I returned to Vancouver, Canada just before the 7.7 earthquake hit in Bangkok, Thailand & Myanmar. Thankfully I'm ok and my friends in Thailand are ok. Unfortunately, there were many casualties. I heard Bangkok is mostly back to normal, I heard some expats & nomads left, and I heard people are avoiding high rises at the moment. We will have to let the dust settle, but I'm sure Bangkok will be back in track before you know it. It's a good reminder to have a plan B or C in terms of locations you could go to should this rare event happen, make previous safety plans, and to strike a balance between planning/saving for the future and enjoying life now.

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On the business side of things I actually spent a lot of time in area of Bangkok called Thonglor, Ekamai, Phrakanong, Phrom Phong, and Asok. In these areas I can work, play, eat, and it's where most of my friends spend time and where the events are. What was different about this trip was that I brought my pickleball paddle. I actually managed to continue filming my pickleball online course as well as my Grok 3 AI Online course.

I was motivated to do so and had the facilities (pickleball clubs, wework offices) that allowed me to make this happen. I also did film some drone footage of Bangkok's skyline near Thonglor. I've already sold some drone stock footage of Bangkok as I'm sure the earthquake put a spotlight on it as well as Myanmar.

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Btw, I have just added a lesson on how Grok 3 can help you calculate your capital gains tax for cryptocurrency. I sold a bit in 2024, and let me tell you there are a lot of calculations involved. I fed the crypto transactions to Grok and gave it the prompts to give me the figures I needed. I also used it to create some Ebook's for my plane ride, to help my plan the online course outline, analyze my online income reports, & create games using vibe coding. I'm offering you a free enrollment link for another day as my newsletter subscribers. Yes the course image was created with AI as well.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is a Pickleball Haven

My particular focus in KL Malaysia this time was to play a lot of pickleball and get pickleball content (in short supply) and relax and recharge mostly. I ate a lot of good food, spent time by the pool, and I played pickleball almost every evening. In Bangkok I actually found an amazing pickleball club called the Asok Sports Centre, and a guy from Malaysia was there and told me there was more going on for pickleball compared to Thailand.

He told me to use the Reclub app to find games I could join and meet people. To find out the details and pricing of pickleball in Thailand, Malaysia, & Vietnam you can check out this post on my new pickleball website. This app was effective and a game changer. You are able to meet locals, and find games at most times of the day, and everyday. KL Malaysia has experienced a boom in courts and young player interest. With the help of my friends I was able to almost finish filming for the pickleball bootcamp in KL Malaysia at an amazing court near the golf course

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I'm not sure if my audience is into pickleball, but I'll share the promo and a link if you're interested when it comes out.

Here are some video highlights of us playing pickleball in Kuala Lumpur, and a round robin that we call open play. As you can tell it's a fairly young crowd and a good mix of guys and gals unlike in Vancouver where it's an older crowd with more guys. I ended up getting a Global pickleball rating called DUPR in Malaysia that I can use worldwide to enter competitive tournaments anywhere or match up with similar level players.

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I also played some casual pickleball in a variety of settings. The playas club is on top of the rooftop parking lot in a night life complex called Trec. It offers amazing courts with a golf course view on one side and a modern city skyline around the courts. It even has a bar and a restaurant. Kuala Lumpur is experiencing it's golden age as a pickleball haven and as a traveler this was a pickleball paradise.

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Danang, Vietnam - Unbelievable value

Danang seems to be the hottest destination to be in the first half of 2025. I wanted to see what the fuss was about. I've also travelled there in 2018, but after 7 years I was a bit rusty on travel essentials of Vietnam. I filmed a video on Danang, and will release it exclusively on my digital nomad online course. One tip was to get the online tourist e-visa in advance for $20 us and book an Airbnb close to the My Khe beach. I also exchanged a lot of cash to vietnamese dong in my prior location in KL Malaysia. I paid about $35 USD for my airbnb per night, which was a nice spacious full furnished apartment for 5 days. I played pickleball on my first night soon after I arrived. It was a short 2.5 hour flight and I took a grab motobike taxi to the Grand Tourane Hotel to the pickleball location. My only regret was not getting the girls contacts. Btw I had some success meeting girls in Danang from online dating to just going out. I also remember this in 2018. Something to consider.

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Besides the cheap cost of living there are a lot of laptop friendly coffee shops and cowork spaces. There was even a digital nomad event that I went to. However, I ended up going to more pickleball events and felt a stronger connection with the expat pickleball players from South Korea, South Africa, US, and even a few from Canada. The beach, food, community and craft beer was amazing. I wasn't able to visit the famous Bana Hills which hosts one of the best golf courses in Asia. There is definitely a lot of upside to living and visiting Danang and can see myself coming back for a longer period of time.

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Summary

Asia as a whole whether it's Thailand, Malaysia, or Vietnam still has a lot to offer from food, value, warm weather, & pickleball. You could even say it was a vacation from cooking, excessive prices, tipping, and and the daily grind. I've been on many trips to Asia and this trip opened my eyes to a whole new world and community in pickleball. I can see myself leveraging my previous tennis background as a competitive tennis player, my experience in content creation and teaching, and travel to find a nice niche in the pickleball world. What this is exactly I'm not exactly sure, but it's a transitionary period from the Travel Videography/Digital Nomad to somewhere in the Pickleball or AI space. Keeping following to see the journey leads.

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