hey do we have audio there do we have audio can you hear me H hello hello hello testing test test test okay yeah it looks like we we're getting some feedback there good okay uh yeah so welcome to
the stream uh just working on my audio I think the last attempt I had um the quality was just not there but uh it should be better now yeah it's uh let me know by the way I know
we've got a viewer on here just let me know if you can hear me okay or if there's any audio issues I think what I tried to do it before for some reason the mic wasn't uh connected but
yeah I guess I'll just go and if you know somebody pops in and let me know if you can hear me I'm just uh chilling in Bangkok not doing a whole lot but my sleep schedule's been kind of
off because I have been working out the last few weeks and that's something I'm looking forward to getting back into anday um what all is going on I'm just winding down my time in Thailand uh I am trying
to strategically spend down my taii bot because I'm not going to be bringing much of that with me to Vietnam I will get my deposit back um but yeah just trying to find clever ways to uh hit that
zero Mark um in about three and a half weeks and so yeah I'll get 12,900 bot back when I leave here that'll be my deposit um and I'll probably take that with me to dang and then just exchange
it there not at the airport I'll wait till get into town into the city to be able to uh get a better exchange rate some have suggested taking the tibot exchanging to Dollar some online have suggested taking the
tybot exchanging to US Dollars and then exchanging that to Vietnamese Dong but that just doesn't sound right to me even if the exchange rate is not as good as from USD to Vietnamese Dong as it is for tybot
to Vietnamese Dong then um I think I'm better off just doing one exchange and one transfer of that 12,900 bot to um Vietnamese Dong and hopefully I'll get at least like $300 worth of dong I think that's around
7.5 million Dong something like that maybe no 75 million Dong I think it's 75 million Dong and I'll be um I'm working on booking my place right now so I'm looking at some spots I think I've narrowed it
down to the place that I plan to stay but the city's not super big why don't we pull up to n here hey big Lance big Lance says cool do you know people in dang so that's something I
don't actually um I don't know so I I know uh Jake one of my subscribers is in dening um and what else I know there's another subscriber something traveler um they plan to be in D in about a
month as well so I'll know a couple of foreigners which will be cool I don't know I don't yet know any uh Vietnamese people living over there all the Vietnamese people I met have been Vietnamese American so I
think it'll be an interesting opportunity to try to get out there and meet some folks um you know different social settings I've heard a lot of people like to practice their English so I think that could be a
great opportunity just talk to people um I've heard people are very very friendly in Vietnam I'll be staying up here uh probably not too far from the mountain sonra mountain but uh still quite accessible to the downtown area
I think this is the most popular area where foreign people hang out so uh broadly speaking my end like right here this area uh the top Tron te Le Street and then probably on the bottom here H hang
and my Vietnamese is non-existent uh so I think this area and then with the beach is probably going to be the area with the most foreign people you see some foreign type western style restaurants like I imagine burger
Bros is probably a western style hamburger spot um they got a B French bake style break Bakery here it's uh it's going to be interesting you know it's going to be quite different from Thailand it'll be hot um
but I think it's more of a frontier as far as like expats and foreigners go like I think I'll see uh oh thanks so much hey what's up Jay good to see you on here thanks so much for
the kind words um oh wow okay big Lance says awesome I lived in Hanoi for six months I've heard good things about dang you will have a good time thank you so much big Lance and uh if I
make it up to Hanoi I'll have to ask you for tips because I'm debating on like whether or not I want to fly out of Hanoi or out of Saigon when I leave Vietnam and I'm still kind of
torn on it because people are saying Hanway has a lot of culture and a lot of interesting sites uh versus hoochi Min City having more of the Big City Vibe uh some of the western you know kind of
uh businesses businesses that cater to Western tourists so that's kind of divide I'm hearing there I think both are probably awesome uh just comes down to timing and I know I want to spend the bulk of the trip
in dang just because the size of the city seems perfect I'm I like the mediumsized cities a lot and that's part of what's so appealing about Tang over the big cities Hanoi and hochi Men City or Saigon um
but I want to get one of those big cities because I want to fly out of them one of the two I need to do my passport renewal that's something that's coming up and hopefully you know that might
be something I could ask some foreigners about like hey have any of you done any passport renals here maybe it's something that's better posted in a Facebook group because you know what are the odds I know a lot
of people are coming to Vietnam for a short time and they may not be a long-term traveler where they're thinking about renewing their passport outside of their home country I wasn't expecting uh to have to do that but
I'm hearing that it's uh you know Vietnam is not bad as far as getting that done so I think I will have to have them make a note to my passport and transfer the uh the visa to the
new passport but that shouldn't be too bad yeah this is going to be the area with the most foreigners my end now the reason I'm not staying down here is because I've heard there's a lot of new construction
there and there's 's a lot of building going on it's also popular for like karaoke spots and uh bars and nightlife and I think it'd be fun to do that stuff but uh sometimes I think it could also
keep us aake quite late so maybe a circumstance where I just head down there and check it out at nighttime see what it's about but uh you know place I'm not necessarily wanting to live in I imagine too
the there's probably a lot of conveniences if you go to the beach there you probably got like Circle Cas stores and quick access to some of those things if you want to cool off and get a cold beverage
but uh big Lance tell me more about Hanoi like I've never been there and uh you know it's it seems like a cool City but I don't know much about it I will say I'm kind of surprised they
haven't built and I may be wrong about this but I didn't see any major malls near the beach so it may be something like here's vcom plaza where this is not as close to the beach I mean it
