I've had an enjoyable couple of weeks at Kohub in Koh Lanta, wound aside!
I'd expected the digital nomads here to be mainly 25-40 somethings, well educated and mainly working in computer related development or online-marketing, and what I've discovered is that most of the digital nomads here are 25-40 somethings, well educated and typically working in either computer related development or online-marketing!
There were a few surprises: a life coach, a couple of PhD students, a writer in his 50s, and all very nice people, just collectively nothing really surprising - we're just the privileged global middle class enjoying a cheaper cost of living in the sun.
Germany seems to be the most represented country, the UK is probably second. Then a general mix of Europeans and a few Americans, hardly any Australians which is a surprise given the short trip, maybe they're just all in Bali?
As to work, this may be just this particular co-working space, but everyone else seems to be very good at just sitting there in front their lap tops for 3-4 hours at a time just working, whereas I'm the one getting up every 30 minutes for a coffee/ water/ wander.... maybe it's because I've got an entire office to myself at home and this collective space is just a massive distraction by contrast, or maybe my head's just not in work mode this month?
The view from one of the desks at Kohub
Could I be a digital nomad?
Probably not!
I've found this life just too unsettled, too emotionally draining even in the two weeks I've been impostering as a digital nomad. Half the conversations I've had are the basic 'getting to know you' type conversations, and this all fine, but it gets a bit much when it's just constant and then they're gone! A rapidly fluctuating population is not for me - I think I need more permanency.
Maybe this would change if i stayed a month and actually developed some proper ties, which has kind of started to happen in two weeks, but if I stayed longer, developed stronger friendship bonds... then what...? i leave, they leave, I think I'd find it all a bit emotionally draining.
There's quite a few nomad couples here, I think that might be a good way to go about this lifestyle: then at least you've got someone to ground you!
I'm not sure that Thailand is the place for me... something I've really struggled with here is the heat. Although I like it, I've found I've had to slow down quite a lot.... my pace of walking has definitely become local, it has to if you want to avoid sweating.
And running is much more difficult here - my number one 'keep me sane' activity would have to be done before 8.00 a.m.... but even then slower than in the UK. I have seen runners out, but they don't look like they're having much fun!
I've also learnt these past three weeks that I've got a powerful connection to home in England, may even South East England, maybe even my actual home town where I grew up - a love of my Heimat,
A few nomads I chatted to actually expressed jealously at the fact that I felt at home somewhere, something they didn't have, however most others have a 'home' and are just taking a few years out.
Anyway, that's where I'm back off to now, back to the Welsh borders - rain and 6-8 degrees centigrade rather than 28-31 degrees which is here.
But that's home, and, as they say back home, it is what it is!