Alt_Newsletter #00010 | June Mid-Month

June 18, 2025

If you know, you know. Anyone who’s spent any decent amount of time in Chiang Mai knows that we are now in the BEST time to be in the city.

Many get scared off by rainy season, but that word - rainy - is rather misleading. Temperatures are cooling off a little from our hot season, the rain is mostly limited to a burst early evening in these few months (though we had no rain at all for a week last week), and tourists are absent because they’ve not read the memo…

…that now is our favorite time to be in Chiang Mai.

However, it seems that John didn’t get that memo either.

Plotting community collabs in Taiwan

He took off last week to Taiwan. The recent Taiwan digital nomad night at Alt_PingRiver was such a hit that, after a couple of calls, he was whisked off at the last minute to Taipei by some government bigwigs.

The Taiwan government, delegates from Fukoka City and Chiang Mai, and John, set plans in motion for stronger links to grow all three as digital nomad hubs.

What’s in today’s Alt_Newsletter:

  • Are you looking after yourself well enough? Find out, for FREE!

  • Get a nice warm feeling inside at Friday’s Baltic Midsummer party 🥳

  • A Mexican that made Bangkok his home still heads to Alt_ChiangMai for deep work and connection

  • Discover the new green space that has opened nearby

Spilling The Beans

🤖 The Alt_ AI Meetup may look a little different soon. People are asking, and we’re listening. Once we’ve discussed with ChatGPT (other models are available!) how to establish it as the best AI meet up in town, you’ll be first to know!

🇹🇭 The end of June is going to be a great time to be a nomad in Chiang Mai. TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) are hosting - and sponsoring - talks and events, giving out free coworking passes, and helping nomads connect. Look out for the posters for all the events on in the last week of June.

🙋‍♀️ ANOTHER new face at Alt_ as the city centre Alt_ gets a new community manager. After Samanta joined Ping River recently, watch for news on our newest face who’ll be !

What has happened at Alt_ this month?

There is only one place to start…Alt_PingRiver hosted the first Alt_WeddingParty! 🥳

Huge congratulations to long-time Alt_Fam - Dave and Jan 💍🍾. It was a lovely, fun and heartfelt occasion and we’re extremely proud to have been host to your celebration.

Local fund-raising win

We’ve been at every Sankapoi Sunday Market over the last few months, but this month was a big one in terms of unwanted goods being sold! The market helps support local charities so if you’re passing through Alt_ and shedding some items from your luggage, donate it at the reception desk.

Founder’s Happy Hour was back!

We kicked off another series of the Friday afternoon sit-down talks with Matt Diggity - returning with a new, more personal talk about how to find success.

Celebrate Baltic Midsummer 🌞…in Chiang Mai!!

Alt_PingRiver’s new community manager is making her mark immediately with a Baltic Midsummer event this Friday, 20th June, and it’s free to attend!

Being held a stones-throw away from Alt_ (thanks to our friends at Anusarn Sankapoi btw!), Samanta will be leading traditional dancing and folk songs around our bonfire 🪵. You’ll get some inspiration from a live fire dance performance first!

Baltic-influenced food will be on-hand, local food trucks, a bar, and Latvian and Estonian entertainment, so all you need to bring is your dancing shoes and be ready to meet new nomads!

Visit Estonia are supporting the event, and it is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, so entry and food are on them!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll have likely heard about Estonia being a thriving hub for remote work, entrepreneurship and innovation for the digital nomad community.

In fact, Estonia were the first country to launch a digital nomad visa and operate a very successful e-residency scheme. You should check them out while you are enjoying the festivities on Friday!

Come and meet some new friends - local, Baltic and international! To attend and get more information on the event, click below.

Get a Free Check-in on Your Health

How are you doing? And how often do you genuinely ask yourself that?

More importantly, how often do you ask this of a professional? Well, we’re here for you.

Jason Ryer - a health and performance coach who runs breathwork and ice bath sessions at Alt_, amongst other events and workshops - is offering FREE 1-on-1 Wellness Discovery Chats.

The casual chats for Alt_ community members will have you walking away with actionable insights to improve your energy, sleep, and overall wellbeing.

