.
• 1:05:07
  Yeah.
• 1:05:08
  You chase adventure.
• 1:05:09
  It seems like it's a part of your character.
• 1:05:11
  It's why you started like moving through the world.
• 1:05:12
  And you just mentioned,
• 1:05:13
  people getting old and boring, which makes me laugh.
• 1:05:15
  I'm definitely getting old.
• 1:05:16
  I don't know if I was ever not old and boring in my spirit.
• 1:05:19
  But do you think that it's the adventure that changes
• 1:05:23
  or do you think that you kind of just grow out
• 1:05:25
  of seeking that thrill?
• 1:05:27
  Yeah, I threw that out.
• 1:05:29
  Like that's not really an accurate thing.
• 1:05:31
  I don't really think they're old and boring.
• 1:05:33
  But your response will just change.
• 1:05:37
  Yeah, your perspective changes.
• 1:05:38
  And your personality changes.
• 1:05:39
  And like for me, a lot of that came with settling down.
• 1:05:44
  It all sort of, it was a very natural progression.
• 1:05:47
  I got sick of the city, wanted to move out
• 1:05:51
  in a relationship that turned out
• 1:05:52
  to be a long-term relationship.
• 1:05:54
  But it wasn't at that point.
• 1:05:55
  We weren't living together.
• 1:05:57
  We are now, obviously.
• 1:05:58
  But it's just been a very natural progression.
• 1:06:02
  And then the business gets better.
• 1:06:05
  Money gets better.
• 1:06:06
  And I can take more time off.
• 1:06:07
  And it just sort of heads you down that road.
• 1:06:11
  And I still have fun.
• 1:06:12
  We still have adventure and everything.
• 1:06:14
  It's just different now.
• 1:06:15
  But my life now, from when I first moved out here,
• 1:06:19
  gone through three stages.
• 1:06:20
  When I first moved out here, I was head down, working,
• 1:06:24
  grinding.
• 1:06:24
  And then I had this stage in the middle where I was like,
• 1:06:27
  I'm making good money.
• 1:06:28
  I'm single.
• 1:06:30
  I'm just partying and having fun and enjoying that success.
• 1:06:35
  But then that gets boring, actually, anyway.
• 1:06:39
  And then you sort of like come out of the other end of that.
• 1:06:42
  If you left Thailand tomorrow, what would you miss?
• 1:06:48
  Has it left living?
• 1:06:51
  Like I mentioned before, Bangkok has this energy.
• 1:06:54
  And it fuels me.
• 1:06:55
  It really does.
• 1:06:56
  And I felt it last night when we came back from Vietnam.
• 1:06:59
  I love hoochie men.
• 1:07:00
  So I go on because it was so chill.
• 1:07:02
  It's way more spread out.
• 1:07:03
  There's less traffic.
• 1:07:04
  It's less chaotic.
• 1:07:05
  There's really beautiful parks.
• 1:07:07
  And everything just looks nice.
• 1:07:09
  And it's a very nice chill vibe.
• 1:07:11
  And I love that.
• 1:07:12
  But when we were coming home last night in the traffic,
• 1:07:16
  this motorbike went like ripping past me.
• 1:07:18
  And the guy's got no helmet on the box too loud.
• 1:07:21
  And I was just like, oh, fucking love this city.
• 1:07:23
  I don't know what it is.
• 1:07:24
  But there's an energy here that excites me.
• 1:07:29
  And it's really, it fuels my creativity.
• 1:07:31
  I feel it every time I come back.
• 1:07:34
  It sounds like your journey for the most part
• 1:07:37
  has been pretty smooth.
• 1:07:38
  Yes, you had the moments where you weren't quite sure
• 1:07:40
  how long the money was going to last.
• 1:07:42
  But you were focused.
• 1:07:44
  You knew what you were doing.
• 1:07:45
  Is there anything that was particularly challenging?
• 1:07:47
  Was there any time where you thought,
• 1:07:49
  should have I made the right decision?
