Manila vs Bangkok

[thecyclist]

On 6/24/2024 at 12:41 PM, spidermike007 said:

That is an easy one. Let me summarize.

 

Philippines
Pros-
1. The women can be lovely. And many of them speak english. And if you are older guy, that is a plus in the PI. Plus they are way less demanding, and the bar is set much lower, in terms of their expectations. Older guys can get with far younger women, without an issue. The parents actually encourage it! Generally, it is possible to have a real conversation with many women there. Not the case here. It is rare here. Unlike most Thai women, the women there can have a real sense of curiousity, and will ask genuine questions about you, and your life, beyond where do you come from, how much do you earn, and what do you own? The PI seems to have a higher level of intellectual development.

2. The visa system is something that some think is simpler.

3. The place has thousands of islands, and some stunning beaches, and cleaner water than Thailand, at least on the Gulf Coast. But, the islands are fairly hard to get to, and the services are very limited, and more expensive than in Thailand.

4. In general I would say the people can be quite friendly. Especially the women. But, unlike Thailand, even the men can be friendly. I suspect if I lived there, I would have a number of local male friends, unlike here. I have never met a society of men, who are less interested, less curious about, and less willing to get to know foreigners, than I have here in Thailand. It is sometimes astonishing. It is a real disappointment. The place is more Westernized. You do not feel like you are living on another planet, which can be nice sometimes. Some shopping can be better, as there are Costco type outlets there. Some of the highways are better, and as an American, I can have goods shipped to me, with a preferred system, that allows low cost shipping, and duty free imports. Unheard of in Thailand. Importation of goods in Thailand can be horrendously difficult. It is an onerous system, one that is outdated by decades, in this age of globalization. Thailand is far, far more insular and fearful of the outside world, than the PI.

They are more Western in their mindset. The colonial occupation by Spain, which was largely managed by Mexico, means the culture is more Western leaning. Which makes them more open to the outside world and more curious. Qualities which are sorely lacking here. 

I find it rare for Thai men to have much interest at all, in really getting to know us. They seem to be lacking curiosity of the outside world, to a remarkable degree. 

nomadcapitalist.com/2018/01/15/the-philippines-residency-srrv/

Cons-
1. The entire country is like one big Tijuana. It is depressing. Very little landscaping in the homes, even nice homes are ugly, and have barbed wire, and glass topped walls everywhere you look.

2. The security situation is not very good. You always have to keep your eyes open, keep an eye on your back, and beware of robbery, home theft, and violence. It is rampant. I have many friends who live there, and they all say the same thing.

3. If you do get into an altercation with a Philippine man, or are getting robbed or harassed, unless you are a 6th degree sensei, do not fight back. An astonishing number of locals are well trained in the fighting arts. Many are good with sticks, knives, blades or any sort, and their hands, fists and feet. I have a friend who is a world class security consultant. He is a black belt in a few different martial arts. He says he can usually fight his way out of a gang of men, nearly anywhere in the world. Except in the PI. That is the only country he will NOT take an assignment.
The average guys there, can take down the average Westerner in five seconds. In Thailand few have those kinds of skills. Very few.

4. The food sucks. The only other country I can think of with worse food, is Cuba. Granted, if you are willing to spend the money, you can find good food. But, it is not the general rule, as it is here. Also, the access to fresh fruits and vegetables is pathetic compared to Thailand. Very low quality, and often not fresh. Thailand is a paradise by comparison, when it comes to all things related to food.

5. Pollution. They use a lower grade of diesel. So, there is alot of soot in the air. The PI has an epidemic of lung diseases and respiratory diseases. Even on many of the populated islands. The hospitals are full of people who are having a very hard time breathing. It is a real issue there. Lung disease is at an epidemic level, though the authorities do not like to talk about it, and publish very little information on it.

6. Aesthetics. The average house you would rent, looks like a slum. Tall walls, with barbed wire, to keep out intruders. And they just do not pay attention to landscaping and gardens like the Thai people do. So, most neighborhoods are fabulously ugly. Alot of slums in the big cities, and just not physically appealing.

7. Renting. There is a vastly lower number of rental units available, few are as nice as what you can find in Thailand, and it is almost always more expensive, with the possible exception of Central Bangkok. You just cannot find the studio apartments like the ones available all over Hua Hin, for 6,000 to 8,000 baht a month. That does not exist there.

8. Infrastructure. The entire country lacks the infrastructure you have here in Thailand. As I am typing now, I am enjoying a 180MB download speed, and a 100MB upload speed, all on fiber optic cable, for 800 baht a month. Unheard of in many countries, including the US! Triple the cost there. No sky train network anywhere near comparable to Bangkok. Mo MRT network either. They have one under construction, and it will be limited to ten stations.