looks like let's see I don't know maybe 10 blocks we could map it actually let's see how far it's actually to the beach okay half hour walk that's not bad so it's like a mile off from the beach
and I guess that makes sense during inclement weather then uh they have kind of a buffer there as far as the distance and uh the tall buildings [Applause] um my and Market interesting I guess I'll load this up
now i' have heard this spot uh in particular is gotten so popular and the prices are a bit higher and so you don't see as many locals in this uh in my in this Market that you would see
and perhaps some others I imagine there'll be more local style markets like in more local neighborhoods I've heard this neighborhood is catering to like the locals more so it's still got a party scene or a party Vibe but
uh of course the prices will be less the uh Vibes will be more local you may have more people that don't know English that want to practice English versus in the more Foreigner friendly area that it's where English
is going to be a lot more prevalent and I think it's I like too how close the airport is because I've been to some cities in recent history where the airport's like far out of town maybe it's just
like more common in the US but here well there's parts of of other countries nearby that the airports far but here I mean you're you know you're very close like you're not a long ride at all to your
accommodation or to town when you need to leave you're not worried about uh super long journey now I don't know how traffic is I've heard traffic is quite hectic in Vietnam I have heard also that it's not as
hectic in dang versus Hanoi or in hoim men City uh big lands like two different countries North versus South just different overall I'd recommend daing or hoim Min City yeah I've just I've heard you know Hanoi can be
a lot right it can be really pushing on the senses the noise uh the traffic it's just um you know it's a lot right it's a lot and it could be overwhelming or intimidating for some tourists that uh
they may be expecting something more chill but it's like a really massive City like one of the largest cities in Southeast Asia and developing rapidly growing really fast of course more and more businesses are up opening up shop
in Vietnam and H hway is part of that story for for sure um are you going to look for a job there just work online or I'll probably just be doing online work um you know working on also
I'm doing some applying for jobs back home and some interviewing for jobs back home I'm in a space where I still have you know savings uh but you know I would eventually like to get back to work just
to add to Investments and make more money but it is cheaper for me to do that over here compared to back home where you know rent is just insane and if you're not making good money it's just so
stressful to live back home so uh yeah I mean I'm I'm not opposed either to you know maybe T picking up some English language teaching classes but I think my time is best spent trying to find a high
paying sales roll back home because that's what my background is is in sales and um there's a lot of opportunities there to earn a decent amount of money and save up for the next trip yeah I think it's
just uh it's hard for foreigners to find good jobs you know I would say English teaching is more in my opinion more of a temporary thing for most people it's something that they can do for a limited time
but not necessarily something that I would want to make a career out of most likely but yeah great question big Lance and I have some fallback options back in the States but um I'm not in a rush you
know I want to find something good if I can uh before settling before I have to settle and uh you know I've heard Vietnam has solid internet and I think that will help me too with just the connection
I have had some places ask that I come in to do on on-site interview for the last round and that's something I'm not as able to do from over here right um but so far it's just been preliminary
I haven't really I made it to the final round on one interview but uh the remote roles are super competitive so you have to be careful um when you're doing those remote interviews to give it my all and
hey Michael how are you doing tonight how's it going good to see you welcome but yeah otherwise big Lance I'll probably just be working on YouTube I've been kind of slow the last few weeks last month um I've
just been busy with trying to get a bunch of uh ancillary stuff and other kinds of things done and um also my sleep schedule's just been kind of off but um yeah I think you know I think things
will get better make it over to Vietnam do something new I'm really comfortable here in Thailand but I am looking to mix it up and try something a bit different totally happy here in Thailand but I think I'd
like to go somewhere that I haven't been before and I've never been to Vietnam so that's something I'm really looking forward to just open up some Jim Beam that sounds good Michael I hope you enjoy it it's um
yeah it's it's a nice summer drink right U with the ice and the Chill Vibes in the Philippines and um yeah that sounds wonderful Michael and you know I think that's interesting you mentioned that just because it's um
you know I think one misn number that some people have about living in Southeast Asia in general is that you can't get the same products and I know some products you can't get but a lot of products you
really can get over here it's really and it's more and more like every time I come to this part of the world I'm surprised at how much more interesting products they have and different kinds of conveniences and like
just uh you know all the things that you'd want back home like many of them you can get and more and more uh that's the case as we move forward big Lance cool man I wish you luck well
thank you so much Lance I really appreciate it and uh feel free to shoot me a message or an email if you end up in uh you know same place as me at the same time always interested to
meet up with folks but yeah Michael says they have it at 7-eleven here that's so convenient I uh I'm excited to be seeing the Phil uh the 7-Elevens in the Philippines they're super common here in Thailand I have
have like one four blocks away like North from my apartment in Bangkok and then I have maybe like two or three blocks and then I have another one like four blocks uh east of my apartment and it's so
convenient to be able to go in there and get the things that you need I go there a lot for these electroly powder packets and I mix that with water instead of having Gatorade it's like a sugar-free alternative
so it's almost like Gatorade light um but yeah I drink those a lot and you can get all kinds of drinks there too all kinds of beverages I don't know how the laws are there uh if they ban
the sale of drinking drinks dur uh adult beverages During certain hours here it's like from 12: to 4:00 pm and from like 12 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. or something like that uh maybe it's like yeah you can't buy
