Actually, It's Nice To Be Back in the US

Hey, what's up everybody?

I thought I'd come on here and do a live stream.

Hey, what's up everybody?

I thought I'd come on here and do a live stream and give you guys an update on how I'm doing.

I know it's been a while.

Uh, so I've been back in the US for about a month now and things are going well.

Um, you know, it's um I should probably get into some of what I enjoy about being back and also talk about future plans.

I've got a bunch of stuff I just haven't edited.

Uh, my laptop is full as far as storage goes.

My memory cards, all of them are full.

Um, and I've been focused on some other opportunities that are, what's the word?

A better fit for me right now uh than YouTube.

Just to be transparent, it's um, you know, it's nice to be back.

I had been gone for about two years.

I started off my trip in the summer of 2023 in Thailand.

I spent about a year in Thailand, visited Vietnam for a month, went to the Philippines for eight months, spent a month in Indonesia, uh, and then about a week in Soul, South Korea before I came back.

So, I was gone for about two years, a little bit less, but really two years.

And it gave me a lot of time to reflect, also think about the future, future goals, future plans.

And there's a lot that I have grown to appreciate about life in the US.

Is it perfect?

No, it's not perfect.

I see it now as a trade-off.

Living in the US versus living in Asia, neither one is better.

People will probably ask me which one is better, which one is better.

I think it depends on the individual.

I think it depends on the time in your life.

Obviously, money is a major factor.

Um, where you're at in life.

I mean it's um there's so many factors as to go into which is better.

Like it differs by people.

Um but personally like I'm I'm really enjoying being back for a lot of different reasons.

It's uh I still have plans to travel again in the future.

I'm not done traveling.

I'm not done uh forever living in Asia, but it makes more sense for me to be back here right now.

Some of the things that I like here, uh, one, air quality, right?

Some people would say, well, just buy, uh, an air filter, but you don't spend all your time at home.

Certainly, when I'm living in Asia, I don't spend the whole time in my condo or my house or apartment.

I want to be out and about doing stuff.

I want to go out and enjoy uh the life there, like a a kind of a vibrant lifestyle.

And so, um, that's one of those things, air quality, like it could be a real real challenge throughout Asia, not just Southeast Asia.

Even Korea, uh, Soul South Korea is known for having some challenges with air quality.

Um, crowdedness, right?

Like something a little bit more.

Yeah.

Crowdedness.

Uh, one of the things that I really like here is I can go to the grocery store and it's not that crowded.

Unless you go during peak shopping hours and you're uh like even in a big city, it's just not really comparable to how crowded Asia can feel.

Like broadly speaking, Asia is not one place.

You know, you're talking about four billion people, but most of the places that we live in Asia are popular.

We're not, most expats are not living in rural backwaters.

Um, most of us want to have proximity to a western style ger, western style restaurants, uh, at least one decent shopping mall.

Um, I know there are some people that really like the provincial life, and I'm sure there's more than one or two, but most of the people I've met and talked to prefer to be in a decentsized city.

So, if you're in a decent sized city in Southeast Asia, you're going to deal with crowding.

Uh whether it be in traffic on the roads or in a mall where here, you know, I'm in uh the southern US, it's really not that bad, especially if I am not going downtown, I can get to a lot of different businesses in about 10 minutes.

And um due to strict like traffic enforcement, uh most people drive decent.

There are some people that drive kind of wild.

Uh but I think a lot of people try to drive pretty decent here.

Um and yeah, so it's just not that crowded.

I can go to the store.

I can take my time to browse.

I can look around.

I can get a lot of different things and uh you know just pick out what I want and then quickly check out like a big thing is selfch checkckout.

There's selfch checkout here.

I know some people don't like selfch checkckout.

Um to me that's a symptom of a higher trust society.

Is it high trust?

No.

I wouldn't call the US high trust, but I really like that if I'm going in for, say, three or four things, I don't have to sit there and stand in a long line, uh, waiting for a cashier.

I just go up to the selfch checkckout, scan a few things, swipe with my card, uh, and then that's it.

Like, I am not having to uh, stand in line for a long time.

I'm not having to figure out where things are because I've spent so much time uh, living in the US.

I know where a lot of the items are.

I'm not having to uh figure out like if I'm traveling around in Asia, each grocery store has a slightly different layout uh and different product selections and that changes by country, that changes by city.

That could even change by the chain based on local populations uh versus here grocery stores very predictable.

Uh and that's something you have to do on a regular basis.

Um oh, thanks so much Paulo.

I appreciate it.

Uh yeah, I mean the Philippines, I'm sure I'll be back uh at some point in the future.

There's a lot more I want to see of the Philippines.

Um but I, you know, I had to really consider my future.

Like as a foreigner, uh I can't work there in the Philippines.

Um so that's another thing I'll get into talking about.

Something I like about the US is as a US citizen, I'm permitted to uh work here in the United States.

So, uh, in Southeast Asia, I'm not permitted to be working in any of those countries.

Um, I know there's a nomad visa, but even with that, I don't know.

It just the line is kind of blurry from my perspective, knowing I'm not going to be able to I'm probably not going to qualify for citizenship uh, and any of the countries in Southeast Asia.

Um, yeah.

So, so I would say crowding is another one.

Now, does this mean these issues that I'm pointing out, things that I prefer about living in the US?

Oh, I'd never go back to Asia, that's not the case, um I I'd love to uh come back to Asia in the future, but um it's, you know, it really taught me to appreciate my time there.

My two years in Asia taught me to appreciate some things about the US.

Um I could see how in the US if you're on a fixed income, it could be difficult because things are expensive here.

Like definitely things are more expensive uh here in the US like rent, food, transportation.

Um there's nothing really cheap here if that makes any sense.

Although some things are cheaper than uh being in Asia like cheese is a big one.

Uh certain meat products are cheaper here.

Um often you can buy in bulk here, right?

So that can help moderate your cost where in Asia for the most part you're not buying in bulk.

Guess if like when it comes to fruit or produce you could buy in bulk but for a lot of other products it's not going to really help you to purchase in bulk where here I've got a Costco membership I can go and purchase all kinds of things in bulk quantities and that can help me moderate my cost and also save time right um like a big thing is uh when it comes to purchasing in bulk is like when I was in Asia I was having to go to the market every day or every other day.

Uh because things spoil faster.

I think there's somewhat less preservatives on some products over there.

So, I'm having to go to the market all the time and that's just chewing up my day.

And at first that was fun and charming.

Uh I imagine if you um you know had hired help or you could send somebody to the market to do that for you.

Uh that could be good.

I mean I guess that could be a solution, but for me I needed to go to the market a lot and that could be tedious, right?

Like there are times where I are days where I just didn't feel like going.

You know, I didn't feel like walking down there.

I didn't feel like taking transportation down there.

I didn't feel like emptying out my backpack and then loading up my backpack.

And now I've got a backpack full of food that could go bad, so I need to take it back to my place.

Um, you know, some things like that are really charming and fun at first, but here, like I I go to a few different u stores.

I purchase whatever I want.

I put it in my car.

It all fits in my car.

Uh and then I drive home while where I'm staying right now.

And I unload all my purchases in one place.

And it's um I'm not having to carry the things stuff on my back.

I'm not having to wait for a taxi to pull up.

I've got my car.

I've got my license.

Everything is very efficient.

Uh, I'll get caught up on comments and then kind of get back to some of the things I appreciate about the US.

Uh, let's see.

Uh, hey Nicholas, good to see you.

Oh, hey.

I hope you're having a nice day in Bangkok.

Uh, looking forward to my trip in Beid City in October.

You're welcome, sir.

Enjoy Beolid, Paulo.

Uh, I've heard a lot of nice things about Beolid.

Uh, shocked to hear you're giving up settling in Southeast Asia.

So, um, I probably didn't make this as clear as I should have.

Uh Nicholas, the last couple years were more of a test run for me.

Uh I knew that for various reasons.

I would say some of it's financial, but some of it's also just like friendships, relationships back home in the US.

Like I had never really spent more than a few months at a time outside of the US.

And so to take it to the next level, a multi-year journey, um I thought this is a test run.

If I don't like it, I can go back to US at any time, anytime I want.

I can buy a plane ticket and go back and I have friends I can stay with.

I have, you know, different opportunities that I could pursue as far as work goes.

Um, and so it wasn't really a permanent move to me to make a permanent move.

Uh, I have a storage unit.

I'd have to get rid of my storage unit.

I have a car here.

Uh, I'd want to sell my car.

Um, I have friends here that I really like staying in touch with and being able to hang out with, but living over there, you know, time zone makes it very difficult.

Like either I'm calling them as soon as I wake up in the morning or I'm calling them right around the time they want to go to bed.

And so some of these things can make it challenging things I didn't really anticipate.

Like a lot of people wore me, oh, it's so dangerous in Asia.

We know that's not really true if you know where you're going.

But it was the small things that got to kind of wear on me after a while.

Uh I'd be happy to live in Southeast Asia again.

Like I anticipate living in Thailand again.

I look forward to settling there.

Uh but I think that you what's the word I'm looking for?

like living there long term is different than visiting and you have to set yourself up to live there successfully.

You also have to become comfortable with certain things uh or accept certain differences like um a a big one is heat and and I know that would probably bother a lot of people uh for me to say that but after a while I did find the heat could be tedious.

Um it it wasn't a a situation where uh Oh, good good one, Trucker.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I I um Oh, no, Tony.

Don't worry, Tony.

Don't worry at all, Tony.

I'm I'm doing well.

Um but uh it's uh Yeah.

So, let's see here.

Um yeah, I don't want to work in Thailand as a truck driver.

Probably not.

That that's that seems high stress trucker.

Uh, I do I can appreciate your humor though.

Um, yeah, this is my first stream in a while, Tony.

I haven't done a stream in several months.

Um, Unano, hey, Anano, good to see you.

Paulo gives a thumbs up.

Uh, trucker made a joke.

Um, Thailand has too many foreigners.

Love tech Philippines.

Well, I can deal with the heat.

I wouldn't lie and say it's not a little oppressive or I wouldn't change to moderate if I could.

Yeah, that was something that I didn't anticipate not liking because where I grew up, I grew up in the southern US where it's hot um I would say like at least four to six months out of the year it's pretty hot during the daytime.

It cools off some at night, but right now it's like 90° Fahrenheit outside.

And uh you know to have that kind of weather 12 out of 12 months or say 11 out of 11 12 months uh it can get tedious, right?

It's like the to me it almost reminds me of living somewhere really cold as well.

