First Time in Vietnam - More First Impressions

First Impressions of Vietnam

0:09 Hey everybody, I thought I'd hop on here and do a live stream and just get caught up on everything, getting settled into the swing of things here in Vietnam. I got here, did I get here? Let me look at the calendar. It hasn't been a full week yet, so I got here on Monday and it's Saturday night now. So I've been here for about five days, six days, and it's going well. Definitely an adjustment after spending a year in Thailand. This is the first time in a year I've been outside of Thailand, and it certainly has a lot of interesting, unique differences.

0:55 I think one of the top ones is, well, there's a lot to go into. It's hard for me to really say there's one thing that stands out above the rest. I do notice there does seem to be, at least here in Da Nang, I can't speak to the bigger cities, although I imagine it's the same, a bit more of a late-night scene. When I was in Chiang Mai, I felt like the city chilled out a lot. Hey, Nomadic Mariner, welcome! Good to see you. Thanks so much for joining. Just talking a little bit about my first impressions of Vietnam and wanted to, I know I did a video on that, I wanted to dig in a bit more on that on this stream. Feel free to chime in. I'm not sure if you've been to Vietnam yet, Nomadic Mariner, but it's definitely a new country for me. It's been very interesting so far.

1:58 I'd say the first thing that stuck out to me so far is that there does seem to be a bit more of a late-night scene here. So I noticed when I was in Chiang Mai and even in Bangkok, that things chilled out a lot after, say, 10, 11 p.m. Now, I know in Bangkok, you have the lively areas around, say, like Nana or Soi Cowboy, some of those areas that are oriented toward a sort of a party scene. But where I was staying in Bangkok and in Chiang Mai, I stayed a lot in Sathorn, which is much more residential. It's the former downtown or one of the earlier downtowns in Bangkok before the downtown kind of shifted a bit. And in Chiang Mai, these cities outside of their kind of nightlife areas, even Pattaya, they quiet down around, I would say, like 10, 11 p.m.

3:00 Whereas I've noticed here in Vietnam, there's a spot, and I'm not even like in the center of town, I'm more to the north side of town, north side of the peninsula. So I'm not in the My An area. I can actually pull up a map here in a bit, but I'll wait to do that. And there are like several restaurants and these sugar cane juice shops open until like 2 a.m. Now, it's probably going to be a lot more in like a Hanoi or a Ho Chi Minh City, but that was really surprising to me because in Thailand at 2 a.m., unless you're in a nightlife district, your main options are going to be like 7-Eleven, or if you want food or something like that, then you can use a delivery app. But it's pretty chill. I've wandered around Chiang Mai at 2, 3, 4 in the morning, and there's not a whole lot going on. I know it is a university town, so a lot of students have to get to bed early and they're not able to be out all night. But that's been an interesting, unique difference here in Da Nang.

4:12 What I've really enjoyed is like, oh wow, I've been having trouble sleeping or I nap during the day and I'm awake late. I could still go out. And then it also seems to be like an early to rise kind of city. It seems like something's open up at 6 a.m. So it's just been kind of interesting to me to see that there is this 24/7 atmosphere here that I wasn't expecting at all. I did anticipate that being more the case than like a Ho Chi Minh City, just because it's the biggest city in Vietnam, and in Hanoi, which is a really large city as well, a cultural capital. But it's been surprising to me to see that in Da Nang.

4:51 Nomadic Mariner says, 'I haven't been to Vietnam but I would like to go.' I can say Vietnam has been to me here in Houston. You know, that's so funny, Nomadic Mariner. Actually, one of my buddies from high school, he lives in Houston and his girlfriend is Vietnamese. So he's not Vietnamese, but his girlfriend is, and they've been together for a while. And it's, yeah, it's just really interesting to learn about Houston in that way. I personally, I've only had layovers in Houston, so I haven't actually spent a lot of time there. But I've heard that the community there is fairly big. I know one of my friends in NorCal, she's actually from Orange County, so apparently Orange County has a lot of Vietnamese people as well.

5:34 A couple of cities that I have lived in, so my hometown, Nashville, has some Vietnamese people. I would say it's not as much as like a Houston or like a SoCal, but there's some great Vietnamese restaurants in Nashville. And I know that my mom, when she worked for the state, the state of Tennessee, that one of her co-workers was actually a Vietnamese woman. And then in Denver, when I moved to Denver, there's this huge, there's this like Vietnamese almost, I don't know if I call it a Vietnamese district, but there's this Federal Boulevard, there's a ton of food spots up and down Federal Boulevard. So there's like Pho 555, Pho 99. It's kind of funny, they, you know, of course, they all indicate that they're serving Pho, but they use different numbers to differentiate. And really busy spots. I mean, those restaurants, like I haven't been to Denver, I haven't really spent much time in Denver in a while. Last time I was in Denver was about a year ago, and I just passed through, I didn't really spend much time there. But it's, yeah, just really interesting to make that connection.

6:43 Right, like before I went to Thailand, I don't know if I'd ever met a Thai person. Maybe I met a Thai person and didn't know in the States, but I'd never really met a Thai person before. Before I went to Cambodia, I'd never met a person from Cambodia. But the difference is, with Vietnam, I've met Vietnamese people, I've eaten a lot of Vietnamese food, I have some Vietnamese American friends. So I had that external connection to the country. That hasn't been the case for very many places that I've been. My grandfather on my mom's side did serve in the Vietnam situation. I don't want to use the word just because I know sometimes YouTube doesn't like it, but of course, the one that we're all familiar with, really tragic and unfortunate. But yeah, he was involved in that, and you know, didn't, I don't think he really talked about it much because there's, you know, there's a lot of challenges associated with that. That's the best way for me to put it in a polite way.

Architecture and City Skylines

7:54 Nomadic Mariner says, 'The architecture in Vietnam is beautiful from what I've seen online.' Yeah, I absolutely agree. It's been shocking to me. Like, it's, you see a lot of these, what I kind of jokingly call, tall skinnies. So you see a lot, at least in Da Nang, you see a lot of these really tall buildings that are like not very big, and they are very visually appealing. And they're also very functional, right? Because land and real estate in general is very expensive in Vietnam. And so that's the best way they can maximize their use of land is to build these really tall buildings, but that don't have a large footprint. So it makes for a really interesting skyline.

8:34 And I missed it tonight because I went out for dinner. I wanted to try this restaurant in the more busy area, and I missed the fireworks. But people in, and it was actually the last one of this year, unfortunately. But a lot of people in my building, they went up on the rooftop and actually watched the fireworks display. And you get a beautiful view of parts of the skyline from the roof. And I actually rode further north from where I'm at and was able to see a gorgeous view of the skyline along the beach. It's really an interesting visual because a lot of us, we've been to big cities and we've been to beach cities. There's not as many like decent-sized cities that are right on the beach like Da Nang is. So it just makes for a really interesting visual where you see the boats in the foreground, and then in the background, you see the water, and then behind the boats, you see the skyline. So it's really cool visually speaking.

