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Latin America and Southeast Asia offer distinct experiences for travelers and expats, with differences in food, weather, travel costs, integration ease, and housing that cater to varying preferences and budgets.
The video compares Latin America and Southeast Asia from a US perspective, focusing on five key areas: food, weather, travel and expat integration, cost of living, and housing. The host, Alex, shares his personal experiences in cities like Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Medellin, and Lima to illustrate the differences, emphasizing that neither region is inherently 'better' but rather offers distinct advantages based on individual preferences.
In terms of food, Southeast Asia provides a vast array of Asian cuisines, though flavors can be adapted to local tastes and imported ingredients can be costly. Latin American food is often perceived as more familiar to Western palates, with a greater variety of vegetables and the convenience of 'Menu del Día' options. Weather-wise, Southeast Asia is predominantly tropical and hot, while Latin America offers a broader spectrum, including cooler, high-altitude climates suitable for those who dislike constant heat.
Travel within Southeast Asia is generally cheaper due to numerous budget flights, whereas regional flights in Latin America tend to be more expensive. Expat integration is highlighted as potentially easier in Latin America due to the linguistic proximity of Spanish to English, making it simpler for English speakers to communicate and connect compared to learning languages like Thai. The cost of living is highly variable in both regions, with major cities and islands being pricier than smaller towns, though Southeast Asia is often cited as more affordable overall.
Housing options are more diverse in Southeast Asia, offering a range of condos and apartments, while Latin America's housing market can be more expensive and constrained by historical building limitations. Ultimately, the choice between the two regions depends on personal priorities, whether it's culinary adventure, climate preference, ease of integration, budget constraints, or housing desires, with both regions offering unique and valuable experiences.
Latin America and Southeast Asia offer distinct experiences for expats, with key differences in food, weather, travel costs, and ease of integration. Southeast Asia boasts diverse Asian cuisines and cheaper regional flights but is often hot and humid. Latin America provides more Western-familiar food, varied climates, and potentially easier integration due to linguistic similarities, though regional flights can be pricier.
The cost of living varies significantly within both Latin America and Southeast Asia. Generally, major cities and popular islands tend to be more expensive than smaller towns or mainland areas. Southeast Asia is often cited as more affordable overall, but careful budgeting is needed in both regions depending on your lifestyle and location.
Southeast Asia offers an incredible variety of Asian cuisines, which can be an adventure for expats. Latin America's food is often perceived as more familiar to Western palates, with many countries offering affordable set lunch menus like 'Menu del Día'. The 'better' choice depends entirely on your personal culinary preferences and willingness to explore new flavors.
Integration can be easier in Latin America for English speakers due to the linguistic proximity of Spanish to English. This makes communication and building local connections more straightforward compared to learning languages like Thai or Vietnamese in Southeast Asia. However, expat communities exist in both regions, offering support networks for newcomers.
Housing options are generally more diverse and modern in Southeast Asia, with a wide range of apartments and condos available. Latin America's housing market can sometimes be more expensive and constrained by older building stock, though affordable options exist. The availability and cost of housing will significantly depend on the specific city or region you choose.
Southeast Asia is predominantly tropical, characterized by consistently hot and humid weather year-round. Latin America offers a much wider range of climates, including temperate zones, cooler high-altitude regions, and tropical areas, providing more options for those who prefer varied weather conditions or dislike constant heat.
Rural areas in Latin America may lack basic services like grocery stores and medicine, with some regions even experiencing issues like lack of running water. While cost of living can be lower outside major cities, accessibility to essential goods and services is a significant consideration.
Flights within Latin America tend to be more expensive compared to Southeast Asia, where numerous budget airlines offer cheaper regional travel options. This difference in air travel costs can impact the overall affordability and ease of exploring the regions.
Learning Thai can be challenging for expats, particularly due to its tonal nature which can be confusing. While Spanish is often considered more accessible for English speakers due to linguistic similarities, Thai requires a greater investment in language learning.
Rents in Lima, Peru are reportedly increasing, though not as significantly as in the United States. Despite rising rents, the food in Lima is noted as being great and affordable.
0:01 Hey YouTube, Alex here. And in today's video, I want to do a comparison of Latin America and Southeast Asia. This is not going to be an exact comparison, this is not going to be a video that says which one is better than the other. I think they're both wonderful regions. There's some interesting differences that I was thinking about recently that has me wanting to make this video.
