thailand vs philippines

[Saastrajaa]

In Thailand, the women bathe three times a day...and often shave their body hair. No-brainer.

[bubba]

That being said I'd choose Thai overall but can't rave enough about Philipino cuisine.

Didn't realize PI even had a signature "cuisine" let alone a culture to support one.....well,jump'n be Jesus,eh!

You might be surprised at how many different ways Spam can be prepared there.

[seedy]

Non English post Removed

[Rob13]

Long term visa process has gotta be easier in the PI.

[pgrahmm]

In Thailand, the women bathe three times a day...and often shave their body hair. No-brainer.

A lot of truth there.....I've never run into any body odor/hygiene with a Thai woman - seems like most don't sweat very much....

Fila gals always seem to have a sweat/oily sheen to them - no matter how fine they look they tend to be oily-ish + some have a good amount of body hair, others not much at all....Their cleanliness habits are not the same as their Thai sisters....

I will guess that it has a lot to do with diet, generally accepted personal care standards + the difference in climate/humidity.....

In many respects they are not as cultured or refined as the Thais - might have to do with being taken over by a different ruling country every few decades.....This changes with location with hundreds of different dialects & cultures between the islands.....Many cannot speak to others once away from their area....

English is not as widely spoken as many believe & it really get bastardized depending on the root dialect.....Even many that can use English cannot hold a lengthy basic conversation & their complexity level/threshold is very low.....Many get angrily frustrated when they do not understand......

The whole place has a menacing undercurrent of dangerous anger to it.....Almost never see a woman driving although many own cars they hire driver/bodyguards as they are not safe out and about like in Thailand....That leaves mano on mano drivers on the roads & they are very much more aggressive than here....Most outlying area traffic lights do not work - being stripped of wiring, etc.....Same with street lights.....Taxi & trike drivers will ask you to take any jewelry off & are nervous having a foreigner in their car.....Jeepneys are like asking for trouble in the wrong areas....

If nipples count for anything - it might be the only thing they'd have in the + column generally speaking.....

[Trujillo]

So can I guess, having never been to the Philippines, that the aged foreigner can still find a woman 30 to 50 years his junior to "fall in love with him because he has a good heart?"

I see a number of avatars on ThaiVisa, that if showing the real people, indicate that there are a number of septuagenarians with their "young trophy babes" from Thailand.

Can I assume that in the Philippines, if you have deep enough pockets and the desire to, as I call it, "maintain the world's most expensive and exotic pet," you can find a young, babeful Filipina to love you really, because you are a "good man" and have a "good heart"?

//edit grammar

Edited May 16, 2016 by Trujillo

[pgrahmm]

^^^^Same same but different^^^^

Some guys just dissappear there (I know of one).....

There's a criminal element/para military layer there below the army & above the police (police won't touch them/army isn't looking real hard for them)....You have problems with someone - call them & they are removed/gone never to be seen - or lesser (neighborhood claims squabbles) problems resolved in other ways.....

That's why access to some of the older threads would've been good - alot of first hand experiences of this type were reported.....

But yes - they can be/are very actively & outright aggressive......As a society....

Different than here.....

Edited May 16, 2016 by pgrahmm

[arunsakda]

I know of one cashed up ex-colleague, retired early to trade his portfolio full time, stay in a fancy condo in PI with a young lady he married "this one's different". He was a known cheapskate however and made himself worth more dead than alive with ever more generous codicils and life assurance policies. Total control freak and I was shocked to hear what a pittance he gave her for spending money. Big mistake.

They found him stabbed to death in the boot of a stolen taxi, real ugly business.

I'll take the crocodile smiles and false politeness of Thailand anyday over the overt hostilility and menace of the PI, not to mention food a dog wouldn't eat.

Edited May 16, 2016 by arunsakda

[xylophone]

Kind notice to Arunsakda............................Please help get this thread back on topic because it's not really about fake bistros, London, Los Angeles, Le Meridien or my home cooking, or indeed my food preferences, it's really about Thailand versus the Philippines.