Like uh I've lived in Colorado for several years and half the year in Colorado unless you're like cold does not bother you at all.

Some people I'm sure that's the case.

you're indoors, like you're going from indoor building to indoor building.

I'd go to the gym, the grocery store, Costco, and then come back home.

Um, yeah, there were a lot of sunny days.

Yeah, you could go out to a trail and you could go walking, but you're putting on a lot of clothes for that.

Like, it's not it's not like California, uh, where in California I where I lived in California, I didn't need to own a very big, uh, wardrobe.

I could just go out in like long sleeve uh t-shirt like sweatpants, shoes.

Didn't have to have a jacket.

Didn't have to uh peel down to shorts and a t-shirt.

Uh didn't have to always worry about, oh, I got to put my sunglasses on.

Where in Southeast Asia, uh I felt like before I go out, every single time I have to prepare, okay, do I have my sunglasses?

But at night time, I don't wear my sunglasses, so I've got to put those away.

uh do I have uh is my phone charged up?

Do I have power bank?

Do I like so you're having to go through all these things uh to be prepared?

And also like am I just you know am I am I prepared as soon as I get home I've got to go out and get in the shower.

Some days Southeast Asia I'm showering two or three times in a day.

I'm changing my clothes several times per day.

Uh, and I know some people would say just stay at home, don't go outside, but it it's kind of avoiding uh the reality of living somewhere that's um really really uh hot, you know, like that's something that once again um it got to be tedious, you know.

I personally think like the ideal for a lot of people and I can't uh I can't say this for everybody but a lot of people would do part of the year in Southeast Asia, part of the year uh back home or in a country or a region with more moderate weather.

That's just what I suspect.

I know some people may disagree with that.

Uh but for me anyway, even though being Asian, being genetically predisposed to being able to handle uh hot weather, I still found that it could be uh it could still be challenging.

Um and not so much like once again, not so much after a week, not after a couple weeks, not after a month.

It's more like waking up after a year and a half and be like, "Okay, yet again it's it's steaming hot outside and uh I've got to kind of brace myself for that." And there were times where in the especially hot months.

It was kind of like the opposite of Colorado where I'd go from building to building trying to stay indoors uh during the daytime.

And I know that some would say, "Well, just orient your life toward nighttime." Um, but that's not necessarily as easy as it would seem.

I mean, plenty of businesses close at nighttime.

Um, lighting may not be great in some areas.

Like, also, I tend to be more of a morning person.

I tend to wake up pretty early.

Like, u So, I think there's a lot to love.

And I'm not at all like being overly um critical here, but just talking about some of the things I appreciate about the US where uh I can get up in the morning early in the US and a lot of businesses open up fairly early here uh such that I can go out and get all the things I need done uh done in a timely manner.

Uh let's see here.

Used to live in Denver.

75% of the year very cold at night too.

Night is almost always cold.

Yeah.

Love tech Philippines.

Even uh even in the summer the the uh Denver can feel quite cold and even more so if you go to the mountains like a lot of people in Colorado they like to go to the mountains in the summer but I mean like places like Breen Ridge in the summer it's not uncommon to have temperatures 40 50 degrees Fahrenheit uh which could be pretty chilly.

Um, let's see here.

What are other for?

Yeah, I would push back a little bit on Kano.

Like, uh, you see, in Thailand, um, you can pick some areas that have less foreigners.

You're going to have to go off the beaten path a bit.

Uh but foreigners in Thailand, from my experience, they stick to this what I call well what some vloggers call like the expat bubble.

Uh where there's certain cities or town uh towns um and certain areas within those cities or towns like Bangkok, a lot of people say, "Oh, Bangkok is so touristic." That's because a lot of them will go to the Sukumvet line.

And uh if you go way off the summit line, which I've done on my last several visits to Bangkok, the tourist numbers drop off like a lot.

Uh so I think in Thailand, the key is knowing you're in a pretty safe country and uh knowing that you're going to be pretty safe.

I can't guarantee anything.

Uh this isn't legal advice or anything like that, but that you're pretty safe most of the places you would go.

And so just going off the tourist trail um and keeping that to yourself, right?

If you find some place that's really charming and doesn't have a lot of uh over tourism, then maybe you don't share that with uh other people.

I have a few spots in Thailand.

Even then, I have like I'm a fan of Mai.

A lot of people don't care for Chiang Mai at all.

Uh and I still like Mai a lot.

It doesn't offer some of those things that you can might call problem tourists are into.

Like there's not that many bars in Mai.

There's not that much uh nightife type entertainment in Mai.

So Chiang Mai will never have some of those kind of rough and boisterous crowds.

There's a couple spots in the city, but like most people I mean, you know, you have to go out of your way to engage with that kind of nightife where uh for me, I just don't go to those establishments.

Um, and I find that it's very I don't know.

Tiengai is just a really charming city to me.

But some people find it boring, right?

So like that's part of it too is looking out for places that other people might call boring.

If you're more like me, you're more of a boring person.

uh mild mannered temperament than going for those places that aren't um you know aren't all over the internet or are not getting as much attention as some other places because that's that's what I learned the hard way.

Um, that was my experience.

Love Techch Philippines.

That was my experience when I was in Bangkok during COVID.

Uh, it was really like I went to the Grand Palace with a couple of my Thai friends and we went uh we went there in the middle of the day and there was almost nobody there.

Like I have some photos uh of me there and there's like no crowds and it's normally packed.

Like we went in and we could sit down and they my Thai friends mentioned this place is normally wallto-wall with tourists and locals and uh it um it was so nice uh love tech Philippines to be able to go there and have that kind of experience.

So that I could appreciate that because um let's see uh like so has so many conveniences like foreign restaurants uh shopping malls obviously BTS line um a lot of hidden stores like I just that's one of the first parts of Bangkok I ever explored where I when you first get to Thailand if you not travel much like I hadn't traveled a ton before I went to Thailand.

you're kind of dipping your toes in the water and you're trying to figure out like what's around this corner and like you're you've never been in a 7-Eleven um at like 2 o'clock in the morning on Summit and you start to get that sense of safety and and intrigue and like you start to get out of your shell a little bit and uh it u yeah it's um but you but that feeling can be interrupted when you know if you run into like a particularly uh drunk foreigner um or just you know kind of an oddball if that makes any sense.

Um I like I like Bangkok a lot for exploration.

So I'm big into exploring cities.

You mentioned western socialization with a high purity.

Um, I I like it a lot because uh two of my closest friends in Thailand, they live in Bangkok.

And so when I want to um when I have time, when they have time really to hang out, getting to experience Thailand with Thai friends is and legit Thai friends.

You know, I've had people say, "Oh, Thai people are transactional." Yeah, because if you go to if you spend the whole trip in Padia every time, um if you go to the nightlife districts and that's the only place you go, yeah, you'll get the sense that Thai people are transactional, but my friends in Thailand have like normal jobs.

Um they work in the corporate world.

Uh no, they're not like um I don't know how to explain it.

Like they're they're what I would call normal middle class people.

people that I would probably hang out with if they were here in the US.

Uh, similar to the people I would hang out with here in the US, if that makes any sense.

And so, they get to show me a whole different side of Bangkok that I think a lot of tourists may miss some of these things or may not uh see some of these things and experience some of these things.

And in turn, I try to find things to show them that because they're not foreigners, they might not be familiar with.

Like I showed them some South American restaurants in Bangkok and they they've never been to South America.

Like that's so far away from Thailand.

Uh that they just would not be exposed to that in their normal day-to-day life.

So we checked out a Peruvian restaurant.

Uh I wanted to show them a Portuguese restaurant.

I found one, but our scheduling just didn't work out before I had to leave.

So next time I go to Thailand, I want to show them this Portuguese restaurant.

Um, they also like just help me better understand Thai culture because they've um, my Thai friends have lived in the US for a short time and traveled around the US.

So, like their English is solid.

Um, that's that's really, you know, that's that's really made a big difference as far as my appreciation uh of Thailand is like meeting people um who I would love to spend time with or who are similar to the people I love to spend time with back in the US.

um where I think some people they're there for such a short time or they're there for a very specific reason like night life, entertainment, uh that they only get like one tiny slice of Thailand and it's it's almost like going to like Las Vegas and saying like all Americans are uh degenerate gamblers or going to uh Los Angeles and saying all Americans are shallow Hollywood types.

By the way, guys, give us a thumbs up if you're enjoying this or going to Silicon Valley and thinking all Americans are nerds, uh, computer geeks.

Um, there's like there's so much in Thailand.

And in some ways, I understand Thailand less after a year and a half total spent there uh, than I did when I got there because it's like you keep uncovering all these layers.

There's so many layers to Thai society um where I just don't feel that's the case as much in the US.

I feel like in the US what you see is what you get.

Uh in Thailand, I just the more I spend time there, the less I understand it.

And the more mystery seems to come about and the more I'm like, what's what am I looking at here?

Like I'm I'm finding this this stretch of uh uh this high street in Saton and I'm like what is this?

Like there's international school and there's like a restaurant and a 7-Eleven and there's uh this all these this place where all these um cab drivers are hanging out and you can't really like I don't speak Thai so I don't I can't really communicate.

So there's I don't know there's a lot that just kind of um can bend your mind and the heat and the the pace and um the signage and the neon lights.

It's just a very it's sensory overload.

Um so let's see.

Uh yeah, exactly.

Love Tech Philippines.

Yeah, if you need to do something at 2 p.m.

a big one for me when I'm in Thailand, I'm having to go to immigration periodically.

Uh I try to get there in the morning because I'm not sure how long that it will take time wise.

I can't just, oh, I'll show up at immigration at 10 p.m.

I'm sure it'll be fine.

You know, I've got to get there when they open uh get a ticket um and have my documents prepared the day before.

So, the day before, if I've got to go to my language school to get those documents, I can't just, oh yeah, I'll be there 1 1:00 a.m.

You guys will be there at 1:00 a.m., right?

No, we open at 10:00 a.m.

So, I got to get there at 10:00 a.m.

And um so you have to like you have there's things there's there's elements of life in Southeast Asia uh where you cannot um you cannot avoid like if you're living there, you can't avoid mundane aspects of life.

Like if I'm there on vacation for a week or two, I may never step foot in a grocery store.

Uh I'm kind of a nerd, so I'll go there just for fun, just to see what kind of products they have.

But for a lot of tourists, they might never have to do that.

Or if they're living there for a year, and a couple months in they're thinking, "Man, I really miss Jiffy Peanut Butter, or I really miss uh this one obscure like soda from Germany." Uh they're going to have to go there.