Ault so I don't know if they have the same laws there or if it's like open game like you know whatever hour you want uh I still think they're overall pretty permissive to people having a good time like
I it blows my mind you know you can just enjoy that uh enjoy it in public and nobody cares we back home you have to be kind of private about it uh and so that's something I like 247
okay very cool Michael yeah because they have two like certain Buddhist holidays where they don't allow for the sale of it um and you know to me it's like back home anytime like on Sundays you couldn't sell in
Tennessee where I'm from you couldn't buy a dill beverages on Sundays uh but everybody would just buy it on Saturday right like people would just stock up on Saturday and then they'd have plenty uh to enjoy on Sunday
and now they've rolled it back I think they've made it so you can do wine on Sundays and they'll probably just totally undo it because you know Nashville's grown so much it's a big uh partying season they only
ban it during elections here well you know what that's fair like uh and uh I can you know I can respect that for sure um yeah my buddy uh I've been talking to my buddy who lives in mind
now and uh we've just been talking about like what he's been up to and what he's doing and he said they make like uh coconut wine or coconut uh some kind of coconut distilled beverage there and I'm kind
of curious to try it I didn't try last time I didn't know about it last time we just had red horse and mostly red horse uh I think you mentioned tand that might have been it I think he
might have been talking about Tanda but I don't know if you like tand Michael I'm not sure if it um you know how the flavor is or you probably are used to like Jim Beam and J Jack Daniels
which is what I'm accustomed to as well like being from the south uh those two are like two pe's in a pod like everybody's familiar with them I had Jack Daniels in Pome pen so when I went and
partied in Pome pen about four or five years ago my buddy wanted to uh welcome me and so he bought one of those bottles uh of Jack and we enjoyed it in the bar it was a wild night
that was a lot of fun that was one of the most fun times I've had um in Southeast Asia and that's saying a lot okay this is cool History Museum yeah I'll have to check out this History Museum
I don't know how much of it will talk about the war um I've been starting to learn more about the history of the Vietnam War my grandfather served in the military during that time and he worked under uh
a famous General General West Morland who's apparently not very well liked um in some Social Circles don't want to get into the controversy of it but I do want to learn about the history and see things from the
other side I don't think I've been to a Vietnam Museum in the United States I there might be one in like DC or in New York City I've seen some memorials but yeah um it'll be interesting to learn
about for sure Tu tuba okay the fermented drink is called tuba interesting you know I think he did okay you're familiar yeah he that's the name he called it he used was tuba I don't know how popular that
is uh near Manila if it's like a multi- island thing his family is mostly from the Bay bayas Region but they move down to minda now for um certain like basically his grandfather move for certain job opportunities and
why don't we scroll over there because we're on the topic of the Philippines this happens this happened on on a few streams recently but um I'm I'm looking forward to it I'm trying to sort out the best way
to get around and it's it's going to be tricky uh when I get over there have to drink it fresh within two days returns to vinegar okay that makes a lot of sense yeah he was trying to explain
that to me and uh that makes a total sense like you have to consume it really quick or it's going to go you know it's it's not going to have the same uh yeah it's not going to have
what you're looking for I don't know maybe I don't know if you could cook with it when it goes to vinegar but certainly not as useful um but yeah I'm I didn't mean to get sidetracked on the Philippines
but I'm fairly certain that's what's going to come after my time in Vietnam and I'm looking forward to it I'm thinking about uh flying into SIU oh wow there's let's check this out I didn't know about this so
there's the volcano erupting can laon volcano have you heard about this Michael um I know you're not in the Bas region but that's really unfortunate hey thanks so much have a safe travels uh big Lance and uh yeah
enjoy your time in China I've never been there but I hope you have a wonderful trip um tentatively what I'm think about is flying into dumag Getti uh and then staying there for like one month and then I'll
probably take a ferry I guess you'd have to take it to tapan I'm sort of opposed to going through uh like traveling around this area I've heard it's just not safe so uh it may be a situation where
I've got to fly to Manila and then fly down to CDO uh they're building an airport I've heard in Mali Bai but I don't know if it's active yet so maybe a situation I need to fly in CD
and then take like uh maybe like a bus or you know a cab uh to town and then ride up there I might I prefer to ride up there with him just because it's more fun to travel with
local friends especially if there's traffic on the way up uh but yeah that's kind of what oh a couple erupted in the past month or so that's really unfortunate Michael um yeah it's it's really tragic like you know
such a beautiful country is hit by these natural disasters and it's um yeah I just hate it for them the people that are struggling uh with that if you do ever stay a short time in lzone let me
know can make a trip to Manila to meet in person well thank you so much Michael that's really kind I appreciate you saying that uh I'll definitely let you know because LZ is certainly really appealing it's uh of
course with Manila you've got the most densely populated city in the world I think also I want to check out bangis I keep hearing good things about bangis I think you even mentioned um you might be going down
there Michael at some point for a vacation in the near future it's really not that far I think I mean especially coming from your neck of the woods but like even if you're coming from the big city it's
like let's see here Manila to yeah it's like two hours so in a car um not that bad I mean to go to really beautiful beach destination let's pull it up yeah it's just stunning and they're building a
lot it looks like they're building a lot of condos there I miss the Philippines a lot oh you plan to go there you want to go there soon yeah it's supposed to be really nice and I think one
of the some of the big advantages to batang is like you're not in the big city but you have some of those amenities right because it's so popular for people to come down from Manila you've got like uh