• 1:07:52
  I have, this is going to sound incredibly arrogant,
• 1:07:55
  but I've faced no adversity.
• 1:07:56
  Amazing.
• 1:08:00
  I did a couple of dumb things in Korea or whatever,
• 1:08:03
  but like nothing, nothing I couldn't overcome.
• 1:08:06
  Sure.
• 1:08:08
  And since moving to Thailand, it's been,
• 1:08:11
  it's almost ridiculous how smoothly it's gone.
• 1:08:13
  Right.
• 1:08:14
  Do you think that's down to your mindset?
• 1:08:16
  Because I feel like every time I speak to you,
• 1:08:18
  your mindset is very much like glass half full focus.
• 1:08:23
  I know what I'm working towards.
• 1:08:24
  And do you think that that has basically shaped your experience?
• 1:08:27
  Yeah, and that's very much my personality.
• 1:08:29
  It's always been like that.
• 1:08:30
  I want to be like you when I grow up.
• 1:08:31
  Glass half full.
• 1:08:34
  I get better about things and I complain about things,
• 1:08:36
  but like for the most part, my energy, my mood,
• 1:08:41
  is very consistent.
• 1:08:42
  Cool.
• 1:08:42
  I'm one of those people, I don't have often days
• 1:08:45
  or things pissed me off.
• 1:08:47
  Sure.
• 1:08:48
  But like, it's been really smooth sailing,
• 1:08:51
  but I do think mindset has a lot of that.
• 1:08:53
  Being happy for what you have, like,
• 1:08:56
  and when I was in Korea and I wasn't earning much money,
• 1:08:58
  like I would get joy from simple things,
• 1:09:01
  like walking through a park and looking at the park lamps.
• 1:09:04
  Yeah.
• 1:09:04
  Oh, that's really beautiful sort of thing.
• 1:09:05
  Like just when the seasons change,
• 1:09:08
  Yeah.
• 1:09:09
  I get joy from these things that are free and fun,
• 1:09:13
  like just, I wasn't motivated by any of the normal things
• 1:09:18
  that I was back in Australia.
• 1:09:20
  Did you always know that you were going to have to live abroad
• 1:09:23
  to basically have those feelings of gratitude and freedom?
• 1:09:27
  No, I never knew how that would come.
• 1:09:29
  Okay.
• 1:09:30
  Or if it would come.
• 1:09:32
  Like for me, I think it was always just comparing to,
• 1:09:36
  I just wanted the experience of living abroad.
• 1:09:38
  And it was, if it was six months or a year
• 1:09:40
  and I went back to my job, like that was cool.
• 1:09:41
  Yeah.
• 1:09:42
  But then, like, I would have that gratitude
• 1:09:44
  and like, oh, I'm over here and I'm doing this.
• 1:09:46
  And like, how long ago, seven years ago now,
• 1:09:50
  but it wasn't, it was nowhere near as easy as it is now
• 1:09:53
  to move abroad.
• 1:09:54
  Okay, you think it's easier now?
• 1:09:56
  Oh, far easier.
• 1:09:57
  Okay.
• 1:09:58
  Yeah.
• 1:09:59
  Why?
• 1:10:00
  Like online jobs has become like way more of a thing.
• 1:10:03
  That almost, it was really, really hard
• 1:10:05
  to get an online job at the time.
• 1:10:07
  People taught English online and stuff like that.
• 1:10:09
  Like did, like, typing jobs and things like that.
• 1:10:13
  The pandemic made that much easier.
• 1:10:16
  So online jobs easier, visas have gotten easier.
• 1:10:20
  Now there's like digital nomad visas.
• 1:10:21
  Right.
• 1:10:22
  And everything.
• 1:10:24
  So I do think it's gotten easier,
• 1:10:26
  but it's gotten way more competitive.
• 1:10:27
  Right.
• 1:10:29
  Like the number of people moving abroad
• 1:10:31
  is insanely rare at the moment.
• 1:10:33
  So why do you think that is?