And the grocery store typically in Thailand is not 24/7.

Um, so they're going to have to go there in the middle of the day.

They could go there in the afternoon or evening.

But, uh, a lot of these experiences are, um, you know, they kind of you they make you they force you to structure your day a certain way because of efficiency and and etc.

So, um, yeah, great great comments.

Love Tech Philippines.

Uh you mentioned one of the reasons you left Duma was because of lowquality expats.

Can you elaborate on this?

I look at it like the thing with Dumagetti and because it is in the zeitgeist because it became so popular for such a long time.

It's seen as what I call low barrier to entry.

Uh so guys, a lot of a number of the expats I encountered there have never traveled anywhere uh outside the US.

So they have no how to explain it like they don't have that kind of global mindset.

Not this is not all of them.

Some of the guys I met there are fantastic people I'm still in touch with to this day.

But but some of them they have a very close-minded attitude.

Um they have some bitterness or frustration.

Uh they're there solely because of cost of living, not because they want to live in the Philippines, not cuz like I grew up around um one Filipino American specific or three really three Filipino Americans.

So I was exposed to and met Filipinos from a young age.

Um, and what's the word I'm looking for?

Like I I've felt that some of the expats in Dumagatti are very much transactional people and they see it as I put money in and I they treat Dumagedi like a vending machine.

Like I I put money in, I get experience out.

So, I want attention, I put money in.

I want this, I put money in.

And they don't I don't know that that's that's part of it where I some of it, like I said, is just not having traveled much, not having much to compare it to.

Uh, you know, for me, I've I've traveled to about 20 different countries, including the Philippines.

That's not a lot compared to people like Gabriel Traveler, uh, Walters World, uh, who else?

Um, Sobatical, you know, I recognize that's not, but that's enough variety as far as different continents, cultures that I could compare Dumagedi to other places.

And there's things I really appreciate about Dumagedi um that if you haven't traveled much like and you're going direct from a small town USA to Dumagedi, you have kind of a pro I don't know what's the word like just a certain I don't know just a certain kind of attitude.

I think too uh the cost of living being a big thing like uh wanting to go to Dumagedi just because it's cheap not because they want to be there.

Like I had been to the Philippines uh I'd spent about a month in the Philippines before I went to Dumagedi.

And I'm not opposed to going back to Dumagedi.

Uh but there's so much on offer in the Philippines.

There's so many cool places to go.

Um, and and I found too that they would get offended if I mentioned there's a lot of nice places in the Philippines, right?

So, like I'm not an anti-Daguetti guy, but uh I also like uh some of the places I saw in Manila.

I also like some of the places I visited in Mindanao.

And it's almost like there's this misplaced like one foreigner is not from Dumagedi, right?

So no matter how long they lived in Dumagedi, they're not Filipino and they're not from Dumagedi.

Um Dumagedi is great.

There's a lot of great places in the Philippines.

And so I felt like a lot of them could be very kind of um just people I wouldn't hang out with back home.

I don't want to harp on it too much though because I there's a lot to love about the Philippines.

There's a lot of cool people in Dumagedi.

Um, it's certainly not all uh difficult, but I I found that that that expat scene uh got to be toxic after a while.

Um, and yeah, I just found some of the expats there could be really toxic and and uh yeah, so I'll go back to the Philippines.

um eventually.

Uh but that's something I have to be mindful of is just like the options in the Philippines.

Um that might be a little bit more laid-back.

Uh might be a little bit more chill.

Um I think that part of the problem with Dumagedi is that a lot of the expats in Dumagedi are terminally online.

So you have people that will pretend to be nice to your face and doaged like foreigners that will pretend to be nice to you in person.

Oh yeah, we're friends.

And then online or behind your back will talk bad about you.

And and um that could be you kind of got to the point where you're like, I'm wondering, okay, who could I really trust here?

Uh I have a friend that's a vlogger.

Uh nobody I've collaborated with, acquaintance that's a vlogger, nobody I've collaborated with.

Um, but he had people that would tell him, "Oh, yeah, we're friends.

We're friends." And then behind his back be trolling him.

And so it just got to be this weird thing where it's like, I don't know, this this toxic like situation where the internet brought these people together that don't really like each other but have to tolerate each other.

And um, I don't know.

I just kind of got the sense a lot of these guys didn't really know much about the culture and didn't really have interest in like the Filipinos and like I don't know I just noticed too I would see saw this kind of disconnect where some of the Dumaget Getty crowd would only hang out with other foreigners and would talk about how much they liked Filipinos but then not actually spend any time with them.

And and I thought that was strange cuz I have Filipino friends, uh, Filipino people I like to spend time with, um, I would go and hang out with, meet up with, and they would always say, like, some of the expats would always say that they like Filipino people, but then I would never see them actually back that up with action.

Um, so I don't know.

to me, you're going halfway around the world.

Like, you better live in a I I think it's ideal to live in a place where you actually like the people, you actually want to spend time with the people and not just hang out with other people from your home country.

Um, so yeah.

Anyway, I don't want to harp on that too much because it kind of is circular and um can be tedious to discuss that.

Uh, short-term housing stock in Sukumbit has gotten quite tight in January.

never seen such a low choice on short notice.

Your description of who you'd mingle with does make sense.

Yeah.

I mean to me like I've connected with some cool foreigners online um in Thailand in Southeast Asia in general, but there's a fair amount that I've met that um I think are running from something.

Just to be honest, I think there's an element of that for me as well.

uh where you're you're running away from some some of us are running away from something.

Many of us are running away from something in Southeast Asia as opposed to running to Southeast Asia.

Um I don't think that's that's the whole story.

But I think it's hard not to acknowledge that uh most of the guys I've met in Southeast Asia have been through a divorce in the West.

um they have uh maybe tenuous relationships with their families.

Maybe they didn't have uh career success in the way that they would have liked.

Um and like just because you have those things in common with other people doesn't mean you could be friends with those people if that makes any sense.

That's not all.

That's not everybody.

I know numerous guys in Southeast Asia that are very successful, had very successful careers, invested wisely, um have done well for themselves, but I find that some of those individuals also have to keep to themselves because they're in some ways a target, right?

If you're a foreigner running an investment scam uh in Southeast Asia, are you targeting like broke expats?

are you targeting um people who are struggling with poverty?

No, you're you're trying to find out who and where the money um is at.

And so I mean that same could be said for the United States, but you have to kind of be on guard um more so when you're outside of your home country.

Um, and I found that hanging out with local people who um, if if you evaluate relationships as purely transactional or people only looking to get something out of other people, uh, then there's basically it's English.

You know, I I I could provide interesting English conversation to them.

Um, and in turn, um, they they can show me around and we, you know, we have a great time together, but it's not a situation where they need money from me.

Like I said, they've got corporate jobs.

It's not a situation where I'm trying to pressure them into being more than friends because there's plenty of dating options.

Um, and also I just respect boundaries and I don't think like I don't think of other people as solely like I don't know what can they do for me?

Like some expats I think are in that position where they go to Southeast Asia thinking like I I can afford like we live in the attention economy.

So, some of them are going to Southeast Asia thinking, I can afford to make these people do what I want, where back home, I can't.

I can't afford to uh get attractive women to pay attention to me.

I cannot afford uh to be in a bar every day.

I cannot afford to uh live by the beach.

And I'm not like hating on it.

I, you know, there's if you haven't experienced much of those things in life, I could see why that would be appealing.

But uh eventually I think that you have to you have to find deeper reasons to want to be somewhere.

Um and yeah, I mean for me there's a lot of different reasons um to want to be in Southeast Asia.

I like the non-confrontational culture.

I like that people seem to work together more effectively.

Uh I like the architecture.

There's a lot of interesting architecture throughout Southeast Asia.

Of course, I like attractive women.

Um, but there's I don't know, it's just um it's visually stimulating.

It's like the region in general.

There's interesting beaches and temples and like when I was in the south of Thailand and I got to interact with these uh monkeys that like try to steal fruit from um tourists or they try to they'll try to take your glasses and then they'll demand fruit to get your glasses back.

Like there's all because the guard rails are off, the safety rails are off.

Like in the States everything's got to be safe because it's very ligious society.

you don't get these interesting like this sense of freedom that you get in Southeast Asia where Southeast Asia like you can kind of tell there's not they don't have the same uh restrictions on like your freedom that they have here because it's not such a latigious place.

It's not such it's not a place where people are um suing each other all the time.

So, uh, you know, getting on a, like me, for example, riding a bus and there's no seat belts.

Or getting in the back of a cab, there's no seat belts.

Like that's not a thing here in the United States at all.

Um, well, I get I guess on the bus in America, but the bus isn't getting up to like getting on the interstate.

Like I've been on uh buses in Southeast Asia where we get on the highway or the interstate and there's still no but there's still no seat belt where uh here you're driving a city at 25 miles an hour.

Okay, whatever.

you're probably not going to get that badly messed up if the bus gets in a fender bender.

But um uh Kirk asks, "Hi Alex, about exploring Bangkok.

There's a lot of good hikes or walks.

Uh I like urban walking, but also parks and trees at hills." I would say check out the uh the green lung.

Um check out uh like it's the south of in south of uh Bangkok.

I would check that out.

you could do a bike rental there and explore.

Um, I would also suggest going a bit further out from Bangkok, like going to maybe like an hour outside the city.

Uh, checking out uh you might check out Aayutia.

Um, but Bangkok is very much in my opinion concrete jungle.

Like, uh, most of the city from my experience is paved.

Uh it's it's very very urban.

You could almost call it like hyper urban.

There's condos like every I don't know.

It's it's going to be tough.

Like that's something that I've got to acknowledge.

It's going to be something that's tough to really experience.

I think you may also take a look if you're into hiking or outdoorsy stuff.

Kirk uh Huah Hin that seems to be a popular place in Chiang Mai as well.

I recognize that may not answer your question, but I find one of the trade-offs of living in Bangkok is it being more difficult to access nature.

Uh it's been more difficult to access like green spaces.

Um something I appreciate about the US to be honest, like the city I live in, 50 60,000 people, it's a suburb.

Uh there's three or four really nice parks just in this city.

like I don't even have to leave the city to experience those places to jog and run.

Uh where in Bangkok where I lived, I felt like it was going to be at least these parks are 10 to 15 minutes away from where I'm staying.

Where I felt in Bangkok, I'd have to travel at least an hour to get that a similar comparable kind of experience.

Um what happens between DMK airport and Mai, I don't know at all.

Uh yeah, love tech Philippines.

I'd agree.

It's um there's a lot of to Thailand where I call it off the tourist trail.

