Two weeks left in Vietnam

Welcome and initial thoughts

0:20 Guys, going to give it a little bit for people to get on here. Also going to close the window shades. How's everybody doing tonight? It's Friday night here in Southeast Asia, and man, it's a hot, hot day today. I went out walking tonight by the beach and it was just super hot and humid, like even for what I've been used to. So, yep, just trying to sort out where I'm headed. Welcome, we've got a guest. Welcome to the stream tonight.

1:32 Tonight may not be as long of a stream because I'm feeling a little bit nauseous. I'm not sure if it's what I ate for lunch. I had some sugar cane juice tonight, I don't know if that was it, but yeah, I just haven't booked my flight out yet. I meant to do that today.

Alaska weather and daylight

1:58 Hey, wow, from Alaska! I've never been to Alaska. What's it like in Alaska right now? Oh, it's summer, so you're getting really nice weather up there. My grandparents used to go to Alaska a lot back in the 80s and 90s. They really liked taking vacations up there; they would go on fishing trips in Alaska. I've seen a lot of pictures and videos of Alaska; it's a beautiful state. A friend of mine, her dad likes to work on these boats that go from Seattle to Alaska cruises, and he really likes to work on those and goes back and forth. He does those a lot in the summer.

3:02 Oh, I'm envious. That sounds so comfortable. I lived near San Francisco for a while, and that weather sounds perfect. Hey Christopher, welcome to the stream. And Lay Pub Paa, welcome. Thank you so much for joining. I really appreciate that you enjoy the content.

3:24 I have a video that's almost done, and I meant to release it today. I'll finish it tomorrow. There's just a little piece I need to fix, but it's almost ready to go. And yeah, thanks so much for the support, Lay Pub Ptia. The encouragement is greatly appreciated. I'm still really early on in the channel, but yeah, the support just means a lot to me, and the encouragement means a lot to me as well. I know there's so much content out there that you all can be watching on YouTube, so the fact that you take the time to watch my channel and to engage in the streams is just really, yeah, it really means a lot to me.

4:08 I was shocked that even 10 people would subscribe. It's mind-blowing to me that we're now past 16, we're around 1,650 subscribers. That's really wild. And yeah, I'll keep going forward with the content, trying to just do stuff other people aren't doing. There are some topics out there that I could give my perspective on which would be a little bit different, but I want to try to share some stuff that I think just doesn't get talked about as much.

4:35 But yeah, I'm jealous, Mark, that you're enjoying that mild summer weather in Alaska, and of course, the daylight hours. Oh, thank you so much for saying that I'm talented. I really appreciate that as well. I'm sure that it's a big change for you in the summer compared to the winter, where you have the really long daylight hours.

5:03 That was the first time I experienced something kind of similar to that was last summer when I had a day off in Helsinki. So I flew from Chicago to Helsinki, Finland, and then I had like a day in Helsinki and a night in Helsinki, and then flew to Bangkok. And it was really shocking to me, like the sun never went all the way down. I didn't sleep great, but it was a cool effect. I was really surprised looking out the window at 2 a.m. and it was still a little bit light out. That would take a lot for me to adjust to.

5:37 And I'm curious, like, how do you adapt to that when you're there in the summer in Alaska? I guess you have to probably put up some heavy curtains. Yeah, see, that's what I struggle with too, Mark. The land of the Midnight Sun. Unfortunately, I suffer from insomnia because of this.

Travel experiences and flight journeys

5:56 Yeah, that's got to be a real challenge for some folks. I'm not sure if you're from Alaska, if it's something that you just grew up having to deal with, if maybe you moved up there for work through the military, or what. That could be. Is that something, Mark, that you grew up with, or is it something that you moved up there to work? Maybe you moved up there through the service, military service? But I'm always curious like if that has anything to do with it, because I grew up in Tennessee, where we have, for lack of a better term, more of like just the standard lower 48 East Coast kind of weather. We get four seasons in Tennessee, of course, winter, spring, summer, fall. The summer, of course, has more daylight than the winter, but I don't think it's such a dramatic difference between the seasons like you have up there.

6:53 But yeah, I definitely felt that in Helsinki. I only slept like a few hours in Helsinki and slept most of the time on the plane to Bangkok, which was nice because that flight can be... I usually go the Asia route. This is the first time going the Europe route. But that flight can definitely kind of drag on when you're going to some place that you are really excited to be going to, and you're just like sitting there in that box, okay, are we there yet? And like, usually the last few hours, because I'll usually sleep the first eight hours or so of that flight, and it's, let's say it's 11 hours. Usually the last three hours, I'm repeatedly checking the flight tracker. So it'll show you where on the planet you are in relation to your destination, and I'm constantly refreshing that, like, okay, when do we get there? When do we get there?

7:47 Of course, that's not really when we get there. We have to land and then depart the plane, and then we have to go through immigration and customs, and then we have to get in transportation and get to where we're staying. But it's, yeah, it's just an interesting sensation.

Budgeting and cost of living in Asia

8:06 Christopher says, yes, some fresh content compared to others. My monthly budget Asia videos are becoming TR. Yeah, and Chris, I feel like too, those are moving goalposts, and they're not super helpful to people because like certain costs are unavoidable. Everybody's going to have to pay rent in Asia. Everybody's going to have to buy food in Asia. Everybody's going to have to pay for transportation, and we all do those in different amounts.

8:37 Rub my camera here, that looks better. You know, people choose to live in different cities. People have different dietary concerns. Some of us are vegetarians, some of us are carnivores, some of us are somewhere in between. Some like to go to fancy gyms, some want to travel a lot within the country, some don't want to travel at all. And some of that stuff, like people will say, well, you just have to get here and experience it. And I agree with that to some extent. I think like you really need to be boots on the ground. And people say, well, it depends on how you live. And it's like, yeah, but it's not really an apples-to-apples comparison.

9:19 In the US, I'm typically driving a lot if I'm in a smaller city. If I'm in a big city, I'm not driving as much. So there's so many intricacies to it, and you can kind of reduce your cost over time as well if you're, you know, once you learn the lay of the land in a certain city or a certain area, you get to know the vendors you can trust. Maybe you start to cook more, you figure out where you can get good groceries. Costs are so flexible. And also, I noticed too, like the big cities aren't that much more expensive. You just have more opportunities to spend money. So like in the small town, you're not going to have as many fancy steakhouses, but if you're in Bangkok or you're in Manila, then yeah, you've got a lot more of those. There's not going to be as many like rooftop bars, for example, in the small town.

10:17 But like rent, you know, maybe it's a couple hundred dollars more in the big city. To me, it's not like $200 in a small town or $2,000 a month in the big city. It's more like $200 a month in the small town or $400 or $500 a month in the big city. I may do one, but you know the other thing I run into when I talk about budget is some people will say, I can't believe you spend that much. And other people will say, oh, I can't believe you spend so little. And that's regardless of how much you spend. Some people will say spending any more than $500 a month is living high on the horse, and other people will say anything less than $5,000 a month is poverty.

Southeast Asia lifestyle appeal

11:07 Really, what I think brings a lot of us to Southeast Asia is that you're in this... Oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate the Super Chat, Mark. That's very generous of you. Really appreciate you supporting the channel. I think most of us are attracted to Southeast Asia for a few different things. The top one is lifestyle, right? Like just being in a tropical part of the world where you've got beaches, you've got mountains. There's not the winter that kind of keeps you inside, like I know it's especially extraordinary in Alaska. Alaska has notoriously tough winters, perhaps like I think it's more the case if you go away from the coast.

11:48 So I hear the strip from... And let me pull up a map of Alaska here, Alaska. We'll just screen share here, just to kind of add to this. So like if you're from Homer, let's see where is Homer. Homer, yeah. If you're like if you're from if you're in Homer or you're kind of down here, it's a little less rough. But the further north you go, the more notorious Alaskan winters are. And so that's part of the appeal. And we could just... we'll just pull up Vietnam because that's where I'm at right now. Whereas if you're in Vietnam, the winter is really mild, especially if you're not like in Hanoi. Like if you're in central or southern Vietnam, then you feel like you've got an extra several months a year. Some might feel a little bit different, like, hey, I trade that for the summer months where I really don't want to go out much. It's so hot and humid. I kind of just stay inside.

Adapting to Alaska and Southeast Asia

12:51 Which is a fair point, but, you know, the other aspects of it. I lost my train of thought. Okay, so I'll try to recollect my thoughts. I'll take a look at your comments. Mark, let's see. Have to buy blackout blinds. Moved up here 40 years ago, just got used to life here. Wow.

13:15 And I'm curious, like, Mark, I...

13:25 I'm curious, Mark, I don't know if this is a fair assumption, but are you somebody who has traveled to Southeast Asia? Maybe your significant other is from Southeast Asia. That's really common for subscribers on my channel. I'm always curious how people go there. If I lived in Alaska, I would want to take some vacation time to Southeast Asia as well, especially in the winter months. It would be a wonderful break and an alternative to having the cold, snowy weather and the limited daylight hours.

