Comparing Philippines and Thailand

[Captain 776 551]

2 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

Mugged twice in Manila on short visits, never once anywhere in Thailand in over 30 years.

EXACTLY........in my humble opinion.......Phils is significantly more dangerous than Thailand and if you think the police dont enforce here.......go to Phils.......they do NOTHING.

There is places in Phils that even Filipinos wont go.......like Mindanao.

Granted this can happen anywhere......including here.......my friend arrived, put his things in hotel room and went out front.......deciding whether to go left or right..........within 30 seconds motorbike ripped his chain off.

Another friend going to airport to fly back to Thailand.........him and his Flip wife........had bags n backpack beside them on sidewalk.......backpack grabbed..........had wallet, all cards, passport......EVERYTHING in backpack......GONE~!!
Places in Manila you can get killed with many watching during daylight........no one saw anything.
 

is that where you want to live?.

 

[donnacha 2,112]

6 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Same here, they've always been very pleasant people.

I once had a run-in with a scammer in Angeles but, in retrospect, should have avoided that city anyway. Same goes for Manila, no real reason to put up with it when other places in the Philippines are so much nicer and the proportion of nice people so much higher.

[donnacha 2,112]

19 minutes ago, Captain 776 said:

EXACTLY........in my humble opinion.......Phils is significantly more dangerous than Thailand and if you think the police dont enforce here.......go to Phils.......they do NOTHING.

There is places in Phils that even Filipinos wont go.......like Mindanao.

Granted this can happen anywhere......including here.......my friend arrived, put his things in hotel room and went out front.......deciding whether to go left or right..........within 30 seconds motorbike ripped his chain off.

Another friend going to airport to fly back to Thailand.........him and his Flip wife........had bags n backpack beside them on sidewalk.......backpack grabbed..........had wallet, all cards, passport......EVERYTHING in backpack......GONE~!!
Places in Manila you can get killed with many watching during daylight........no one saw anything.
 

is that where you want to live?.

Good Lord, are you sure you should be traveling at all?

Obviously a mega-city such as Manila is going to have problems - any city with 14m people is going to have crime reports every day - but there is so much more to the country than Manila.

Writing off Mindanao is particularly hysterical. It is a massive island, with 27 provinces and 33 cities. Only a few provinces in the West are affected by the periodic Islam insurgency, but most European countries will have the same problem soon enough.

I would challenge anyone to find a major city in S.E. Asia that feels as well-managed and safe as Davao while allowing a good lifestyle on very little money. Singapore is obviously more advanced but very few of us could afford to live the life we want there.

In a sense, the problems in the West have a silver lining because they have kept away clueless tourists away Mindanao in general, keeping prices reasonable for those of us who have grasped the concept of distance.

 

Edited October 10 by donnacha

[BritManToo 24,022]

22 minutes ago, Captain 776 said:

Granted this can happen anywhere......including here.......my friend arrived, put his things in hotel room and went out front.......deciding whether to go left or right..........within 30 seconds motorbike ripped his chain off.

Another friend going to airport to fly back to Thailand.........him and his Flip wife........had bags n backpack beside them on sidewalk.......backpack grabbed..........had wallet, all cards, passport......EVERYTHING in backpack......GONE~!!

I learned not to stand by the roadside holding stuff in your hand.

Basic survival for anywhere in the world.

[EricTh 1,039]

3 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

Mugged twice in Manila on short visits, never once anywhere in Thailand in over 30 years.

 

I thought he said Filipinos are more friendly than Thais?

 

How did they mug you?

[rosst 889]

I made the move to the Philippines based mainly on the welcoming people and the Christian ethic. 

Visas and immigration convinced me not to stay in Thailand, love to holiday there where I own a house but I live in the Philippines. 

It is not perfect but I am in the provinces away from the big cities and I have a beachfront home with my boat and cheap lifestyle and travel around Asia for holidays. 

Does it for me. 

[donnacha 2,112]

41 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I learned not to stand by the roadside holding stuff in your hand.

Basic survival for anywhere in the world.

Part of the problem some people have with Phils is that they are comparing is too directly with Thailand. We forget how extraordinarily safe most of Thailand is for a country in which a relatively high proportion of the people are poor. Some unique Thai cultural sensibility makes most Thais more honest, and that lulls people who have spent a lot of time here into the expectation that other countries will be the same. They really aren't.

To then land in a significantly poorer country in which you actually do have to watch your stuff is a bewildering adjustment that some struggle to make. Of course, once you make that adjustment, and re-engage your common sense circuits, you rarely have any problems.

In fact, in some ways Phils ends up safer than Thailand because it seems to be possible to establish far closer friendships with Filipinos, including the men, than it is with Thais. Having a good circle of friends is, in itself, a form of protection. It is not good to let yourself become isolated anywhere, and I see way too many farangs whose only real daily interaction is with their Thai wife.