just looking at this photo here you've got some development you've got some of the because sometimes like there's parts of the Philippines that I've been to that I loved it was beautiful but you don't necessarily feel connected to
that bigger city where like you know it's going to be some effort to get back home where here you know if you had your driver uh you could just hop in your vehicle hop in the vehicle head down
there and then when you need to come back up uh it's like you know a couple hours versus if you have if you were going to another Island where you needed to fly take a ferry H it can
be timec consuming to unwind that right like if you go certain Islands even Just landing in Manila you're GNA you know you'd fly to Manila and then you'd have to go through security and then you get a vehicle
and then go to your place so that's a big Advantage for doing something on the island that you live in is that you're not having to go go through as many jump through as many infrastructure Hoops yeah the
Landscapes are just so dramatic and that looks nicely developed I mean they've got some hotels here they've got the beautiful multicolored roofs but you get like I I don't know if this is was taken with a a drone
or if he's on top of a hill here looking overlooking it but you get beautiful views in the Philippines it's just such a gorgeous country with the nature um that's kind of what I'm learning now is like in
Vietnam I'm going there like from what I've been reading online the appeal of Vietnam will just scroll over is the culture and the food right in the Philippines it's the natural beauty and the friendliness of the people so
both have a lot of advantages but they're unique right they're different from one another and people are drawn to the different countries based on different things I miss the people a lot in the Philippines I felt just just
really strong connection there Michael says where I live in Cavite is easy to get to almost everything you want in fairly reasonable time love cavete yeah that sounds like the perfect balance between like you've got your Urban amenities
and uh we can pull up I have to um there we go so like you're you know you're really close like you're an hour or so hour 15 away but you're not necessarily in that downtown feeling right like
you it's probably not as built up uh you're coming along the coast here I've noticed in the Phil the coastal development seems really nice from my observation and so you don't like I think the disadvantage of vanilla is
if you're not as much of a big city person like you can't feel bit crowded like here I've realized being in Bangkok um it's too much of a big city for me so I plan to have trips to
Bangkok in the future throughout my life let's say a week or so here or there but I don't know if I could ever live in Bangkok again uh it's just really really busy and it can feel pretty crowded
at times and for me I'm more like Michael and that I like uh I'm a little bit more chill um oh okay I'll uh let see oh you're down here okay even better like but yeah you've got like
a mall here Vista Mall um you know really nice shopping mall that it looks like to me they've got like a coffee place like probably plenty of good restaurants if you want to go get any grocery that you'd
have from back home it looks like they probably have some imported groceries here so you have all these conveniences but you've got you know these all this like uh all this green right like you see the a lot
of the trees and you see well that's not it um but yeah it's just got a more chill Vibe it's not quite so busy not quite so hectic as being in the city center of Manila um I think
you know unless you're having to work in the city center this is a really great alternative uh to you know like you've got the conveniences you've got access to conveniences but you live outside of the hustle and bustle
and I've had a lot of friends recommend that to me in Bangkok um we'll go over to Bangkok really quick um they've recommend spots to me like out here like in aloi like uh kind of on the edge
of the city um same out here s pran like just out here on the edge of the city where you can get to the city really easily but you're not in the hustle and bustle like where I'm at
I'm in saton uh I'm in this neighborhood and you can tell it's really built up I mean we're very close to the uh suum uh BTS stops like this super pop super builtup part of the city and then
on the MRT line it's pretty built up as well the newest mall is actually being built down here in Kong toy so you do get some conveniences living in the big city but it can be overwhelming and a
bit stressful I will say I don't go out as much uh as I did uh you know living in some of the smaller or more mediumsized cities because going out there's like right in the road uh in front
of my building to the BTS station right to the public transit then there's like traffic going by there's motorbikes going by and there's not a ton of sidewalk and I mean that's normal for Bangkok but it does feel
I don't know if claustrophobic is the word but I still go out I still go out and do stuff but it does take more energy out of me than walking say on a beach or like and in like
a less less densely populated city like or changai these are cities where I'd go out much more often um and plus things are more spread out there too right I mean uh in changmai there there's like one main
mall that I could get to easily for my apartment so I just go to that mall here in or in hot there was like once again one mall well there's like two malls but one main mall Central Festival
and so that was like a mile away so I'd walk to that because that's you know one of the big things in town to go to or to do uh whereas in Bangkok there's dozens of malls so you
know if I if I need to go to a certain part of the city I'm also tackling the mall over there but if I don't I'll go to a mall nearby and that stops me from exploring as much
which I thought it would be the inverse I'd be in Bangkok and I'd want to explore a lot more and I I have to be fair to export a lot but it can just be overwhelming um at times
being in such a large City compared to where I'm from that's a smaller City how do you feel about going to Manila Michael how are your like do you have good experiences when you go to the big city
um do you feel like it's just too many people from you know compared to what you're used to uh I I feel like if you go for day trips it wouldn't be so bad but um yeah so I
did not find a job yet um the last one asked me about um about coming in for an onsite for the final round part of me is thinking about going back to school or maybe pivoting careers just pick
up something different uh because the job Market's not so great right now and I think I want to go back to the I don't want to go I think I need to go back to us probably around the