9:39 TC11335 asks, 'Is food poisoning an issue there for Westerners?' So this is my general opinion on that, also including my experiences in Thailand. I personally am pretty cautious about street food. That's not to say I turn my nose up at it, that's not to say that I would never have it, but I have had food poisoning in the past in some countries in Southeast Asia, and it seems to be mostly associated with street food. So what I've done here in Vietnam to kind of ensure that I can minimize that is that I only, at least up until this point, I'm almost only, or only when it comes to food, going to restaurants where I can check their reviews. So I've been, I'll search on my Google Maps, 'bun me near me,' and so then I'll just check the reviews like, 'Hey, what do people think about this spot? Has anybody had any issues?' And that's served me well.

10:49 And the places I've been going have been fantastic. Food here is really good in Vietnam. I mean, I've really enjoyed it. I haven't had any tummy troubles, fortunately. If that does happen, then I'm not sure how I'll sort of report it or share it. I wouldn't want to single that establishment out, and I know there's unfortunately a lot that goes into that kind of thing. But so far, no issues. So, and I've been, I mostly had, so I've had Bun Rieu, which is this like noodle dish with, and they put the meat on top and they have some vegetables in there. That was really good. I had that, that was the first meal I had here. And then I've been eating a like, several Banh Mi, and it's got the French bread, and then they put the meat on, they put the pickled vegetables and cilantro. I always ask for no mayo. Some places put mayo on it, some places don't. I'm just not a big fan of mayo. But certainly, you're a person that likes it with that, you could have it.

11:49 My experience has been I haven't had any issues with that. I should ask my buddy Jake, a subscriber who is also here for another week or two. He's been here for several months, so I should probably ask him. We met up earlier this week and will probably meet up again before he heads out. Has he had any challenges with that? Has that been a concern for him?

12:19 I know one of my friends' girlfriends, a long-term partner, came here before they were together and had some tummy troubles. I don't know which city that was in, or if she was in a big city or a small town, or if it was a tourist destination.

12:40 To be fair, I've had food poisoning in Colorado. When I used to live in Colorado, USA, a lot of the food has to be trucked in because it's in the center of the country, not in a very convenient spot for getting things there. So yeah, I used to get it on a somewhat consistent basis out there.

13:04 Even in the US, that can certainly be a concern. I think just doing due diligence on checking reviews and being cautious can help to mitigate that. You can't really eliminate it anywhere you go totally.

13:15 Probably not in Japan. I didn't ever feel sick there; they have very, very high, universally high standards. Probably not in Singapore either, but for most countries, doing your research, checking reviews, and trying to figure out if anyone else has had issues will be your best bet.

13:43 If you feel unsure, you can always back out. Take it to go and then toss it if you feel like you see something that makes you uncomfortable. It's better to throw away $5, $10, however much the meal costs, than to risk getting sick.

14:07 Sometimes we see something that may look good and entice us, and we change our mind. That way, you don't hurt anyone's feelings, but you also don't risk getting ill. I did get food poisoning once in Chiang Mai; of course, I was there for six months, but I was wrecked. I had cold chills and was feeling very, very ill.

14:32 I'm not sure what it was because I was taking prazone at the time, and it just increased my appetite dramatically to where I was just eating a lot. I kind of ballooned up, you could see in some of my videos from that time. So I'm not 100% certain on what caused it, but that did cause me to be a bit more cautious with my choices.

15:00 Nomatic Mariner asks, 'Have you had Thai rolled or stir-fried ice cream?' I tried some here in Houston; it's good. It actually lasts longer than regular ice cream. Yeah, I've had the rolled ice cream; I like it a lot. One sec, I'm going to turn on the AC because it's getting a little bit warm.

15:30 I'm a fan of the stir-fried and rolled ice cream. Nomatic Mariner says, 'It's delicious. I think it's great, it's fun, it's creative, it looks cool.' I've seen it a lot in Thailand, but ice cream is very popular throughout the country. You've got your standard 7-Eleven choices, but then if you want to take it a step further, I think the best ice cream I had wasn't the rolled or fried style, but it was on an island off the coast of Pattaya.

16:06 It's called Koh Larn. Why don't we just go and pull up a map so I can share a little bit about that? It was on this island off the coast of Pattaya; you take a ferry, it's like 30 baht each way. Down here, I think it was on this road to Naa Kluea Beach. They had all these giant tubs of ice cream, and for 40 baht, you could get five scoops. It was just genius; they had all these delicious toppings too.

Food Safety and Dining Experiences

16:48 I think that was probably the ice cream that stuck out to me the most in Thailand. But yeah, you can't go wrong with ice cream in Thailand; it's just so refreshing and delicious. It's a nice alternative if you've had a lot of smoothies and want a change from that.

17:18 Yeah, why don't we pull it back to Da Nang? I could talk a bit more about Da Nang. So, tonight I had pizza. This is where I went for dinner tonight, a place called Pizza House. I went in thinking I was going to have some pizza, but I ended up seeing this delicious-looking chicken dish on the menu.

17:41 You can see they've got great-looking pizza; I'll probably go back because it was really tasty. I mean, I was really impressed. The chicken was delicious; they put some like pesto on top and then some cheese. They had this mushroom sauce and then vegetables and potatoes. Really great meal.

18:03 It was nice to have something a bit more Western-style because I've been really having a lot of Asian food the last few months. When I was in Bangkok, I was bouncing back and forth between going out for sushi and then having Thai food, and then sushi and then Thai food. So it's really nice to have something in line with what I'm used to having back home.

18:35 Yeah, that's what I had for dinner. I've been borrowing a bicycle from my host here; they've been so generous to let me borrow their bicycle. It's not a motorbike, so it's a pedal, but it's been a great workout. I've been riding it all over the city and definitely feel it.

18:52 It's so much faster than walking. I underestimated how much faster it is than walking because the first couple days I was here in Da Nang, I would just try to walk. The city is somewhat pedestrian-friendly, but it's so time-consuming to walk.

19:11 To get to Pizza House from my apartment is like a one-hour walk, where it's more like a 10 to 15-minute bicycle ride. So, you could imagine like two hours of walking time to go have a 30-minute meal, whereas it's more like I could get that done in an hour if I'm riding the bike each way.

19:48 Cambodia is amazing. I'll go ahead and clarify this because I know some people will be rewatching this: I love all the countries in Southeast Asia. They are all interesting, unique, and have different kinds of vibes or flavors. I don't find any one of them to be better than any of the others.

20:16 But I can say I have spent more time in Cambodia than Vietnam. I've spent probably about a month in Cambodia total and less than a week here in Vietnam. So I love Cambodia; to me, it's an underrated hidden gem. The people are super friendly.

20:37 I had some wild partying in Phnom Penh. I found that to be part of the wildest party scene I've experienced in Southeast Asia. I know some people have their own cities that they like for that purpose, but it helped too when I went to Phnom Penh; I had some built-in friends that I connected with online, and they took me out. We just had a wild night.