• 1:10:36
  Chasing that, right?
• 1:10:38
  And I think social media really pushes that.
• 1:10:41
  Maybe I'm part of the problem.
• 1:10:42
  Like, you know, you show off this amazing liar.
• 1:10:46
  Sure.
• 1:10:47
  And actually, I do believe that social media does that,
• 1:10:50
  right?
• 1:10:51
  So I was in Japan recently and there's a,
• 1:10:55
  where Mount Fuji is, there's a convenience store,
• 1:10:58
  Lawson convenience store and people go take photos
• 1:11:00
  in front of their, it's beautiful.
• 1:11:02
  So it's like a Japanese convenience store
• 1:11:03
  with the Mount Fuji behind us.
• 1:11:05
  Sure.
• 1:11:06
  And it just became a popular place
• 1:11:07
  that people would go take Instagram pictures.
• 1:11:09
  Right.
• 1:11:10
  And it got to the point that two buses were going there.
• 1:11:12
  Oh, wow.
• 1:11:13
  So when I went the last trip that built a wall
• 1:11:17
  in, in front of blocking the views,
• 1:11:18
  so that it was like unattractive
• 1:11:20
  for people to go there and take photos.
• 1:11:21
  Because it was becoming a new sense?
• 1:11:23
  It was, it was out of control.
• 1:11:25
  And it was just like ruining this little town.
• 1:11:26
  Oh, no.
• 1:11:28
  So over tourism because of things like social media,
• 1:11:32
  it is a real issue.
• 1:11:34
  And so like, I don't think it's an issue
• 1:11:36
  that people are promoting countries on social media,
• 1:11:39
  but like it can lead to overtourism and, you know,
• 1:11:43
  there's a huge wave of people moving here at the moment.
• 1:11:46
  What I see the thing that I dislike
• 1:11:49
  is that I'll see people making,
• 1:11:50
  doing like condo tours or whatever.
• 1:11:51
  Right.
• 1:11:52
  And they're like, check out this place.
• 1:11:53
  I'll let, but they're overpaying.
• 1:11:55
  And the normalizing.
• 1:11:56
  I saw a condo tour thing and it was like a local box room,
• 1:12:00
  right?
• 1:12:00
  And when I say box room, sorry, the room was small.
• 1:12:04
  OK.
• 1:12:05
  And it was like, this one was paying $480.
• 1:12:08
  And she was raving about this $400, $80.
• 1:12:10
  And I was just like, but there's no space.
• 1:12:13
  You're just in the right.
• 1:12:14
  And I don't even know like the market here,
• 1:12:16
  but there was nothing about that was particularly appealing
• 1:12:18
  to me.
• 1:12:19
  And yet they were raving.
• 1:12:21
  They were like, oh, this is amazing.
• 1:12:22
  Oh, I have a pool and like, all you see them like, yeah,
• 1:12:25
  but you live in a box, babe.
• 1:12:26
  There's no space.
• 1:12:27
  And every building here has a pool under German.
• 1:12:30
  Like I see these condo tour videos and they're just showing it off.
• 1:12:34
  And that's great, like cool, but you're overpaying
• 1:12:36
  and then you're normalizing that.
• 1:12:37
  Right.
• 1:12:38
  And then real estate agents will take advantage of that.
• 1:12:40
  And then people coming over will just be like, oh,
• 1:12:42
  I have to pay $30,000 to live in this little box for $30,000
• 1:12:46
  or $50,000, whatever they're flexing on.
• 1:12:48
  Right.
• 1:12:49
  So that's something.
• 1:12:50
  How do you move here as an expert and not
• 1:12:53
  contribute to those types of issues?
• 1:12:55
  Not just housing.
• 1:12:56
  I just mean in general, like the price of things people
• 1:12:58
  say that expats come, the price of things rise,
• 1:13:01
  and then locals can't pay for them.
• 1:13:03
  How do you move more consciously?
• 1:13:05
  I don't have the answer, by the way.