Um but it's harder to explore those areas without tie find more like loner types.

You tend to find Oh, sorry guys.

my connection is a little bit spotty, but you tend to find kind of loner types in some of those nonforeigner friendly areas.

You go out to like um Kenan for example, there are some foreigners out there.

Uh but I think that a lot of them will I don't know um miss some of the conveniences that may be harder to find.

I I like um I' I've said it a lot.

that I'm partial to Chiang Mai, for example, in Thailand.

Uh because in Chiang Mai, I find the only thing I'm missing is a beach.

I'm not a a beach guy.

Uh so Chiang Mai is fine.

If you're a beach guy, you won't be happy in Chiang Mai, but everything else is great in Chiang Mai for me.

Uh shopping malls, if I order anything online, quick to can quickly get to my condo.

Uh if I want to order Grab or Food Panda, uh very easy to get a variety of choices.

is not quite as much as Bangkok.

Uh but then in Bangkok, if you want to order something and it's on the other side of the city, like do you really want to wait an hour and a half for dinner?

Not really.

I want, you know, if I get hungry, I want food in like 30 minutes.

And so, uh, where I stay in Chiang Mai, then I can walk to several dozen restaurants in 15 minutes or so, maybe 20 minutes, 25 minutes, uh, depending on the time of day, depending on, uh, you know, certain factories, but I get a lot of those conveniences.

Um, so, uh, yeah, no tax.

Yeah.

So, Duma um yeah, there's uh there's there's a lot to like in Dumagetti, but you just have to be mindful of those things.

Hey, Ron, I'm doing good.

How about you?

I'm I'm actually back in the States right now, Ron.

Uh I think somebody asked earlier back in the US.

Oh, Vince says, "Back in the US for good." Yeah, so I'll be here for a while.

Uh indeterminate amount of time.

I intend to keep traveling.

Uh, in my time off, I'm, as far as like work goes, I'm in the hiring process for a few different opportunities.

I'm not going to be specific about that because I want to keep that private.

Uh, but there's several different opportunities that I'm working on.

And once I get hired and I get vacation time, I plan to do some more traveling.

I'm undecided.

I'd really like to go back to Southeast Asia.

Uh, it kind of makes sense for a few different reasons, but I'd also like to see some new places.

Um, there's a few quite a few places I haven't been to and that's the debate that I've got going on in my head that I've got to think a lot about is when I get limited free time to vacation.

Do I want to go back to Southeast Asia or do I want to explore a few new new places um in Latin America?

Uh, also the Balkans.

I'd like to see more of the Balkans.

Even Western Europe, there's parts of Western Europe I'd like to see.

Uh, but Southeast Asia, like Thailand especially, has captured my heart and there's more I'd like to see there.

Even though I lived there for a year, I I still haven't made it to Huh Hin.

I'd like to visit Chiangai.

Um, and go back to Bangkok and see some of my good friends there.

Uh, let's see.

Keep posting vids.

Thank you, uh, Tran Fu, uh, Quac Tran.

Uh, that's very kind of you.

I've got an interview I need to finish editing uh with a a guy in Bali.

So, I've got more stuff I filmed in Bali and also some stuff I filmed in Seoul uh South Korea.

Um lots of good points being made about Bangkok.

Uh they have some nice parks like Benji and Lumpini, but the air quality is atrocious.

Yeah, I mean that's something that you cannot uh other than leaving the city, you cannot uh really fix that.

Um, you can get as many air filters as you want uh for your apartment in Bangkok, but like if you want to just go out and explore, you've got to accept I'm going to be u smelling a lot of diesel fumes and um you know, the heat causes garbage to rot really quickly.

Like if you walk by, somebody put their garbage out for trash collection, like that's going to be there's going to be rats in there.

um like just things to be mindful of that, um could be challenging.

Uh I find there's no place that's perfect and the trade-offs are worth it, but now do I want to live there 247, 365 for the rest of my life?

Well, no, because I'm a a global traveler.

Like some people are very different for me.

They want to find a place and they want to stick to that place.

And uh Bangkok is my favorite big city in the world.

I will say that.

Like it's my favorite big city.

It's wild.

It's chaotic.

It's safe.

Somehow at the same time, I feel very very safe.

I walked all over the city at all hours.

Um the neon lights are uh gorgeous.

Like it's just such um it's such a beautiful city.

It's so much fun.

Um, hey Stoic.

Good to see you.

Thanks for joining us.

I found out about you because of the Passport Bros documentary.

Now you're back in the States.

What do you think of the Passport Bros?

Do you still consider yourself one?

You know, I think it's I think it makes sense.

like 70% of young men in the west are single.

Uh I would venture many of those young men would prefer to have um relationship opportunities and even to just spend time with women that are complimentary to them.

Like I uh my uh friends several of my friends in Thailand happen to be women and they see things in a different way for me.

Um they understand things.

I find they're more emotionally intelligent than I am.

Uh they have patience that I don't have.

And here in the US, like people aren't social in general, aren't as social in general.

And uh it um I would still consider myself one.

And not just like going overseas for romantic relationships, but even platonic relationships.

Uh, I just find people here are not super social and uh people aren't as communicative.

Um, people aren't as like unless you're in a big city, people aren't as curious, but you go to a big city and the people may be curious, but they're also tend to be very stressed out and easily irritated.

Uh, and so because it's such a conflict, like there's so much conflict here as far as interpersonal conflict.

Um, one, it makes dating challenging.

Uh, but two, it makes forming new friendships challenging.

Um, the people that I hang out with here, uh, most of them I've known for over 10 years.

So most of my friends are not people that are uh like I think getting making friends in the United States as an adult is a lot harder than other countries that I've spent time in uh especially in Southeast Asia where uh it's not uncommon to meet expats in Southeast Asia that in the span of a few years have made a ton of friends.

Um now that doesn't go for everybody, but I found that like that's something I really like.

Um, so yeah, like romantic relationships are part of that.

I intend to continue to date overseas uh when the opportunity arises.

Um, but I don't know like there the challenge about the passport bro movement is like going to countries with lower quality of life only for a relationship.

I don't really like that idea either.

Um, some of the countries that I've spent time in objectively have a lower quality of life than the United States.

So, that's what I think some in the Passport Bro movement don't admit is if it weren't for dating, I wouldn't be here, right?

There's like um I don't want to like poo poo any one country uh cuz most of them I'd like to go back to and visit again, but like one of the ones that comes to mind uh every single one of my friends there warn me about safety, right?

So like if um you know if I'm constantly being warned about safety in a country, is dating so important to me that I'm going to just ignore my personal safety?

that's not the case, right?

Uh exposure to pollution, right?

Like the uh one of my friends, it's a vlogger, I'm not going to mention the name of him.

All of you guys would be familiar or most of you guys would be familiar with him, but he mentioned like I like being back in my home country because it's really nice to have really high air quality.

Like that's my issue with the Passport Bros movement is they it's another one of those situations where they sell it as a solution to all your problems.

just if you like go overseas that will fix all of the problems in your life where yeah it'll may fix the dating issue but you're going to have all these other issues in that country um that they're not going to publicize because one a lot of these countries don't have free speech so you can't talk about anything negative you're not permitted to acknowledge any of the problems in those other countries too uh it could create other challenges um like just learning a new schedule.

Here in the US, I'm pretty like I know what I need to do um throughout the day.

I get up um I make some coffee.

I get, you know, and and I start to work on whatever I need to get done.

Uh, I know when to go.

Like I just I spent so much time in the US, you could almost call it institutionalized, but like it it's I don't For another one, I don't have to worry about products being out of stock.

Most of the countries overseas that I've spent time in, run out of stock of certain products, and then I'm going all over the city.

Okay, this grocery store doesn't have it.

Maybe that maybe that one will have it.

Um, oh, now all of a sudden they've implemented a curfew because of unrest.

Okay, so now I have to come home every night at a certain time.

Um, the they the passport birds movement doesn't acknowledge the complexity of living overseas.

Um, and I think too you have like grifters that are like selling people this idea, leave the United States, all of your problems will be fixed.

I don't agree with that sentiment.

Uh I think too like they don't acknowledge the opportunity cost.

Um there's a lot right now the economy is not great in the US but the US economy is likely to keep growing in the long term.

Um there's likely to be more new opportunities created.

I think too like just having people you've known for a long time uh is understated as far as the Passport Bros movement.

like uh my friend I'm staying with, I've known him for almost 30 years.

Um there's nobody I in Southeast Asia or Latin America uh that I could claim I've known for 30 years, maybe 10 years, but it's a little bit different when you've grown up beside somebody or a few people and uh you you've been through difficult time.

You have shared experience, right?

Like that's a big part of what I missed being in the US is yeah I have like solid friends in Southeast Asia, Latin America, but we just don't have the same shared experiences for the most part.

Um we don't have like our our problems aren't the same.

I I've talked about it a lot with uh one of my friends in Thailand is um I I will gush about how much I love Thailand to one of them.

I'll just tell her over and over, I love this country.

I love these people.

and she's like, "Yeah, Alex, like you're you're a foreigner and you have US dollars.

It's fantastic to be here.

Um, when you've got that purchasing power, but when you're in the grind, when you've got to work a corporate job, you've got to commute an hour, hour and a half each way, uh, you like you've got to deal with the day-to-day life in any country." She really helped me understand it's not a vacation.

It's uh you know when you're having to budget like and and budget on a local income like you I think for some people that could turn all these concerns off and just kind of uh detach from empathizing with other people.

Um then they can they'll be successful Passport Bros.

But I don't know.

I've spent time on Passport Bro forums and it's just kind of shallow.

uh what's the word?

It's like you kind of get the sense there's this shallowess to the experience like I'm um I'm off into the world to just take and to try to take advantage and I don't think everybody that dates overseas could be considered a passport bro.

I wish the term didn't have such a loaded connotation.

Uh like people assume passport bro is synonymous with s tourist and I don't think that's the case.

Like I think it's interesting to date people in other countries.

I think it's interesting to hear about their experiences.

I think that uh they will teach you about their culture or their country or their people in a way that you can't really get um the full picture of that country unless you have that dating component, you know.

Um like you see very few couples moving abroad to live this lifestyle.

Well, there's a few like JP and Amelia.

Uh they're long-term slow travelers.

Uh you could say also like Bagabond Awake is somewhat that way.

His long-term partner is from Malaysia.

Um but they travel around the region, but uh yeah.

Uh let's see.

I I don't like the label either stoic.

I think it's just a way to kind of marginalize guys that are um Yeah.