13:56 Also, it's a different culture. You have to be careful when you're living in that kind of climate to be safe and to limit your time outdoors or to really dress up and prepare a lot. It's probably a little bit harder to socialize in a place like Alaska versus Southeast Asia, where, you know, and I'll get into that a bit. I wondered how you survived the air and noise pollution in Southeast Asia.

14:20 Well, that's kind of a... oh, welcome GMM. Welcome. So the air pollution is something that I didn't realize would bother me. It seems cumulative. For the first few days, maybe the first week, it's not such a big deal. I'm like, 'Ah, it kind of stinks,' like when I go to Los Angeles, especially downtown LA. After a couple of weeks, it starts to accumulate where I get this kind of heavy feeling in my lungs. I suspect I'm more prone to getting a cold or some other kind of sickness, and it kind of wears on you.

15:12 I noticed too, it's harder in the gym for whatever reason. My performance in the gym is definitely impacted. I feel like I run out of breath more quickly. I feel like I just don't have as much stamina. I also feel less motivated to go to the gym when there's a lot of air pollution.

15:31 But it's something that, you know, where I grew up in Tennessee, I'll give Tennessee a lot of credit. Yeah, there are a lot of issues with pollen, but the air quality is generally pretty good. They used to have bad air pollution in Tennessee because they would burn the fields after they harvested the crop to get rid of the waste. They no longer do that, so the EPA came in, and there are really strict air quality regulations in the United States these days.

16:08 People can be penalized for even just burning wood in their house, like in a wood-burning stove. That's very different than in the north of Thailand, where they still have a burning season. So that's something that I'm having to sort out how I will work around that because I didn't realize it was going to be a priority for me until I actually lived through a season and realized that was going to be an issue on a long enough timeline.

16:40 I've also had conversations with some long-term stayers in Thailand where they've said, 'You know, hey, like it didn't bother me at first, then I started to learn it could have a cumulative negative impact.' So maybe one burning season's not so bad. But what do you think about going through say five burning seasons or 10 burning seasons? That's when you start to have some concerns about the impacts on your long-term health.

Dealing with air pollution in Thailand

17:06 Are there some things that I could do to adjust to that? Are there places in the region that have better air quality? So one of the things that I did to deal with the air pollution in Chiang Mai is that when the burning season started, I was winding down a lease on an apartment. I had... we can just scroll up to Chiang Mai here.

17:29 So I was here in the northwest corner of Chiang Mai, and I started to notice the burning happening. It started kind of early this year, I would say mid-February, because I would go up and film on top of my condo building, and each day the city got progressively more and more hazy. It started off a little bit hazy, and then by the end of it, I could not see the mountains in the distance.

18:04 It felt rough. I stuck it out for a couple of weeks because I had planning to do. I also wanted to gauge it because some people you'll talk to will tell you, 'Ah, burning season, that's overblown, it's not a big deal.' And then other people will tell you, 'Oh, I have to leave, it's unacceptable for me, I leave every time.'

18:32 So I was like, 'Well, I want to see what it's like for myself because I can't just assume.' I can't just take somebody else's word for it either. I want to be able to gauge it, and it's different from year to year. Some years it starts late and goes late, some years it starts early and goes late, some years it's not so bad, some years it's much worse. I determined it's not for me.

18:54 So I ended up flying down to a city called Hatyai. So I flew from the almost the northernmost point in Thailand, aside from Chiang Rai down here, all the way to almost the Malaysia border. I stayed in this city, Hatyai, for a month, and the air quality was much better. I don't know exactly where the smoke gets blown, but it wasn't like I would call perfect, but it was pretty decent.

19:31 And then it was even nicer. I went up here to Satun by the ocean, and this part of Thailand doesn't get as much like Western tourists. So I encountered Malaysian tourists, but very few Western tourists. Up here, they've got monkeys that hang out on this beach. It's really interesting. I liked it a lot.

20:00 From here, I went to Krabi. I took a bus from Hatyai to Krabi, and Krabi has tons of Western tourists, so kind of the opposite, even though it's only maybe a six-hour bus ride. Yeah, it was very, very busy. And then after that, I came back up to Bangkok.

Noise pollution and managing it

20:28 As far as no pollution, that's the main challenge I have. It's a reason why I am going to be heading out earlier than expected from Vietnam. I'm looking really closely at the Philippines. I almost booked my flight today. I'm still trying to hammer out logistics because I've got several people I want to do interviews with in the Philippines, but they're in different parts of the Philippines.

20:55 And not only that, but where I want to stay longer term in the Philippines for the bulk of my trip is in a third location. So there's an individual in Cebu that I want to do an interview with. There's a few people in Dumaguete, and then there's where I want to stay, which is in Mindanao.

21:17 But the Philippines can be a very noisy country. I did research on it. I was curious, because I can be sensitive to noise, like what... I imagine too, Mark, that you, being in Alaska, you're used to a very peaceful environment. Alaska has very low population density, even in a city like Juneau, Fairbanks, or Anchorage. These are not mega cities by Alaskan standards, but you're talking about a few hundred thousand people at the most, and they seem pretty spread out.

22:06 So quite different than Southeast Asia, where you have much higher population density, especially in the urban areas. So with noise, there's a few things that I would recommend that anybody that's sensitive to noise take. Some precautions or some steps that they could take to address that. The top one is these noise-canceling earbuds. These are a lifesaver.

22:29 I use these 24/7. Sometimes I'll get woken up in the morning by kids screaming outside in the street, and I'm on the third floor, so it's loud. Or sometimes the gym across the street will decide it's time to just start blasting the music. So I'll roll over and I'll pop these in and go back to sleep.

23:05 That's the first step is having noise-canceling earbuds. You may have a different... I've tried different brands as well. I've tried the Bose cans, the big Bose ones, but they just didn't last as long as I would have liked. I want to say I wore them out in like a year, and at $300, for them to last a year, and they were offering to replace them for like $150, but I'm just thinking, 'That's... you need to make a better product, Bose.'

23:35 Plus, they're not as easy. It's hard on these to sleep because I'm a side sleeper. It's hard on these; they're not meant to have pressure put on them. It can distort the sound, it damages the microphone in them. And so whenever I tried to use these on streams, it just sounds super distorted.

24:03 But you can't... as a side sleeper, I can't use those big cans on the sides of my ears because it just makes my neck feel weird and like there's a lot of pressure being put on them. And then it breaks the seal too, because the angle seems to move the foam cup around to where the seal is broken, and then it negatively impacts the noise-canceling effect.

24:36 Another thing I would say is, if you can help it, go for a condo on a high-up floor. It depends on the province that's going to be a challenge because the provincial areas in any of these countries are just not going to have very many condo buildings.

24:54 In Cebu, that was what helped me. I stayed at this hotel in Cebu, and I was pretty high up, and it helped because you could hear like ambulance...

25:11 Because you could hear ambulance sirens a little bit in the distance, but it was so high up that it really helped to mitigate some of the sounds. One night, I was staying at this hotel, and there were like half a dozen drunk construction workers. I say that because I just went out to see what was going on and came back at 1:00 in the morning. They had locked themselves out of their room.

25:35 The thing about the Philippines is that it can be a noisy environment, but they were having fun. I think it's just an environment where it's like a really friendly environment. It's so different from what we're used to because in the US, we're told to be quiet, be respectful, and use our inside voice. People are used to growing up around their families where they don't need to hide anything, so they feel more open.

26:20 They did wake me up one night, and I called the front desk at the Griffin Hotel. I said, 'Hey, there's like this half dozen guys who maybe had too much Red Horse and can't get into their room. Can you send somebody up to help them out?' The front desk sent a lady up, and she talked to them, figured out what was going on, and helped them back into their room.

26:46 I was more surprised than anything because I haven't had that habit in a long time. When I lived in Nashville, something similar happened where a couple of drunk guys got lost and ended up in the basement of my building, which really freaked out the lady who lived downstairs. She was able to talk them out.

Experiences in Medellin, Colombia

27:08 Noise pollution is a really good point. If I had to point at one downside of my high-level view of Southeast Asia, it is just trying to deal with the noise that I'm not accustomed to. If you're in a big city, picking a high-up floor and having your noise-canceling devices can help.

27:49 I've also changed locations before because I felt there were noise issues. Like in Medellin, Colombia, I stayed at a hotel in El Poblado, a really nice neighborhood. I booked the room for two weeks at about $40 a night, which was pretty pricey for Medellin back then.

28:13 They started doing construction halfway through, and I asked the front desk if they could move me to a different room. I told them I wasn't offended, and I knew they had to update the rooms, but I didn't sign up for that. They laughed and said no, so I told them I was going to leave.

28:38 I left and did a chargeback for the days that were impacted and booked a different hotel. Then, this guy started walking down the street screaming, 'Poor, poor, poor,' over and over again, which was really strange because I was new to Medellin. Medellin has this wild reputation.

29:04 But then I found a third hotel, and that place turned out to be good. I got along really well with the owner; he was super respectful. He understood that people come to Medellin to have a good time. I was going there because I wanted to work on my program, and that turned out to be a great decision.

29:33 I needed my rest to be productive at learning what I needed to learn. I was staying at the Casa Hotel. A lot of people find El Poblado, the high-end neighborhood, to be a little stuffy or boring. It's pretty steep, and there are a lot of nice buildings, so it's not a place where you can really meet the neighbors.