21:03 It was wild, and it was like day after day in Phnom Penh. I had a blast; it's just such a vibrant city, such a dynamic city. We can pull up Phnom Penh here.

Phnom Penh Party Scene and Riverside Hotel

21:23 As you can see, it's marked as one of my favorites. It's just such a wild, I don't know how else to put it. I was staying in the Riverside neighborhood. Actually, I can show you guys the hotel I was staying at: New Season Riverside Hotel.

21:44 And like I just remember getting to this hotel and I think I've covered this a bit in a former stream, so I'll try to be brief. But I remember getting to this hotel and paying the driver. I had a tuk-tuk driver take me from outside of Phnom Penh airport to here, and I paid him and gave him a tip. Well, evidently, it wasn't sufficient because he started screaming and yelling at me.

22:09 The hotel staff let me in, and now he's yelling at them. The hotel staff is so apologetic to me; they're like, 'Yeah, this is like a daily kind of thing.' I just laughed it off. To me, Phnom Penh reminds me a lot of New Orleans.

22:31 I know Nomatic Mariner is from Houston, and so he's not terribly far from New Orleans. New Orleans, like to me, Phnom Penh felt like New Orleans in Southeast Asia. It's this river town; you see it's right by the Tonle Sap River. You've got this kind of nightlife district, Riverside, where you have a lot of foreign tourists staying.

23:00 Most tourists, I would say, stay in either Riverside or they stay in Russian Market, this area, or they stay in BKK2, which is right here. So mostly in this section of the city.

23:16 This is just like one, basically, degrees of partying. The concentration of the party seems to be in Riverside, and as you go out, the party's a little bit less and less, but it's still there. It's not that much less, to be honest; it's just you could perceive it because the party in the Riverside spills out into the street, and in these neighborhoods further out, it's a little bit more contained in the buildings, in the bars.

23:49 But it's a wild town. Those people know how to have fun. Very, very hospitable. I found dating there to be fantastic. Perhaps my favorite city for dating in Southeast Asia, if I'm honest. A lot of people were willing to just show me around town. I met different women on dating apps, and they'd say, 'Hey, let me show you this interesting spot or take you here or there and kind of talk with you a bit about the history.'

24:21 The English there is really great too. You've got such a big expat scene in Phnom Penh, tons of English speakers. My hotel staff, the owner is from India, so New Season, the owner is from India, so he speaks...

24:36 The owner is from India, so he speaks English. The staff is from Bangladesh and Nepal, so they also have solid English. It just made it so convenient and comfortable.

24:50 I will say when I got further out, wow, what a small world. Samaro, yeah, I agree. There's a lot, it's just hard to put into words.

25:06 Nomadic Mariner, I was born in New Orleans. My family moved to Houston in 2012. Yeah, so you're very familiar. I know that with the challenges with Katrina, it was a really hard time.

25:21 I don't mean to be dismissive about that. As far as my praise for New Orleans, I love New Orleans too. I've had a blast. I've been to New Orleans a couple of times, and both times I had a blast.

25:36 People were super welcoming and super friendly, except for the parking. The parking attendant I dealt with was really rude. She's charging like 40 bucks a day too, which I know is standard for the French Quarter.

25:46 Anyway, I expected for that price to get a bit better service, but the food was fantastic. Some of the best food I've ever had. And the hospitality was great.

26:00 I love the architecture. Wow, so Samaro, that's something I'm going to have to keep in mind. As far as you mentioned Angkor Wat, that's something I'll have to keep in mind to rent a bicycle.

26:14 It's huge. I've heard it's like one of the largest temple complexes in the world. So, of course, it's a UNESCO World Heritage site. I haven't made it up there, so next time I go to Cambodia, I'd love to make it up to Angkor Wat.

26:30 Make it up to Siem Reap. It's, you know, I loved Phnom Penh so much, I think I'll love it as well. I actually stayed in an Airbnb in Stockton.

26:37 Stockton, California has one of the largest Cambodian populations outside of Cambodia, along with Long Beach, California. And I say my host because I was working in the Bay Area but remotely, so I wanted to be in the California time zone.

26:56 But I knew the job was kind of winding down, so I had a host whose family is from Cambodia. So he's actually born in the States, but he was such a wonderful host, such a friendly guy. Really, really, I still stay in touch with him actually.

27:12 So there, I found it hard to beat Cambodian hospitality. Like, the people who were running the laundry service too were super friendly. It was fantastic.

27:26 Nomadic, yeah, it's a good place to party and eat. Living there is different though. I don't think I could live there. Yeah, Nomadic Mariner, I think it would just be hard to live there because it's set up, it's oriented toward tourism.

27:39 So, same thing with my hometown, Nashville. Some of my friends do try to talk me into moving back to Nashville. Nashville has a lot of great qualities, but it's more oriented toward tourism than living there.

27:52 That's just my personal opinion, that the city is catering toward people who want to come in, have a good time, make some great memories, have some delicious food, maybe go out for some nice drinks, see some of the historical districts, the Garden District, like in New Orleans, the Garden District, of course, the French Quarter. See some jazz music and then go back home.

28:14 And so it's wonderful for visitors. I think it would be tough to be local and have to navigate around people there to have a good time, right? Because when you're living there, you're trying to go, you know, pay your taxes, or you're trying to go to Walmart.

28:37 And in a city like New Orleans, there's limitations on space, right? So I don't know that there's a Walmart anywhere near the city center because it's just such a dense city. There's also a lot of historical limitations in terms of the preservation.

28:56 You know, historical preservation, so they don't want to pull down buildings that have a lot of significance in that way. And so it's not the most convenient place to live.

29:06 And also, there's a lot of temptation there, if I'm being honest. Like, I could see in a party town that, you know, it could be easy to get sucked into just doing that all the time.

29:20 And that was something that somebody actually warned me, a friend of a friend, when I was partying it up in Phnom Penh. He was trying to caution me because he could see, like, the glow in my eyes from just having such a good time.

29:33 He's like, 'Hey man, this can't be your everyday.' I just want to let you know this is a wonderful time. I'm sure you're having fun. This is not your real life, so just be cautious.

29:50 When you're coming here and you're having an amazing time, and you know, people, like I said, people were super welcoming. I didn't want to leave, to be honest, but I had to continue my journeys.

30:02 I actually stayed in, I can pull it up here. This is a different hotel I stayed in because, yeah, I stayed at this hotel. Huh, that's strange that that's not the right picture.

30:20 Okay, I don't, yeah, so I stayed at this hotel behind Orussey Market. And the owner was super friendly. He was telling me how he's from China and came to Phnom Penh, got into the hotel business.

30:35 And how he did like a road trip from New York to Miami, and how much he loved America. He was going on and on, like gushing about how much he loved America, how nice people were to him, people were helping him with directions.