0:20 Before I get into it, definitely let me know down in the comments down below if there's any interesting differences that you've noticed between the two, or if there's one that you visited but one that you haven't visited. I'm always curious to learn more about my audience's travel experience or experience living overseas.
0:37 In this video, I can't compare everything, so I thought I'd narrow it down to roughly five categories that are different in Latin America versus Southeast Asia. I want to explain those differences to help you to better understand do I want to do a discovery trip or live in Latin America versus Southeast Asia.
0:57 When it comes to Southeast Asia, I will list a few cities that I've been to just so you know my point of reference. I've been to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Kuala Lumpur, and Phnom Penh. I've spent significant time in other places as well, but these are the four cities that I've spent the most time in.
1:12 For Latin America, I primarily spent time in Cancun, Bula, Medellin, Lima, and Cusco.
1:22 I think this is going to be a lot of people's most important factor, and that's food. In Southeast Asia, Asian food of all kinds is accessible. You'll be able to access numerous Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai restaurants, and all of the medium-sized cities with a few Burmese, Filipino, Lao, Malaysian, Indonesian dishes. You will find food from all over the world in the major cities like Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta.
1:45 But the farther away you are from a certain place, understand that the flavors will be altered to match local tastes. The farther you get away from Southeast Asia, understand that cuisine from that area, there may not be able to access the ingredients they can access in that place very easily. But on top of that, they are primarily catering to local people. They want to alter that dish or dishes to meet local flavor.
2:08 For example, certain cuisines in Latin America use dairy. In Southeast Asia, dairy is just really there for a limited market. So if you order a dish that is commonly served with dairy, maybe hit or miss. A big example of this is pizza. There are good pizza spots in Southeast Asia, not every place that serves pizza is going to serve good pizza. The not-so-good pizzas may include things like barbecue, mayo, Thousand Island sauce.
2:33 Alongside that, it can be expensive if you want imported meat, like from Australia, for example, it's going to be costly. Third, I would say Indian and Middle Eastern food restaurants will also be expensive, especially outside of Malaysia.
2:45 Now, over to Latin America, I found local food to be cheaper in Latin America than in Southeast Asia. According to my preferences or tastes, the food in Latin America is more similar to what I'm used to in the United States. Of course, I am from the United States, so my perspective here is biased. It's easier for me to eat local food in Latin America versus Southeast Asia.
3:09 It doesn't mean the food is better in Latin America. Once again, I don't think one is better than the other, but rather that I'm just talking about what I'm accustomed to, especially in terms of vegetables. I think the vegetables in Latin America are often going to be closer to what you're used to being served in North America, if you are from North America or if you've spent significant time there growing up in the US.
3:31 The US doesn't always offer traditional Asian options, especially outside of California. Now, in Latin America, you will be able to get Asian food, but like I said previously, in regards to Latin food in Southeast Asia, the Asian food in Latin America is going to be altered to local tastes. A lot of the sushi restaurants, for example, will include rolls with a lot of cream cheese and mayo, which are not traditional.
3:56 Personally, out of all the food in Latin America, my favorite has to be Peruvian food. And that's in part because it's heavily influenced by Chinese and Japanese cuisine, and it's not as heavy on the dairy, which I personally am lactose intolerant, so I don't always do well with dairy.
4:11 Once again, this isn't about which is better, it's just about preferences and also observation. Alongside that, I've just found that the recipes used in Latin America are often closer to what I'm accustomed to. It seems like sometimes in Southeast Asia, they're using certain oils or spices that are harder to get or more expensive to get in the US.
4:34 One advantage that I like in Latin America is that a lot of these Latin American countries have what is called a Menu del Día, or a menu of the day. And that's a prefixed selection of dishes, typically like a soup, an entree, and a dessert, or a soup, an entree, and a drink. And that really makes it easy. You don't have to do a lot of choosing.
4:54 I don't see that as often in Southeast Asia, such that when I go to a restaurant in Southeast Asia, where I order food, I'm having to do a bit more thinking. I'm having to do a bit more decision making. It may also just be me, but I found that in Latin America, it was easier to opt out of sugar or carbs. It was easier to communicate that or to select dishes that aren't so heavy on that.
5:16 Whereas at least here in Thailand, and I noticed this in some of the other countries in Southeast Asia, there's a lot of sugar added to various curries or soups or meat dishes that isn't really the healthiest based on what I know and what I prefer as well taste-wise.