Yeah, I think it's just another term kind of used to marginalized men and like, oh, uh, they're nothing but a passport, bro.

It's like, why can't I just be a traveler, right?

Why can't I just enjoy, uh, traveling to other countries, meeting people from other countries?

It's like, why is it acceptable to say I like meeting foreign people in the United States, but if I want to go to those other countries and meet foreign people in their countries or people that are foreign to me, like it's just a kind of a double standard there.

Uh, like if I were to Um, oh, by the way guys, 27 watching, please give me a thumbs up if you can.

But yeah, if I want to experience other cultures in the United States, I get kind of a uh a taste of other countries here in the US, like I can go to Mexican restaurants.

I can uh go to Latino neighborhoods.

I can um you know if you go to New York or Houston, Texas or uh Los Angeles, there's like you know LA has Armenian neighborhood Glendale.

Um if you like uh Bay Area has a number of different Filipino grocery stores.

Um it um yeah, there's let's see.

Yeah, Nicholas, thank you for sharing that.

Um, for Oh, as far as neighborhoods in Bangkok, uh, I'm a fan of like, uh, what's it called?

Uh, as far as Ideal goes, like I like Echimi.

Uh, Echami is really convenient.

It's like right on the Sukumbit line.

um you're you have access to a lot, but you're not quite as busy as uh being near like the what's the word?

Um Central World uh MBK Center.

Um that's a pretty good one.

I also like uh I also like AI uh kind of like a little bit north.

Um, when I first landed there a couple years ago, I stayed in, uh, Victory Monument.

And Victory Monument, it's convenient if you need to get around a lot.

It's like a transportation hub.

So, uh, nearby you have the BTS, you have the, uh, MRT, and you have the B, like the bus transit center.

So, for me, uh, if I'm in exploration mode, I would say one of those central neighborhoods that where you can get transit.

Um, I like Bangkape, like out on the east, far east side of Bangkok, uh, they just put in an MRT stop, but when I first stayed out in Bangkape, the only way to get to the city center quickly was, um, taking a boat, so you had to take a canal taxi, and that was pretty uh, fun.

Uh, let's see.

Getting caught up here.

um dating.

Uh Tony's asking about dating in Cusco.

They were it was so so um I found that Peruvians are a lot more conservative toward relationships.

Um I found I found some of the foreigner or the foreigners I hung out with anyway often dated other foreigners.

I hung out with some people from Venezuela and Colombia.

Uh, I think you could date women from Venezuela and Cusco.

I think the Venezuelans are more open to uh dating foreigners.

Just from my observation, I don't know if it's the same way, but when I was in in Cusco, there were more Venezuelan women there.

Um, I have a couple of friends there that have married local women uh in Cusco, but it was a very like long-term like slow like very slow process.

like you're not I don't I didn't feel like it was Colombia where uh I felt that people were more passionate in Colombia like um I don't know if it's the weather I don't know if it's just being in Cusco versus Lima uh but I felt that it was much more conservative much more slowm moving like we can go on dates for like six months or a year and then maybe after that we can talk about being in a committed relationship.

Um, one of the women that I befriended there, I'm not going to mention her by name, but she mentioned that infidelity was a problem.

I I can't speak from that from personal experience.

Uh, but that was just what she said was like it seems to be an issue in both directions.

Um, I'm not trying to generalize.

I'm certainly not going to put down anybody uh from the area.

I I but it seemed like it seemed like it would be a harder place for foreigners to date local people.

It seemed like the foreigners had more opportunity to date other foreigners than to date um local people there.

Some people may differ in experience.

Some people may go to Cusco or Peru and and have great dating experiences, but that's just what I noticed.

I had some local female friends and they were generally uh dating or paired up with other Peruvian people.

Um not all, but I would say many.

Uh I think if you're looking to date uh local people, Colombia is probably a better option.

Um yeah, I that's just my my opinion on it.

Um hey, good to see you, Doug.

Welcome.

Welcome.

Hey, good to see you, uh, Mike.

I'm glad to see you here.

Um, happiness, I agree.

Like, happiness is is a choice and a skill set.

Um, Michael, like you got to choose to be happy.

And I think if you're in a place that you don't like care for, um, you got to find another place, right?

Like that is why I I call myself more of a traveler.

um is I think people that go to a place and they're like, "I'm living here.

This is it." If you haven't traveled around a lot, it's hard to know what to compare it to.

Um now, Thailand is an odd case for me personally where I went to Thailand and I'm like, "Okay, this is amazing.

I bet there's other amazing places in Southeast Asia." and there are, but every time I I went to other places in Southeast Asia, I found myself uh missing something about Thailand.

Now, I think some of that is just Thailand is the first Asian country I ever visited.

Um it it was a pivotal moment in my life where I decided I wanted to travel the world after going to Thailand.

Uh my first time in Thailand was so magical and I felt that uh I spent a lot of time trying to recapture that magic.

And so even though these other countries in Southeast Asia are also amazing, you can't you can't you can only have one first trip to Asia, right?

Like subsequent trips, yeah, they're still going to be awesome, but you're not going to get that magical feeling.

Um just my personal opinion that you get from your first trip.

So um yeah, let's see.

I live in Vietnam.

I date women.

I date where I live.

Yeah, nothing wrong with that, Stoic.

I I agree with you.

Like, I've dated here in the US plenty.

Uh haven't dated as much in recent years because I've been living overseas.

I've been traveling overseas.

I'm not opposed to uh you know, dating the US, but it's kind of not it's not as fun for me as dating in other countries.

Just my opinion.

Uh let's see here.

Um but yeah, Tony, I would just that's just kind of my my thought is uh I think it's important to temper your expectations in Cusco only because it's very socially conservative.

Um just my opinion like people are are very traditional-minded and um there's there's less openness I think in Peru to dating foreigners.

Like even, you know, you look at like um uh Chinese Peruvian or um Japanese Peruvian people.

It seems like they marry or date other Chinese or Japanese Peruvians.

Like I met a woman that was very clearly ethnically Chinese in Cusco.

It didn't look like she was like half Chinese, a quarter ch like she looked like somebody that came from mainland China ethnically and she was very pretty.

She's very attractive.

But um and she was one of the one women that I regret not trying to get her number.

I was just fresh off literally I had just come from the airport and I'd stayed awake the entire night before and so I was kind of delirious and I it was in a ceviche shop and I I couldn't remember how to work my way back there um because I would have loved to like ask her out.

So it may be such that in Peru maybe some uh immigrant communities because she was kind of friendly and and a little bit flirty with me.

Maybe it's the case in Peru.

I can't vouch for this that that people that are from immigrant communities in Peru uh may have some more openness than say somebody who's more from like um uh an indigenous background uh where their history in Peru goes back hundreds and hundreds of years th maybe thousands of years versus somebody whose history in Peru is like a hundred years old or 150 years old.

can't guarantee that be worth like um it's I need to research that more.

That's a really good question, Tony.

Uh, I think too, like if you wanted to do a cursory thing, getting uh, now some people would be biased against this, but I think getting a dating app and using the premium service uh, and changing location, like I know Tony, you're in North America, but changing your location to South America and just seeing like, hey, do I uh, based on my photographs, my descriptions of myself, do I connect with people?

and then going from there like strugging up conversation um asking them and depending if it's a low trust country they may not tell you the truth like they may you may ask hey is it acceptable to date foreigners in your country and they may feel pressured oh yeah yeah I agree I agree when the reality boots in the ground might be oh no it's kind of like frowned upon it's it's not considered acceptable um but it's it's tough like um I I like I love Peru.

Uh but that was something I I felt was a little bit more challenging there.

Maybe if I had been intending to live there long term, uh then my options would have been better.

I I agree.

Michael, you want a lifelong partner.

I still think a Filipino will be my answer.

I may be biased because I am with a Filipina.

I think like finding a country that you really like.

The thing about Peru is if you really like it, Tony, and I know we've talked about it a lot.

I love Peru.

I think it's one of my favorite countries I've been to.

If I had to live there for the rest of my life, I wouldn't really complain.

I like the weather.

Um the microclimates.

I think that the architecture is really interesting.

Um when I was in Spain, like some guys gave me a hard time.

I was like, I think there are a lot of beautiful women there.

Uh maybe Colombia gets a lot more press for various reasons, but I met some gorgeous women in Peru.

So, I think if you were to say like, I want to go live there for like 10 years or I'm going to commit to living there for 5 years or even two or three.

Um, cuz some of my Venezuelan friends only lived in Peru for a couple years and then they went back to Venezuela.

Uh, as far as I know, I haven't been in touch with them as much to be honest.

But, um, not because anything bad happened, just like, uh, one couple that I was friends with, they had a kid and so the kids really taken up a lot of their time.

Um but uh yeah, I would say like uh you know, I would say just uh committing to a long long trip there, Tony.

Um well, doing a research, maybe trying the dating app and then committing to a longer trip there.

And uh I don't know, like I would say kind of like letting people know.

Um, well, you don't really have to let people know that you're single.

Like, people will figure it out.

But, um, that's a really Yeah, that's got you're stubbing me, Tony, a little bit.

I appreciate that because it's you're really getting me to think my my brain to work.

Um, Nicholas Stoic live, I heard you call yourself a passport bro on Raise Your Race channel.

Interesting.

I'll have to check that out.

I didn't know you did an interview, Stoic.

Um, yeah, good to see you, Michael.

I appreciate Ron.

So, I'm back in the U I'll be vague about the exact location or city, but I'm in the southern US right now.

So, I'm in the southeast.

Uh where uh yeah, let's see.

Uh let's see.

What time is it there?

Uh now it's about a quarter till 3:00.

Uh, so I think you're uh 11 hours behind uh Michael.

Yeah, I think you're about 11 hours behind.

Um, but yeah, it's uh I I think the Philippines is a great option for finding a quality long-term relationship.

Um, there I met so many nice women in the Philippines.

Uh, why did I not commit to one?

Well, I've done LDR in the past and it just didn't work out for me.

Uh, I uh Oh, thanks so much, Alex.

I appreciate that.

Um, yeah, I talked to them for they came to Dumagetti.

They we talked for several hours.

I wish they'd used more of our conversation, but I I think because I don't have hot takes, I I don't I don't see it as a status thing.

Like, I'm not I'm one of these guys.

I'm not anti-American women.

Uh contrary to what some people want me to say or want me to put out there, I have a number of friends that are in fantastic relationships with women from the United States.

Uh healthy relationships, happy relationships.

They're treated very well by their partners.

Uh very like, you know, as far as I can tell, um they're enjoying life.

