Comparing Living In Thailand And The Philippines

[jon1]

I have been hearing a about a lot of cracking down on the Expat community in regards to extended stays. This is starting to impact retirees and business owners. I have already met a few in my area already scoping out a move from Thailand to the Philippines.

 

http://www.smh.com.au/world/australians-in-thailand-face-visa-crackdown-junta-warns-20140801-zzdvp.html

 

http://asiancorrespondent.com/124798/visa-enforcement-tightens-for-tourists-and-expats-in-thailand/

 

I visited Thailand last year and found it very clean and fairly orderly. It was relatively easy to get around but I prefer the Philippines. Being able to read signs and communicate fairly effectively is a huge thing.

[afathertobe]

You're right jon, though to be fair the word expat in this context is somewhat misleading. Most are just long-termers, who somehow get by and wouldn't qualify for either a legit work or retirement visa from what I know. They do border-crosses all the time, live a relatively simple life there. And Thailand wants to "upgrade" both its tourists and foreign residents, it now only accepts retirees with a sizeable amount of cash they have to spend etc. Doing business there is also not all that easy... so yeah, it lost some of its charm for many. You still get value for your money if you live there but it's not a very cheap place anymore.

Edited September 3, 2014 by afathertobe

[Methersgate]

You're right jon, though to be fair the word expat in this context is somewhat misleading. Most are just long-termers, who somehow get by and wouldn't qualify for either a legit work or retirement visa from what I know. They do border-crosses all the time, live a relatively simple life there. And Thailand wants to "upgrade" both its tourists and foreign residents, it now only accepts retirees with a sizeable amount of cash they have to spend etc. Doing business there is also not all that easy... so yeah, it lost some of its charm for many. You still get value for your money if you live there but it's not a very cheap place anymore.

 

I would have thought that Cambodia would suit them better than the Philippines? It is still cheap there and the culture is more akin to that of Thailand.

I have a friend - a long termer indeed - a writer - who moved to Kampot from Olongapo after thirty years in the Philippines, and won't go back. He says that he has found a sleepy little town with no girly bars but with excellent French bread and coffee, and can live there for much less than  he could in Subic. 

[oysterporridge]

on the surface it seems that Thailand and the Philippines, are very different. Buddhist, not Christian. More Chinese influence, in Thailand and tonal language. There is a more developed business ethic in Thailand than the Philippines. And so on. Many of the 'differences' have been highlighted here.

 

superficially they can look totally different. But I still think that normal working class Thai and Filipino people have more in common with one another than any two other of the 10 ASEAN nationalities, apart from Malaysians and Indonesians.

 

you might think that just because they are Buddhists too, and can pass for each other like all the ASEAN nationalities can, then Thai and Khmer people necessarily have a lot in common, however temperamentally they are quite different and Thais and Khmers often find it not so easy to get on, irrespective of what relations are like between their respective governments. Thais and Filipinos are alike in the sense that they are both sing-and-dance live-for-today kind of people, always looking to have a laugh, Other south east Asian nationalities like Khmers and Malaysians are just that touch less spontaneous, and more reserved. Not much less. But just enough, to notice. It is a little bit of a mystery to me why the Thais and Filipinos can seem so alike when the two countries share no border, and are 3 hours away from each other, by plane.

[afathertobe]

You're right, I also don't think they are fundamentally different cultures, especially when it comes to normal people.

 

The "high culture", if you like, is quite different, Buddhism and Christianity, royalty, different experiences with colonialism and so on.

 

But if you sit down with a Thai family somewhere out in the sticks I think the real differences in behaviour, temper are rather small. You sit down, eat food while sitting on the floor, drink beer or whiskey, have a laugh, very informal and easy-going. Heavy topics are best avoided, an easy smile and an appreciation for their food goes much further than an earnest attempt to appreciate the high culture.

 

So I think the differences are more pronounced in the cities than the countryside.

[i am bob]

It's not that easy to compare people from 2 different countries not located side by side and populated by peoples of varying different ethnic backgrounds...  If it was that easy, how can we explain the variance between the ROC (Taiwan) and PROC (China)?

 

Easy question - who's government is known for throwing shoes and starting fights in their legislative buildings?   :mocking:

[BrettGC]

Just as an aside, since the tightening of the Thai immigration laws, there's been a proliferation of "training" institutions in some major centres.  I have a couple of friends that now avoid the border hop by enrolling in these institutions and qualifying for a student visa.  One particular friend became aware of this loophole(?) well before Thai immigration started enforcing the law more stringently and has been "studying" for about 5 years now.  

 

Cambodia has started to bring its visa policies in line with that of Thailand and I believe the "business" visa that so many expats were living there on indefinitely is, or about to be, a thing of the past.  It is nonetheless still a far less expensive and easier process than Thailand. 

[Thomas]

These in my opinion are the objective advantages of Thailand over the Philippines. You are right of course that it seems strange that foreigners marry Thai girls* they can hardly have a simple conversation with, but that's the reality.

  Yes, and Thailand have less problems with earthquakes and typhons.

I have been hearing a about a lot of cracking down on the Expat community in regards to extended stays. This is starting to impact retirees and business owners. I have already met a few in my area already scoping out a move from Thailand to the Philippines.

  I changed my mind too from Thailand to Phils, because, although there are some complains about VISA, businesses allowed and real estate owning in Phils, I found the Filipin ones BETTER than the Thai in the LONG run.  (When still being movable it's easy and cheap to extend stays in Thailand if living close to a border, but the Thai ones is very bad - or very expensive - when become old and get problem to travel...