Jason’s a well-qualified wellness coach and well-respected figure around Chiang Mai.

Get Your Nature Hit

Talking of health and wellbeing, the Chiang Mai Railway Station Park opened recently and - as it is only five minutes up the road - is a welcome addition to our local green spaces 🌳.

If you need some grass to plant your feet in, trees to stroll around, a run or cycle, or just fancy chilling on a park bench, head to the newest park in town.

They’ve also built an interesting pagoda in the middle of the park, installed outdoor exercise machines, and - for the child in you - a playground too! Get directions here.

Alt_Stories

Chiang Mai was levelled up by Alt_ for this nomad

Rodrigo spent only a month in Chiang Mai. He does it at least once a year.

From Mexico, but now calling Bangkok home, he’s always loved Chiang Mai and escapes here as often as possible.

This time he decided to use Alt_ChiangMai coworking as his work base, but got involved in more Alt_ activities than many colivers do!

We had a chat with him about Alt_’s appeal…

What is it about Chiang Mai that brings you back every year?
I’m from Mexico City, so I love the mountains. Bangkok is too flat, so I like that view with the mountain in the background. I also like to come here to meet digital nomads. I don’t consider myself one I don’t think, but I like to hear about their experience - from the professional side and personal side. Alt_ is a great place to do that.

How do you find it keeping connected to nomads you meet?
If they have a big impact in my life, I make effort and keep in contact. For more casual acquaintances, it’s nice to just chat when we meet up again but it is so easy to stay in contact now. I have met several in Alt_ I will see again.

You know Chiang Mai. What is it about Alt_ that made you choose to work here?
I have tried all of the other places. I liked Alt_ because of the activities - the AI meetup is related to my work, for example. But I really like the family meeting where everyone gets to propose an idea of something to do for the week. I took people for Mexican food one night, and this guy Sean loves to cook, so made an amazing Taiwanese dinner for everyone. These things make it really easy to meet people, and appeal to me. Oh, and the furniture - the chairs and tables are very good!

What made this time around a good visit?
In Bangkok I have a lot of distractions. Sometimes I want to funnel and focus on something, and that’s why I go to Chiang Mai. This time I had a personal project to work on. I love to work on audio and audiovisual production, and am planning to make that my future work. In Alt_ I could do my meetings and all the boring work stuff in my project management job, but work on this too as the environment helps that.

Rodrigo will be familiar to anyone who was at Alt_ during May. He was a regular at all the events! He’s proof that it’s not only globe-trotting digital nomads that find a home at Alt_.

For those who weren’t, his 15 years of engineering experience could be of great value if you need someone to assist with audio and audiovisual production, get in touch through his website or LinkedIn.

If you have an Alt_ story to tell, or want to appear here and share your thing with the community, fill in this form.

Things to do at Alt_ this month

If this week’s Midsummer get together isn’t enough for you, here’s what else is coming up in the next couple of weeks:

  • Professional Games Master Joannah Stewart is back on Saturday at 2pm at Alt_PingRiver for D&D Adventures in the Forgotten Realm Deepest Night. Book your space - there are only 6 available!

  • Caught up in the hustle and need to reclaim your time and energy? The From Hustle To Harmony: Doing Less, Achieving More workshop - hosted by coaches Sean and Brad - is on at Alt_PingRiver from 4-6pm. Sign up here.

  • Zen Strength Social - a new free monthly meetup - is on Wednesday 2nd July at 5pm. This open forum is for people to discuss health optimization, share experience, and ask questions of host Jason Ryer, an experienced biohacker and health coach.

All these and our regular, recurring events - yoga, Jason’s breathwork and ice baths - can be found here.

Alt_Facts ☕️

A coffee enthusiast meetup was started by an Alt_ChiangMai resident last year, and has stood the test of time!

Despite him moving on with his nomad journey, the Alt_CoffeeAdventures torch has been picked up by other residents along the way, and every week there is an excursion to a new cafe around the city to discuss beans, grinds and life in general…

Once we’ve got over the Baltic Summer Solstice party - and John is back from Bansko (we told you about him speaking there, right?) - we’ll be back with some insights, news and events to share!

John and the Alt_ team