And I would never, oh, my friend doesn't know he needs to to go find somebody overse like that's ridiculous, you know.

Um I think for some people, they're going to benefit a lot from going overseas in part uh in in in search for love.

But uh there's also like a lot of people who don't find uh quality relationship overseas because they have something they need to work on internally.

And uh I saw that a bit in in the Philippines like where the guy would be with a nice woman but the guy was was not so great.

Now is that all?

No, I'm not also not going to bash guys that do that.

There's plenty of awesome guys that find great relationships overseas.

I see it as like there's 8 billion people on the planet.

I think most people that are decent can find somebody uh regardless of what country they're in.

Um I think that maybe it's uh some people are more compatible with uh Oh, hey, welcome back.

Love tech Philippines.

Uh compatible with other cultures.

Like I um I find a lot of compatibility in certain countries and not so much uh compatibility in others.

Um, that's just been my experience.

Like, one of the best relationships I had when I was younger was with a woman whose folks were from Africa.

Uh, I'm not going to specify which African country, but we had a good relationship.

Uh, unfortunately, things didn't work out.

Um, but I don't I'm still friends with her to this day.

Like, she's going to Africa this summer.

Uh I'm trying to talk her into at some point uh making that trek with her and uh her mom because like I want to go see more of Africa.

Uh but it's costly.

It's time consuming.

I a lot of planning goes into a trip like that, especially once I'm working full-time.

Uh but you know, I I never once occurred to me during that relationship of like, oh, she's she's better cuz her folks are from like um another country.

It's just like, you know, the United States is fantastic in that the ideals are such that like it it's the least out of all the countries I've been to.

I know people disagree with this.

I personally feel it's the least judgmental country I've been to or it's the least um raceconscious country I've been to.

Uh let's see.

uh Love Techch Philippines um text making its rounds and I grabbed it on Kindle.

Looks like it's going to be a confusing correlation with um causation though.

I'll I'll check this.

Uh somebody one of you guys mentioned a book.

Um I'll I'll uh copy it.

And that was a lot of fun though.

I'd like to do more documentaries in the future.

And uh okay, so yeah, McDallo, uh a sizable, in my opinion, a sizable portion of guys who go to the Philippines to find a girl because nobody will put up with them in the US.

A lot of the expats I've met here in the Philippines are unhinged.

Um yeah, there's a fair amount of that out there.

like I I know some really good guys over there.

Guys like Michael um who we haven't yet met in person, but we've had a lot of in-depth conversations and he's a really easygoing guy.

Uh he had a successful career in the United States.

I have another friend who I'm not going to mention out of his privacy.

Um but he uh he's living in the Philippines.

his his significant other is um Asian-American.

Uh but he um you know, I'm not going to go any further than that because I want to respect his privacy, but he's a a really good guy.

He had a successful career.

Um, and well that's and that's the problem I think you've got like uh and I run into that even more like there's there's a guy I I'm I haven't met this person but I have one of my friends here in the US and he has a friend and his friend's neighbor um married a Filipina and they a number of these guys also I think they don't necessarily like take their time trying to meet someone in the Philippines.

I look at it like it's similar to the US.

In the US I'm not going to try to marry the first person I go on a date with.

Like some people are lucky and that works out for them.

But for some of us we're not so lucky and we ignore those red flags.

We ignore those bad signs and we try to force a relationship.

Um, I was even, you know, manipulated by a Filipina at one point, uh, in Dumagedi.

Um, and fortunately, it didn't get out of hand.

Uh, but I could tell after a few dates we went on, she wasn't interested in me.

Uh, but rather she was interested in what I could do for her.

Um, and is that all Filipinos?

That's not at all.

Exactly.

Michael, you you and Venus talked for a couple of years.

uh you built something over a long period of time.

Uh you had plenty of time to figure out is this the person for me?

Uh is she the woman that is uh who I want to spend a long time with?

She also had time to vet you like hey uh is this a good American guy or is this a guy who is not so good?

Um so it wasn't like a snap your fingers and now you're in love with the white picket fence.

It's really this buildup over time and I find uh a number of the guys that go to the Philippines are very impatient.

Um they they want to snap their fingers and there's no in my opinion there's no substitute for time.

There's like time is money but money is not time.

So going to the Philippines with like a lot of cash and expecting that this money will make up for all like, oh, I could just give her money and that makes up for the fact I just met her last week.

It's like, no, no, no.

That that's not how it works.

Uh, you have to like you you really have to think long term and you have to think um it's going to take me some time to meet meet the right one.

I had, you know, the woman with whom it didn't work out, like I tried to maintain a friendly basis with her even though I I ultimately rejected her and she didn't really care for that.

She didn't want to be friends and that's unfortunate, but that's just like I think a number of us have attachment or abandonment issues that we go to Southeast Asia, we we have been abandoned uh and some of us, not all of us, but some of us and like we We want so badly to feel that love or that like solid relationship that we overlook flaws in a person that we wouldn't we might not overlook in the United States, right?

Like um ah she's deceptive but oh whatever.

Like I I I don't want to be alone anymore.

You have you have to be like uh wow love tech Philippines.

Yeah, I um I was in I grew up in in a nar narcissistic family system as well.

So I can appreciate your experience.

Um good to see you, Gerard.

Welcome.

Welcome.

Uh, and and I think too I I got to be like careful to not bash every expat in the Philippines.

There's some great guys over there, but there's this repeated pattern of um I and I mentioned this before, there's guys that go over there, they're not looking for a partner, they're looking for a pet.

They're looking for somebody that uh they can essentially look, I'm paying, so I get get it my way.

Where I think healthy relationships are a two-way street.

Um they there's a lot that differs from relationship to relationship, but if you have if you want to have a healthy relationship, there's give and take involved.

And if it's just I pay for everything so everything has to go my way like that's I don't I I'm skeptical.

Um you know I'm skeptical that that can really work because uh you're you're entering the relationship from a transactional basis.

Um, and I also found like, you know, some of the women that I dated there were naive.

Like they they maybe had bad experiences dating local guys and so they wanted to trust foreigners uh more than what some foreigners um deserved, right?

like in their home country, a woman that looks like that ain't giving him the time a day, like isn't going to look twice at him, but in the Philippines, maybe she's had some bad experiences where she's willing to give that guy the time a day.

Um, and and two, it's a little bit different.

Like, if you're, you know, if you're a younger guy you're dating in the Philippines, there may be some expectation from her you're going to have a family.

Where for me, I'm not so sure I want to have a family.

And that could be a deal breaker for a number of women.

Like what?

You don't want to have a family?

Uh so that's going to cut out a fair amount of women there that otherwise it might work out well with.

Another one would be um you know like how to explain it?

Um I think some of it too is like do you want to move to the US?

Not all women in the Philippines want to move to the US.

Like one of the women I was really interested in was like, "No, I would never move to America.

Uh, I want to move to the UK." Well, for me as an American, it doesn't make any sense for me to move to the United Kingdom.

Uh, as far as the UK goes, I'm going to pay low.

I'm going to get paid less as far as working.

Uh, I'm going to have to go through an immigration process when I already come from a developed country with high wages.

I don't know anybody in the UK, so I'm going to have to rebuild my social circle.

Um, and I'm in the age when I need to be working and putting away money for the future.

And so the Filipina like that I want to meet specifically would have to be a woman that is okay with not having kids.

Uh, two um, two uh, is open to moving to the US.

Three is okay with building something together like doesn't expect me to be a millionaire, right?

some financial where I'm not uh where I I targeted to be targeting to be financially uh so so okay with moving to the US uh okay with not having kids uh okay with living in the United States or I already mentioned that uh it becomes very specific and so that's something I found the passport bro movement doesn't acknowledge is like if you're a young guy most young guys are not financially independent if they've got a remote income.

Uh living uh what's it called?

Living abroad.

Like one of the things I found that could be challenging about living overseas and having to work like doing my YouTube channel is while everybody else is having fun and going out and doing stuff, I've got to be editing.

I've got to be uh like communicating with subscribers.

I've got to be handling responsibilities where I'm used to going to Southeast Asia and having fun like going out um going to restaurants, meeting up with friends, maybe going to the gym and working out and I'm having to plan my schedule around a very busy work schedule where it's not just hanging out.

Like I think some passport bros or people in general conflate vacationing in a country with day-to-day life there.

And so, uh, the US for me just makes a lot more sense from a financial perspective, but also like it's what I'm accustomed to.

Um, it's where most of my friends live.

Um, the pace of life is such that like I'm at my age, like I get I got bored and restless in Southeast Asia after a while.

I want to be going and doing stuff, but I am I'm having to work around the fact that I don't have a work permit.

I'm having to work around the heat, the language barriers, uh not necessarily being able to get equipment easily.

Like here, if I break something in the US, I can snap my fingers on Amazon and it's here in two days or I can go to Costco and go to the grocery store.

Like the US is is very very convenient in certain ways that other countries are not.

And so yeah, uh let's see.

I'm get a little bit um uh long-winded here.

Uh uh Love Techch Philippines says, "Do you mean criminal, gullible, something else?" Um some of it's criminal.

Love Techch Philippines.

I met several uh foreigners in the Philippines that were uh breaking the law.

And I don't want any part of that.

I'm not going to get more specific than that because there are defamation laws.

Uh but I don't want to be around anybody or associate with anybody that does anything against the laws of any country that I'm in.

Um there's a lot of reasons for that.

I think most of them are obvious but uh I I think of like I think very highly of the legal system in any country I go to or I wouldn't go like why would I go to a country and live in a country or spend a lot of time in a country where I don't have faith in the system of justice there like that doesn't make any sense and so when I met um oh well uh let's Um I would say you know googling um love tech Philippines like the the best way I could address is Google um foreigner arrested in the Philippines.

Uh because that's what I do from time to time and you'll see what um you know what they're getting in trouble for.

And it's not just like like one every few years.

It's like every few months foreigners are getting arrested in the Philippines and there's uh articles published about it.

And um yeah, and I I don't do that for every country I go to, but um that was a challenge in the Philippines.

I think part of it is the English.

Like if me being adventurous, I don't care what language they speak uh as far as countries that I go to.

I I'll go I go to Japan.

Japanese Japan Japanese people speak Japanese.

I went to Korea.

Koreans speak Korean.

I've been to Spain.

Spain speaks Spanish.

Um a lot of expats like the lowest hanging want the lowest hanging fruit where I want to go to a country or I'm afraid to go to a country where I'm going to have to work around a language barrier.

And that's fair for long term.