spring uh so by the spring if I haven't found something I'll go back and just uh interview and find something new to get into um that will have give me a a solid enough cushion to not worry about
it like the job hunt but at the same time uh it's I won't be rushing back into what's still rough job market I think things will improve when the interest rates start to come down and I think they
bottomed out and that's helping too like companies are like oh okay interest rates aren't going to keep going up so maybe we can start to assess from here what we can afford to spend um but yeah I think
until the interest rates start to come down the tech job market is going to be rough and even when they start to uh well when they start to it's going to Signal kind of a bottom uh in the
market and then also uh you know when they start to pick back up it's probably not going to be as wild as it was during the pandemic but uh yeah part of me thinks I should go back to
school and get like a masters in it uh because I'd like to Pivot to more introvert friendly it work um sales like I can do it but I just don't think I have that Ultra outgoing personality that you
need to have if you want to succeed in sales or I I get the impression anyway um that you really got to enjoy talking to people all day long and I don't right I like talking to you guys
but I'm not so gregarious and outgoing that I like to talk to tons of strangers all the time so that's something I have been thinking about is like is it time for me to just look at you know
applying to grad school um I think it would be make me more marketable as a candidate I think I'd be building on some of the experience I already have some of the education I already have but that I
could probably qualify for some better positions and have more opportunity to move up too um the more time I spend in Southeast Asia uh the less I feel attached to living here until I'm at a more reasonable retirement
age I like it a lot it's a lot of fun but at the same time you know during my working years I think it's America's kind of hard to beat um as far as opportunities go to earn and
to put away money and there's still some things that I'd like to do in America um but it's also not the best place right now so I don't know I'll figure it out things will work out I know
I confident things will work out one way or another um Michael says I haven't really toured Manila only go there for specific things like dentist appointments or airport I don't care for big cities yeah I don't blame you
there Michael like just being um you know being from like more mediumsized cities like I get the impression people should move to a big city because they've got a really good job offer there and they're going to really
move up in their career and it's going to be a great financial opportunity or they've got family right there right like they've got uh for you know Filipino for people for example they've got family in Manila um they've
got relatives in Manila they've got uh strong a strong poll to that big city right and if you don't have that I think often in big cities this is the feeling I get after I've spent a lot of
time in big cities because I've spent time in like bogat Colombia lived near San Francisco for a while uh you know being in big cities it just there's this loneliness and I worked out a video another video on
loneliness the other day but you feel lonely I don't know how to like I don't know how to narrow down to exactly one reason but it's like I don't feel as lonely when I'm in the smaller cities or
more provincial areas for some reason even though there's fewer people I guess you just you're able to get closer to the people you're you're able to get to know people better you have fewer options so like for me
I'm going to different restaurants every day but when I was in CB or in shangai I was eating at the same restaurants every day um so that's a big difference in Bangkok where I'd start to become a regular
and get to know the people working there in changmai or in Hai but here people are just too busy to really talk you unless I'm like not sleeping and I'm in the um you know I'm in a 7-Eleven
you know people just don't have time they're just dealing with so many customers people are trying to get to work people are trying to do their jobs people are trying to get home and that can just be really
overwhelming after a while and kind of like wear you down to some extent I think for some people like us and so um yeah I I'm kind of getting impression I like big cities for like a day trip
maybe a weekend or something like that but after a while it's just too much it's just too many people too much noise too much traffic and I've seen I've seen a lot of Bangkok at this point I've seen
I feel like I've seen all the city center I've seen much of the uh BTS line around sukumvit like around here I've seen Benji Kitty Park I've seen lumini Park I've seen all the malls in the Central Area
um I've eat at a lot of the restaurants that I've wanted to try and now I'm needing to get out more and so you know I've seen most of saton at this point um so I've seen a lot
of different things and I've experienced a lot of different things and I'm like okay I want to do something different and uh yeah so maybe it is a situation where I just enjoy the big cities and like it's
in pieces um Michael says get your AWS Solutions architect associate sir or Solutions architect Pro high demand for that I got the associate CT right before getting laid off from 3M but decided to retire well thank you so
much Michael for that Insight I'm gonna make a note of that really quick um AWS yeah that's super helpful Michael I appreciate it that may be something that I start working on in Vietnam I don't know how long
it would take to complete that but yeah that could be super super helpful for me to Pivot um because I got a useless undergraduate degree but I did all get partway through a computer science degree and I would
just like to get something like I said more intro introvert friendly I know I'm capable of doing it with the right training um but yeah I think I think that'll help me get me from point A to point
B uh and then you know when I do hit that point of retirement like you did if I work in it I know that I'll be able to save a lot invest a lot and I'll get to that
point financially where I can go over to the Philippines and um not have the existential like concern in the back of my mind okay am I going to get a job today or six months from now you don't
have to worry about that when you're financially independent Udi and Cloud Guru can have good courses on those okay excellent I'll make a note of those too um UD Cloud because I'm don't have much planned for Vietnam there's
not as many sites that I'm familiar with as in Thailand and uh you know YouTube is looking more like kind of a side hobby or side housle for me I'm not necessarily sure that I want to count on