30:48 And it was really just a wonderful conversation. He's like, 'Offer me drinks.' And I'm like, 'Oh, why? Like, people here are so nice.' Everybody was just so nice to me in Phnom Penh.

30:58 Just really, really friendly and a lot of characters. I mean, that town is full of characters.

31:12 Hey Isaac, welcome. Yeah, Nomadic Mariner says, 'Hey Isaac.' Samaro says, 'I just found a temple for myself and climbed it and meditated. There was such a memorable place. It was a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu.'

31:23 The whole temple complex. Okay, I'll have to keep that in mind. Some fact I'm going to make a note of that to myself so that next time I make it over there, I'll go and check it out.

31:36 I'd love to go back. If I didn't already have a couple of choices in priority, then I would be going back to Cambodia next after Vietnam. So I plan to stay in Vietnam for my visa here is good here for three months.

31:53 And one thought occurred to me, do a visa run. Allow? I can let's see, pull that up here. It's really popular for people.

32:01 So I'm here in Da Nang. At least pre-pandemic, I think it's still the case. It's like $110, and you get a bus ride from Da Nang to one of these border cities or border towns in Laos. And you go over.

Vietnam vs. Thailand and Mega Cities

32:25 And then I don't know if you book it online and then you show it to them at the border, and then they stamp you in. But anyway, a lot of people in the past have used this to extend their time in Vietnam.

32:36 So they take that bus, get their visa sorted out, and then they come back to Vietnam because Vietnam is just so different from anything I've experienced.

32:48 I mean, and also from anything I've experienced in a while. So Vietnam is part of what I would call the sinosphere, similar to Japan, for example. And it's different from Thailand, which a lot of people would say is part of the endosphere.

33:05 So Thailand is more influenced by India. You see a lot of Thai people have names influenced by Sanskrit, or they're basically rooted in Sanskrit. And so it's just very, very different than anything I've experienced.

33:23 Vietnam is definitely interesting. It's, I think, deceptive as far as size goes too. I've had friends that have done, that basically started in Hanoi and then worked their way down to HCMC, or started in HCMC and worked their way up.

33:41 I think starting in the north and going to the south is the more popular way of approaching Vietnam. I'm not sure that I'll make it to Hanoi on this trip because I'm going to be spending most of my time in this trip in Da Nang.

33:54 I'm just not as much in the mood right now for big cities. Hey Tony, welcome. Welcome Tony, always good to see you.

34:02 So yeah, right now I'm just not as much in the mood for big cities. I was in Bangkok for three months before coming here to Da Nang, and I love Bangkok. It's one of the coolest cities in the world.

34:15 It's just so futuristic. It's got that Blade Runner vibe where you see these massive neon lights and signs everywhere. And you've got these massive shopping malls.

34:29 But it can be overwhelming, right? You feel like sometimes in Bangkok, 'Ah man, there's like I'm surrounded by 15 million people.' And so being in Da Nang has been kind of refreshing.

34:38 Like, 'Oh, okay, I don't have to always double, triple check in every direction to make sure I'm not bumping into somebody.' Because I always want to be courteous when I travel.

34:51 And so I don't know that I'll, I need at least, I don't know, I need at least some more time before I go back to a mega city. And I need to moderate the amount of time I spend in a mega city.

35:10 So yeah, I'm tempted to check out HCMC for like a week, maybe two weeks, before I go on to my next destination. But I'm trying to enjoy Vietnam and be present.

35:25 Because I felt like toward the end of my time in Thailand, I was just my mind was off of Thailand. I didn't fully enjoy it to the extent that I could have if I was being a little bit more present.

35:35 Because I was thinking about all these moving parts, like, 'Okay, how do I get stamped out? Make sure I process every exit clearance through immigration so I can come back to Thailand again in the future?'

35:46 Because I just warned by my language school, 'Hey, before you leave, you need to go to immigration, you need to get stamped out, because if you leave without doing that, then you may have some challenges coming back in the future.'

36:01 Because they're going to be wondering, 'Did anything happen? Why didn't you get stamped out?' So I'd like to go back to Thailand in the future. I still have like 10,000 baht. I got back from a deposit for my apartment.

36:15 And you know, I went back and forth on if I should leave it in my Thai bank account, but I was like, 'Huh, I...

36:25 I don't know when exactly I'm going to be back here in Thailand. I love Thailand, and I wish that was my home base. But until it's my home base, or if it becomes my home base one day, I'd rather just keep the cash with me. Next time I go to Thailand, I'll have that cash in hand, which will be amazing for getting a SIM card really quick. If I lose track of my SIM card here, you know, paying for meals, putting down a deposit, if I go back to Thailand and stay for a few months, I'll probably rent an apartment, and they'll want a deposit. So I'll have that cash in hand. That'll save me backtack trips to the ATM.

37:08 I'll have to hit the ATM anyway if, for some reason, my Thai bank account gets closed. I've heard of some people's accounts going dormant. Like if you don't use your Thai bank account for a year, they start deducting 50 baht per month, and then eventually they want to close it. Banks are very concerned about risk, and I found that to be the case around the world. So they don't want to have free-floating accounts that have no money in them, where there's no telling when they're going to be used again for people who don't actually live in Thailand.

37:51 So it's very valuable to get a Thai bank account if you're staying there long-term. But keep in mind, if you depart and head on your journeys, they may have an interest to close it down if it's not going to be in use anymore. So that's why I pulled that money out. I didn't put it back in there.

38:07 I also heard it could be a struggle to use that Thai bank account outside of Thailand if you don't have a Thai SIM card in it. So part of me thought, why don't I just leave the money in there? Then when I decide to book my flight out of Vietnam, I can use the money in my Thai bank account. But I was like, I don't know if I'll be able to access it, and I don't want to be trying to contact them and ask them, hey, can you send me that money? It just gets to be pretty convoluted.

38:34 So I'm glad I made the account. It made living in Thailand so much more convenient, but I accept that it may have to close it eventually. Tony says mega-cities can be really draining for us introverts. Isaac says, agreed. Yeah, I totally agree, Tony. I mean, it's a lot of fun, but it can just kind of wear on you.

39:04 Because you're not able to, in my experience, live in your head when you are in a mega-city. You have to be aware, you have to be watchful, you have to keep an eye out for traffic, you have to keep an eye out for people in a hurry. In a city like Bangkok, even though it's a tourism hub, you've also got a lot of people trying to get to work, trying to get home from work, trying to run errands, trying to go to the grocery store, trying to live their lives, pay their bills.

39:40 And you can feel kind of lost in this sea of people. I struggled a bit in Bangkok with the fact that most of my friends in Bangkok work very, very hard. They're typically working five to six days a week, and on the weekends, they've got chores or they're hanging out with their families. I still got time with my friends there, which was really wonderful. I made friends with some wonderful Thai people in Bangkok, but it's like going to New York City. If any of you guys have friends in New York City or LA, most of the people that live there have to work all the time because it's so expensive.