I enjoy Chiang Mai but a combination of the haze season and the increasing uncertainty around visas, insurance, exchange rates, medical fees, double pricing, worsening attitudes to Westerners etc have encouraged me to consider other options.

My main sticking point on Phils is that renting an apartment seems to be so far more complicated than Chiang Mai. My secondary sticking point is the food - Phils actually has better food than many countries, but we are spoiled by just how astonishingly good Thailand and Vietnam are.
 

Edited October 10 by donnacha

[madmen 7,229]

3 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

Mugged twice in Manila on short visits, never once anywhere in Thailand in over 30 years.

A very good who friend who lived in our condo went to live there and was back in 2 weeks ! Home invasion , tied up with a knife to his throat. 

Edited October 10 by madmen

[donnacha 2,112]

35 minutes ago, EricTh said:

I thought he said Filipinos are more friendly than Thais?

 

How did they mug you?

With big smiles.

 

[dimitriv 819]

2 hours ago, steven100 said:

>> 556,681 views on a video promoting to visit the Philippines and not Thailand.

 

so does that mean you are moving 

 

 

No. I am mainly interested in the influence of social media. I think the influence this boy has on travelling and destinations is for example much bigger than TAT...

 

 

[HeyHeyHey 1,446]

PH all the way

 

I agree with the comfort because Philippines is a country of 7641 islands. That makes it incredibly difficult and expensive to create infrastructure. They also get way more difficulties from typhoons etc which destroys what they built.

 

Food? Filipino food is not good, but Thai food is not good in Thailand too. I don't like to eat chemicals and 20 grams of sugar in each meal. Thai food in western countries is great. At the same time if you want western food then PH wins all the way. Much cheaper and better quality. Only Pattaya is on par, due to the competition and demand. But Philippines has it even on small islands.

[RedPill 520]

17 hours ago, Skallywag said:

Vlogging as a job and lifestyle.  Great if you are his age. 

I am at least twice his age, so some places or activities would not be for me. 

Also many popular vloggers never show beggars, mention crime, or any real problems in traveling .

I think they are likely  "priming" the pot with the people in some videos before they start filming also.

Great video though no traveller would be able to see all these things on a 2-4 week holiday, as he said over 2 years travelling to make this one video

Many people watch Youtubers like these because it fulfills their dream of places they cannot afford or have the time to visit.  Great for him and great for the viewers, so win win 

No one reads books anymore, so these videos are the standard in travel guides now I would assume.  

That's what it is. 

 

The vlogger in OP's video is really a nice chap, you can't really judge him without seeing a bit more about him and what he posted before.

 

You have to see local people around him, when he talks to them, get's info and promotes the PH country. The locals all love him. That says a lot about a person living abroad.

 

Same for this chap, if you just take a few minutes and watch only from the 4-5th minute. 

See how the PH people act when they see him, stopping, saying hello, waving ... 

 

 

He's the nicest guy on Earth ... very positive, the PH people love him 

 

In Thailand, this is all not like this, ... it's all more bitterness, also look at the Farang responses in this thread. 

Everyone a lot more bitter and became way way too serious!

 

This vlogger got spotted by the PH Tourist authorities for the positive things he vlogs about the Philippines, and got 

invited to projects where has a larger platform to continue and spread his word.

 

In Thailand, he would get a fine for working without work permit ... plus all Farangs would jump on his back, too.

 

So nice all the expats here, all so positive  

 

 

 

 

Edited October 10 by RedPill

[wisperone 1,645]

12 hours ago, donnacha said:

Phils actually has better food than many countries, but we are spoiled by just how astonishingly good Thailand and Vietnam are.

Really?

I guess that depends on your tolerability of poor quality food. To each their own.

[RedPill 520]

8 minutes ago, wisperone said:

Really?

I guess that depends on your tolerability of poor quality food. To each their own.

Why argue about food? It's very subjective ... it's always each to their own. And the quality of Thai food is also very often very questionable, many times.

 

Thai food is great, but honestly, after a few years, I don't know what take or buy anymore when walking through the markets ... maybe just me personally. 

 

... there are times I'm happy the Pizza Company started to deliver to my house

 

I definitely need the balance.

 

 

 

Edited October 10 by RedPill

[wisperone 1,645]

16 minutes ago, RedPill said:

22 minutes ago, wisperone said:

Really?

I guess that depends on your tolerability of poor quality food. To each their own.

Why argue about food? It's very subjective ... it's always each to their own. And the quality of Thai food is also very often very questionable, many times.

 

Thai food is great, but honestly, after a few years, I don't know what take or buy anymore when walking through the markets ... maybe just me personally. 

 

... there are times I'm happy the Pizza Company started to deliver to my house

 

I definitely need the balance.

You contradict yourself.