5:30 Now, in Latin America, there are a lot of panaderías or bakeries that do offer sweets and desserts, but it felt like something I had to specifically go and get versus being able to order something like a steak.
5:43 Moving on to the weather. In Southeast Asia, the entire region is tropical. It's considered within the tropics with few exceptions, such as Baguio City in the Philippines. You're going to have hot, tropical, humid weather most of the year, basically nine months of the year. And much of the region, it's going to be hot and humid. You have to be prepared for that.
6:06 You have to be prepared with sunblock, with plenty of water. Understand that some days you're just going to feel like it's too hot to really get out and do a lot. Particularly, I think in March through May tends to be the hottest months. And I found that when I came to Thailand in May six years ago, that it was really, really hot, and that took some adjusting.
6:26 I think that's part of why so many people look at Southeast Asia, broadly speaking, as a place where you go to see beaches, because the thought is, well, hey, if it's hot, at least I can go to the beach and cool off in the water and wear a bathing suit and really enjoy it.
6:58 These tend to be the three or four most popular months in Southeast Asia because it tends to be that these months are the coolest months, and people can most enjoy spending time outside without some of the other months that tend to have more extreme heat.
7:12 With weather in Latin America, there's really a big variety. So you do have the tropical weather that you have in Southeast Asia, if you go to places like East Coast Mexico, Costa Rica, primarily a lot of the Central American countries, but also Coastal Colombia. Even like Cali, Colombia is a pretty hot city. I think it's like one of the hottest cities in Colombia.
7:33 So you do have that selection there. Aside from the traditional beach destination, some of these islands, you also have cool and rainy cities, which really surprises a lot of people. I think when it comes to Latin America, because we think of the sun, warm weather in countries like Mexico. For Americans, I think Mexico is often the first Latin American country that we have substantial exposure to.
7:51 But you do have these cities like Bogota, also Cusco in the mountains, Quito, Ecuador, even places like Mendoza, Argentina, Santiago, Chile, that are cool weather places. I mean, when it comes to Chile, a lot of people compare the climate to California. So there's a lot of variety there. It's not just the tropical environment that you have in Southeast Asia.
8:14 Some people don't like the tropical weather, right? They would prefer to be at altitude, perhaps, have a bit more rainy or overcast weather. And I think that you can have more of that cool, rainy weather in Latin America versus Southeast Asia, where it's much more often that you're having hot and rainy weather in the rainy seasons.
8:35 If you're a person that likes skiing, and you are in Latin America, you can have skiing if you go down to like Chile or Argentina. But if you're in Southeast Asia, I think you'll probably need to fly to Japan or China to have skiing. I just don't think it's as common. I don't think that the winter sports or winter weather is associated with Southeast Asia.
8:57 This isn't really a weather thing, but if you're somebody that's sensitive to altitude, that may be something that prevents you from staying in certain parts of Latin America. For example, I spent several months in Cusco, Peru, and that's a city that's located at like 11 or 12,000 feet, and you really feel it. I came from Bogota, so it wasn't so bad for me. Bogota's at around 8,600 feet.
9:17 And sorry for everybody outside the US, that's thinking in terms of meters. That's definitely a factor there where I adjusted to it, but I could see if you're somebody who doesn't adjust well to altitude, that you're really going to want to keep your search to perhaps some of the coastal areas in Latin America that are at sea level.
9:34 The next factor will be travel within the region. For Southeast Asia, you have a lot of cheap flights within the region. For example, I'm here in Thailand, and it's really cheap for me to fly to Malaysia or Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia. Whereas in Latin America, I found the flights to be more expensive. Those flights I mentioned earlier in Southeast Asia are often no...
9:57 Earlier in Southeast Asia, flights are often no more than $1 to $200 maximum. In Latin America, just for me to fly one way from Colombia to Peru was like over $300. I'm not exactly sure why that is, but expect that if you are in Latin America and you're looking to travel within the region, not necessarily within the country, I think flights within country in Latin America are not too bad. But if you're looking to go from country to country, expect that you're going to have to budget more for that versus Southeast Asia, where they have tons of affordable flights in the region.