30:09 So, a lot of people move over to Laureles or Estadio. Estadio has the soccer stadium, and that was a great choice. I loved Medellin; it really shocked me how much I enjoyed it. It's such a cool city.

Enjoying Bangkok and missing Thailand

30:30 Great point, Mark. I could keep talking about it, but I do want to get caught up on comments. GMM, good evening from Bangkok, watching with an ice-cold drink on my balcony in the BKK Bangkok night. That's something that'll never get old to me: the balcony experience.

30:51 In the US, I don't know if I've ever had any apartments with a balcony. I did in college, but there are so many rules in the US, I couldn't really enjoy it. I'd put a grill out there and want to grill, and then building management would say I couldn't because I might burn the building down.

31:20 So, it's nice to have a balcony in Bangkok. You have that warm humidity, and you can drink an ice-cold drink and hear the sounds of the city. It's such a lively city; it'll be one of my favorite cities for the rest of my life. It's such a beautiful city.

31:41 I was just talking to my friend who lives in Bangkok last night. She likes to call me on her commute home from work because it's a good time; her commute is pretty long. We chat and catch up, and I was telling her how much I miss Thailand. She said I should come back.

31:59 That's always a hard conversation to have because, naturally, that's the comfortable decision for me. I love Thailand; there's nothing like it. Mark says he visited Thailand three times 30 years ago; it left a deep impression on him.

32:18 It's a place I love. Mark asks what were some of the things that really stuck out to me about Thailand. I think the cultural impact is massive; it's so different from what we're used to in the US. It's such an ancient culture, whereas the US is a much newer country with newer traditions.

32:48 The US feels like an entirely different country every five years, where Thailand doesn't seem to change as much. I like that. It has certainly changed, developed, and grown, and it's more convenient with more English every time I go, but certain things about Thailand seem to stay the same.

33:25 Thailand is the same country today; it's a modern, higher-middle-income country. My first time was 30 years ago this year. My first time in Thailand was in the spring of 2018, about six years ago. You guys are much more experienced and have seen the evolution of Thailand over a much longer period.

33:51 I hope Mark is able to come back. I know his work schedule is demanding, but it's such a special place. It's a place that sometimes I want to put in the back of my mind when I'm away because I was talking to my friend last night about it and going on and on about how much I love Thailand.

Thailand's cultural impact and air quality issues

34:17 She finally said, 'You know, Thailand is home for you.' I kind of agree with that; it feels more like home to me in some ways than the US. It's like the perfect fitting glove, or like you go to a tailor and get a piece of clothing tailored to your dimensions, or you get a haircut and the person knows exactly the way you want it.

34:58 Thai people are so patient and calm. Air pollution is a seasonal thing during the hot, dry summer months, and the burning in Thailand and the neighbors is horrible. You go down south to the coast, and in the sea, Thailand is trying to regulate the burning, but the surrounding countries don't care.

35:19 It's the sugarcane leftovers that are the worst. I believe it; I get a lot of sugarcane juice here in Vietnam, and it has so much material left over. They collect it in these big bags.

35:41 I can imagine there's a lot of material for them to burn through. I've heard that as well in Thailand from friends of mine that they're trying to be more oriented toward having clean air and trying to take care of that, but it's when their neighbors burn, it just comes south. They don't have any agency over that; it's really unfortunate.

Friendship and family in the Philippines

36:11 It impacts people there. Jinsa says, 'I hope that's okay instead of saying JNSA.' Jinsa, Medellin now, cool though not often a first choice for many. What is drawing you there?

36:25 Great question, Jinsa. I've got a buddy who used to be an employee of mine; he was my virtual assistant, the best I ever had. This was when I was running e-commerce businesses, my first career before I got into software sales. I hired him to help me process orders in the middle of the night while I was asleep and also to do some graphic design and customer communications, a jack of all trades.

37:05 I had to close that business for various reasons but maintained a friendship with him. He is from...

37:09 He is from here in Cagayan de Oro, and originally his family is from other parts of the Philippines. His mother is actually from Dumaguete, and we had a funny conversation about that which I'll try to mention later because there's something funny to talk about.

37:35 So he is from Cagayan de Oro, and I asked him how he ended up there. He explained that one side of his family moved there from I think they moved there from Ilocos Norte because his grandfather was working in the logging industry. I think he said he was a driver, helping to work as a driver, and so that side of his family moved to CDO. And then his mom, I don't know what brought her or her family to Cagayan de Oro.

38:21 But yeah, Cagayan de Oro is an industrial city. I wouldn't call it a tourist hotspot by any means. There's not really a beach close to town. Like where I stayed was next to or around the corner from a Pepsi bottling plant. It's not like Boracay or Bonifacio Global City.

38:46 But to me, what drew me to the Philippines, and this sounds crazy, but it wasn't the dating. I just wanted to meet him and thank him because he really helped me with my business. I also met a ton of people over the years through business, traveling, school, and work.

39:13 There's just something about his humility, his work ethic, and his EQ. I find a lot of Filipino people have a really high EQ. They just are very often, in my experience, very advanced in terms of self-awareness and awareness of emotions.

39:49 Back then, I was really stressed out with a lot of different things, partly just living in the US. I'm a more stressed-out person there. You guys will notice if I do end up going back to the US in eight or nine months, I will be a more stressed-out person there, unfortunately.

40:08 But yeah, I just wanted to meet him and thank him. I got to know his family, and part of me also wanted to see the Philippines because every time we talked, he would tell me about different parts of the Philippines and how beautiful it is. He also showed me pictures from his life with his family.

40:32 There's something kind of wholesome that I felt was missing in the US. At the time, especially, I was living near San Francisco, which is the opposite of wholesome. It's just a very anything-goes kind of city, quite literally. Most of the city, there's just a no-limits kind of city.

40:57 There's all kinds of wild stuff that you see there that you would not see elsewhere in America. I'm not going to get too much into that because I don't want to run afoul of the YouTube algorithm, but most people are familiar with the challenges in San Francisco.

41:20 So, you know, when I went to the Philippines, I was just surprised because, like, talk to him. So, on that trip, my plan was originally, this was late 2019, early 2020. This was after I'd done my first trip to Thailand. I went to Cambodia to meet a buddy of mine who's working for a bank there at the time.

41:43 And I was like, okay, so after that, I'm going to go to the Philippines, and then I'm going to finish up in Japan, and then go back to the United States. So my intention for Japan was to see my grandma's hometown. Well, January 2020, we all know what's starting to happen.

42:01 I landed back in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and then, of course, the pandemic happened. And I kept traveling, but back to here. I thought I'll go meet him. I'll spend some time in Cagayan de Oro.

42:15 I asked about Mindanao, right? Because a lot of people have heard about stories about Mindanao. They are aware of some of the challenges that have happened in Mindanao, particularly Western Mindanao. And I asked him about it. I was like, hey, you know, I trust you. Like, he had access to big chunks of money, big chunks of my money, and never touched a penny.

42:40 And so I'm thinking, okay, if I can trust this guy with this amount of money, you know, I'm willing to trust his judgment. He's like, no, CDO is fine. Like, you know, there's other parts of Mindanao that have problems, but you're finding Cagayan de Oro. And so I thought, okay, well, I'll come check it out.

42:57 And then after we have a week to hang out and catch up, I'll take a vacation. So I went up to Camiguin Island and also spent some time in Siargao. But in the time that I spent in Cagayan de Oro, he introduced me to his extended family. We went to his mother-in-law's home in Cagayan de Oro, and I got to meet his mother-in-law along with his wife and his son.

43:21 And then all these family members kept coming through on Christmas, and we're drinking Red Horse. And, you know, it was probably the best Christmas I've ever had in my life. I'm not going to get into too much in this video, but my family situation is really messed up, and I felt the love there in a way that it just made me feel very inclusive. I felt like one of them in some ways.

43:54 I recognize I'm not Filipino, I'll never be Filipino ethnically or in terms of nationality, but unless at some point I'm able to work toward that, which would be really interesting. But I just felt so included, and that feeling like never really left my mind or my heart.

Camiguin Island and Filipino hospitality

44:18 And so after that, I spent a week there, spent Christmas there. And after that, I went up to Camiguin Island, which is really interesting. It's very different from Cagayan de Oro. It's pretty touristic. It's not I would necessarily say very touristic, but it's pretty touristic.

44:34 And there's not as much industry there. It is more expensive than CDO, like CDO being a manufacturing hub. Now Cagayan de Oro has gone up in price because of some of the challenges in Western Mindanao. A lot of people have moved into CDOs, so rents have gone up. There's just much more demand for housing.

44:59 But, um, I loved Camiguin and had a great time in Camiguin. Went snorkeling, saw all kinds of interesting marine life. It's, um, I've never been to Hawaii, but it reminded me almost of what I would think of Hawaii as.

45:19 Let's kind of zoom in here. I remember walking down a street and seeing all these just smiling, happy people. And they would smile and wave at me, and I'm thinking, I've never met these people before. That was something I had to get over when I went to the Philippines. I thought, okay, Z is nice to me because we work together. My buddy's name is Zayell. We've worked together, we know each other.