Sad that you had to post a personal insult (a flame), however I won't stoop to your level in response.

However the thread is back on track as I requested.........thank you Mods.

[FrankOff]

Geeze, thanks Chez Lui for getting the thread back on track!......now get back to that kitchen and whip up some of that 8hr frenchie sauce...

ah,never mind I'll just go and have some Kra-Pow instead - Cheers

[bamukloy]

I know of one cashed up ex-colleague, retired early to trade his portfolio full time, stay in a fancy condo in PI with a young lady he married "this one's different". He was a known cheapskate however and made himself worth more dead than alive with ever more generous codicils and life assurance policies. Total control freak and I was shocked to hear what a pittance he gave her for spending money. Big mistake.

They found him stabbed to death in the boot of a stolen taxi, real ugly business.

I'll take the crocodile smiles and false politeness of Thailand anyday over the overt hostilility and menace of the PI, not to mention food a dog wouldn't eat.

I guess one other factor not yet addressed is

do they fall (or jump) off buildings in PI?

Personally i didnt mind the adobo in PI, and you can easily get whatever western food you like.

I dont think there is as much to do in and around Manilla as say, Bangkok.

I also think there are a lot more dangers in PI for a westerner and i feel a lot safer walking around BKK.

My vote would be Thailand, if the option was Chaing Mai. Just for ease of living and nice surrounds. Pukhet or Pattaya no way.

Now, about that Frenchie sauce..what could possibly take 8 hours?

[sage1255]

The rules and laws in Thai can be difficult. I was lucky to get my yellow book, my motorbike and car driver license in Thai in one week. The yellow book was best for me becuase i live 1.5 hrs from nearest immigration office to get a residency letter.

Now that I have finished all that, i go out in the morning...to the market for food shopping, have coffee, eat lunch....and everywhere i go, I mean everywhere, even my government experiences while not always lovely and must do more documents, every time the people are the most gracious i ever see. Yes i take Thailand sure

[xylophone]

Quote bamukloy: "I guess one other factor not yet addressed is do they fall (or jump) off buildings in PI?"

Or even die from unexplained deaths in their bathrooms? If the PI is anything like the land of scams then your life is in danger if you have a little money, and this forum is rife with posts about farangs being ripped off (and dying in unexplained circumstances) and as one poster said, "don't be fooled by the amount of time you've been married because the fateful day will sneak up on you and you will be completely blindsided.......".

Don't know enough about the Phillies to be able to comment although the OP does seem to base his opinion of Thailand on, quote, "is Thailand and Thai people really so bad or is Thai visa just full off moaners and complainers. And so quick to judge people make a mistake and your called a fool an idiot very low tolarence sometimes shown on here".

So my response would be to experience Thailand to see if it has the key elements which he needs to be satisfied in order to live here and not to pay too much attention to the folks on here who are quick to insult, which has just happened to me and is a reflection on the posters lack of ability to communicate (now on my "ignore" list).

Quote: "Now, about that Frenchie sauce..what could possibly take 8 hours?"

Cooking time is well under that, however searching for things like relatively fresh veal bones, plus the ingredients to make one's own stock can be extremely time-consuming and back home it could take me at least half a day to source them. Never did find a reasonable veal stock cube or powder which would suffice, which is why I stopped making it quite a few years ago..........

[happy Joe]

So can I guess, having never been to the Philippines, that the aged foreigner can still find a woman 30 to 50 years his junior to "fall in love with him because he has a good heart?"

I see a number of avatars on ThaiVisa, that if showing the real people, indicate that there are a number of septuagenarians with their "young trophy babes" from Thailand.

Can I assume that in the Philippines, if you have deep enough pockets and the desire to, as I call it, "maintain the world's most expensive and exotic pet," you can find a young, babeful Filipina to love you really, because you are a "good man" and have a "good heart"?

