In 1997, a Japanese computer scientist named Tsugio Makimoto predicted a revolution. He released “Digital Nomad,” a book largely ignored by the public and critics, where he wrote, in an almost premonitory passage, that “high-speed wireless networks and low-cost mobile devices will break the link between occupancy and location.” Twenty-five years later, I’m in some remote part of the Gulf of Thailand between Surat Thani and Koh Phangan, the darling island of digital nomads, using my cell phone as a router to write and send a text on my laptop to a client in Brazil.
It’s fair to say that the pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation that Makimoto envisions, but many of the digital nomads who land with me at Thong Sala Pier have been on the road for a few years — I myself broke the link between occupancy and location in 2017.
Dutch Pieter Levels, founder of Nomad List, a database on destinations around the world, is what startups on duty call the “early adopter” of nomadism, that is, he has been a digital nomad since when everything was weeds –2013 . According to Levels, who, like the one who is writing to you, is now in some remote part of Thailand, by 2035 there will be 1 billion digital nomads breaking the link between occupation and location and using high-speed wireless networks to carry out their jobs around the world. .
Let’s suppose, just suppose, that I rented a scooter (also known in Brazil as a scooter) as soon as I left the Thong Sala pier. According to testimonials from other digital nomads on the Nomad List of Levels, this is the best way to get around Koh Phangan.
Thai law says that farangs, as foreigners are called here, cannot drive in the country. Foreign driver’s licenses or international licenses are not accepted, not even for passing tourists. Now let’s suppose, just suppose, that the little guy from the rental store –which also works as a restaurant, laundry and tourist agency– didn’t get involved with me, so that I, who until then had never driven anything with two wheels more powerful than a electric scooter, and that I don’t even have a license to do so, I joined, with my partner on the back, the sea of ​​motorcyclists circulating around the island. All, obviously, a big assumption.
I drop my stuff in the bungalow surrounded by bushland and head to Capara, a hipster cafe where digital nomads often bring their expensive apple-logo laptops to work. There I meet Leandro and Vitor, two Brazilians who also broke the link between occupation and location. Leandro makes a living with infoproducts; Vitor is on sabbatical and invests in cryptocurrencies.
In addition to the speed of the internet, the supposed mobility on scooters and the hipster cafes, Koh Phangan attracts digital nomads from all over the world because of its cost-benefit. It is possible to find bungalows on the edge of idyllic paradises with daily rates from R$80 and meals that would cost R$100 in São Paulo for R$10 (like pad thai with seafood). For vegetarians, in addition to the variety of options, eating is even cheaper.
If you’re into the healthy peace & love tilelê vibe, Koh Phangan might be your Mecca. You can practice all kinds of yoga, meditate, take a vow of silence and get in touch with nature. If you’re the rolezeiro type, Koh Phangan might be your hipster Ibiza. Juggling fire on the beach, electronic parties, stylish looks and, of course, the famous Full Moon Party – which, between us, is a lot of waves for little surfing.
However, as I found out, whether you’re a tilelê, rolezeiro or just a Latin American guy, with no money in the bank, no important relatives and coming from the countryside, one of the greatest pleasures of Koh Phangan is driving a motor scooter feeling the wind in your face to Zen Beach and enjoy the sunset in purple and orange tones. Supposedly, of course.
