Lester T - Page 2 of 3 -

CM F&B: What to eat/drink when you visit Chiang Mai

Posted on March 25, 2024March 25, 2024by Lester T

Many of my friends across Thailand and abroad visit Chiang Mai – and I often get the question, ‘any recommendations on where to eat or drink?’ It’s a tough question to answer because everyone’s tastes are different, but I can recommend what I like the most, broken up by category:

If you want to eat Khao Soi…
If you want to eat Boat noodles…
If you want a cheap, tasty meal…
If you want vegan/vegetarian western food…
If you want vegan/vegetarian Thai food…
If you want pizza…
If you want a cafe-hop stop…
If you want to drink some latte art…
If you want to enjoy some espresso cocktails and latte art…
If you want to drink tea or matcha…
If you want to drink a beer and hang out…

Thai Life

Health Insurance: What health insurance I have for my family

Posted on March 21, 2024March 21, 2024by Lester T

Part of ‘adulting’ is to purchase insurance for yourself and your family. As the sole bread winner for my family, there was significant risk in a scenario in which I could no longer work or provide for my family. And this becomes readily apparent after making the decision to move to Thailand; if I were to get into a major car accident here, would I have the financial means to weather the associated medical costs and care for my family in the mean time? Or given my heavy travel schedule – going to >10 countries last year – would I have proper medical attention in a foreign country outside of Thailand?

This post discusses how I evaluated health / medical insurance options for my family living here in Thailand – and outlines why I selected the insurer that I did: Cigna for our first year and Allianz Care for our current policy.

Self Discovery

INTJ: Embracing my Personality Type

Posted on March 15, 2024March 15, 2024by Lester T

I remember taking my first Meyers Briggs (MBTI) personality type assessment in high school for a Gifted and Talented class I took as a senior. I was fascinated by what the resulting report said about me. INTJ – what does that mean? I avidly read the report as well as books on the topic. Fast forward, over two decades later, I am still learning about my MBTI type. It’s true – my type has remained pretty much the same year after year. Learning how I can be the best INTJ version of myself has helped me be a better professional, a better leader, even a better romantic partner – sharing with others how I like to consume information or how I need time alone to recharge – that it’s not anything personal to them, but just how I am built.

But how do I be the best INTJ version of myself in mini-retirement? Without the corporate environment, without the back-to-back schedule, without the structure I was used to, how do I adjust my behaviors to bring out the best of me? This post discusses some things I have learned about myself while in mini-retirement and outlines a couple of things I’m working on.

Blog Thai Life

Bag: What’s in my Travel Bag

Posted on March 12, 2024March 12, 2024by Lester T

One perk about being in Thailand is the ease of travel to get to so many different locations in less than two hours. Using Chiang Mai as my home base, there are several major cities accessible with an AirAsia flight. I often travel for a week at a time, often five or six nights. I found that this is enough to really get the vibe of a city – and see if I want to revisit in the future.

I travel very light. This is for a few reasons. First, I want to avoid checking in bags, since this incurs fees with AirAsia and gobbles up time spent at the airport. Second, if I need to get on a Grab motorbike to zip from point A to point B (and not get stuck in traffic) then I refrain from using large baggage, especially with wheels. Third, I don’t like rolling luggage while walking on a busy city street or on sand at a beachside destination.

Self Discovery

Loneliness: How I cope with loneliness

Posted on March 9, 2024March 9, 2024by Lester T

Disclaimer: I am a work-in-progress. This post is a work-in-progress. Coping with loneliness is difficult; I do not claim to have the silver bullet, but I can say that I’m getting better at it. This is a post about what I have found to be helpful – and not helpful – in facing those times when I’m alone.

I’m going to start off with what has not worked – has not served me – since I believe it’s really good context for the few things I have found to work for me:

What Does Not Work

Thai Life

Packing: What I Bring to Thailand

Posted on March 8, 2024March 8, 2024by Lester T

If you’re moving to Southeast Asia, and especially to Thailand, then you’re going to get a lot from this page.

There are things that are quite difficult (if not expensive) to get here in Thailand, and then there are other things that were easy to get here in Thailand – that I wasted precious luggage space bringing over from the U.S. I further ranked these things based on ease/difficulty to find in Thailand as well as storage space.

Thai Life

Vipassana: What I learned in silent meditation

Posted on March 7, 2024March 7, 2024by Lester T

It’s one thing to meditate daily. It’s quite another to do vipassana – a silent meditation retreat – for days. What comes up for you if you cannot be on your phone, cannot speak to another, cannot read or write, cannot exercise – so that you are still – for days?

This post shares my experiences with two vipassana retreats I did last year, what I learned from them, and some advice on how to plan for and fully experience one yourself.

Blog Thai Life

Visa: What visa I have in Thailand

Posted on March 7, 2024March 9, 2024by Lester T

Visa: What visa do you have in Thailand?

My visa is the non-immigrant “O” guardian visa. It is a long-term visa that allows me to stay in Thailand for one year, as long as my child attends international school here. Hence, the “guardian” role that I play, parenting my child.

Technically, the visa allows me (and my child) to stay in Thailand for 90 days, at which point I applied for a visa extension for one year. Even with the one year extension, though, I have to report to Immigration every 90 days (but I circumvent this by traveling every quarter; more on this below).

This post covers the benefits of a long-term visa, benefits of the non-immigrant “O” guardian visa, and some lessons learned on how I obtained the visa.

Blog Thai Life

Friends: How I make friends in Thailand

Posted on March 7, 2024March 7, 2024by Lester T

“That’s crazy – you moved to Thailand without knowing anyone?!”

I guess it does sound a little crazy, if not irresponsible, to move half way around the world to a country where I didn’t know anyone. It’s been over two decades since I lived in Thailand – and suffice it to say, I lost touch with my friends here. I have met a few people – in my MBA, in my career – who lived in Thailand, but no one who is still living here, let alone in Chiang Mai.

This post is about how an introvert like me has made a conscious effort – and several mistakes along the way – in making friends here. I’ll organize this post based on the sources (where) I was able to make friends – giving a rating (1 being difficulty for me to find friends; 4 being easy) – and highlighting some advice along the way:

Self Discovery

Therapy: Who I partner with on navigating my mid-life crisis

Posted on March 5, 2024March 5, 2024by Lester T

This post discusses why I believe therapy was critical for me during the past five years – and how my therapists have guided me in making the right life decisions. I have broken up this post into three parts – one for each therapist and the decision s/he helped me through.

Note: To protect the confidentiality of my therapists, I’m going to use pseudonyms.

Part 1: Shawn – “Why am I stuck?”
Cognitive behavioral therapy. Dallas, Texas. $150 per session (60 min).

In 2020 – prior to the pandemic – I was feeling stuck in my life. I felt this lack of meaning in what I did, lack of connection with who I was with, and this sense that I wasn’t on the right path. I didn’t know what the root cause for my ‘stuckness’ was – my wife? my job? myself? I was contemplating big decisions – separate/divorce my wife, resign from my job, etc. – and I knew that I needed to vet these decisions with a professional before pulling any trigger. I interviewed several therapists to see if they could help – in search of men, older than me, with a track record of helping other men navigate their mid-life crises.