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3 Family friendly Youtubers sharing life, food, culture in Thailand, Korea and China

Paddy Doyle in Thailand

Paddy Doyle in Thailand is a friendly, wholesome, family friendly Youtuber, currently exploring all 77 provinces of Thailand on a little motorbike that he named ‘Dreamy’. Great viewing for anyone who has always wondered: “Why aren’t we seeing more about Thailand outside of the well known tourist hotspots?” Paddy is doing a great service to broadening all of our horizons and the next time we visit we should all take a leaf out of his book and get off the comfortable beaten path because it’s a big country with so much more to offer than the same same places. 

From his Channel’s About page: “About Paddy — I LOVE to entertain, educate, and inspire people to get out there and have adventures, so let’s explore the world, eat new and fantastic foods, and let’s just spread some positive vibes as we do so!”

ABOVE is one of his recent videos that I missed to watch and I only noticed because I went to look for a good video for you to view to get a first impression.

And how could I almost forget? Paddy shares beautiful drone footage of many of the places that he visits. If you are a Thailand geek then the drone footage is a must see. (I’ll link it HERE & BELOW.)

(I recommend that you play YOUR OWN music if Paddy’s choice doesn’t do it for you. I played this super cute and relaxing Korean playlist at low volume, while watching Paddy’s drone footage. It was the perfect combination for me.)

If you want to follow along Paddy’s 77 province journey then you can jump right in OR go all the way back to the first video of the Series #1. Link HERE .

When I first found Paddy Doyle’s channel during my research for channels to add to my huge list of 40+ Youtubers who are making videos from Thailand I instantly liked him but since following Paddy for several months my husband and I have grown increasingly fond of Paddy’s videos and now have a ritual of watching his latest Thai Provinces video, when it comes out, with our dinner. 

We really appreciate Paddy’s incredible work ethic. It’s a huge amount of work to not only ride a rickety old scooter from one province to another and on repeat but to also research locations, film and edit videos, maintain any semblance of sanity while doing all this completely alone most of the time and upload these videos on a reliable schedule. This is an extremely intense work schedule that he has created for himself AND the videos are enlightened. I mean this in terms of that Paddy Doyle’s videos give us a glimpse into so many provinces of Thailand, true, we mostly get just a little glance but if anyone wants to place a critique on this good man I’ll be the first to suggest: “Do what he does and try do it better, see how hard that is and then tell me your thoughts.”

Once you follow Paddy for a while you likely will likely get the same feeling as I do: Here is a genuinely decent young man with a vision and some dreams. A person with emotions who occasionally hints at that it isn’t all glittery and glorious when one goes on an adventure like the one Paddy embarked on and is taking us along with him. Every few weeks when a challenging situation presents itself to Paddy and his channel mission we feel with him and just want to cheer him on to overcome the obstacles. Maybe it’s just me and my husband who feel like this. Let me know in the comments: Do you find yourself rooting for a stranger on the internet, feeling protective over them when you see a negative comment somewhere? 

So I say: Give Paddy Doyle a Youtube follow and press the like button / thumbs up / or clap buttons wherever you see them. Because anyone putting their time and heart into putting a piece of themselves on the internet deserves the support that even a gesture like a ‘like / clap’ contributes to. This goes for any and all creators whose videos, photography, art, music or writing you ingest. Unless it upsets you: be supportive. 

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Minna Oh with Miss Minna & Sweet and Tasty TV (2 channels, one creator)

Sweet and Tasty TV and Miss Minna are the brainchild of Minna Oh, a Korean American creator and owner of at least 3 Youtube channels. She presents her videos with an imaginative, slightly quirky but also grounded personality which makes watching her videos engaging but also calming. She is the kind of person you likely would share your birthday cake with. 

Minna Oh has captured and maintained a sense of wonder at the small things in life. You’ll know what I mean once you watch 2–3 of her videos. Sweet and Tasty TV is all about Korean travel and Korean food, including several instruction videos for making your own Korean food. While Minna Oh’s Miss Minna channel covers her travel and food experiences around the world.

She also has a third quiet* ASMR channel that I hear through the grapevine is awaiting a rebranding, so let’s see what new direction Minna will take it in.(*see what I did there? ‘quiet ASMR channel..’?)

I first found Minna Oh through a collaboration that she did with Mark Wiens**, sharing a meal together at a North Korean style restaurant in South Korea. Since then I have watched probably 25% of Minna Oh’s entire catalogue of videos. 2020 and 2021 were trying years and living and enjoying vicariously through Minna’s past travels and her 2020 Korean food recipe videos helped me get through …

(** Mark Wiens = the infamous food appreciator who got his start in Thailand and has since taken global travel food Youtube by storm.)

Minna Oh is frequently accompanied by Mommy Oh, her adorable and all food appreciating mother. Every food that Mommy Oh enjoys is the …… food (Fill the blank — yes you: the reader, I’ll leave you to watch some videos and fill in the blank. Put your answer below in the comments. Your prize will be: gentle fuzzy joy in your hear region.) 

(Below is the second one of Minna’s videos that I ever watched and it includes Mommy Oh — I love Thailand, I initially stayed for Thailand and now I stay for Minna and Mommy Oh.)

These are very family friendly channels and very respectful of people’s privacy: Minna Oh frequently blocks people’s faces with little illustrations of almonds to respect their privacy, unless they have given consent to being filmed. Here and there people stray into the scene and not 100% of strangers receive an almond for a face cover but I appreciate Minna’s thoughtfulness, extra effort and respect for others.

And if you also just love Thailand and need a huge list of Youtubers based out of Thailand in 2020–2021 then I have you covered. I researched a list of 40+ Youtubers in Thailand, link HERE, it includes a handful of women, POC and local Thai creators; I am always looking for more to balance out the scales of representation and so that we can see the most different perspectives and experiences possible. 

I LOVE your suggestions for channels that you think I might like, please share them with me. I am always on the lookout for new or new to me ‘Asia & world travel and food youtube channels’. 

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Miriam Follin: A life in China & Sweden.

Miriam Follin’s channel is calming, informative, sharing glimpses of life abroad in China. A Swede who moved to live in China, married … then- moved with with her Chinese husband to Sweden. A bi-cultural life shared through the eyes of a woman who sees beauty and meaning in small things. Very family friendly, very calming. 

One of the reasons why this channel is special to me is because it shows the life of a couple who overcame, and perhaps you could say continue to overcome, cultural distances, differences, geographical and immigration regulations and are building a life and a family. Finding one’s way through the hurdles that an international relationship can present is no easy feat, no matter how dedicated two people may be. Likely there will be compromises and hardships along the way and I think it is wonderful to follow a couple who make it work. See how they navigate through the oceans of bureaucracy and adapt to each other and each other’s heritage. 

I don’t want to give too much away but there are now 2 babies and I am waiting with my breath held to see the latest updates from Miriam’s channel. Miriam’s husband Yonghong also started a Youtube channel so it is possible to enjoy following him during their, involuntary, time of geographical separation.

And for now that’s it. A list of just 3 Youtube content creators who dedicate a significant part of their channel to travel & life in Asia. Minna Oh and Miriam Follin share their experiences with the linguistic ability to five deep into Korean and Chinese food and life, while paddy Doyle does a great job at being respectful and showing us corners of Thailand that we might otherwise never see on one single channel. 

Remember to support content creators whose work you value.