45:43 But all these other people, why are they being so nice? And I was just so skeptical because, you know, in a city like San Francisco, if somebody's being nice to you, they probably have an ulterior motive. It's a very cutthroat kind of place.

45:59 And yeah, they were just interested to see a foreigner there and happy that I was enjoying their country. Okay, that's Google is acting up a little bit here. Here we go. So this is Camiguin. We can go through some of these pictures. I'd never seen anything like it in my life.

46:24 And to this date, it remains one of the most beautiful places on the planet that I've ever seen. And I share this with you now because if the channel grows to a certain point, I may talk a little bit less about it because it's just so stunning. It's like nothing I've ever seen before.

46:56 I've talked a bit about it on some streams before, but you have places like this, the Giant Clam Sanctuary, where they're doing ecological restoration, and they have these clams in different stages of life, and the colors are mind-blowing. It's really incredible.

47:26 So I'm going to get caught up on comments here. But yeah, great question, Jensa. What we find a little bit different. Maybe we could pull up a picture of Heok.

47:55 Kok. Yeah, that's a nice picture. Okay, so, M, I prefer the 3M silicone simple ears, washable and reusable. Works at the range and streets. I have a pair, like a knockoff Loop earplugs that I got on Lazada that work okay. I should probably use them more often, but yeah, earplugs are a big help.

48:18 Mark says, 30 years ago, I went on a trip in Chiang Mai Province and rode elephants, saw fields of poppy flowers, built a bamboo raft with my guide, and went down the river on it. Wow, that sounds incredible. And you got to see Chiang Mai before, you know, that seems like a throwback.

48:40 You got to experience and see some things that may be harder to see or experience today, and back when there was less tourism. Like, I, you know, Chiang Mai is definitely gets a lot of tourism, and people are still very friendly and hospitable, but back then, I think you would have stood out even more as a traveler.

Vietnam vs. Philippines nature and cities

49:07 That's so interesting. Yeah, I'm not quite filtered out of Vietnam yet. Brown puppy. I mean, there's a lot of natural beauty. I am starting to adjust in some ways more to Vietnam, but, you know, it's a situation where maybe it's just not the right time for me. I'm open to coming back in the future, maybe seeing something different or experiencing something different.

49:32 But it's, you know, it's just not exactly what I'm accustomed to. Mark, if you go today, things will be different. You recognize, and in the same time, a country more modern and forward than America and Western countries. Yeah, I definitely agree with that.

49:51 Thailand feels like, even though it's very traditional in some ways, feels like living in the future compared to the United States. Not so much certain parts, like there's parts.

50:03 So much certain parts, like there's parts of America that are still awesome. I'm a fan of Colorado, for example. Colorado is beautiful and very peaceful, and in some areas, very safe feeling, especially like in the western part of Colorado. I lived there for several years, and it's still got kind of a small-town vibe. But yeah, other parts of the US, not great. By the way, if everyone watching could give us a thumbs up, that definitely helps to distribute the video to more people.

50:42 With the Philippines, I think it's all about the nature, not the cities. The cities are okay, but I look at them more as business centers. They're more centered around industry and things like business process outsourcing, information technology, and healthcare. I would go as far as to say the Philippines, more than most countries I've been to, and I'm normally not a provincial guy. Like in most countries, I stick to the cities because that's just what I'm used to. Like I grew up in a city, but that's a country where you have to go to the provincial areas. You have to see the nature; it's gorgeous. I think the country is on the up and up and it's going to take off to the extent that these areas will be so much more popular in the future that it may be more challenging to enjoy them. They may be more crowded.

51:43 So with the Philippines, I would say it's all about the nature. The cities are okay to me; I can take them, rely on them. They remind me in some ways of American cities, and so there's a little bit less of that intrigue, to be totally transparent. But the nature is like incredible. There's nothing like this kind of tropical island vibe in the US except for Hawaii.

Philippines nature and island experiences

52:18 GMM was an 18-year-old backpacker 30 years ago, totally lost in Southeast Asia. I bet that was a life-changing trip for you. You got to see and experience a lot of different things you probably never experienced in your home country, and just cultures. Brown Puppy, you have a wholesome spirit, always a pleasure to listen to your streams. Thank you so much. I wasn't always this way; I definitely had a wild side when I was younger, but I worked that out of my system, fortunately.

52:53 Mark says I am a baby boomer. I hope you find peace in Asia. What is your top regret in life? Any advice for the younger generation? Where are you now, brother? Still in Asia?

53:15 The best thing with Manila is when you leave that city. There are so many better places in the Philippines, over a thousand islands that are populated. I would agree with that, GMM. I don't often meet a lot of people that are all about Manila. Most of what I hear is, 'I've got to live in Manila because my job is there,' or 'I've got to live in Manila because my significant other is there.' Not so much, 'I'm thrilled to live in Manila.' People like BGC, Bonifacio Global City, and Makati as well, but it's just a super big, crowded Asian megacity.

54:08 Yeah, versus like, this might as well be on another planet. I mean, seeing the fog coming through the trees and the vines hanging down, able to interact with the controller, and yet I was actually there. It's such a surreal place; it doesn't feel like reality. That's the best way I could put it. This is something I want to see: a historical cemetery, and there was an earthquake, and it sunk.

54:55 There are activities all around the island. Here we go, this is probably the most famous part of this island: White Island. It changes shape over time. That's a funny picture, but the snorkeling here is incredible. You don't even have to load up with dive gear. I could see clownfish. There are very few people that come here for whatever reason. It may be that it's out of the way; you do have to fly there individually, or take a ferry from the mainland, but it's not the easiest place to access.

55:43 Which makes it all the more like, I mentioned the island felt like a video game, but it also felt, personally, like almost tailored to me. I could go out here, and unlike beaches I've been to in Florida or even Mexico, there's not tons of crowds. There's not a stereo system pumping music. There's not people trying to sell you stuff. You can rent an umbrella, but it's just a very private experience. I can't imagine this kind of experience in the US. It's going to be crowded with people talking super loud, people trying to sell stuff. You're going to pay $800 a night for a hotel. There are going to be rules, probably cops everywhere. It's just not going to be the same kind of experience.

56:45 It may change. I see the Philippines as being on the up and up and going to continue to improve and attract more and more tourism, especially with the passport bros movement, the digital nomad scene. Starlink really opens the country up in a lot of ways to people who otherwise might select other countries for internet challenges. But yeah, you can see it's just so beautiful. It's kind of hard; there's not a lot of underwater pictures here, but it's and the temperature is really nice too.

Dagat and relationship dynamics

57:20 Also, you can go out, not super far, but the water doesn't get so deep that you feel sketched out. So you can really take your time and explore. I went out there several times and enjoyed it every time. And the sunsets are gorgeous. By the time the sunsets, you're worn out. I'm going to plug in my charger here, but I was really worn out. It reminded me of some of the places I've seen on the show Survivor. It felt like a softer version of that because on that show, they really dress it up and show people in horrible storms. It's not like that; it's kind of soft around the edges.

58:27 So GMM, do you recommend Siargao or should I go to Daggati or something? I'm going to be checking out Daggati on my next trip. Daggati is definitely a priority. I didn't go last time, even though I was talking to Paul on Facebook. I was like, 'Hey Paul, I know you've been in the Philippines for a year or two.' His channel was pretty small back then, under 10k subscribers, maybe around 7,000. He was still getting his bearings; he'd been there for a year or so.

59:02 But it wasn't, I don't know if he'd met May at that point. But I told him, 'I'm going to hold off on Daggati because I want this full immersion experience.' I'm afraid if I go to Daggati, there are so many foreign tourists there. I don't know if it would impact my experience, but I want full immersion. I don't want my experience to be impacted by people saying this or that. I want to see it for myself, come up with my own conclusions. And I know Daggati is always going to be there; it's always going to be a popular place. I'll always be able to go there, but some of these places in the meantime may become super popular and change much more.

59:57 Brown Puppy, work and live in Bangkok for 15-plus years, travel all over Southeast Asia. Mark says no real regrets in life. That's good to hear, Mark. I wish I got to know myself better before getting married. That's good advice as well. I can really appreciate that, and that's something I'll take to heart. I'm a bachelor, but you know, going to the Philippines, that might change.

Dating and age gaps

1:00:28 As far as my dating experiences in Southeast Asia go, I think I felt the best connection to the Filipinos that I dated. One, because of English, right? There's less room for error as far as communication goes. But two, just because culturally, once again, high EQ, they understand me. I feel like I connect better than probably most other women that I've dated. I don't know if I can narrow it down to one thing, but it was almost odd how well I connected with them and how they could see through my, you know, guy-guy act. If they're trying to impress a woman or attract a woman, they may act like an idiot, but they could just see through that. They had some way of seeing the real version of myself, and they would call me out on it sometimes. It was just really funny.

1:01:38 A lot of funny experiences dating Filipinas. Southeast Asia Asian head office is here in Bangkok. That's awesome, GMM. I would love to chat with you more at some point. I understand if you want to be private about it, of course. Not only do we have a number of people watching this stream now, but we'll have people watching the repeat. But I'd love to know more about how you found these opportunities in Bangkok because, certainly, it's a dream for a lot of people to do that. I can see why you wouldn't want to disclose how you worked your way into that position. I'm sure you have a unique skill set that allows you to have that kind of opportunity, but also live in this part of the world. Thailand is the place to be. Most people have to wait until retirement to live in Asia and such. Sounds like you had a good life.