//edit grammar

Yes.

But you must also be spiritual, funny, cheerful, modest, good living, active, philanthropist, curious and clean.

Otherwise you will learn to fly or avoid living on the upper floors...

[SooKee]

Quote bamukloy: "I guess one other factor not yet addressed is do they fall (or jump) off buildings in PI?"

Or even die from unexplained deaths in their bathrooms? If the PI is anything like the land of scams then your life is in danger if you have a little money, and this forum is rife with posts about farangs being ripped off (and dying in unexplained circumstances) and as one poster said, "don't be fooled by the amount of time you've been married because the fateful day will sneak up on you and you will be completely blindsided.......".

Don't know enough about the Phillies to be able to comment although the OP does seem to base his opinion of Thailand on, quote, "is Thailand and Thai people really so bad or is Thai visa just full off moaners and complainers. And so quick to judge people make a mistake and your called a fool an idiot very low tolarence sometimes shown on here".

The one thing I found really bizarre in this thread is that anyone would even consider how they find the conduct on an internet forum as a factor in any way, shape or form in terms of trying to decide whether a country or district would be good to live in. Beyond belief really.

Edited May 17, 2016 by SooKee

[ardokano]

^^^^Same same but different^^^^

Some guys just dissappear there (I know of one).....

There's a criminal element/para military layer there below the army & above the police (police won't touch them/army isn't looking real hard for them)....You have problems with someone - call them & they are removed/gone never to be seen - or lesser (neighborhood claims squabbles) problems resolved in other ways.....

That's why access to some of the older threads would've been good - alot of first hand experiences of this type were reported.....

But yes - they can be/are very actively & outright aggressive......As a society....

Different than here.....

Some guys just dissappear there (I know of one).....

You know ?

Not you knew ?

You kidnapper?

You criminal?

[anto]

>>The one thing I found really bizarre in this thread is that anyone would even consider how they find the conduct on an internet forum as a factor in any way, shape or form in terms of trying to decide whether a country or district would be good to live in. Beyond belief really. <<

Yes ,i agree .

[pgrahmm]

>>The one thing I found really bizarre in this thread is that anyone would even consider how they find the conduct on an internet forum as a factor in any way, shape or form in terms of trying to decide whether a country or district would be good to live in. Beyond belief really. <<

Yes ,i agree .

What would be their other choices? Google & they just get one person's write up at a time.....Or - they could try & find a book - again, one persons opinion......

Travel & bump around in a unknown place that's dangerous enough that even the USMC will not let their corps visit even if they have family there?

Here - there's an expat community that's interested and in close proximity + some with actual & factual experience with a common interest in asia (although PI are really pacific islanders & closer akin to islander vesus asian customs. culture, and features and identify as such).....

Most here are straight forward (even if some are obviously bent) & will give an opinion.....If someone asks advice about CM nobody seems to find fault....

In many ways TVF can be a valuable sounding board.....A short read through TVF quickly separates the quality answers/posts from the others.....

After that it's up to them to glean what they can.....

Edited May 18, 2016 by pgrahmm

[2fishin2]

>>The one thing I found really bizarre in this thread is that anyone would even consider how they find the conduct on an internet forum as a factor in any way, shape or form in terms of trying to decide whether a country or district would be good to live in. Beyond belief really. <<

Yes ,i agree .

What would be their other choices? Google & they just get one person's write up at a time.....Or - they could try & find a book - again, one persons opinion......

Travel & bump around in a unknown place that's dangerous enough that even the USMC will not let their corps visit even if they have family there?

Here - there's an expat community that's interested and in close proximity + some with actual & factual experience with a common interest in asia (although PI are really pacific islanders & closer akin to islander vesus asian customs. culture, and features and identify as such).....

Most here are straight forward (even if some are obviously bent) & will give an opinion.....If someone asks advice about CM nobody seems to find fault....

