1 minute ago, KittenKong said:

Actually Sri Lanka would be a reasonable alternative for me, though probably not Colombo the capital. The local food is fantastic: streets ahead of Thai food. The people are nice and speak a fair bit of English. The scenery is great and it has hill stations which for me at least offer a much more satisfactory climate than anywhere in Thailand. It is much less touristy than Thailand, and much less busy generally.

 

Long-term retirement visa options are not so good though.

Interesting, do they speak English?

 

I've worked with guys from Sri Lanka and they were genuinely decent people.

14 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

Actually Sri Lanka would be a reasonable alternative for me, though probably not Colombo the capital. The local food is fantastic: streets ahead of Thai food. The people are nice and speak a fair bit of English. The scenery is great and it has hill stations which for me at least offer a much more satisfactory climate than anywhere in Thailand. It is much less touristy than Thailand, and much less busy generally.

 

Long-term retirement visa options are not so good though.

Seems nowadays a dangerous place they just blew up several churches there and attacked 5 star hotels hundreds of death.

2 hours ago, Destiny1990 said:

Seems nowadays a dangerous place they just blew up several churches there and attacked 5 star hotels hundreds of death.

I remember a bomb at the Erawan shrine in the middle of Bangkok a few years ago. And there was a big one in a Brighton hotel in '84. Did either stop me going anywhere? No.

3 hours ago, JaiLai said:

Interesting, do they speak English?

I've worked with guys from Sri Lanka and they were genuinely decent people.

Yes, just about anyone who is educated speaks English there. You have to get used to their way of speaking it though.

 

They are nice people and I would not mind living there.

20 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

I remember a bomb at the Erawan shrine in the middle of Bangkok a few years ago. And there was a big one in a Brighton hotel in '84. Did either stop me going anywhere? No.

It stopped me going to Belfast and London in the 70s.

Plenty of places to visit, no need to tempt fate at the risky ones.

8 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

It stopped me going to Belfast and London in the 70s.

Plenty of places to visit, no need to tempt fate at the risky ones.

Yep. Life is too short to go to places where folks arent playing nice. 

32 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

I remember a bomb at the Erawan shrine in the middle of Bangkok a few years ago. And there was a big one in a Brighton hotel in '84. Did either stop me going anywhere? No.

Bon Voyage..

 

16 hours ago, KittenKong said:

I spent many years there and often ask myself why I'm not living there now. I found that it was easy enough to spice up the local food when cooking at home, and it wasnt very hard to get them to do it in restaurants either once they got to know me. Some dishes are actually very tasty as they come: sinigang, escabeche etc. I also prefer Pinoy BBQ chicken to the Thai version. Most places I used to eat in would offer some fresh chilli to tart the food up with.

I have an enduring memory of eating great fresh oysters and lovely BBQ chicken and salad and rice in the Visayas, washed down with beer that was half the price of Thai beer and more than twice as good.

I have spent years there as well. I prefer the chicken. Years ago I remember eating chicken on the beach before Boracay was even developed and it was the bomb. I love eating Mai Mai fresh from the sea and Tuna was also a favorite. I just hated Typhoon season. With how the Aussie dollar is now, the PI is a good bet if you can handle it and have decent health insurance. 

I've only visited the Philippines but I had some good food there, but the street type food was appalling.

39 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I've only visited the Philippines but I had some good food there, but the street type food was appalling.

This is true. You need to stay away from street stalls in the RP. No such problem in restaurants though.

28 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

This is true. You need to stay away from street stalls in the RP. No such problem in restaurants though.

Street food is terrible but I did like Bibingka. 

 

If if you went to a decent restaurant you could eat well and clay fired pizza mostly was good. 

Which girls are hotter?  hmmmm