40:30 They have to work these very demanding jobs that take a lot out of them. So you're there on semi-vacation mode, and they're there trying to live their lives. Whereas if you're in a smaller, more laid-back city, people may have a little bit more free time. They may just have more time to chill out, enjoy themselves, relax, go out to dinner after work.

41:01 If they're trying to meet up with you, like in Chiang Mai, my buddy Matt lives maybe like a 20-minute walk away, which is not far at all. He could drive to my apartment in 10 minutes or something. So if we want to go out after he gets off work, we could just walk over to the market, and he could drive there, and now we're hanging out. Whereas in Bangkok, one of my friends lives like an hour north of the city, and another friend lives on the eastern edge. So for us to get together, we're having to coordinate. One person is driving down, another person's taking the BTS, and I'm trying to navigate on foot.

Navigating Bangkok and Shopping

42:25 There's all this that goes into it. We're 30, 45 minutes away from each other, and then we're hopping in one person's car. So we go and find a shopping mall. Now she's got to drive into the parking garage, can't park on the first floor or the street, so we got to go up three, four, five floors. The parking spots in central Bangkok are tight. Typically, she's not even pulling into the spot; she's stopping before she pulls in, we get out, and then she pulls in so she can get out. She's also paying for parking.

43:53 It's a coordinated effort to get together with people in Bangkok. Can it be done? Absolutely. My friends in Bangkok are accustomed to having to navigate that. One of my friends spends a lot of time at Benjakitti Park. If they want to play pickleball, they've got to arrange a spot a week in advance. You can't just show up there and say, 'Oh, we're going to play.' You have to have your court organized because hundreds of people want to play pickleball in Bangkok, especially at such a convenient location.

44:51 So a lot of coordination goes into it, and it's not really a place where you're going to just pop by a friend's place for coffee. Even my Thai friends that live in Bangkok, that have lived there for decades, they still have to do a lot of coordinating to make things happen. If you live on the opposite side of the city, it makes it that much harder. I toyed with the idea of living over in Thonburi, but then I realized if my friends live north and east of the city, and I'm way down here, that's going to be a trek to get all the way up here just to start the day.

45:40 Let's say we've hung out, they dropped me off at the BTS, and I'm still going to have to ride probably 35, maybe 40 minutes out here to the west side of the river. So I stayed here in Sathorn. Sathorn is just a really nice area, one of the nicest areas of the city, and it's also very convenient. But even that's like a half hour. Even for me to get to Sukhumvit is like a half hour.

46:26 Tony says all the videos I've seen on Vietnam are always in the biggest few cities. He'd love to see medium or smaller-sized cities and towns that don't cater to tourists. That's a great point, Tony. I would say Da Nang is a medium-sized city, but it is very touristic. It's very much touristic. There's a lot in Da Nang, and I mentioned it a bit in my first impressions of Da Nang video. The city caters a lot to tourists from South Korea, and you've also got a substantial contingent of Russian tourists.

47:01 So it's deceptive in that, I don't know to say if it's deceptive, but at first glance, it's been more touristic than I would have thought. A lot of people associate it with the digital nomad lifestyle, coming here to work online. I expected it to be more of a working city, but it's beautiful. You've got this beautiful beach, people paragliding, cafes everywhere. I've never been in a city with so many cafes. There are a lot in Phnom Penh, but I think there are even more here.

47:42 I'm in a fairly quiet part of the city. You can see up here, it won't give the address, but even up here, the main area of town is down here in An Bang. But even up here, there's coffee shops. The cool thing about being up here is that a lot of the coffee shops are filled with locals. If you go further south, you see a lot more foreign people, a lot more tourists.

48:17 More foreign people, a lot more tourists and travelers. But up here, they have this, they're serving the same products, but they're a lower price. So that's been really cool to me. I was going down there and happy with the prices because the prices are very good here in Vietnam. I personally feel like it's the best value for money country I've ever been to, or among them, probably up there alongside Peru, especially the Cusco area.

48:43 My goal isn't the absolute most inexpensive place, but it's definitely something that's appreciated by many travelers. Like, oh hey, you can get really good value for money. But up here in the Monai area, it feels even much more so the case. I've just been really surprised at the quality of the coffees, and the service has been really friendly. I found the service to be really friendly here in Vietnam.

49:20 People are very helpful. As an example, tonight I hopped on my bicycle and went down to Pizza House. I realized I forgot my power bank, so I got this power bank that I always travel with. I should probably recommend it, put it as a recommended product because I like to recommend products that I use that I feel have saved me a lot of trouble. It's the Miti brand, you can get them on Amazon.

49:58 They've gone up a bit in price. You'd probably get like two of these for 30 bucks, something like that. But I forgot this; it was on the charger, and I forgot to throw it in my backpack. I was thinking, 'Oh, I'll just throw my phone in the charger when I get there.' Well, I get to Pizza House, it's like a 15-minute bike ride, and I go digging through my backpack because now my phone is down to 10% battery.

50:22 I'm still new to Da Nang. I've been here for less than a week, so I'm still learning the streets and learning how to get around. I don't quite know exactly where I'm living; I know the general vicinity, I know some landmarks, but I'm not going to be able to just find it like I would if I were in Bangkok. You could put me back in Bangkok, and I'd be able to navigate to my old building without even thinking about it.

50:51 Actually, a couple of different places. I know Bangkok really well now, but I don't know Da Nang. So I asked the waitress at Pizza House, 'Hey, I'm so sorry, I forgot my charger. Do you have a charger?' The guy working there went in the back and asked around to the other employees. He comes back, and I was like, 'Ah, I'm sorry, we don't have it.' Well, I'm like, 'Oh, that's okay, that's understandable. I don't expect everybody to have that.'

51:20 I start eating my meal and I'm like, 'Okay, I better eat fast and get back to my apartment because I don't want to be wandering around Da Nang with a phone that is out of battery and trying, you know, 9, 10 o'clock at night, trying to hope I find somebody that speaks English and has an iPhone charger and is comfortable with letting me use it like I'm a total stranger.'

51:48 They so, I'm eating my meal, and then I'm partway through, and then the waitress comes up and she's like, 'Oh, we got one here, you can borrow it.' And it was perfect. I charged my phone up to 20% battery, finished my meal. I was very thankful for them; they really stepped in and helped me out. They didn't have to.

52:05 I gave them back the charger, paid the bill, and then 20% battery was sufficient for me to get back to my apartment and throw my phone on the charger. And yeah, it was just a great feeling because, you know, I feel like the phone is a lifeline when you're traveling, especially to new countries, countries you've never been to, countries where English isn't the first language.

52:31 You're like, 'Okay, this is how I get back home. This map is how I get back home.' And I couldn't just call a Grab, right? Some people might say, 'Oh, well, it's your last 10% of battery, call up a Grab.' Well, I've got a bicycle, so and it's not even my bicycle; I'm actually borrowing the bicycle from my hosts here. So I've got to not use the Grab to get back because I can't just abandon the bicycle.