1:02:57 I hope you have a young girlfriend. Not every day a stranger would wish you such things. I see many boomers with a 30-year-old wife and new children. It's like getting a second chance in life, something you can't easily do in America. Yeah, I agree, Brown Puppy. I think...

1:03:13 America, yeah, I agree, Brown Puppy. I think the world can be kind of harsh and lonely, and I support anybody that finds love, whatever age it is, as long as it's between two consenting adults. Then, you know, I support it. Like, I know people want probably want to know my opinion on age gap. My parents had an eight-year age gap. I know of other people in Middle Tennessee that have a 10-year age gap. I believe as long as both people are of the age of consent and of right mind too, right? Like, you know, life's too short. If people find happiness in that, who am I to judge?

Finding peace and relationships

1:03:56 There are much more pressing problems in the world. Is it ideal? No, there are certainly challenges that can come with that. I think the people that engage in those relationships are probably aware of a lot of those challenges. Would I engage in that? I don't think so because, I don't know, I just don't know if it's for me, but yeah.

1:04:26 Mark says, after two divorces, I found my peace with women. I now live in peace without daily drama. That's certainly fair too. Are there still attractive young women in the Philippines? Are they working abroad? I think there's attractive women in all the countries in Southeast Asia. I mean, the Philippines has a population around 100 million, and so that's 50 million women. Let's say 25% are too young, and 25% are above the age that you'd consider. Then that's 25 million, right? Let's say half of those 25 million are in relationships already or don't meet your qualifications for whatever reason. There's still 12.5 million. And like most guys can only handle one lady at a time, so, you know, odds are out of 12 million women, if my calculations are correct or accurate, then I think there's still plenty of single ladies out there.

1:05:34 I know my buddy is telling me, hey, you need to get over here, and I'm happy to introduce you to different women in my community. Some of his co-workers are pretty cute, actually. But, let's see. Yeah, nothing wrong. I agree, Brown Puppy. That sounds good, brother. Sounds blissful.

Dating Filipinas and cultural understanding

1:06:00 And that's something that took me a long time to get to that point because when I was younger, and I haven't been divorced, but I've had several long-term relationships, and that might as well, I don't know if I want to say might as well, but felt like getting divorced. People I'd been with for several years and a lot of shorter-term relationships that also ended in heartbreak. And I'm so happy with myself at this point that to me, a relationship is like icing on the cake. I don't have to have it to be happy. Can it increase my happiness? I think it can add to my happiness. It's not something that I feel as unhappy about as I did when I was younger, where I was thinking, I've got to be in a relationship, I've got to have a girlfriend. Oh my gosh, it's the end of the world if...

1:06:45 And that's not to disparage people that have a hard time with breakups. I know breakups can be really hard, but it's something that I'm happy about with myself is that I understand myself better now than I did 10 years ago, and I'm happy with myself. I'm happy with the life that I've been able to make in many different ways. And I've tried to get better at not looking for external sources of happiness.

1:07:18 When I reach my 40s or 50s, I will have many children with many women in the Philippines. Brown Puppy, you should just maybe pick one lady. That can definitely cause some issues. Jealousy is a thing, or can be a thing in the Philippines. I know when I dated one Filipina, after she headed out, she left a container of baby powder in my bathroom. I didn't know what that was about. I thought she legitimately like forgot it, and so I tried to contact her about how I could get it back. Then I find out it's a way for them to kind of... the phrase I've heard that I don't like the energy that comes with it, but mark their territory. But basically say, like, this is my man.

1:08:14 And it's a way for them to, I don't know, like they're thinking, hey, if he sees a different woman and she comes over, she's going to question about this. It also sets up the next interaction, like, hey, I forgot that. Let's hang out. She was really disappointed that I, you know, when I was leaving, and she wanted to spend more time with me. I had other priorities and things to do, but I didn't understand their culture either at that time like I do now. I've spent a lot more time trying to understand Filipino culture and things that back then I didn't understand at all.

Manila and internet infrastructure

1:08:54 And I found were I just couldn't wrap my head around it. Like, in the West, we have to be kind of clinical in our thinking and low EQ in some ways just to survive because of the pace of society. And I've grown a lot since then, and I really appreciate and admire some of those qualities that I didn't really understand back then. Thanks so much for the thumbs up, Brown Puppy. East is on the rise.

1:09:23 Yeah, Manila is not, you know, there's it's just not for me, but I'm going to have to fly through Manila when I go back to the Philippines. Most of the flights route through Manila, and so I'm trying to sort out how I'm going to do that because the flight that I'm looking at lands at Manila at about 3:00 AM, and the flight to Dagat is at 6:00 AM. And so I have to get through security and customs and then take a bus to the domestic terminal, which I had to do in Cebu last time.

1:10:03 Which, anyway, yeah, the cities can be a bit congested. Philippines island, how do you get food? Internet is really slow. So when I was there five years ago, yeah, the internet had me banging my head against the wall. I need the internet for many different reasons. Banking, of course. As a content creator, that's super important. I was starting to get into content creation back then a little bit, and uploads were taking days, literal days. And if anything interrupted them, I'd have to start the process all over again.

1:10:53 The internet is much better these days. I've been in touch with my buddies about it, and he said we have Starlink. We're also getting PLDT fiber optic, so that's an option. So they've dramatically improved the internet infrastructure in the country. I'm sure it's not perfect, but I think it's coming a long way because there's just so many advantages to having good internet in that country. It's spread out, transportation is mixed, you've got different vehicle options. It's not a place that you want to be without internet, but it's definitely a place that benefits a lot from internet.

Food and cost in the Philippines

1:11:36 As far as food, I just go to restaurants. I didn't cook when I was there. This time around, I'll probably do some cooking. There's an ad running, so I'm going to take this opportunity to drink some water. So I just would go to restaurants. Like, the Philippines is more expensive than the mainland, so I'll be spending more money there than I spent in Thailand or here in Vietnam. I expect to spend around 20 to 30% more, probably about what it'll cost me.

1:12:22 I do plan to cook more because where I'm going is kind of an agricultural hub in the country. And my buddy was telling me all this interesting stuff that they because like when he and his friends get bored at work, they just go fishing or they just like harvest fruits and vegetables. Like it's just such an eclectic place. But he's like, yeah, after work, me and my co-workers just get together and drink Red Horse, and we go fishing, and then we cook the fish. Or like some of my co-workers have farms, and so they just bring fruits and vegetables, and we cook that.

1:13:02 And mind you, that's something that I think a lot of people don't maybe know about. Mindel is the agricultural hub of the country. It's where you've got, it's hard to notice from above, but you've got this large amount of agricultural land. And I would say it's perhaps the most food independent of the three regions: the North, the Central, and the South. I think the South is the most food independent, where they can produce the most. And that's where I think you probably have more variety of local ingredients. The cost is probably a bit less.

1:13:43 And yeah, I mean, it definitely takes some adjusting too. Brown Puppy, every island is different in infrastructure, economy, and living. And they have many different languages. That's one of the main things holding the country back economically. Yeah, that's a fair point. When you've got different languages, different dialects, the country was in part formed by the Spanish in the past, and so it's, yeah, it's just a very diverse country. Different people look different.

Diversity and heritage in the Philippines

1:14:19 Also, you have some Chinese influence. Like one of Z's grandfathers is from China, and so he's got some Chinese heritage. And yeah, like it's, you've got different, there's Filipinos with like Japanese backgrounds. Like I met one, I didn't meet with her in person, but I met her on a dating app there who's half Japanese, half Filipino. There's Korean Filipinos. One of my co-workers at my last company back in California, his girlfriend was half Korean, half Filipino. There's Filipinos that are half Indian, half Filipino. You've got, of course, a lot of Americans from the service that have children there, so you've also got like Filipinos that are half Western, half Filipino.

1:15:11 Marshall Butters, I'll throw this down here because I found some of his blogs to be nice. Marshall Butters did a, he's right now exploring Mindel, and I think he was in Pan, which, you know, it's one of those areas that people have mixed feelings about. But he met a woman who's, I think, half German. I think her father is German, Filipino mom. And so you've got very out on face value, people think, oh, it's all Filipinos or Filipino, but there's interesting differences in the Philippines between different people.

1:15:55 What's your recommended island? I would like to be in a city with a lot of ladies. Cebu, do Mactan? Um, the bigger...

1:16:03 The bigger cities are going to be your best bet because you just have more people, more options. Do Meetti, I would say, is not going to be a great option because there are so many foreigners going to Meetti now, you're just not really going to stand out. It seems like a city more oriented toward families and people in relationships than it does for people looking for relationships. I'm not going to say you can't find a relationship there, but just from what I've been reading about it, it's a place that is more geared toward couples.

Philippines cities and food preferences

1:16:38 For some reason, I just cannot get excited about Filipino food. It seems to be heavily meat-oriented. I am curious, Mark, what is your preference? Like I would definitely, I think you make a good point about that. It is very much a meat and potatoes kind of place. What kind of stuff are you eating in Alaska? I bet Alaska has really interesting food cuisine.