it for taking off and uh yeah so I I like the the idea of a technical role and I'm definitely going to be getting into that information I might even start sooner than that sooner than when I go
over there because I've done so much in Bangkok maybe it's time for me to uh start to make some head way on that it education I think some of what I want to see in my timeline it's not
as built up as the east of the river but there's still some stuff I want to see down there I you know I did a trip a few weeks ago down here but I mostly just walked like richad
pek Road and somet prow toxin Road roads I didn't really get all and there was some you know side soy and uh you know some interesting spots I could have checked out but I was doing more of a
cursory walk through the neighborhood than uh a deep dive Philippine life with Janet enjoy visiting Vietnam thank you so much Janet that's really kind I appreciate that uh welcome to the stream and looking forward to meeting you and
Mike hopefully yeah hopefully this fall Vietnam will be really interesting and I don't I don't want to come across as I'm overlooking it it's just a it's something that's I needed to do for a while and I just
haven't ever had the time my schedule to get over to it um I'm almost always flying to Thailand and so well I'm yeah almost always flying to Thailand I flown into Cambodia before but with Vietnam the Visa situation
is such that you really got to plan in advance and I'm thinking okay I don't want fly into there but if I'm already in the region then it's not so bad and so um it's a quick flight to
Danang from uh from Bangkok it's like an hour and 45 minutes so I guess they just fly us over the uh eastern part of Thailand and then over the mountains and uh LA and then we get to the
beach it's uh yeah it's going to be really interesting to see something different and experience something different um I know that I'm not going to get the English there that get in the Philippines and that's something that uh
you know that's something that I'm really looking forward to in the Philippines is that English because that opens up so many possibilities we'll scroll back over to the Philippines because it's just such a nice country um but yeah
just being able to connect with people being able to communicate um learning about the culture the country my buddy's been telling me all about and uh I'll harp on it a lot but this is where it's looking like
I'm going to be landing there's like seven different indigenous groups there and so they have this festival called culan um so this is the park where they celebrate it and just waiting on this to pull up um so
they don't I guess I could just yeah comman Festival so this is the comman festival it's every March and I'm hoping to stick around until then but all these different groups these indigenous groups get together and they celebrate
coming together working together and they display their traditional clothing and it's just a big party and a celebration and I think it's going to be really interesting too like the colors like people put so much effort into this
and they're really proud of their traditions and I think it's really cool you know when I grew up in the U where I grew up in the US I wasn't really exposed to indigenous people and so this will
be something that's very different from what I'm used to they do dancing and uh they've obviously got some of their delicious local food that looks cool so they've got floats people build these really intricate floats it's got like
a frog frog on the front there and hint hint just dropping a hint here I've talked with z and he suggested that we may be able to get interviews with some of these people from some of these groups
now I don't know if that would entail bringing in a translator I don't know if they also speak Bion um if some of them have English maybe there's some younger people in their group that have some English but
I'd really like to ask them more about their culture and like that's what I've been wanting to do here that I can't really do here as effectively as I'd be able to in the Philippines is actually connect with
local people and interview them and talk to them um so I know a lot of the expats in the uh in the Philippines they're interviewing other expats and that's super valuable I think it's important to include the expat
perspective because I'm a foreigner right I'm not a Filipino person so I can't speak to their experience on that level but you know if I want to go on an interview a Thai person most Thai people uh they're
not going to necessarily be comfortable with their English to the extent that Phil some Filipino people will be uh and you know it's just it's not going to be as straightforward and in Thailand you know I have Thai
friends and I ask them about it and they're like oh we're shy we're shy or they're concerned you know they they have uh jobs where you know they don't want something to be taken out of context or uh
for you know they they just don't want the risk or potential downside where it seems like in the Philippines people are on average going to be more open to chatting and talking and because we could communicate in English
I can set certain expectations or uh you know precedent that you know we're here to respect you we want to show your country in a positive light but we often get the perspective of people that are just like
right people that are coming from the United States coming to live here and they see things a certain way and I think that you guys see things a different way and it would help a lot of them to
get more of your perspective and get more of your thoughts and um yeah just talk about the culture talk about the Traditions I think it's just such an interesting uh Vibe and you've got so much to love about
the country uh but I think the people are super high up there as far as things to love about the Philippines the colors I have no idea where they get the colors but that's something I'm G to ask
about is like how do you get these beautiful colors because they're so vivid I mean they're just like so vivid my friend did ask me um take care uh Michael I hope you have a great evening it was
so nice to see you on here tonight and uh yeah I hope we get to to meet at some point in the future I really appreciate your you sharing your Insight Michael um butth yeah so my buddy he
was telling me uh he was at or was asking me he he was like why he's his mom is from dumag Getti um and so I've known about dumag Getti for a while now and I he asked me
like why are so many foreigners going to doag Getti and so I had to explain to him it's on this uh it was on the Forbes list for most popular retirement destinations in the world and then you have
some YouTubers comeing to do meetti and why don't we actually just like why don't we show to MTI and then those YouTubers started doing videos is there and you can see it's very very beautiful but there's beautiful places