Like that's I can get why uh going to Spain or Korea for a week, okay, whatever, there's a language barrier, but having to do that for years on end um why that would make the Philippines more appealing.

I found a lot of it in the Philippines too was extreme.

I either meet people met expats in the Philippines that I'm friends with life for, like people I really get along with, or people that I absolutely detest, that I find disgusting, uh that I don't ever want to see again, and nothing in between.

It wasn't like I met people I'm indifferent to them.

Like a number of countries I've been to, I'd meet expats.

I'm like or or even local people I can take them or leave them.

But in the Philippines, it was much more uh extreme.

Like I found people that were super mellow and easy to uh yeah, polarizing is the right word.

Like I met some guys that nothing would phase them.

It could be pouring down rain.

Uh karaoke uh uh an expat like starts shouting at them and they cool as a cucumber.

And then other people that like the wind blows the wrong direction and they're throwing a fit.

Um hey, good to see you Manila.

Welcome.

Welcome.

Would you open be open to kids when you're more financially established?

I don't know.

McNel, I think it's tough.

like Love Tech Philippines mentioned this um and he and I may be different as far as our approach, but like I grew up in a pretty traumatic and difficult situation and um I personally feel like I'm not necessarily prepared to raise a family um from a an emotionally like perspective Like I think it's how to explain it like um Yeah, exactly.

Like I don't necessarily have the skills, but also like I I'm not one of those people that's uh antiatalist.

Like I don't I'm not one of those people that says nobody should have kids.

I think people should really think it through and really um what's the word?

like really do a deep dive on it.

Um, some of it's uh like family support.

I mean, yeah, okay, money is one component, but like I wouldn't want any of my relatives to interact if I had children.

I wouldn't want any of my relatives to interact with them.

So, you get into this awkward situation where it's like, well, you know, I I I'm a what if kind of guy.

probably think what if too much, but like what if I have a kid and they're wondering why don't we go and see the family?

It's like having to explain to them, well, they're they're objectively they're bad people.

Um they're chaotic, they get into trouble a lot.

Um they're abusive, they are manipulative, they're deceptive.

Um they uh create problems out of like where there are none.

um they themselves are not people like I would want any of my friends to to associate with.

I I look at it too though this is a counterpoint to that family when I'm as an adult are people I choose.

So I have friends of mine that I see as family even though we're not blood related.

Uh we have so much in common with with each other.

we have so much re um like exp uh shared experience that binds us together and um I don't know I think too some of it in the modern world is like uh could be described as a lifestyle choice like do you want the lifestyle of parenting um some people love it some people love the ability to mentor a kid to um watch a kid grow up to support them to understand themselves to um learn new skills to uh kind of give them a different kind of like uh what's the word um a different perspective right if you're like in the case of uh some of my friends expats in the Philippines they've chosen um uh women who have a child or children from a previous relationship and they they love that ability to bring a different cultural perspective to those kids like, "Hey, I know you get the Filipino perspective.

Maybe you also will benefit from having the American perspective or the British perspective, the Canadian perspective." And then there's other guys like myself where it's like my trauma was was so extensive that I it took me until I was an adult to really get around emotionally stable people.

um people who uh conduct themselves in a pro-social way, people who take the law seriously, people uh who are um generally not predisposed to getting violent, people who don't have aggression problems.

Um it's uh same Love Tech Philippines.

I didn't fully understand it until my late my late 20s.

I got a sense of it when I was a child.

I figured there was something wrong based on all the chaos going on around me and the abuse and things like that.

I didn't understand the extent of it until my late 20s.

Um, and I, you know, so for me, I guess like part of it too is having um having friends in Southeast Asia and here that have no intention of having children.

Um, I'm not once again I'm not anti like quite a few of my friends have children.

I I would never uh oh, you shouldn't do that.

Like I I think it really comes down to the individual.

Some people the best decision they've ever made is having children.

Other people the worst decision they've ever made is having children.

Um and I I feel like I would regret I think it's wor now one thing I do think is I think it's worse to regret having kids than regret not having kids.

Um, I uh, yeah, that's just kind of where I'm at.

And like the good good thing is like as a guy, I still have time to think about it.

I think it's harder for women.

Uh, just to be fully honest.

I think for women it's, you know, you've got a shorter timeline with which it's healthy to have children.

Um but you know if I change my mind like um I may very well change my mind but I think the world is getting more friendly to the idea of uh people without children.

I most of my adult friends don't be like most of my adult friends that have children are 50 and up.

Uh most of my adult friends that are younger than 50 do don't have children.

So there's this kind of generational shift I think.

Um, and certain countries are more friendly to being to not having kids than others.

Like in the Philippines, it's a very familyoriented culture.

I I find anyway.

I find the Philippines life revolves around the family much more so than the individual.

Um, you go out to eat, they have family portions.

You go out to uh drive around, they've got carnivals for kids.

Like, it's very much a kid-oriented culture.

uh where other countries have lower birth rates, have fewer children, Japan as an example, where life and the the urban development, that kind of thing seems to be more oriented toward single people or dual income, no kids.

So I, you know, I I think both are awesome.

I uh I think it's beautiful to be in a country where people are optimistic about the future such that uh they want to um what's it called?

They they want to have families.

Like to me there's nothing there's few things more optimistic like or or stating that you're optimistic than choosing to have children.

I'm not, you know, not speaking about people that that didn't choose to have children, but the people that specifically like I want to start a family.

That's a bet on the future.

I I don't know um what better way to put it than to than to put it like that.

Like I believe in a good future.

I believe that life has uh inherent meaning or value and I want to do my part to contribute to that and I think that's a beautiful thing.

simultaneously uh being around a lot of families did wake up my trauma at times in the Philippines like man they're they're out like having a nice family experience and I I can't relate like growing up I didn't have the nice family experience it was um it was just not something I got to experience.

So yeah, that's just like um kind of go back and forth on it.

Like I said, um I Yeah, you get I get real I got really used to and some of it's being in a bachelor for a decent chunk of my adult life where uh my last serious relationship ended maybe 10 years ago.

I've dated a lot in the last 10 years, but that was a multi-year relationship.

And so you just get used to freedom.

Like I don't have to think about um how my actions or behavior will affect others as much.

Like yeah, I still follow the rules.

I still follow the law.

I still act with decency, but I'm not having to like if I if I want to um go for a run, right?

I I just go for a run.

I don't Oh, hey, like is it, you know, are you going to be preparing dinner?

Um, do we have some function we need to attend to for the kids?

Like I don't have to really think about certain activities or things that I want to do uh at all.

Like what movie do I want to watch?

I'll watch whatever I want to watch.

I don't have to decide, okay, is this okay for kids to watch?

Uh, is my girlfriend interested in watching this?

So, I you get kind of set in your ways as a bachelor.

I personally think um have I had a lot of good times with um in relationships?

Yeah.

Like I I don't see myself as not ever having serious relationship again, but I'm not convinced that that that has to uh involve children.

I have several friends in Thailand that are uh child-free like you said.

I think Manila does have more of that to be fair.

If you're in the Philippines, um, and you want to live a child-free lifestyle, you want to look at like a Manila or Bonafasio Global City, um, maybe, uh, a Sibu or a Dva to a lesser extent.

Uh, where if you're going in the province in the Philippines, like you're you're probably not going to like people are not going to understand child-free.

I I personally think like um like what do you mean child-free?

like wife hears about your family.

Um, yeah, you'll never hear the word child-free in the province.

Um, and yeah, friends can can be like I had an amazing Christmas last year uh with the different uh some different Dumagedi expats like Paul.

Uh I I joined Paul and a bunch of uh mutual friends.

I Mike couldn't make that one.

Uh he had other obligations, but it was fantastic.

Like we had such a nice get together and it was like one of the best Christmases I've ever had.

Um, and ultimately like Love Tech Philippines, I think it's good for people to have the option like I'm one of those people that I think u, and this is maybe idealistic.

All the people that want to have kids should have like want to have kids and are are committed to it should have kids.

All the people who don't shouldn't.

And some Filipinos like I believe Filipinos h should have the right to self-determination and uh they shouldn't feel like they have to have a family to make other people happy like they should have a family because it makes them happy and it gives them fulfillment and joy.

Uh and was dating better in Thailand or the Philippines?

That's a good question, Nicholas.

Um, it's such a hard question.

I found it differed by city.

Um, I think that it was better for me in small to mediumsiz cities uh in Thailand and it was better for me in bigger cities uh or and it was better for me in medium to large cities uh in the Philippines.

I found pro like I struggled in the province in the Philippines and I struggled more in the bigger cities in Thailand.

Um, that was just my experience, but I'm also Asian, so I think it might be different if you're Caucasian.

I'm not sure if you're Caucasian, uh, Nicholas, but I think that would impact it where I found, broadly speaking, Caucasian guys or white guys will have better dating success in the Philippines, where I think Asian guys could do better in Thailand.

Just my perception, uh, some people might disagree.

My Thai female friends have told me they prefer to date an Asian guy.

Um, and I I think um my Filipina Well, I don't I don't know how many It kind of depends too on like who they're exposed to.

Like my Filipino friends are um in bigger cities where they're exposed to more foreigners.

Maybe they're they're um I don't know.

That's a good question.

That was just kind of my broad experience.

So uh depending on the country u yeah uh yeah child-free I I think there's nothing wrong with it for people that um they don't feel committed to it.

Um and my opinion may change.

I may choose that I want to have children and uh yeah so um let's see um love tech Philippines quantity easier for me in Philippines Thailand quality but I had to get lucky with day would be with one gal there still if I didn't have to become Muslim to do it.

Yeah.

I mean, I met several like when I was in the south of Thailand, I met several women uh that they they indicated to me like I would um they they asked me, "Are you Muslim?" Because I have the beard.

They assumed I was Muslim.

I explained, "No, I'm not Muslim." And that's where the conversation ended.

So, um in certain regions of the Philippines or Thailand, it may be like a religious barrier, right?

Where like you're thinking, "Man, she's really attractive.

I'd be really interested to get to know her better, but I'm not ready to make that commitment to uh her faith.

Have a good one, Michael.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Uh we'll see you soon.

And I need to keep an eye out for uh your um what's it called?

Uh your next live stream, Michael.

I'm sure I'll I'll see one pop up again soon.

Nicholas says, "I'm Latino.

My perception is English being more widely spoken in the Philippines.

It would be better there." Yeah.

And I think too there's, it's just my opinion, there's more overlap between Latino culture and Filipino culture.

Um, the Philippines to me feels like a Latin country in some ways.

And there's more similarities there versus in Thailand, uh, when I brought up like having Mexican or Peruvian food to my Thai friends, they're like, "What's that?" Curious.