• 1:13:07
  That's a really interesting thing because it varies so much
• 1:13:10
  country to country.
• 1:13:11
  OK.
• 1:13:12
  Thailand is somewhere that very much has tourist prices.
• 1:13:15
  Right.
• 1:13:17
  You go to a restaurant on succumbent road.
• 1:13:20
  It's likely going to be way more expensive than our food
• 1:13:24
  that we eat now, living out in the suburbs.
• 1:13:25
  It's like the bills have come down significant.
• 1:13:28
  Right.
• 1:13:30
  But Thailand or Bangkok, especially in our part of Bangkok,
• 1:13:32
  is very much a tourist destination.
• 1:13:34
  But having said that when I was in Ho Chi Minh in Saigon,
• 1:13:39
  we stayed in the tourist area, and the prices were cheaper.
• 1:13:42
  I'm sure they're more expensive than in the local areas.
• 1:13:46
  I had the same experience in Denang.
• 1:13:47
  Right.
• 1:13:48
  But I think the margins are less.
• 1:13:50
  Yeah.
• 1:13:51
  And I just went to China, and we were eating like the restaurants
• 1:13:54
  of the same price everywhere.
• 1:13:56
  OK.
• 1:13:56
  In the tourist walking streets.
• 1:13:59
  Right.
• 1:14:00
  Or in the back alleys.
• 1:14:01
  You get the same price.
• 1:14:02
  OK.
• 1:14:03
  So I think that varies country to country.
• 1:14:05
  And just it's a thing I hate about here, but I understand it.
• 1:14:10
  Right.
• 1:14:10
  So yeah, I don't get mad at it.
• 1:14:12
  I call it tourist tax.
• 1:14:14
  And again, my thing is you always have the choice.
• 1:14:16
  Perhaps also because I come from Jamaica,
• 1:14:18
  where there's definitely a tourist price.
• 1:14:19
  And there's a local price.
• 1:14:21
  As you can see, my accent is completely messed up.
• 1:14:23
  And there have been occasions where a taxi man is trying
• 1:14:25
  to give me tourist price.
• 1:14:27
  And I have to say babes.
• 1:14:29
  No, no, no.
• 1:14:30
  And I'm just like, oh, no, no, no, man.
• 1:14:32
  And him change the price.
• 1:14:33
  And I don't get mad at that.
• 1:14:35
  I know that some people do.
• 1:14:36
  They're like, oh, why do I have to pay more?
• 1:14:37
  I was in South Africa earlier this year.
• 1:14:39
  And there's a beach on Boulder's beach, where there are penguins.
• 1:14:42
  And they have it on the board, the foreigner's price,
• 1:14:46
  and the local price.
• 1:14:48
  And to me, that's cool, right?
• 1:14:50
  Because you can choose whether you want to engage.
• 1:14:53
  A fucking hater.
• 1:14:55
  But like, I accept it.
• 1:14:56
  Like, you know, that you think that it should be one price
• 1:15:01
  for everyone?
• 1:15:04
  I think the margins should be less, especially
• 1:15:07
  somewhere like here.
• 1:15:07
  So during COVID, there was no tourism here.
• 1:15:12
  And I did a lot of traveling all around the country.
• 1:15:14
  It was actually the best time to travel, so there's no one here.
• 1:15:17
  But it would shit me.
• 1:15:18
  I'd go to a national park.
• 1:15:20
  And I'd go with a Thai friend.
• 1:15:22
  And they pay like 20 bar to get in.
• 1:15:24
  And I have to pay like 10 times that amount.
• 1:15:27
  When I live here, I'm contributing, I'm part of the economy, right?
• 1:15:33
  So is the compromise, again, we're not solving wide issues,
• 1:15:38
  but is the compromise that you have a local resident card?
• 1:15:42
  Some places do that.
• 1:15:43
  OK, some places.
• 1:15:44
  In Jamaica again, if you booked a hotel
• 1:15:47
  and you showed your driving license,
• 1:15:50
  you would get the local rate versus your passport from somewhere else.