In many ways TVF can be a valuable sounding board.....A short read through TVF quickly separates the quality answers/posts from the others.....

After that it's up to them to glean what they can.....

Your post is BS. The marines have been going to the PI forever and have not stopped. In fact, in the near future they will be basing them there on a fully rotational basis with some being stationed there permanently.

[pgrahmm]

>>The one thing I found really bizarre in this thread is that anyone would even consider how they find the conduct on an internet forum as a factor in any way, shape or form in terms of trying to decide whether a country or district would be good to live in. Beyond belief really. <<

Yes ,i agree .

What would be their other choices? Google & they just get one person's write up at a time.....Or - they could try & find a book - again, one persons opinion......

Travel & bump around in a unknown place that's dangerous enough that even the USMC will not let their corps visit even if they have family there?

Here - there's an expat community that's interested and in close proximity + some with actual & factual experience with a common interest in asia (although PI are really pacific islanders & closer akin to islander vesus asian customs. culture, and features and identify as such).....

Most here are straight forward (even if some are obviously bent) & will give an opinion.....If someone asks advice about CM nobody seems to find fault....

In many ways TVF can be a valuable sounding board.....A short read through TVF quickly separates the quality answers/posts from the others.....

After that it's up to them to glean what they can.....

Your post is BS. The marines have been going to the PI forever and have not stopped. In fact, in the near future they will be basing them there on a fully rotational basis with some being stationed there permanently.

Not BS - Confirmed by a USMC Master Sergeant in my extended family - happened last year.....

Yes - I know they are/will be repositioning....

Where are your sources directly coming from?

[2fishin2]

At times there have been commands who put it off limits due to trouble the Marines have caused there while on liberty but, there is no general policy prohibiting USMS personnel from going there. As usual, the actions of a few, effect the many.

[SooKee]

>>The one thing I found really bizarre in this thread is that anyone would even consider how they find the conduct on an internet forum as a factor in any way, shape or form in terms of trying to decide whether a country or district would be good to live in. Beyond belief really. <<

Yes ,i agree .

What would be their other choices? Google & they just get one person's write up at a time.....Or - they could try & find a book - again, one persons opinion......

Travel & bump around in a unknown place that's dangerous enough that even the USMC will not let their corps visit even if they have family there?

Here - there's an expat community that's interested and in close proximity + some with actual & factual experience with a common interest in asia (although PI are really pacific islanders & closer akin to islander vesus asian customs. culture, and features and identify as such).....

Most here are straight forward (even if some are obviously bent) & will give an opinion.....If someone asks advice about CM nobody seems to find fault....

In many ways TVF can be a valuable sounding board.....A short read through TVF quickly separates the quality answers/posts from the others.....

After that it's up to them to glean what they can.....

Totally missing the point. I didn't say people shouldn't use a forum to help come to a decision. I said I found it bizarre that people would use the CONDUCT of people on a forum (e.g. Bitching and squabbling) to inform the decision. Detail, detail.

[streetsweeper]

My advice to the OP is to look at the substance of the replies made by CM members and then look at the array of stimulating/inspirational topics in the CM forum.

By this measure, you will easily make up your mind!

* please understand that what moves and shakes in CM usually does not participate in TV CM forum discussions.

[junglechef]

That being said I'd choose Thai overall but can't rave enough about Philipino cuisine.

Didn't realize PI even had a signature "cuisine" let alone a culture to support one.....well,jump'n be Jesus,eh!

"Signature" cuisine??

You've read to many blogs that the "authors" use trendy terms they don't understand.

That's a word some restaurant are using these days as a marketing tool to describe a dish that the place or their Chef, or his style, is known for.

Perhaps you meant a National Dish of the Philippines, which Adobo or Lechon could be considered by some, but I'm sure regionally there would be different opinions.

Instead of showing your ignorance on a subject why don't you learn something about it before posting.