1:17:13 I know that there's, you know, if you're a seafood person, there's a lot of interesting seafood up there that's different than what we get in the lower 48. As far as like, you know, burgers are popular, pork is popular. I like the Filipino food, but I'm also odd in that I grew up Asian, so I grew up also eating a lot of what you could call westernized Asian food. Similar to how Chinese food in America is not traditional Chinese food, it's Chinese American.

1:17:51 Some of what my grandma served growing up would be the Japanese equivalent. So there's dishes in Japan like takoyaki, okonomiyaki, tempura that are fusions between Japanese ingredients and then Western styles. So that's Filipino food isn't a far cry from that. But I also understand, like I totally get why some people don't really care for it. It took me some more digging to find what I like to eat.

1:18:25 In the Philippines, it's not a case like Thailand where you walk down a street and you're automatically going to find a good restaurant anywhere in the country. In the Philippines, I relied on Google Maps a lot more. You see me even using it here just to go through some of the places I enjoyed. But I would just Google 'good restaurant near me' or 'Italian food near me'.

1:18:49 I found a really great Italian restaurant here in Caman. It's still open, actually. It was a little bit pricey. It's across the street from the airport, but it's super fantastic. Like the owner is Italian. I don't know where they get the ingredients, but it's like what you'd expect if you were in the West as far as Italian food goes, which shocked me because I was thinking I'm here on this remote island in the Pacific and I'm eating this delicious pasta. They were hand-making the pasta; it was amazing.

1:19:36 So you can find really good food there. I think you're going to have to dig more for it. I think you're going to have to be checking reviews. I think you're going to have to be maybe going out of your way, maybe being more open to taking cabs to different neighborhoods or different parts of the city. And even then, you might not find exactly what you're looking for.

1:19:58 I don't know exactly what your palate prefers. I will say it did feel at times a bit challenging to find the same variety of fresh vegetables I'm used to in the US. In some cases, their supply chains can be really fragile. I think they had an onion shortage last year where the onions skyrocketed in price. I think they also had a potato shortage, but sometimes their supply chains can be impacted by inclement weather and things like that.

Filipino cuisine and kinilaw

1:20:38 So that's something else that can make it a little bit challenging there. But that's fair, Mark. You're definitely not alone in that regard. There are a lot of people that feel similarly about Philippines food. They feel like it's not what I'm used to; it's not something I can adjust to.

1:21:02 You often have expats and their Filipina significant others meet up. They'll get together, and all the expats will be having Western food, things that they're more accustomed to. And then all the Filipinas will be having more Filipino cuisine. You see that dichotomy, and I think plenty of restaurants too. I noticed they have like a Western food section where they'll serve pizzas and burgers, and then they'll have a Filipino section where they're serving what the locals are more accustomed to.

1:21:38 I really liked the kinilaw, which is just like ceviche. That was probably the best dish I had there. If you like sushi, then this is very similar. They do raw fish and then put citrus juice and vinegar and onion, and sometimes they do pepper and ginger. It's probably my favorite dish in the Philippines, and I could eat it every day.

1:22:21 I ate this a lot in California, except they call it ceviche in California because it's got the influence from Mexico, but it's functionally the same dish.

El Nido and dating scene

1:22:36 I met most ladies in El Nido just talking and flirting. El Nido has no big bar area or red light area. There aren't many expat men there. I need to look into El Nido because everybody seems to be talking about it these days. A lot of my social circles seem to be talking about it because they're not super into the red light scene and they're looking for more chilled-out places, places that aren't as transient.

1:23:09 I think the red light scene is naturally transient where you've got people coming in for vacation and going out. People in El Nido seem more settled down. You see that Philippines life, that Canadian gentleman just opened a bar in Roxas City, which is on the same island as El Nido. He's all the way up here, probably the second city of the island. I like some of his content.

1:23:44 One thing with women in Southeast Asia is that they're considered old and weird and almost discarded if not married with a child before they're 30. There are many women who would be considered left over.

Sub-Saharan Africa travel considerations

1:24:12 That's a fair point. It's definitely a different dynamic than in the United States, where the median American is like 38 or 39 years old. So, very different than some of these countries in Southeast Asia, especially the Philippines, where the median person is 25. So the median Filipino is almost 15 years younger than the median American.

1:24:45 And that's more extreme in San Francisco, where the median has got to be higher than 38, like it's got to be 40 plus. I mean, wandering around San Francisco, there are few 38-year-olds that could afford to buy a home there, pay the property taxes, the maintenance, and the upkeep.

1:25:09 Visiting or living in sub-Saharan Africa at some point in the future? Probably not anytime soon, mostly for a few reasons. One, I've got to prioritize some other places right now. Two, the cost. To be fully transparent, a lot of people have asked me about that in my comment section, asking if I can talk about Africa. I've been to Africa, just Morocco, so that would be north of the Sahara.

1:25:46 I'd like to go to Rwanda at some point. I also like to visit South Africa at some point, and perhaps Nigeria as well. The challenge there is the cost. It's not economical to go to Africa. I found that the flights are expensive, the accommodation is expensive, and those two combined make it quite pricey.

1:26:21 So for somebody who's more interested in budget travel, or at least semi-concerned about budget, then it's a harder sell. And not just me, but also quite a bit of my audience. They're seeing $50 or $60 a night hotels in sub-Saharan Africa and comparing it to Southeast Asia, where they can get a hotel for $20 or $30 a night. If they're going for a month, that's a thousand bucks or more.

1:26:54 They're looking at the flights; the flights are more expensive. So those are kind of the challenges there. I think that as sub-Saharan Africa develops more and grows more, and as those are some of the fastest-growing economies in the world, then there will be more interest there. There will be more people wanting to go there as their tourism infrastructure builds out.

1:27:23 And they figure out different things that might add to the experience, like building on top of what they already have as far as things like safari experiences. Ecotourism is also really big in Rwanda. I know Walter's World, one of my favorite channels, they love Rwanda and they try to tell a lot of people to go there because a lot of people think that Rwanda is still going through some challenges and it's not that the country has moved beyond that.

1:27:51 In some ways, as much as they can, has moved on from a lot of the conflict that plagued that country in the past. But yeah, great question. A lot of people are curious, like, would you go to Africa? You know, one day in the future, when my budget's bigger and I've seen some other things that are really high priority for me right now, then I'd be happy to go.

Vietnam budget and shopping challenges

1:28:13 I did date a woman who's half Liberian, and she told me her family's got a house there and was telling me I should go check it out sometime. So, you know, that could be a thing as well. Let me check where Liberia is. I think Liberia is also north of the Sahara. I could be wrong there.

1:28:39 No, no, it's sub-Saharan. I didn't realize it was exactly where it was, but let's see.

1:28:47 What's your monthly budget in Vietnam? That's a great question. Vietnam is definitely more economical than Thailand. I would say it's probably the most economical country in the region, or one of them.

1:29:08 This month has been a really low-cost month. I also haven't been able to spend money here on things I need to buy. There are some things that I need to purchase, like medicine, that I can't find here.

1:29:31 I checked probably half a dozen pharmacies in Da Nang, and none of them carry what I need. I also need to buy some clothes, but I can't find the clothes that I would like to buy here in Da Nang.

1:29:42 So this month, it'll probably come in at around $800, including the week I spent in Thailand. The first week of this month, I spent it in Thailand. But yeah, I just found it hard to spend money here.

1:29:54 Normally, I would probably spend closer to $1,000, maybe $1,200. But a lot of the things that I intended to buy, that I budgeted for, I haven't been able to make those purchases. So I'm going to have to roll that money into the next month and make those purchases in the Philippines, if I can find them there.

1:30:15 I regret not making these purchases in Thailand. I was a little bit worried about, you know, are these things that I need to bring? Can I take them? Are they transferable from country to country? Do I want to travel out of one backpack?

1:30:36 You have to be cautious about how much stuff you pack. Am I going to be able to fit everything in my backpack? So yeah, that's something I'm kind of kicking myself about. I should have bought several of these things in Thailand because I'm going to pay, potentially through the nose, for them in the Philippines.

1:30:54 Just due to imports and scarcity and you know, all that stuff. Probably less demand in the Philippines for some things. Also, Thailand manufactures a lot, so some products that are made in Thailand may not be made in the Philippines. That's something you live and learn.

Philippines westernization and culture

1:31:13 It's been a really great learning experience in a lot of different ways. GMM says, 'I think the Philippines is the most mixed country in all of East and Southeast Asia and the most westernized.'

1:31:36 Yeah, I think it's the most westernized. My buddy Chin, he visited the Philippines and said it felt like America to him. He actually went to college in America and said that he felt that the Philippines, you know, it definitely feels much more American than any of the other countries I've been to in Southeast Asia.

1:32:02 Even more so than Japan, and Japan feels pretty Americanized in certain ways. But in the Philippines, you just see so many references to American culture. There's also a lot of veterans, a lot of retired veterans living there. You've also got the military bases there.