Shall I go on? I could. As far as I am concerned, the only reason to live there is the women, and a slightly more cooperative, and far less xenophobic and racist government. Alot of ex-pats are looking to leave Thailand, as the current administration is so far beyond heinous and incompetent, it is unspeakable.

9. Security. I have a friend who does private security for a lot of very high net worth individuals, and corporate CEOs, when they travel, and he told me that the only country in the world that he will not take an assignment is the Philippines. When I asked him why he reminded me that he was at the 6th or 7th degree level in six different martial arts, besides the fact that he was 6'5 and about 280 lbs. of muscle. Spent his whole life training. Not the kind of guy you would want to mess with. He told me under normal circumstances he could incapacitate a group of four or five guys, in under a minute. Not in the PI. He said that in general, the Philippine men had the greatest degree of fighting skills of any group of people in the world, and that if you encountered a single guy, or a group of Philippine guys on the street you just never knew what their level of skill was, and you had to assume that they were expert street fighters. He said many were experts with knives, sticks and improvised weapons. Not the case here.

If you add on top of that, the fact that the country is extremely poor and that there's a fairly high level of desperation, it makes the Philippines a very, very dangerous place. Crime there is very opportunistic. And being a foreigner makes you a potential target. Again, not the case in Thailand. You really have to know what you're doing, you really have to know where you're going at all times, especially at night, and you always have to have eyes in the back of your head, and constantly looking over your shoulder. Of course, it varies depending on the city, the part of the city, and the region. But it is just one of many reasons I would not want to live there. I've been told this by a number of friends who live in the Philippines and it's been my observation, the several times that I have visited.

I like the people. The level of English skills and the women seem to be the big draw for most guys. But random guys in the street, can be a hazard, and that is variable I would want to have to deal with, regularly. 

I consider the PI to be far more of a ghetto experience. But, I am referring to the environment, and I think you are referring to the social aspect. I agree with that. Thais are spectacularly insular, and seem to have little to no curiosity about the outside world. The people in the PI are infinitely more open minded, and far more Western. And the language is a huge plus in the PI. Many speak good english, and I would guess if you were attempting to speak poor Tagalog, the people would try far harder than here, to understand what you are trying to say. Since they are more Westernized, they are likely more creative, linguistically. If you do not have the pronunciation and the tones down perfectly here, the people are completely lost. A total inability to dance around in circles intellectually. And they barely even care to try to understand what you are saying! That is a huge nuisance and annoyance here. 
 
The PI is a foreign country. Thailand is a distant planet.

I agree with most of what you say, but have to take issue with your assessment of the security in both Thailand and the Philippines. Yes,there are lots of conmen, swindlers, tricksters, thieves (most of it non violent)in the PI, but the usual portrayal of the PI as very dangerous and violent ,is vastly exaggerated, while it is vastly underrated in LOS. At least that is my experience. I have ,in the past, cycled extensively in both countries, and that includes a lot of night biking. Never have I been the victim of a violent attack, never have I felt threatened in the PI, in spite of that I as a single farang on a bike in the middle of the night in the the middle of nowhere would make the perfect target. Contrast that with Thailand, where I have been the victim of numerous unprovoked attacks, one brutal, where I ended up in the hospital, and have encountered innumerable threats and racial slurs (farang kuay,farang monitor lizard,farang kee nok).

To me ,the portrayal of the PI, very widespread, as extremely dangerous, is a myth, while the notion of LOS as very safe in comparison is ridiculous. The violence in the Philippines is mostly instrumental, they want your money, hand it over, and they will leave you alone.In Thailand a lot of it is racist, they want to humiliate the farang. 

[Paris333]

Gym cost in Greece-Athens cost you €100 yearly its very-very cheap......but I dont have free time joinning a gym center so when I have free time I wear my sports and.....running 10 km weekly. (3km running per day)

In Bangkok and Manila I have no idea but in both cities the cost of living is the same and I vote Thailand for safety reasons.

For ASEAN countries, the top 10 cities, ranked from highest to lowest cost of living compared to 2023, are as follows:

Singapore (rank unchanged)
Phnom Penh, Cambodia (rank 123, up 9)
Bangkok, Thailand (rank 129, down 24)
Manila, Philippines (rank 131, up 2)
Jakarta, Indonesia (rank 157, down 6)
Hanoi, Vietnam (rank 172, down 16)
Brunei (rank 176, down 4)
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (rank 178, down 14)
Yangon, Myanmar (rank 183, up 21)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (rank 200, down 20)

Source:

https://www.mercer.com/insights/total-rewards/talent-mobility-insights/cost-of-living/

My choice and suggestion is for your safety stay in Thailand-Bangkok and not in nortern part of Thailand but I dont understand since Thai Authorities want to implement to tax foreigners retired then why they dont insured them at their National Health coverage sheme? 