throughout the country right like if you're talking about natural beauty doing get natur beautiful but it's in a country full of gorgeous destinations so what makes it stand out and so I told them like it's um you know
the YouTubers started putting out content about it so now all these foreigners are watching from back home oh wow look at beautiful kawasan uh waterfalls and uh the beaches there the diving south of the city and places like
daan the ferry and culan if you want to go to other areas in the immediate vicinity the Clear Water right I mean that's turquoise like it's like something out of a movie right uh and so yeah I heard
I told him like because he was curious just as a local guy what's you know my mom's from there but like I don't I don't know what differentiates it from everywhere else and so that was that was a
lot of fun to be able to share something about his country with him because he's not really often interacting with foreigners he mostly interacts with other Filipino people he lives in a part of the Philippines that is not
yet well touristed so um yeah he did warn me about one Foreigner and I'll just share this perspective he did mention to me one Foreigner that has kind of gotten stranded to some degree in malib Bai uh and
we'll pull up malib and to just be wary of him because he has like a solid a Sab story and he'll come up and be asking for stuff and he even asks Filipinos for money and people are helping
him out and then like my buddy saw him you know misuse that money right spend that money on something that was not its intended usage right people are thinking they're helping him to have a h shelter or to
have food and he's not spending it on that um so that's something to be cautious about you know if you do encounter a Haggard Foreigner uh not a local right we're not talking about local people here we're talking
about people who aren't from the Philippines that and I understand people get into hard times I'm not here to judge H but it's just something to be mindful of that I think some of us when we travel we
see somebody that looks like us or sounds like us and maybe we're thinking like oh they're just like us but there's many different reasons people want to come to the Philippines and it's important to be cognizant of that
I think but um yeah I'll probably wrap up in the next 10 minutes just because I've been using my voice a lot lately and uh I can already tell it's it's going be a little bit of trouble so
but feel free to chime in with any questions or thoughts anybody has and I'm happy to answer them in the remaining time think I'm gonna try to head out and find a fruit truck there's this Street near where
I live where these fruit trucks show up like one or two nights a week and so I'm always walking out there around this time to go see if any of them are still around or if maybe they've headed
out for the evening and they are always selling mango Stein right now like uh mango is in season and I'll just pull up mango Steen so you can get a sense of what that looks like it's my favorite
fruit it doesn't look like much from the outside right you've got these this green kind of petal like stem and you've got this kind of dark purple dark red kind of black color uh when it gets ripe it
starts out red like it's got this reddish color on the outside um when you know when it's under ripe or I guess when it's fully when it's freshly picked from the tree but then it becomes darker and you've
got these fleshy white pods that are both sour and sweet and I've eaten as much as like a few kilos in one sitting like I'll go uh to the market and they'll have three kilos for like $3 $3.25
something like that maybe 350 and uh I'll buy you know three kilos and sit there and eat half of them sometimes all of them but then I'll try to stick the other half of my backpack and take it
back to my apartment and finish them off but they're just so tasty and they're they're small those so you can go through a lot of them really fast and you got to pull the seeds out too sometimes the
seeds can be a little bit tricky with these but uh I don't I'm curious if they have them if they have them in the Philippines maybe they do um I Mango's is a bigger thing but yeah it's just
such a good fruit I mean mouth is watering just thinking about having some fresh mango Steen anybody have any uh plans this week I know it's Tuesday Morning back in the US um we're you know halfway getting close
to halfway through the week um I've been just trying to prepare for Vietnam haven't done much recording or putting out videos it's also been a little tough with the audio trying to get some places that I feel like
are a bit more quiet uh I still have a lot to learn as far as like overlaying the audio on the imagery and how to structure that in such a way that it's cohesive because sometimes I get great
audio and then sometimes audio get muffled up by HK Tok driving by or a loud motorbike driving by or or a siren or somebody you know doing business selling their Wares and so that could be a little bit
tricky to get the audio where I want it to be making videos is way harder than I thought it would be especially if you want to have saw protection value and you want to improve I never appreciated it
until I started working on it I'm like oh gosh this is this is super complex to make good content it looks easy because we get to enjoy the final results from the comfort our homes with cold beverages and
some nice snacks for a meal but some of what they do is just mindblowing to me now that I actually know what it's like to make videos it's uh why don't yeah philppines fruits so longan they have long
long 's okay to me it's not my favorite um it's not as sour as the mangoe which is my favorite but long 's okay I did starf fruit is one I haven't tried I it like in beverages in
America some of the I don't know if it's really starf fruit or it's just star fruit extract or whatever it is but I would like to try the actual fruit here I think it is kind of sour without
the sweet and so that'll be an adjustment but yeah this uh custard apple is one of my favorites uh or sour soop so sour soop is in the same family as a custard apple now I don't know if
it's like more sour or what the flavor profile would be like but uh okay grapefruit well pomelo they've got pomelo which is similar to grapefruit uh but it's sweeter so that might be something I'd like to try grapefruit
is okay it's really sour I prefer to have it with honey but uh yeah I mean on its own it's just it's a little bit too sour for me cental so this looks a little bit similar to the
mango Steen I'm gonna have to look that up TR try it s okay so it's uh originally like a Malaysian fruit but it's been brought to this part of the world um yeah I'll have to try sentol because
that looks like something I would like they've got the watermelon awesome yeah watermelon smoothie would be perfect on a hot day in the Philippines papaya I'm sure we're all familiar with Papaya I used to have this a lot