52:55 So yeah, they really came in and were a big help. They were a really, really big help, and I can't thank them enough. It's a different kind of friendliness than Thailand, to be honest, but there's definitely friendliness here. And you know, it's taken me some time to understand the differences, but yeah, I like it here.

53:25 Overall, the traffic in big Asian cities, the noise pollution, chaos really drained me and grated on my nervous system. I'd rather be in a town with lots of trees, shade, less traffic, and people also, people asking you to buy something every second, 30 seconds. Yeah, Tony, that's something that can be stressful in Thailand. I love Thailand; Thailand is a wonderful country, it's a beautiful country.

53:46 But part of what makes Bangkok expensive is not that Bangkok is an inherently expensive city. I find it to be actually great bang for your buck if you're somebody that likes big cities. I have a hard time thinking of a city that's going to provide you better value for money.

54:06 That being said, there's literally millions of opportunities to spend money. I mean, you can't somebody, I read a joke that was kind of funny: you can't go more than 100 meters in Thailand without being able to buy food. And so, you go walking down a street, and there's 20, 30 vendors there. You're going to have at least five, 10 people saying, 'Hey, you're interested in what I've got?'

54:30 You can't say yes to everybody, right? I mean, even if you wanted to, right? You can only eat so much food, even in a city like Bangkok. I've eaten until I almost felt sick in Thailand, just to be honest. There's no judgment in Thailand for just like being a glutton, if I'm going to be honest.

54:49 And you know, at a certain point, you just can't keep saying yes, even if you want to try everything. And it's the same goes with clothes, right? Like I've been to Platinum Fashion Mall in Bangkok, and it's on Phetchaburi Road. There's only so much clothing I can buy, there's only so many shirts I can buy, there's only so many jackets I can buy, there's only so many pairs of shoes I can buy.

55:21 If I said yes to every sales opportunity, I'd be broke in a week in Bangkok because there's so many nice things to spend money on. It's the same with the malls, right? You've got malls everywhere in Bangkok. So you have to have a lot of discipline and self-control.

55:36 And sometimes you just don't have the patience for it, right? I mean, especially as you get older, you start to... I found a lot of people, anyway, a lot of people that are much wiser than myself or have more life experience than myself, they know what they like. Tony, I think you're in that position where you know what you want to buy, you know what you don't want to buy, you know the foods you like, you know the entertainment that you like.

56:04 And there's a lot of it you don't like because you figure that out by now. And so there's only so much a salesperson is going to get as far as headway goes when it comes to making these different kinds of offers to you.

56:23 And a lot of us eventually would prefer to settle in a, you know, in a more chill area. I think that's a great point. I'm not sure how much I'll get out of the cities in Vietnam because I want to do day trips. Like we can pull, we can go back here. I want to do a day trip to Hue.

Day Trips and Smaller Cities

56:51 But I've done some digging now. I think, of course, people's opinions vary on this, but some of what I read was that in Hue, it's like a place to go for a weekend. It's not necessarily somewhere that a lot of people would want to live. But it's like, to me, it comes down to the individual, right? Like if you're a person that wants to have peace and quiet, you want to be kind of left to your own devices.

57:20 You're a friendly person, but you're more of an introverted person, then it does, in one hand, it can be harder to find these places. On the other, there's, I think, more of them because there's just, by their very nature, there's a lot of small cities, small towns throughout the world that might be a good fit for you.

57:48 For me, in Vietnam, most of what I'm hearing about comes down to Da Nang, Hanoi, or Ho Chi Minh City. But you could certainly check out some of these other places. Now, I know, Tony, you've talked about that with the heat, that that could be something that could wear on you. It's definitely wearing on me to some extent.

58:10 Like, especially riding the bicycle here in Da Nang, I come back soaked and just sweat. I mean, I'm just sweating profusely, pouring down my face into my eyes. My shirt's stuck to me, having to like peel it off when I get back and change into a dry shirt. And that can, you know, that can add to some of the stress there, right?

58:41 And I think part of what makes it a little bit more challenging for me in countries like Vietnam is that because I don't expect people to speak English, it makes me a little bit nervous about going to smaller towns. Not because I think it would be unsafe, but because I worry, am I going to be able to communicate with people, right? If I run out of gas or my battery dies, you know, am I going to be able to navigate around?

59:10 I know people, a lot of people are super friendly, and it's probably an undue concern for me. But that's something where I think Latin America is a better fit because Spanish is going to be an easier, easier to learn than say, like Vietnamese or Bahasa Indonesian.

59:33 And that's the appeal of the Philippines. That's a country where I do have some more confidence that I'd be able to sort out life in a smaller town because a lot of people do speak English there. So even though you'd be in a small...

59:50 So even though you'd be in a small town, you'd still be able to connect with people as far as navigating, like, 'Hey, where do I get water?' or 'What's your favorite place to eat around here?' or 'What should I be paying for rent?'

1:00:25 Tony says your lives always feel like dropping in for a coffee at a friend's house. Thanks so much, Tony. I really appreciate your membership. You're the first member of my channel, and it means a lot that I'm able to add value in that way for you.

1:00:44 I'm not sure how you feel about the concept of overdeveloped places, but Bangkok seems to fit the bill. I like places more organic, less super modern, not too antiseptic.

1:00:56 Have you been able to find a quiet part of the city? I've heard people mentioning the street vendors are very loud. So, great question, Tony. I found we can go back to this; my old neighborhood, Saton, is somewhat quiet.

1:01:16 Full disclosure, it's one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the city. You see a lot of big houses around my apartment building, and there are a lot of beautiful shophouses throughout this neighborhood. I did have the issue, and this might have been because I wasn't in a high-rise.

1:01:48 Part of what some people do to mitigate the noise in Bangkok is that they stay in a really tall high-rise, so they're way elevated above the street-level noise. But I did notice people with modified bikes riding by my apartment a lot, and that could be a bit noisy.

1:02:11 To be honest, I felt like it wasn't as bad as, say, Victory Monument. As far as the noisiest place I lived, it was when I first landed in Bangkok. I was staying up here at Victory Monument, and this is like a transportation hub, so much traffic in the city flows through Victory Monument.

1:02:33 You've got the bus, basically, it's almost like a de facto bus station here, so all the buses in the city stop here or many of them pass through. There's also a bunch of construction going on around Victory Monument.

1:02:47 So I would wake up at like six o'clock in the morning to jackhammers, and they'd go sometimes at night until like eight, nine, ten o'clock at night. That could be a bit disruptive.

1:03:00 I would say with a city like Bangkok, I actually got a recommendation because I remember reaching out to some friends several years ago asking people, 'Where do you live in Bangkok? Why do you like living there?'

1:03:13 People were telling me, 'We live out on the outskirts.' So a lot of people like living way out here, and you see there starts to be more green space out here. They're telling me it's the best of both worlds because they can get to the city center in a reasonable amount of time, but they're not surrounded by buildings or traffic.