For tourists health isurance they should implement Tbaht500 at the airports entrance in order to avoid untaxed black money of private insurers.

By the time you pay taxes in Thailand then automatically you ought to be insured at their National Health System for medical facilities because you already have your National Thai I.D number.

Europeans clowns Embassies and Consultans are responsible for this horrible situation because they do not help Thai Prime Minister Mr Srettha to solve this issue with l.e.g.a.l foreigner citizens.

Those who use tricky private insurers and they direct that they had an "accident" in order to stay longer or ....to be compansated for their trip in Thailand in collaboration with corrupted private insurers they should be punished by banning to ender again to Kingdom of Thailand.

Do you trust private doctors and insurers? (xa-xa-xa)

Corruption -corruption -corruption!😉

What world do you live? Do you step on Earth?

 

How the pharmaceutical industry affects the European medicines agency EMA

Investigate Europe found that the regulator is plagued by many conflicts of interest with concerns about professional and financial ties to industry. It also faces growing criticism for fast-tracking drugs that could pose serious risks to patients.

When EMA was founded in 1995, only 20% of funding came from industry, with the rest from the European Union. This year, more than 90% percent is projected to come from industry fees😛 and charges 😛related to drug approvals.😛
"The funding of the agency and the level of fees are agreed by EU legislators 😛and codified in EU law... 😛

Applicants pay for the process, but not for the outcome of the process," an EMA spokesman said.

"Using the driving test analogy, one has to pay to take a driving test, but there is no guarantee that they will pass the test."😛
Source:
https://euobserver.com/investigations/ar6d0b9023

 

 

Edited June 25 by Paris333

[thecyclist]

On 6/24/2024 at 4:52 PM, georgegeorgia said:

I don't wish to get off topic and apologies to the OP but I was "detained" in Pattaya for 6 weeks last month and didn't see any 100 baht massage places , obviously not near view talay 2B

The 100 Baht massage places are on Soi Buakao near Pattaya Klang Road, as well as on some of the Sois off Chalermprakiat. 

[susanlea]

Any love for Bali?

[In Full Agreement]

On 6/24/2024 at 3:34 PM, Presnock said:

Actually would have been nice to have an idea on what interests you then answering the questions would have been much easier While I was there, the medical facilities in Manila were international standards, cafes/restaurants are everywhere except if you go to 7000 of the other islands and then you might or might not find a restaurant - Cebu also has restaurants.  Pollution can be faced at different times but since many islands are remote, no pollution ever, I thought the people were great!  They even had a sign and office for "US statehood for the Philippines" not too far from the US Embassy.  I was an honorary member of the NBI (equivalent to US FBI) golf team so I never had any problems doing anything, going anywhere, but also being a member of the US embassy there/consulate in Cebu also afforded me easy times with officials.  I also am  a member of the PI forum and they are all consantly complaining about life there too...sometimes it is easy to forget which forum I am on.

 

 

Please,   Don't get him started...

[JensenZ]

On 6/24/2024 at 1:44 PM, Thingamabob said:

Mugged twice in Manila, never even remotely threatened in Bangkok. Also, the food in Manila is dire, and nowhere near as good as Bangkok/Thailand.

In Manila there are plenty of good places to eat, especially in the malls. Good food costs a bit, so maybe you were looking for good cheap food?

 

Have you really been mugged twice in Manila? What happened? Care to elaborate? There are areas you shouldn't go to, such as Tondo, but around the Central areas and in Makati it's ok.

 

One time I had a cell phone snatched from my ear while I was talking on it. I ran after the guy and was accosted by a gang and had a gun pointed at me. I told them you're welcome to keep it and walked away. I've never been physically assaulted in many years in PI, but I'm careful where I go and the time that I'm going. I've never been much interested in walking around dirty polluted streets and don't like walking around Bangkok either. I tend to hang out in the shopping malls and get taxis back to my hotel, or even better, stay at hotels very close to the malls.

 

I was extorted by the police for the cool sum of 300k pesos back in 2006 in Angeles City. The police "asked" me to leave - that's when I came to Thailand. That just made the decision to move quicker and easier as I had plans to move anyway.

Edited June 26 by JensenZ