in California they bring it out from Mexico and it's really refreshing and sweet and Mild flavor I like papaya a lot I don't often see papaya in smoothies I don't know if that's just me um I don't know
if it's just that the other fruits are more popular but that is something that's I wish I'd see more of maybe it's something I just need to look harder for sentol is is mango seene okay so it's uh
it's basically the same thing okay that makes sense um Tamarind you know I haven't really tried tamarind uh in its fruit form so I've had Tamarind sauces that I really it's popular Indian Cuisine but I don't think I've
tried it on its own like that guava is sour so for me in my experience guava is really really sour it's refreshing but it's not something that is addictive like mango Stein or pineapple or mango rip mango unrip
mango can be a little bit sour durian I've heard devour is the capital of durian for the Philippines I'm not as much of a durian guy I could see why some people like it I developed somewhat of a
taste for it but it's not so amazing to me that like I can't live without it I prefer mangotin um but durian certainly if you're a durian lover then that's a big thing in the Philippines Jay says uh
so is the be the situation better in Thailand since June 1st 60 days plus another 30 extension that's really awesome Jay I had heard about that I'm on the education Visa but uh as far as that yeah I
think it would be better than Vietnam because Vietnam you get 30 days or 90 days and that's it I think that's all you get per year they haven't really put out much about changing that I don't know if
tourism demand uh changing tourism demand might change that but yeah Thailand super easy to come visit for a couple of months and then additional couple of months depends on your nationality I don't know I think they changed it
for 27 countries so if you're within one of those 27 countries then um we can pull that up see Thailand 93 Nations now qualify um in an effort to attract more tourists and remote workers the Thai cabinet this
week rolled out a series of new Visa promotions including Visa free and visa on arrival starting on June 1 the number of countries uh eligible for Visa free on to Thailand will be front go from 57 to 93
under the new scheme visitors can stay in Thailand for up to 60 days days compared to the earlier limit of 30 days uh China oh us so yeah that should be very convenient yeah so if you're wanting to
come for up to 120 days then Thailand is a great bet for that and I think you'll have a wonderful time if you come here I've had a blast staying here for the last year I wish I could
stay longer technically I could stay longer but um I'm ready to mix it up and do something different but whether you've been to Thailand or you haven't been to Thailand it's a great choice it's everything is set up
for tourists to enjoy themselves it's so easy to get around easy to find a place to stay easy to have amazing food easy to entertain yourself anywhere in the country can't say enough good things about my time here
in Thailand whether it's been Bangkok where I started off last year went down to Patia then spent a good chunk of time in changai then during The Burning Season in changai I went down to Hai and uh all
throughout the country the hospitality has been great it's been really interesting to learn about the different parts of Thailand the different cultural mixups here mixture here um it's yeah it's wonderful so I think it will be easier than
Vietnam where I'm expecting to go for at minimum a month I plan to stay in Vietnam for at least a month but up to three months so the Visa I got will allow me to stay there for up
to three months but I don't believe there's any kind of extension after that 3-month period that tricks that I'll be expected to leave and go to another country at that point uh which is my plan so my plan
right now unless I get an amazing job offer then I plan to go to the Philippines after now with the Philippines different from Thailand you get 30 on arrival you can get another 29 days uh immediately if you're
flying into Manila airport or through a v like an agency s Service uh and then you have to extend every two months um but but you can do that for up to three years and then leave for a
day and come back in and start all over again so that's the difference is like if you're coming for three months or four months Thailand is very competitive if you're talking about wanting to go and stay for six
months or longer then I think the Philippines is a better bet but it's also something where you know you could go to Thailand for a month two or for two months then go to uh another country Indonesia for
let's say a a month Malaysia for month and then come back and do two more months in Thailand so it's a situation where you do have more flexibility and I think it's awesome I think it's going to encourage
more people to come to visit Thailand spend more time here enjoy themselves the hospitality and the hot weather and the friendly people it's um yeah it's wonderful but yeah feel free guys to chime in with any last questions
um I'll probably start winding down here soon just to get on some other things but wanted to just join everybody for an hour or so here and see how everybody's doing check in on uh people's travels travel plans
what people have going on we can um yeah uh H is one place I do want to go it's north of dang by like an hour I think it takes about an hour to get up here and it's
more it is more touristic it is like more it's got more of a traditional Vibe as far as some of the buildings and I think uh you know there's probably be less English outside of the city center it's
not as much of a big City Vibe it looks pretty compact when I looked at it from a map that looks beautiful with the lily pads and the traditional house I'm excited I'm I'm getting really excited for Vietnam
it's going to be very different and very interesting and this looks more developed than I thought it would look um this looks really developed I mean it looks like a decent sized city much more so than I would
have thought from people talking about it as though it's a day trip from dang like focus on dang But be sure to make it trip to way uh I did look up online like what would he like to
live here some people were saying ah it's more of a two or three day City you don't necessarily need to go for a month um but yeah I'll take a day trip up here it's I mean it looks
gorgeous be a nice to mix it up from dang I'm sure I'll want to do something a little bit different after at least a week in dang but uh yeah if there aren't any other questions I think I'm
going to go ahead and wrap it up thank you so much everyone for joining tonight I really appreciate the support and it was so nice to catch up with everybody it's always puts me in a great mood to
chat with you all and engage interact and looking forward to yeah looking forward to the next steps in my journey but uh take care everyone byebye