• 1:15:54
  Some attractions.
• 1:15:56
  And do that, OK?
• 1:15:56
  Do you get that?
• 1:15:58
  For me, I understand that one.
• 1:16:00
  Like typically, people go on a tourist destination.
• 1:16:03
  They have more to spend than the locals.
• 1:16:04
  And I do think it's nice to reward the locals with a discounted rate.
• 1:16:09
  It's probably a better way of looking out at it, but we're
• 1:16:11
  taking care of the locals more than screwing over the tourists.
• 1:16:15
  Sure.
• 1:16:17
  But it does sometimes rub you the wrong way.
• 1:16:19
  Because I went to a museum a couple of days ago with the girls.
• 1:16:22
  And I thought it was a paid thing.
• 1:16:23
  I didn't know it was free.
• 1:16:24
  I get there, I'm asking, how much is that?
• 1:16:26
  No, it's free.
• 1:16:27
  But then when we get in, I thought, oh, that's really cool.
• 1:16:28
  Again, that everybody can kind of benefit from this.
• 1:16:31
  But babes, they needed some income, right?
• 1:16:34
  Because a lot of things were unavailable or were broken.
• 1:16:37
  And in my mind, I was just like, a good place to start was, let me pay for it.
• 1:16:42
  Just a little bit.
• 1:16:42
  It doesn't need to be extortionate.
• 1:16:44
  And so I think the thing we're saying is perhaps the current tourist tax rate
• 1:16:47
  is too high.
• 1:16:48
  And it needs to, you want it to come down and look at it.
• 1:16:50
  When I lived here during the pandemic, all the, or not all, but the majority of the restaurants
• 1:16:56
  in the tourist areas bought their prices down to the local price.
• 1:16:58
  Right.
• 1:16:59
  But then when the borders opened, it was like an overnight thing.
• 1:17:02
  So then I had new menus printed because the borders were closed for like two years.
• 1:17:06
  Right.
• 1:17:07
  And I remember those stickers on the menus of one of my favorite restaurants that I
• 1:17:11
  would go to all the time.
• 1:17:12
  I was like, more than double the price.
• 1:17:14
  Right.
• 1:17:15
  And I'm like, fuck you, I ate this for like 40 bites yesterday.
• 1:17:18
  Sure.
• 1:17:19
  Now you're charging me like 100.
• 1:17:20
  Yeah.
• 1:17:21
  And it was actually a thing that wore me down about living in the city.
• 1:17:26
  Because where I live was like, so can we throw very much like a touristy part of town
• 1:17:32
  is being treated.
• 1:17:33
  When you lived here during the pandemic, everyone saw you as more of a local because the people
• 1:17:38
  that lived here lived here.
• 1:17:41
  And when the borders opened and it became way more tourist focused, you went back to
• 1:17:46
  being a focus.
• 1:17:47
  But that feeling of like, yeah, people looking at you with dollar signs, can't take a taxi
• 1:17:51
  anymore.
• 1:17:52
  Right.
• 1:17:53
  You used to just like get in the taxi, all of them, get in the taxi, you pay the right
• 1:17:56
  amount.
• 1:17:57
  Right.
• 1:17:58
  Now, like you can't get a taxi on some streets, like it's that really brought to me the
• 1:18:03
  wrong way because I had no comparison.
• 1:18:07
  Right.
• 1:18:08
  I came from living in Korea where you treated like a local, moved here, treated like a
• 1:18:11
  local.
• 1:18:12
  Then it changed.
• 1:18:13
  Yeah.
• 1:18:14
  And like, how do I come here before and experience that?
• 1:18:16
  Maybe I'd be fine.
• 1:18:17
  Sure.
• 1:18:18
  Do you think you can ever be truly immersed in the culture in Bangkok, or will you always
• 1:18:24
  have that status?
• 1:18:26
  No, I don't believe you can.
• 1:18:28
  Okay.