1:03:38 The air quality tends to be a bit better out here on the outskirts. It's also got more of a local vibe. That's kind of how I would approach it if I was somebody who wanted to visit Bangkok but didn't want to be in the hustle and bustle, the constant pressure.

1:03:57 But I think that's a fair point when it comes to overdevelopment. It's not something that... what's the word I'm looking for? It's not something that necessarily...

1:04:18 I don't like because for me, it's a big contrast to where I'm from. Like I always felt like growing up in the Midsouth, I always admired cities like LA or New York because they had these, they're the drivers of culture in the United States.

1:04:32 You know, we get trends in Nashville that came from California or came from New York, certain catchphrases that we'd hear, you know, five, ten years down the line. I remember a friend in Nashville telling me how his mom would get clothing catalogs from California.

1:05:00 It's democratized a lot of that stuff, right? So like if I'm living in a smaller city, I can buy all the hot fashion trends online. If I'm living in a smaller city, maybe I don't have all the high-end cuisine options of Bangkok, but I could probably get to a big city pretty quick.

1:05:21 And even in like the small to medium-sized cities in Thailand, there's great cuisine. Like, there's... I'll pull up Hot really quick. Like, even in Hot, which is I think the third or fourth largest city in Thailand, there's some nice steak houses in this city. Like, you can go have a nice steak. Some of the best pizza in Thailand I had was here in Hot.

1:05:42 So like, in some cases, better than the pizza I found in Bangkok. I tried quite a few pizzas in Bangkok and I was like, 'I miss the pizzas in Hot.' You know, even though it's not the first place that comes to mind, a lot of tourists in Hot are from Malaysia.

1:05:58 You see how far we are from Bangkok, how far you are from Phuket or Cebu. It's still got plenty of that. So I think with the internet, you've got people that they're like, 'Okay, I'm not moving to Bangkok. I'm living in Hot. I want to do a pizza spot where...' because, you know, a lot of Thai people in Hot are like, 'Hey, I want to have pizza, but I don't want to go up to Bangkok. I want to stay right here in Hot.'

1:06:25 So with the internet, it's really lessened some of the requirement or the need to live in a mega-city. And I'll contrast that a bit, well, not really contrast, but complement that in a bit. But yeah, I think as you move forward more and more into the modern era, there's... you can get 75-80% of what Bangkok has to offer without the hustle and bustle, without the overdeveloped feeling, without the 'I'm in a hurry' kind of atmosphere in Bangkok.

Bangkok's Overdevelopment and Quiet Spaces

1:07:02 Because Bangkok's an international business city, like you've got people coming there from all over the world to do business. The Thai baht is the 10th most circulated currency in the world, 10th most used currency in the world. I think it's like number nine in terms of number of billionaires in the world. So it's... it's one of the most developed cities in the world.

1:07:25 And some people, you know, they feel... I don't know, disappointed is the right phrase about that. But like, I got a friend named Larry. He's from New York, a big-time traveler. He's traveled all over the world, and he's been traveling for much longer than I've been alive.

1:07:46 He used the phrase about Bangkok, 'the Singapore-ization of Bangkok.' So some people feel like as Bangkok becomes more and more internationally relevant, as it becomes more and more of this important hub, that there's a tradeoff there.

1:08:09 That you don't have a small-town vibe that like with Saton. Bangkok Pat does a great... we come back up here. Bangkok Pat does a... well, it's not what I was looking for, but close enough. He does a great video on Saton. He released it; he actually walked by my apartment.

1:08:30 I'll throw his name down here in the chat because he's probably my favorite. Oh, that was... let me see if I can delete that. I was not intending to. Okay, yeah, retracted that. Bangkok Pat, so that's his name. He's one of my favorite Thailand YouTubers.

1:08:55 But he shows where Saton, like the neighborhood was divided up into plots, and like back in the day before it was super developed. And it does have a little bit more of that small-town vibe, but the development of Bangkok was so rapid that, yeah, that's a fair point.

1:09:23 As far as the quiet part of the city, like I said, I'd say the outskirts of the city are a good option. I'd also say, you know, this is somewhat of a compromise, but looking at some of the buildings around Lumini Park or Benjakitti Park, where you're not quite in a quiet area, but you are able to enjoy the green space in Lumini. You are able to enjoy the green space in Benjakitti Park.

1:09:54 I found them to be wonderful. If there's one thing I regret about staying in Saton is it was like probably 30-45 minutes to get to Lumini or Benjakitti. But a lot of people, and I noticed a ton of foreigners in these parks too, where they're thinking like you are, Tony, they were craving that green space.

1:10:17 I wanted to make it down to the Green Lung, I didn't because I got COVID, and that was not fun. But here's the Green Lung, so this is like a botanical park, but even then, you know, it's just there's limited space there. So it's probably not the best place for somebody looking to kind of have a laid-back atmosphere.

1:10:42 To be honest, like I did feel worn out after three months in Bangkok. It's just... it's many more people than what I'm used to. Growing up in a smaller city or a medium-sized city, I idealized the big city as these places that were happening.

1:11:01 You know, like I mentioned New York and LA as being originators of culture, but that was just because I didn't live in those cities. When I actually spent more time in those cities and I got to talking to people from New York or LA, I found out some people really don't like living in New York, some people really don't like living in LA.

1:11:18 It's a choice of necessity for work, for their career, maybe their education or their family is from there, but they don't want to live in those cities either. But it's just out of necessity, and so they would almost envy some people like us who could choose to live elsewhere.

1:11:35 And we're more accustomed to living elsewhere. I found throughout my journeys, the cities that I've really enjoyed the most are the cities that are similar in size to my hometown, like one to two million people, because they're most comparable in level of development to what I'm accustomed to.

1:11:57 I'm not used to this gridlock traffic, sitting in a car for two, three hours, being able to walk faster than traffic, crowding onto a bus where it's standing room only, crowding onto a train where it's standing room only. I'm used to being able to just hop in the...

1:12:14 I'm used to being able to just hop in the car and get across town in 30 minutes. I'm used to being able to have some level of convenience, like some nice places to eat in my neighborhood. But not having the experience of everybody in this city passing through my neighborhood because I'm on a main arterial road, and this is the only way people can get home is to drive through my neighborhood. And that can just kind of wear on you where you're like, okay, who are my neighbors? Are my neighbors my immediate neighbors, or are half the people in the city my neighbors?

1:12:55 You know, living in Sathorn, there's a motorbike taxi stand, there's a local market oriented toward locals, and they were very confused to see me. I saw very few foreigners in Sathorn, especially away from the BTS. Like here in Sathorn, if you're near the BTS, you'll see more foreigners. A lot of them stay in, like I said, the really tall skyscrapers. But this cemetery, for example, is considered the most haunted space in Bangkok according to a lot of people.