"Linamnam - Eating One's Way Around The Philippines" I highly recommend for a start. I've had the pleasure of having lunch at the author's home and through the meal's conversation was exposed to so much more about their wonderful cuisine.

Learning is an amazing thing and one might even a get a bit of an education reading the TV forums, but I wouldn't count on it

[Rhys]

Simple test for food... pancit vs pad thai?

[junglechef]

Also don't want to be argumentative, unless one wants to take my words that way which I'm sure many will as this is TV.

I agree food is subjective but one must look at the subject to decide if the opinion is even worthy of considering.

To start to state by name a couple nationalities of food you don't like, both that are pretty well recognized as widely appreciated fine cuisines, both which are very also different from each other.

Then you say you went to China and ate junk food and at American fast food outlets because you didn't like the local restaurants.

I'll quote you "Food, in all of it's glories, really is a personal matter of taste."

Well it sounds like your not really have a taste for different foods that much, or at least are a Foodie, as that's the current trendy term.

So for you to comment about food is kind of unwhelming.

Not a bad thing, each to their own, for instance I wouldn't comment on a post about plumbing or horse racing thread as I doubt anyone who have any interest in my thoughts on the subjects.

To further my point you call different cuisines "oddities" (??) and in all your travels you've never come across a Filipino or Cambodian restaurant.

How about going to Cambodia and the Philippines (I've spent weeks in each over the last few months and saw lots of both )

Yes I know your point that they are not popular enough to be common elsewhere but you'd probably wouldn't like them anyways.

I don't take your post as argumentative, I'd be a fool to do so. I'm not a professional, just a very keen amateur. Cooking has been my hobby since I left home at 16 and decided I didn't want to live on tinned food and pot noodles. My mam was a cook supervisor, dad was actually a better cook than her, but it was all traditional English fare. I'm not saying boring or bland, some very nice dishes come out of an English kitchen (contrary to popular opinion), but it was all English food. At 16 I had my first Indian food, bought the spices, ground them up with a spoon in an eggcup because that's all I had, and followed the instructions exactly. It was also the first time I'd had garlic. A couple of weeks later I had my first Chinese meal, again made from scratch (and now I know that unlike the Indian meal it was not at all authentic), but very tasty. Then pasta - first time ever. Made a real hash of the bolognese sauce (don't ask) and cooked the pasta for 20 minutes to make sure it was properly done. Absolutely awful, but I persisted and followed the instructions properly the next time and made a meal of lasagne that Mr K and myself enjoyed more than anything - also his first Italian meal. I taught myself to make bread, bake cakes, even make my own sweets when I can be bothered. I love cooking and can potter around in the kitchen all day. It's the only hobby I have. I'm not a foodie in any sense of the word and avoid people who are, I'm just a keen amateur who is willing to try anything new. Sometimes I like it, sometimes not. At the same time, sometimes my husband likes it, sometimes not so much. I do have a taste for different foods, I just don't like a couple of them. I can whip up a pretty mean Afgan lamb stew if I have access to the tail fat, and Lebanese style doner kebabs on home made Turkish pita bread with Greek tzakiki are my speciality. A truly multinational dish that came about after dozens of incarnations using different recipes for the lamb, different kinds of bread and different kinds of yoghurt-garlic sauces. I experiment. If it doesn't work, there's always something in the freezer that I can defrost quickly and have with some pasta, and it has happened a few times. A couple of weeks ago I ruined two very expensive cod steaks by salting them, forgetting, and salting them again - and I am very generous with the salt. They were truly inedible. Some rogan gosh in the freezer went straight into the microwave. It happens sometimes, but I'd rather experiment and get it wrong sometimes rather than just stick with what I know.