10:26 On top of that, if you are somebody that has family in North America or you want to go back and forth, perhaps you've got business in North America, then Latin America is going to offer you a lot of accessibility. You are going to be able to get there much more quickly than from Southeast Asia, where you're looking at one to two days of travel. Versus Latin America, you can get back in maybe 6, 8, 10 hours, or 12 hours if you are like further up the West Coast, for example. But much closer to the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
10:54 With Southeast Asia, it does seem to be that you get more people from like Australia, New Zealand, Europe, because it is closer to these places and it's a cheaper flight from these places. It's just often easier to access coming from Australia, New Zealand, or Europe. You don't feel quite like you're flying to the direct opposite side of the planet, whereas where I'm at now is a 12-hour time zone difference from what I'm used to. In California, it's a 14-hour time zone difference, so it's really substantial there when it comes to expats.
11:29 In Southeast Asia, you're going to have more European expats and then also Asian expats. You might be surprised, but here in Chiang Mai, there's a large population of expats from Japan that have come here for warmer weather and lower cost of living. So it's not just Western people that are coming to stay here from Australia, New Zealand, England, Germany, Scandinavian countries, these kinds of places. In Latin America, you're going to see more people from North America, but then also within South America as well.
12:01 I had a conversation with a friend of mine from Mexico, and I asked, 'Why don't you and your partner travel more in South America? You're in Mexico, it seems like it's fairly accessible. You just have to fly from Mexico City, and you have a lot of different places: you have Colombia, you have Argentina, Chile, Brazil, all kinds of different Ecuador, Peru. You have a lot of choices.' Paraguay, he said, 'Well, I want to go do something different than what I'm used to.' So he's from Mexico, he's lived his entire life in Mexico, outside of a few years elsewhere, and he said, 'Well, the thing about traveling in South America or in Latin America is that it's much more similar to Mexico, so I don't really get that feeling like I'm on vacation or like I'm experiencing something radically different.' So I prefer to go to North America.
12:47 So that's one factor because he's still close to North America, but it provides some differences. I didn't really dig into that; I'll definitely ask him next time I have the chance to have a conversation with him. But that's something to think about as far as the types of expats you'll interact with. I also met expats from the United States when I was in Latin America. Also, some of my friends from Latin America had lived in the US, so they could definitely more easily relate.
13:13 I do have friends in Southeast Asia that have lived in the US, but it seems that more people in Latin America simply, due to geography, have at least visited the United States. It may also just be me, and it may be a language thing, but I noticed that it seems like expats have an easier time integrating in Latin America, at least from the US, because Spanish is closer to English. Where, like for here in Thailand, try as they might, some people will just always struggle to learn Thai. I'm definitely in that boat where Thai has been very, very difficult for me to pick up, and it does create this kind of layer there that's harder for me to access.
13:47 Now, I do have Thai friends that have great English, and that is sort of a key to entering some of those conversations or spaces, being able to communicate with others. But that's something that I think prevents a fair amount of expats from really integrating here in Thailand. I think that's what makes the Philippines so popular is that so many Filipino people do have great English, where if you are coming from the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, it's easier to relate in that regard.
14:12 It's just easier to connect and do just strike up conversations with people. Of course, not everybody in the Philippines has English, but there's a much higher prevalence of English there than say, a place like Thailand. I noticed though, in Latin America, all my friends have pretty decent English. A lot of them have lived in the UK or lived in the United States, worked there, spent some time there, perhaps they do business with people in the United States or in other countries that are speaking a lot of English. So it's valuable for them to have those English skills.
14:43 Don't assume if you move to Latin America that you won't make any friends if you don't learn Spanish, but learning Spanish will help you. It can't hurt you to learn Spanish if you're going to live in Latin America. Certainly, it's not nearly the same learning curve that you'll have trying to learn Thai. And I loved it. I mean, that was something that I really loved about Latin America is within six months, I had some very basic Spanish that could get me through a lot of the scenarios that I found myself in as a traveler. This is different than after six months in Thailand, where I have some, you know, a few words, but not enough to have a meaningful conversation.
15:17 Unfortunately, I can say 'hello,' 'thank you,' 'how much,' but beyond that, it's it's kind of difficult. Adding to what I said earlier about travel, think about what you'd like to access. If you're in Southeast Asia, you have easy access to South Asia countries like India. You also have access to East Asia countries like Japan, South Korea, of course, the aforementioned Australia, New Zealand. You have access to these countries that, if you're from the US like me, you haven't really spent much time in this part of the world. It's been pretty far away from home and pretty costly to get over here.
15:54 This is different from Latin America, where of course, you have that access to the United States. You have access to other countries within Latin America. If you're a fan of tropical islands, you also have countries like the Bahamas. It's just a different set of places that you can access. Here's a question that I think some of you may be asking now that we've hit these five points of comparison: Which one is more expensive?