• 1:18:29
  Okay.
• 1:18:30
  Yeah, it's tough.
• 1:18:32
  Like, and it just comes down to things like the taxis and right, you know, everything
• 1:18:37
  else is fine.
• 1:18:38
  Sure.
• 1:18:39
  But then like the taxis and people harassing you, trying to sell you things and stuff like
• 1:18:42
  that.
• 1:18:43
  Like, that's something that that weighs you down over time.
• 1:18:49
  It's a frustration point, especially when I travel to other countries and then I don't
• 1:18:53
  have that experience.
• 1:18:54
  Right.
• 1:18:55
  I actually like more, it's a wider concern for Thailand because I love this place and I want
• 1:19:01
  people to come here and I want people to have a great experience here.
• 1:19:04
  And if the first thing that happens to you when you step off the plane is the taxi driver
• 1:19:08
  is trying to fuck you over.
• 1:19:09
  Right.
• 1:19:10
  It just sets the tone for your trip and then it just feels like everyone's taking advantage
• 1:19:15
  of you.
• 1:19:16
  Even if they're not.
• 1:19:17
  Right.
• 1:19:18
  It would just set up that way.
• 1:19:19
  We landed at the airport.
• 1:19:20
  I asked the taxi driver to take me to my flight.
• 1:19:22
  He pulled up.
• 1:19:23
  He's like, I was like, we might get lucky.
• 1:19:25
  And he wanted like over a thousand baht.
• 1:19:27
  Okay.
• 1:19:28
  What do you know?
• 1:19:29
  I booked a grab.
• 1:19:30
  It was 250.
• 1:19:31
  Right.
• 1:19:32
  So like, that's too much.
• 1:19:33
  Yeah.
• 1:19:34
  Yeah.
• 1:19:35
  Right.
• 1:19:36
  Right.
• 1:19:37
  And it's like, I'm fine with that because I'm numb to it now.
• 1:19:39
  I'm just at what I booked.
• 1:19:40
  Book the grab.
• 1:19:41
  Sure.
• 1:19:42
  But like for those poor people that come here and get taken advantage of, this gives Thailand
• 1:19:45
  about image.
• 1:19:46
  Right.
• 1:19:47
  And it's only a few bad apples that were ruined for everybody.
• 1:19:50
  And I think that's why there's like an increase in tourism in places like Vietnam because
• 1:19:54
  they don't have those.
• 1:19:55
  Those experiences.
• 1:19:56
  Those issues.
• 1:19:58
  And I know it's a real concern for Thailand.
• 1:19:59
  They want to fix this problem.
• 1:20:00
  Sure.
• 1:20:01
  Yeah.
• 1:20:02
  A few bad apples can really ruin it.
• 1:20:04
  Do you think the main attraction to living here in Thailand is money?
• 1:20:09
  It's definitely contributing factor.
• 1:20:11
  Yeah.
• 1:20:12
  I think it's, yeah, probably, it's not the cheapest place to live.
• 1:20:17
  Like I lived in Korea cheaper than when I was living here at the beginning.
• 1:20:21
  Sure.
• 1:20:23
  But it is extremely affordable.
• 1:20:26
  What I find now is like you can live a very high quality of life for much cheaper than
• 1:20:31
  you could back in the West.
• 1:20:32
  Right.
• 1:20:33
  I spend a lot for here, but the lifestyle that I live is just like cheaper than Australia.
• 1:20:38
  Yeah.
• 1:20:39
  Cool.
• 1:20:40
  If your life was a postcard, what would the picture look like?
• 1:20:43
  Oh, God.
• 1:20:45
  That's, that's a really good question.
• 1:20:48
  You just threw that on me.
• 1:20:49
  I wasn't ready for that.
• 1:20:53
  I just, I don't know.
• 1:20:55
  It's me smiling.
• 1:20:56
  Yeah.
• 1:20:57
  Having fun.
• 1:20:58
  Cool.
• 1:20:59
  Thank you very much.