Since my first , sometimes clumsy attempts, I have experimented with foods from around the world. Sometimes I've not followed the instructions properly - it's much easier now with the Internet rather than relying on whatever book was in the library, being able to look up a few different recipes for the same dish - and made a hash of it, but I'm now experienced enough to take recipes as a guide and do my own thing. My personal taste doesn't stretch to Mexican or Japanese, just as my personal taste doesn't stretch to celery, cucumber, melon and parsnip. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with these foods, just that for whatever reason I wouldn't go out of my way for them. But I love Middle Eastern food, North African, not so keen on Ethiopian, but would choose it over Mexican. As I said, just personal taste. My first mousakka, made by a friend, was awful beyond words. Overcooked, way too much sauce and smothered in much too much cheese. It put me off trying Greek food at home because it was just so awful. But after I made a few Greek things and realised how scrummy they were, I tried my own mousakka and it was so nice we finished the whole thing off rather than putting 2/3 of it in the freezer. I realised then that you have to be careful not to have the attitude of disliking a whole cuisine based on one dish that either you just didn't like or wasn't cooked well. My first pizza was a disaster, it was about a year before I tried it again, and it was great. But other things I've tried more than once, knowing I've got it right because other people liked them but I just didn't really like them. That's what I meant by food being subjective and to personal taste. Like music. Very few people like Beethoven and the Sex Pistols. We are all different.

Here, I cook pretty much the same way as I did back home. One day Italian, one day Turkish, one day English, one day Vietnamese and on it goes. Just mix it up. I couldn't think of anything worse than having the same food every day. That's why I don't like Thai food - for the first couple of years we were travelling, and most of it in Thailand, I had no cooking facilities and ate Thai food 3 times a day every day. One day I just said enough. And I haven't eaten Thai food since. My husband used to work with a lot of Filipinas in Australia, and we went to barbies at their places several times. No complaints about any of the food on offer, but none really caught my imagination enough to ask someone how to make it as I often did at barbies or parties given by Vietnamese, Greeks and Italians. Maybe it was just that what was on offer was easy to make stuff that is suitable for barbies, I really don't know. Certainly no complaints about it though. We've been to Cambodia many times, and I've always found the food there rather bland - this is going from street stall to cheap restaurant to very nice restaurants. Not necessarily bad food, but what we have had (and we always order different foods and go halves) seems to me to be a bit bland; maybe just what we've had and have missed out on great parts of the cuisine. Burmese food however is very under-rated, I've always enjoyed what I've made and when we'e eaten at Burmese restaurants.

If we all liked the same foods, and all eat the same thing, it would be a very boring world. Diversity and personal taste dictates what we eat, and I think that everybody should all experiment with new foods rather than sticking to what they know they like.

So your opinion on different cuisines is you having never tasted them prepare them at home as base for your likes on how they turn out.

To properly cook a food one not only must know what a good original dish tastes like to successfully reproduce it but should also have a firm understanding of how to use the ingredients, the cooking methodology, the history of at least the cuisine if not the people and country among other things.

(This is way most of the foreign dishes prepared by locals here are awful)

NOTHING to do with your personal taste, you haven't even tried the food to have one!!!

You don't eat Thai food because you have had enough from traveling "mostly" in Thailand for a few years!!!!

Are you just taking a piss, as you Brits would say??????

[2fishin2]

There is a show on CNN his week about Philippine cuisine. That doesn't happen unless a few people enjoy it.

[bubba]

There is a show on CNN his week about Philippine cuisine. That doesn't happen unless a few people enjoy it.

Exactly...there are more than 98 million people living in the Philippines who for the most part probably enjoy Filipino food.

But judging from the number of Filipino restaurants I have seen outside the Philippines...errr...not very many others enjoy it.

[JaseTheBass]

Simple test for food... pancit vs pad thai?

Jeez. Neither if I can help it.

[2fishin2]

There is a show on CNN his week about Philippine cuisine. That doesn't happen unless a few people enjoy it.

Exactly...there are more than 98 million people living in the Philippines who for the most part probably enjoy Filipino food.

But judging from the number of Filipino restaurants I have seen outside the Philippines...errr...not very many others enjoy it.

The reason is simple....its called marketing.