16:16 Well, I don't necessarily think it's always easier to answer that. I think a lot of expats that I've talked to said generally speaking, Southeast Asia is more affordable. But I don't think that takes the entire conversation into what I think is a more accurate comparison or way of thinking about this. One: Are you in a big city? Big cities, whether you're in Latin America or you're in Southeast Asia, are going to be among the most expensive places in a country. Right here in Thailand, Bangkok is one of the most expensive, if not the most expensive, cities in Thailand, not just because of cost of rent, food, and transportation, but also the sheer amount of things that you have to spend money on.
16:54 There's parts of Thailand, for example, Ean, where people may live on a low budget, not because they're always the most frugal, but because there's really limited things to spend money on. You don't have the international flights out of Ean, for example. It's not better or worse, it's just different. Alongside that, I would also say islands tend to be expensive. If you look at Southeast Asia, the most expensive countries I would say would be Singapore and the Philippines and Malaysia. And what do those places have in common? Well, there are series of islands. In the case of Singapore, it's an island. And then with Malaysia and the Philippines, it's a series of islands. That tends to make costs of bringing goods more expensive, tends to make infrastructure more expensive to maintain versus mainland Southeast Asia.
17:46 Where you have countries like Vietnam, I think Vietnam is often regarded as the most affordable country in Southeast Asia, alongside Lao. And it's the same deal in Latin America. In Latin America, if you were to ask me what are the most expensive places, I would point at the major cities: Santiago, Chile; Lima, Peru; Bogota, Colombia. Those tend to be the most expensive places alongside the islands, if you're looking at beach destinations. For example, there's certain islands in Colombia, for Ecuador, there's the Galapagos, and these places tend to be expensive relative to your small to medium-sized cities.
18:24 If you were to ask me, 'Well, what's affordable?' what's affordable in Latin America? Look at like a Cali, Colombia. I personally found Cusco to be relatively affordable. Here in Southeast Asia, I'm looking at cities like Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. In other countries in Southeast Asia, you have Hanoi, that's going to be more affordable than a place like Ho Chi Minh City. So I wouldn't necessarily think, 'What's going to be more budget-friendly, Latin America or Southeast Asia?' I would think, 'What kind of budget do I have in general in those regions?' I need to look at places that are more affordable if I'm more budget-conscious, or if I'm really demanding a high-end experience, and I'm going to need to look at the islands or look at the major city.
19:08 Just don't find it to be as helpful to compare Lima, Peru to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Well, Lima is a coastal capital city, one of the premier food destinations in Latin America. You also have a lot of wealth there in Lima, considering it's the hub of business. I think the World Bank, Latin America is based in Lima, so it's really not comparable. A city of 8 to 10 million.
19:35 Comparing a city of 8 to 10 million people to a city like Chiang Mai, which has maybe 1 to 1.5 million people, Lima is not better than Chiang Mai. It's just simply a different scale. Which do I prefer? Well, I like both regions for different reasons. I think both offer a lot of wonderful things. I'll likely, in my lifetime, be bouncing back and forth between the two. I love a lot of things about Latin America, and I love a lot of things about here in Southeast Asia.
20:02 My last point, point number five, is housing. There's more variety in Southeast Asia when it comes to housing. You can rent a small condo, you can rent a single-family home, there's a ton of variety. You can get a unit in a skyscraper, you can get a unit in a low-rise. I think that Latin America is more similar to the West in that you do have the historical districts more often, or at least in my opinion, the historical districts tend to be larger. And those areas do have a limit on how high you can build.
20:32 So I think that many people would argue that housing is going to generally be more expensive in Latin America. There are some exceptions, like I said, if you look at some really small cities, but I think all else equal, you're going to pay a bit more for housing in Latin America. Here in Chiang Mai, I pay around $250 a month for my studio. And if I was to look at a comparable city, a city like Cusco, I'd expect to spend for this same apartment that I'm renting here in Chiang Mai for $250 a month, I'd expect to spend more like $375 a month or something like that, especially for a modern building, maybe $400 a month.
21:08 So I hope this video has been helpful for you today. Let us know down in the comments what you think. Have you traveled to Latin America? Have you traveled to Southeast Asia? Are either of these regions on your list for next year? We're approaching the end of 2023. It's been a wonderful year. I spent about half of it here in Thailand, and I'm looking forward to spending some more time in Thailand. Until next time, I'll see you later.
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