Like there's definitely some level of curiosity there, but no familiarity like where uh all of my Filipino friends have some level of familiarity uh with Spain with uh the Spanish influence in the Philippines.

Um there's in Thailand there's no there's not as much like uh there's just not as much of that in in Thailand versus the Philippines.

I I think it's it might be better for you, Nicholas, to start in the Philippines.

Uh and then if you want something different than trying out Thailand.

Uh but that was just my experience.

I mean, of course, Filipino uh Philippines is very much a Catholic country like much of Latin America is heavily influenced by um Catholic traditions.

Also like the naming conventions, I met a lot of Filipino people with uh what could be described as like uh Hispanic names.

Even some of my closest friends in the Philippines.

Uh if I, you know, just mention their name, you might think, oh, they're from a a Latin country, uh or they're from Spain.

Um where Thailand, like the names are very much not Latin.

um much more like Thai or Thai Chinese or um maybe even Malay um Malay Thai like in the south.

Um and English, yeah, English helps a lot with dating in the Philippines because they they have more exposure to uh they were uh they have more exposure in the Philippines to American culture.

Like I felt like in Thailand, Thailand, many Thai see Thailand as the center of the universe where in the Philippines I felt like there's a like, hey, we're going to put on an NBA game.

We're going to watch the NBA.

I didn't experience that in Thailand.

Uh in Thailand, a couple of my friends are into Muay Thai, uh or they're into running or jogging, they're into bad mitten.

Uh where in the Philippines, it was like no, like let's watch the NBA.

I want to watch this team play.

Uh I think if I tried to show my Thai friends NBA, they would just like what is I I don't know what this is.

Like I never saw any basketball courts in Thailand anywhere.

Um not even in gyms.

Like I go to work out at the gym where Philippines it seemed like every block had a basketball court or at least a goal.

People would put up a basketball goal.

Um you see a lot more of that American influence there.

Um, well, you got Army Navy Burger, like in the Philippines, there's a chain called Army Navy Burger.

Uh, you got American military bases there where you don't in Thailand.

Um, Philippines.

Hey, good to see you, Manny.

Welcome.

Welcome.

Uh, you see much more of that American influence in in the Philippines.

I think an American all else equal um would have I don't know.

I would have an easier time communicating uh in the Philippines if communication is a major factor for you.

There's no way around it.

English is like very prevalent in the Philippines.

Um yeah, southern Thai area is a thing.

Scla up through Phuket.

I was willing to LAR but more concerned about my future children laring.

That's funny.

Um, yeah.

In Thailand, I I when I first got there, I dated women that did not have any English.

And it was fun, but like as far as deep conversation, no.

Like we're using the translate app the whole time, like from start to finish.

Um, there's not any conversation besides, hey, how are you doing today?

And it's hot outside.

like that was the limitation versus my Thai friends that have English, we they kind of like switch their brain over to English mode and we can have a deeper conversation.

Um, a lot of them that work in corporate in Bangkok speak English at work because they work on intern where they work with international teams.

Um, but those are your what you could call your Bangkok urban professional ties as opposed to like the average person you're going to meet outside of Bangkok and especially outside of like the city center or or people whose lives revolve around like the urban center of Bangkok.

kind of like New Yorkers uh versus like people from the Midwest or southern US.

Uh ransom full court this week.

Taiwan has a great basketball c culture, at least in Taipei and Kawang.

Indonesia has more basketball than I expected.

Expected zero.

You know, I needed I need to go back to Indonesia.

I really liked Indonesia a lot.

One of my friends uh lives there in Indonesia and it was fantastic.

I uh I had put it off for a long time because um it's you know it's further it's deeper into Southeast Asia like it's it's not on the edge like Philippines where you can get to Manila and 12 hours from LA.

It's not like Thailand where you know well well known for tourism.

Indonesia is awesome though.

I had a great experience.

I would really like to go back.

Uh, one of my friends lives there in Bali and loves it and he could live anywhere in Southeast Asia, but he chooses to live in Bali.

I felt like Bali was awesome.

I know people call it overrated.

I had a great time in Bali.

I'd like to go back to Bali.

Uh, frankly, I got super lucky with the Thai Muslim gal, English major in college, and grew up watching stuff like home movies, cartoons I'd never expect to Southeast Asia, native to have heard of.

No, me either.

Love Tech Philippines.

That's wild.

I grew up on Adult Swim as well.

Um, she must really have an affinity for American culture.

My male Thai friend, he is similar.

His folks lived in San Diego area for uh several years and he grew up being interested in anime and like a lot of different American uh culture.

So, he teaches English.

My It's funny.

I I have a friend that's a um an English teacher in Thailand and he's Thai so he is just like his um his girlfriend longtime girlfriend is an American woman and his English is fantastic.

He actually just spent about a month as a Buddhist monk.

Really a kind guy.

He's he's so he's awesome.

I I miss that guy a lot.

Um he's just such a pleasant person.

you can when I'm around like I asked him one time and I need to interview him.

I want to interview him in the future.

I asked him why are Thai people so nice but then there's Muay Thai and he's like tie people are not pushovers and we laughed about it and I'm like yeah that's a good point like you get this sense that there's a toughness.

Um, I I kind of say like ties are soft on the outside, hard on the inside.

Like very approachable, very friendly.

Um, and that I don't know, that's just kind of my experience.

Yeah.

Gentle but powerful.

Like very approachable, very like um attractive people in general, but like you don't want to like try to push them around.

There's this this toughness, internal toughness that I've encountered uh with most of my Thai friends when I say something stupid.

Uh they let me know right away.

Like I I have a pretty good filter being Asian-American, but Americans we have strong opinions about some things and sometimes they'll let you know like your opinion is not welcome or kind of dumb.

Uh, Met.

Yeah, Songclaw is fantastic.

Um, Love Techch Philippines.

Like most people I know that are travelers in Thailand have never been to Scla and I loved it.

I wasn't expecting uh to be blown away.

I was just trying to get away from the burning season in Chiang Mai.

But I loved it.

I loved Hayyai.

uh you get a lot more Malaysian tourists in Hot Yai in southern Thailand.

It's got a very different flavor and it's not quite as touristic as say Phuket or Krabby.

Um so yeah, you meet a lot of interesting people in Sla too because they're not as used to foreigners I think.

Like that was just my experience.

Like it was uh Sla was one of the few places where I had Thai people approaching me more as opposed to like oh hey there's another tourist like you get in Bangkok or um maybe Chiang Mai uh or Phuket.

They're like, "Wow, like where are you from?" And like uh what brings you here?

And some even staring at me.

Friendly, but like wow, he's not from around here.

And there's not an obvious reason for him to be here.

Like you go to Bangkok, there's a million obvious reasons for our tourists to be there.

Um Chiang Mai, they want to go to the temples.

Um you know, Phuket, they want to go to the beaches.

Uh but for Sunclaw and Hot Yai, it's like, okay, you're not from Malaysia.

I suspect anyway, you're not from Malaysia, so like what you know, this is a very specific place for you to be.

Um but yeah, I love durian Nicholas, but certainly it's not for everyone.

It's very modern.

Um, yeah, I was very surprised too like at Hayy uh being able to go to the bus terminal like I went to the shopping mall, the central mall in Hayyai.

It was fantastic.

They had all your popular chains of restaurants.

Uh they had a Sizzler in the mall upstairs that was a throwback because you don't see them much in America anymore if at all.

Uh you know the the Super Eight ramen chain.

Um yeah, I know Memphis.

I' I've been to Memphis a few times and it's not a place Yeah, it's like I agree with you.

It was surprising to be very off the beaten track in Thailand and and still have that consistency.

Like I had a condo across from or an apartment across from Prince of Song University.

It's a beautiful campus.

They have a beautiful track.

The track they have is uh comparable to track I'd have here in the US.

Um the the women there I met like at the smoothie shop.

Really sweet.

Uh the gym I went and worked out at the people were super friendly and nice.

like it it was it's actually uh it seemed like fairly I don't know it seemed fairly affluent compared to what some people might think being away from Phuket, away from Bangkok, away from Chiang Mai.

I liked it a lot.

I I thought it was I thought it was underrated.

I'd like to go back.

Uh you might not have quite the same level of like you, you know, if you're somebody that you want to socialize with foreigners, you're not going to really have that.

Uh the the there's not as much like development I found uh in Slaw like uh near the beaches.

Normally, you know, Thailand, you're near a beach, there's tons of condos to choose from where I felt like there was a little bit less of that.

Um, but it was cool.

Like it just felt like really off the beaten path.

I like Malaysia a lot.

So having some of those Malaysia vibes was awesome.

I I feel like Malaysia is underrated.

Um, it gets a lot of tourism, but a lot of the tourism seems to be from like uh predominately Muslim countries.

Nothing wrong with that, but I feel like some of the Muslim places in Southeast Asia uh there's this perception of I don't know like I felt very welcome.

Maybe people suspect I'm Muslim, but even if they find out I'm not, I still felt that they were very welcoming.

I'd like to go back to Malaysia, visit Paneang.

Um, also visit Mala.

Uh, JB, like the basically JB is a sub suburb of Singapore.

Uh, and then one of my closest friends in Southeast Asia is from Malaysia.

So, um, Malaysia and southern Thailand, I don't know.

I think Phuket gets a lot of the attention.

Krabby gets uh also a lot of attention, but Off the beaten path, not as much.

But guys, my voice is starting to go.

I'm going to head out.

Um I'm going to go meet a friend for an early dinner here.

I'm going to leave here in uh a few minutes.

So, thanks so much for joining.

If you haven't already, give us a thumbs up.

Uh subscribe to the channel if you're watching this on repeat.

Uh feel free to comment down below if you have any travel plans.

I'll let everybody know uh when when I make my next set of travel uh plans.

Um thanks so much, Doomhau.

I appreciate the support.

Uh I've seen some of your comments, Doomhau, on some channels.

I I love it.

Uh uh some you have some funny things to say.

I appreciate it a lot.

Like uh enjoy the multi-way discussion.

Thanks so much, Love Tech Philippines.

And um yeah, like I said guys, comment down below you got any travel plans.

Um if you're watching this on replay, let me know what you think of the topics of discussion.

Happy to discuss uh more talks in the future.

I just want to let everybody know like I'm it's going well here back in the US.

Maybe my opinion will change once I start working.

We'll see how things go.

Um but yeah, absolutely happy to exchange notes and uh yeah, so thanks so much everybody.

We'll see you soon.

Take care.

Until next time.