After visiting Bangkok a few times and lived in Chiang Mai a few years, I thought I'd share my experience of the differences between life in the capital and life in Chiang Mai.
Bangkok is more international. It's easier to find a more worldly and diverse social group than in Chiang Mai. It also has more bookstores and better shopping for specialty goods, like training equipment. The extra social clubs would probably make living there long term more interesting. And lastly, it is cheap and convenient to travel to many locations in Asia.
Unfortunately, it is more expensive when compared with Chiang Mai. Food that costs about 30 Baht up here is normally about 45 Baht in Bangkok. Small studios with air con that are about 3,000 Baht a month are around 5,000 in Bangkok.
Another major issue for me in Bangkok is that I can't get out of "Tourist Thailand".
Tourist Thailand is what I call any area where if you see a westerner, they are probably a tourist. In Tourist Thailand, every Thai person assumes I am a tourist as well. This attracts the kinds of Thai people who want to rip me off or steal from me or otherwise make me feel uncomfortable.
In Chiang Mai I live in the suburbs. Here the westerners are either going to the local shopping mall or study at my university. Most people in the local area have seen me before. And nobody reacts surprised or shout "falang!" when they see me. I can just go about my business and enjoy my time here. I like that.
Chiang Mai is a 20 minute city. That is, almost everything is 20 minutes away. If you drive more than that in any direction, you are in the countryside. Or driving in the 1 hour a day there are traffic jams.
Socially, there is not a lot to do in Chiang Mai. And most of it involves drinking. For someone who is practically a non drinker, this is very limiting in terms of entertainment.
In general the city is very laid back. It is so laid back however, that it is hard to find people who are ambitious about anything. I tend to be lazy, but I also have a craving for change. It is for this reason that although my time in Chiang Mai has been good, I will be more than ready to move on when I graduate.