Alaska food and Philippines fruits

1:32:22 It's, you know, the English is also there. People also love the NBA there, which was really interesting to me. My Filipino friends know more about the NBA than I do.

1:32:40 It does feel very diverse in a lot of ways, just like you see a lot of people look different from one another throughout the country. Mark says, 'A lot of seafood and moose meat in Alaska, but we produce a lot of barley, potato, berries, and greens in the summer.'

1:32:55 Yeah, that's going to be really interesting. You do get a lot of that variety. It is harder to get some of that variety, I will say. Mark, one thing that was shocking to me was finding a fantastic salad restaurant in Cagayan de Oro. I was not expecting it at all.

1:33:28 Let's see here. I don't know if it was at SM, but it might have been at SM CDO. It would kind of make sense because SM is the high-end mall chain. It was a really great salad, and it was really refreshing because I hadn't had a salad in a while.

1:33:51 Around that time, I was just used to having salads much more often. Berries, not so much. Berries are expensive in the Philippines, like blueberries are expensive, strawberries are expensive. I don't know if I even saw raspberries.

Philippines fruits and jerky availability

1:34:07 Pineapples are reasonably priced. Mangoes are considered an expensive fruit for the region, but they're still much more reasonably priced than what you'd find in the mainland US or the lower 48. Probably much cheaper than Alaska, so I'd say go for mangoes and pineapples.

1:34:33 What other fruits? Durian. But durian, I don't know if I'd recommend durian for you. Durian is an acquired taste; it's not for everybody. It can be pretty stinky. It's really popular in Mindanao, though.

1:34:47 Durian's a popular one there. Let me look up popular fruits now. Mango. So mango is one of my favorite fruits, and I can show that on the screen here. This is mango steak. This is probably my favorite fruit in the region.

1:35:09 I tried some here in Vietnam a few nights ago, and it was pretty tasty. It's like, how do I explain it? It reminds me of lemon and pineapple and something else combined into one fruit, and it's sweet. I prefer it to lychee and rambutan, which are both related to it.

1:35:38 It's got more of a sour flavor. It's like sweet and sour, as opposed to just sweet like lychee or rambutan. And I bet too, Mark, in Alaska, I bet you can do a lot of canning up there. I bet you can do a lot of food preservation.

1:36:07 Even if the growing season may not be as long as in some parts of the lower 48, then you're able to use pressure cookers and store vegetables. You're able to make a lot of different things up, so that even though you might be a season, you could still enjoy a lot of different varieties that just either don't exist or sell out very quickly.

1:36:32 That's something that a lot of people do notice in the Philippines. If they see a certain brand or variety of soup they like, the store will buy 10 to 20 cans because they don't know when they're going to see it in stock again. You don't see that in Thailand, from my experience.

1:37:14 In Thailand, you've got Tops, which I found tons of variety there. There's also Gourmet Market in Thailand. There's also a Western-style place in Pattaya that carries Western groceries. In each of the cities where there's a large foreigner population, they have usually multiple grocery stores that seem to be really consistent about getting stuff.

1:37:48 I'm not sure if it's that in the Philippines, some of that stuff has to be brought in on boat, where in Thailand, it just flies direct to Bangkok. I was surprised how much of the salmon in Thailand, for example, comes from Norway.

1:38:05 So, you know, when I was looking at salmon throughout the country, it was kind of funny to me because Norway is very far away from Thailand. There is seafood in Southeast Asia, but for salmon in particular, I think it's just more economical for them to import farm-raised salmon from Norway.

1:38:24 So whether I was in the south of Thailand, or in Chiang Mai, or in Bangkok, a lot of the salmon I was having, if not all, was actually imported from Europe. I still can't get over that for some reason.

Snack preferences and kimchi

1:38:39 Yes, a lot of women do canning at home. We also smoked our salmon and make salmon jerky. That's such a healthy snack. One other kind of complaint I have in Southeast Asia is that the jerky scene is not as developed or popular here.

1:39:06 Some places I go, you go to the snack section, and it's all like chips and cookies and that kind of stuff. It's okay in moderation, but it's not the healthiest. Having more veggie or meat-oriented snacks is a healthier way to do things, especially if you're not super active.

1:39:41 Depending on your lifestyle difference in Southeast Asia versus the US, and depending on where you live in the US too, right? If I'm just chilling at the beach all the time and maybe swimming a bit, but not really exerting myself a ton, it's potentially more damaging to eat an excess of snacky stuff compared to more calorically dense stuff like salmon jerky or kale chips.

1:40:15 Kale chips are one of my favorites. Yeah, that's just my thought on that. Wow, okay. I had no idea, Mark, that there are Korean immigrants in Alaska. That's so interesting. I need to get up there at some point.

1:40:31 That is really cool. I love kimchi, and kimchi is a great snack. It's super healthy. It's also spicy. You can also add a lot of different stuff to it, like carrots, sliced carrots, or peppers. It's nice to mix with stuff too.

1:40:51 I like having kimchi with egg, or on a burger. I like kimchi as a substitute if I can't find sauerkraut. I like kimchi with a sausage, like a chicken sausage. This conversation's making me hungry.

Alaska's diversity and Korean influence

1:41:12 But yeah, the kimchi is fantastic, and I think it's a great alternative. I need to keep an eye out for kimchi in the Philippines because I know a lot of Korean people like to vacation in the Philippines, and that could be something I could enjoy.

1:41:28 You will fit right in here in Alaska. Anchorage School District has over 150 languages spoken. I had no idea it was that.

1:41:38 That's fascinating. It makes sense because you've got some really major industries in Alaska: oil and gas, the military, and the fishing industry. Those are the top three that come to mind, but also tourism. You've got a lot of people that go up there for tourism. I know one of my favorite YouTubers, Gabriel Traveler, does gold mining.

1:42:10 Wow, okay. Yeah, gold mining is a good one. Gabriel actually went to the University of Fairbanks and he talks about his time in Alaska with a lot of love. I think it was his first extended time away from his home state of California.

Filipino spouses in Alaska and travel plans

1:42:31 That's so cool. I had no idea there were that many different people up there. It also makes sense though, because I noticed that's really common. A lot of guys in expat social circles or online communities have married a woman from the Philippines and they live in Alaska. So it's not like I'm in a lot of different groups catering to expats, but it's not uncommon for me to see a Filipina posting in one of these expat groups and she's actually based in Alaska with her American husband.

1:43:16 That's really interesting. I never put that together, but I guess it's kind of similar to Hawaii in that regard. Alaska, in some ways, could almost be like an island because you're separated from the lower 48 by Canada. You also have to fly up there for most people or take a cruise ship. Most people I think are not doing the drive, although I have had some friends that have done the drive and they really had a good time and recommended it for me.

1:43:57 What's everybody getting into this weekend? Anybody have any fun weekend plans? I think my plan for this weekend is to finalize some of my travel plans. I've got to make a decision: half of me wants to push out for a bit more time in Vietnam because, on one hand, I am ready to move on, but on the other, I want to give it a fair chance.

Vietnam visa and travel decisions

1:44:28 It's probably going to be a while before I have the opportunity to come back because there's so many different things on my plate. But I know that there's some important work for me to do in the Philippines, and so I am kind of torn right now. Fortunately, I've got a buffer; my Vietnam visa expires in October, so I've got a strong buffer there.

1:44:56 The host for this apartment has told me, 'You can stay as long as you want, you're a great guest,' so that's reassuring as well. After I wrap this stream up, I may go out for a walk a bit more.

1:45:31 Mark says he's learning Thai, reading basic Thai this weekend. He's about to finish his online Thai class with Duke Language School this month. Awesome, so you're really doing some solid preparation there. That's something I wish I did more of: practicing more of the language. It's a challenging one.

1:45:54 How long is your Thai class? It's so helpful, and Thai people really seem to light up when you have some basic Thai. I think they know how different Thai is from English and they can appreciate that you're making the effort. My Thai friends are always helping me pick up little bits and pieces, so that's such a great idea, Mark.

1:46:26 I think that will add a lot of depth to your experience. Wow, three hours every weekday for a month with Duke, that's an intensive class. That will definitely help you make headway there and connect with the locals really well. It also helps navigating some basic everyday situations with ease.

1:46:57 For me, before I had basic Thai, there were certain interactions where I'd have to pull out my phone and use the translate app. I'm holding them up, right, because in a service situation, like a waitress trying to seat me or take my order, they're standing there kind of awkwardly. They've got other customers to attend to, they've got to put orders in, they've got to get food out.

1:47:36 So having a little bit of basic words to communicate with them is so helpful. They can understand enough English that, say, 'just a moment' or 'one moment, please,' they can understand that. But being able to talk a little bit more can be helpful.

1:47:54 One of the things that I found was super helpful is asking 'how much,' which is 'tâo-rai kâp.' So it's like 'how much, please?' Asking how much that way, you're clear on the pricing. I found Thai people to be transparent about pricing, but asking them that, so you know up front how much you expect to pay for something, can be super helpful.

1:48:27 When I leave Alaska, I don't plan on returning. So I need to get some Thai on my mind. So you're thinking long-term, permanent move? That's really intense, but I could understand it. Like, if you move to Alaska from somewhere else for different opportunities, then you had to move on from your previous life or lifestyle.

Reversible decisions and storage unit regret

1:49:00 That's a major change, but I'm sure you're doing your due diligence. You're obviously investing a lot of time and learning, and I don't think you'll regret it. It's also reversible, right? Not to say that you'll change your mind, but you still have plenty of contacts in Alaska, friendships, you spent so much time up there.

1:49:29 You could go abroad for six months a year for whatever reason. It's not for me, there's nothing stopping you from going back. Not to say that would happen, but I feel like in life, we worry too much about perfectly reversible decisions. People are saying, 'Oh, what if it doesn't work out in Thailand? I can just fly back to America. I still have my US passport.'

1:49:51 I'm a US citizen. I follow the rules back home, and so there's nothing that would stop me from ending my trip early. I could fly back next week if I wanted to. Knowing that that's in your back pocket, and I know you have the same, it's just such a sense of relief.

1:50:11 Simultaneously, it's also nice to have all of your loose ends tied up where you're thinking, 'Okay, I don't have to go back.' Like, I still have a storage unit I keep back in the US, and part of the nagging sensation in my head is that eventually I'm going to have to sort out that storage unit.

Thailand as a final destination

1:50:33 You know, that's kind of a regret of mine because obviously I'm paying for it, but also there's all this junk that I don't need that I haven't used in years. So that's something that's on my mind. I may buy a cheap house in Tennessee, where I'm originally from, and just get a truck rental and move all that stuff into the house. Then I've got a home base back in the states that I can keep in the meantime.

1:51:05 Mark says, 'At my age, Thailand is my last stop. After Thailand, will hopefully be having I hope so.' And you know, I think it's a great destination. I think it's a place that you've been there several times, so you know what it's about. You also have the advantage of the internet, right? Like you can watch vlogs like mine, and there's also many other great vlogs out there.

1:51:34 You have so many advantages that somebody going to Thailand even 10 or 20 years ago wouldn't have. You can be so much more prepared, like with your language classes. You're really set up for success there, and you can do a lot of comparison too with your research.

1:51:51 I'm not sure what your target destination is in Thailand, but if you're in that exploratory mode, not only can you go back to Chiang Mai, which is a wonderful city, but you could explore all over the country. Maybe during the burning season, you go down to Hua Hin or Sattahip. Maybe check out Chiang Rai. One of my closest friends in Thailand is from Chiang Rai, and that's top priority next time I'm in Thailand: I want to visit Chiang Rai.

1:52:17 I should have done it on this trip, but I just love Chiang Mai so much, I kind of lost track of time. I'm thinking, why do I need to leave Chiang Mai? It's just such a nice city. It's one of my favorite cities in the world. But you have so much variety in Thailand.

Variety of experiences in Thailand

1:52:37 There's just so many different places, and to me, it feels bigger than it is. A lot of people talk about how big the US is, but to me, there's so much that's the same. Like, I lived mostly between Tennessee, Colorado, and California. You have the same businesses in each of those states, like you'd go to Costco in California just like you'd go to Costco in Colorado or Tennessee. Walmart is the same in each of those states, like Walgreens is the same.

1:53:24 In Thailand, different parts of the country feel very different from one another, and so you have so much variety there. It's so perfect for taking weekend trips. You might think, 'I really like being based here in the north, but I want to go take a weekend down at the beach.'

1:53:41 A weekend down at the beach is something that's so easily doable. You could probably be there in like three or four hours, from the time you get in a cab or a Grab taxi from your condo to the airport, and then fly, and then get through security, and then take a cab to the resort or the condo that you're staying at. It would depend on how far away from the airport you're staying and a few other factors, but it really lends itself to having these getaway trips.

1:54:26 A number of the people I know in Chiang Mai talk about how they love living there because it makes them appreciate the beach more. If they lived by the ocean, it just wouldn't be as meaningful.

Taiwan and public transit

1:54:44 Taiwan would be cool. I know one of my subscribers, Jake, went to Taiwan to start off his trip in Southeast Asia and had a great time. He posted some blogs from there, and it's supposed to be really great. I haven't been there myself except for a layover, but I've heard a lot of people compare Taiwan to Japan culturally. It's also very developed, and I've heard public transit is really great there.

Stream wrap-up and Thailand appreciation

1:55:34 Yeah, we'll probably wind down here in the next few minutes because my voice is starting to get pretty hoarse. It's been such a great stream tonight. I'm so glad that you were able to join as well, Mark. I know you've been subscribed to the channel for a while. It's so nice to be able to chat with you and understand your journey better and what you're looking for in the next phase of your experience.

1:56:01 It's just so nice to talk to people about Thailand because I try to talk to people back home about Thailand, and I feel like I sound like a crazy person sometimes. I'm talking about the mountains, the food, the people, and they're just looking at me like, 'Dude, what are you going on about?' But then you actually talk to people who have been to Thailand, who would consider living in Thailand, who a piece of their heart is in Thailand. I don't know how else to put it.

1:56:37 It's just so meaningful, and I think it's especially meaningful because you have the contrast. You've put in the work, had a lengthy career, made a lot of sacrifices to work hard and achieve your financial goals, and now it's time for you to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Thailand's a great place to do it.

1:57:01 I think it's still maybe the best value for money country I've ever been to. It's not the cheapest, but to me, I enjoy it so much. I don't understand why it's not more costly, as far as being very safe. Everything feels very predictable and unpredictable.

1:57:32 I think sometimes in the US, life is too predictable, where things are so organized and streamlined you can basically predict every day for a very long time in the future. In some countries, it's too unpredictable, so chaotic people feel nervous. Thailand bridges that gap very, very well.

1:57:55 Mark says, 'I have to see doctors a lot at my age, so being able to complain in Thai is crucial.' I like that sense of humor, Mark. You have a great sense of humor about it, and I think that's a good point too. Thai people are very respectful of older people in general, and I think that might make them think of you as their uncle equivalent, like, 'Oh, this is like I'm taking care of a family member.'

Healthcare and stress management in Thailand

1:58:28 I found the dentists and doctors I saw in Thailand to be very kind and caring. I think they understand. Some people get the impression that everybody over there is jealous of you because you're American, but I think they see people come from the West with stress-related health issues. They see that Western people have put in the work to be able to live in a place like Thailand, made sacrifices, done jobs they didn't necessarily want to do, and maybe had management that didn't always respect them.

1:59:32 Trauma-related, yeah. I mean, that's how I feel like I have trauma-related issues, not just psychological but also physical, even at my age. I got this sense of empathy. One of the Thai doctors I saw was like, 'You are really stressed back home.' She empathized with me so much more than the American doctors. She was surprised I was having these issues at my age and was just so considerate.

2:00:22 This was one I saw in Pia, and she told me, 'You got to figure out a way to lower your stress and manage your stress.' My stress has come down a lot being in Southeast Asia, and that's part of why I'm interested in a career pivot. That's something I'm going to be doing in the Philippines when I talk to some of these expats at retirement age and ask them if we can talk about careers because I need to change my career path and find something that I understand.

2:00:53 All jobs are stressful to an extent, but my grandfather had his first heart attack at 38. That's six years away for me. Mark says, 'I don't want to end up in an American nursing home.' Yeah, I don't blame you at all, Mark. I think that there are really tragic places and they can be dehumanizing in many ways.

2:01:24 In America, there's this philosophical thing where it's almost like we've gotten what we need out of you, so just go away. You've produced as a young person, and now that you're worn down, it's a meat grinder in some ways. I don't know that it always has been that way; I think that's something that's changed in recent years.

American societal values and aging

2:01:56 I think there was a time in American history where older people got more respect and there was more gratitude shown to them for the sacrifices they made to build this country. A lot of people think America's just developed, like it happened overnight. No, it took many years of American people working very hard and sacrificing a lot to turn it into a developed country, putting in the infrastructure, the roads, the housing, building the businesses that could supply the resources needed to support a massive population. It took a lot of work from a lot of people.

2:02:39 Mark says, 'I think you will make a great teacher in Bush, Alaska.' Thank you so much, Mark. Yeah, I'll have to look into that. I've got several different options on my plate, and I'm going to do a mega pros and cons list of each of them and sort out which ones make the most sense.

Future plans and stream conclusion

2:02:59 Yeah, I think I'm gonna wrap it up at this point because my voice is really starting to go. But it's been a wonderful stream, getting to chat with you, Mark, and getting to meet with you. I really appreciate your support and your encouragement. It makes all the difference in the world to me knowing that my content is helpful for yourself and for other subscribers as well.

2:03:29 Yeah, thanks so much for your support. I hope to see you again on here soon. We'll see how things go in the Philippines; the signal can be spotty there, but I'm going to do my best to sort it out. That's still a couple weeks out, so I've got several more streams between now and then. But I hope you have a lovely weekend and your Thai lessons continue to go well. I think you're in for a wonderful experience.

Call to action and goodbyes

2:04:00 Thanks so much, everyone. Just a notice for everybody watching the repeat of this: giving us a thumbs up helps with the algorithm. If you want to see more content like this, please subscribe to the channel down below and comment. You know, what do you think about these streams? Is there anything you want me to cover in the next stream? And we'll talk to you soon. Bye-bye.