1:13:55 I went to the cemetery there and didn't see very many foreigners back here. This neighborhood, I think it's called Yen Akat Village. So a lot of the people in this neighborhood don't really need English, so you're not going to really be able to communicate well with people. That can add to the isolation where you're not seeing businesses catering to tourists. And so if you're expecting to use some English, you're not going to really see that. If you're expecting some Western-style or international food, you're not going to see much of that back here. And it's very much residential as opposed to commercial or somewhere in between.

1:14:50 Big Lance says, "Good luck over there. Peace from Poland." Thank you so much, Big Lance. I really appreciate your kind words. I've never been to Poland, but it's definitely on the list. I know there's a channel, Where's West, and he's actually Filipino American, so his family is from the Philippines, but he grew up in LA and he's living in Poland right now. He actually spent about six months in Southeast Asia and said that he felt like it was just too chill.

1:15:19 Southeast Asia is a great place to relax, kick back, enjoy a cold smoothie, but he felt like it was harder to get motivated to get things done here because the lifestyle here is so comfortable. Because he can just chill out, the cost of living is the lowest in the world, I would say. As far as cost of living versus quality of life, Southeast Asia is impossible to beat. I'm a fan of Latin America, but there's no getting around it, it's not as economical.

1:15:53 So if you're wanting some pressure to produce, then it's a little bit harder here because you can get away with living on $800 to $1,200 a month. You're going to have a harder time getting by on that amount in much of Latin America or Eastern Europe, probably Eastern Europe more so than Latin America. I did find that Cusco, I could live on that amount. There's probably some other places like Arequipa in Peru could probably pull that off.

1:16:26 But I think you still need to be a bit more mindful. In part, because, like I said, Spanish is an easier language for people coming from English. So for me, the easier I can communicate with people, the more likely I am to spend money because it just reduces the friction there as far as spending money goes. But I do miss Latin America. I'd like to get back over there. I'm not sure when that will happen.

1:16:56 It may be a few years in the future. But yeah, Tony, I know we've talked a lot about your interest in Latin America, and in line with what you've said, it seems like Latin America will offer more of what you're looking for. And, you know, it's also closer to your home country. I know that you're from Canada, and if you're looking to maybe go back and forth, maybe have some investments or friends or family that kind of thing back home, then to get there from Latin America is going to be a lot faster than from Southeast Asia.

1:17:30 Like if you're trying to get to Canada from Southeast Asia, you're looking at like, probably a 12-hour flight minimum to Vancouver, and then another several-hour flight from there.

1:17:49 Yeah, Poland is interesting, Big Lance. I'd love to learn more about your experiences in Poland. Curious about the visa situation. It seems like the visa there may be more advantageous than Western Europe because I know it's really popular among digital nomads. Yeah, Poland seems like an interesting place. And I'm not sure if you're still watching, Big Lance, so feel free to chime in like what your favorite activities are there. If there's like museums that you're into, maybe there's some cultural events you participated in. Just curious to know more about it because I haven't been to that part of Europe.

1:18:31 Tony asks, "Do you have a balcony?" That's always a plus to look for for introverts. You can be in part of the city without having to be right in it. I like the way you use Google Maps, zooming in and out to get a feel of a place. Thanks so much, Tony. I think Google Maps is a fantastic tool. It's so underrated, and it's just so helpful.

1:18:54 But yeah, so I do have a rooftop. I don't have a balcony here. I have a nice big window. It's kind of hard to see, but I'll show you guys. Yeah, you can see there, I've got the curtains drawn. I like to keep them drawn, especially during the day, to keep the heat down and to help keep the room cool. But beautiful balcony or not, beautiful big windows there. But if I want more of an open-air kind of experience, then I'll go up to the rooftop.

1:19:28 And there's a beautiful roof. I try to take some pictures up there, but my iPhone was trying to throw up the flash, and they're kind of blurry. I will, I should have recorded the fireworks with my Osmo Pocket. I will go up there with my Osmo Pocket and show a bit of the rooftop because it's a gorgeous view of the skyline, and you really get a better sense of the city when you are up there. And I don't think it's super popular for people to go up there aside from during the fireworks show.

1:20:08 It seems like a lot of people in my building, anyway, are pretty busy and they don't have as much time to enjoy the rooftop. But yeah, I think it's a great way to enjoy the city. Some of my favorite times in Bangkok have been on some rooftops, and I think it's such a cool way to experience the city where you kind of close off some of the stimuli, some of the input, and you can clear your mind. You can focus.

Hoi An and Pattaya Experiences

1:20:46 Something I do really like about this apartment is this greenery. They just kind of included it, but you can see I've got these plants. Yeah, it looks like bamboo, and I'm not sure what that is, but it really adds to the fresh feeling here. There's some others too in the apartment, but I really like that they include that. It's a really fresh feeling city, if that's... I'm not sure the best way to put it, but it's uplifting. There's definitely like an uplifting vibe here.

1:21:35 The other place that I want to see, well, I didn't actually, I pulled up Hoi An, but I didn't really talk about it. Oh, I did talk about it a little bit. It's Hoi An, so this is like probably 45 minutes south of where I'm at right now, maybe 30 minutes south. And it's supposed to be pretty touristic, but you've got this old style kind of thing where they preserved a lot of the older buildings, and you can see the way that this area probably looked like maybe 50 years ago, maybe 75 years ago.

1:22:09 Let's show that actually. So you see like the old style development and design. You see the lady looks like she's paddling some kind of boat that looks identical to the boats I see in the harbor here. So there's like, I don't know if it's kind of a harbor. People go fishing, they catch all these small fish, and then they leave them out in these big pots to dry. It looks like a similar boat to what those folks are using.

1:22:44 Jake also recommended I check out Hoi An, and so I'll probably do that, probably next weekend. I'll look into it this week and try to plan it out and go down there for a day.

1:23:29 It's one of those places people seem to love or hate. It's not a place that people feel neutral on. And I guess you could say that about any place, but some people, they love Hoi An because they get this old-school kind of feeling. You see the beautiful buildings that are more traditional there. You feel, I guess the word is transported to some extent. Now, this looks a bit newer, this doesn't look as traditional.

1:24:00 And then others feel like it's maybe a bit more touristic than what they're looking for. They feel like it's kind of geared toward entertaining people as opposed to catering to people living there. Like I did some research on what it would be like to live there, and some suggested, well, you will have a lot of tourism in the city. You'll be running into a lot of people that are kind of transient. They're coming down to Hoi An for a day or maybe a weekend and then they're heading out.

1:24:37 And so they feel like then, you know, it's not, it may the city may struggle to cater to long-term stays. I'm willing to give it a shot. You know, I'm willing to check it out and share my honest opinion about it. I feel that way about most cities, regardless of the reputation. I mean, when I went down to Pattaya, I heard either that Pattaya was the best place on Earth or the worst place on Earth.

1:25:04 I felt like it was okay. There's some things I really liked about it. I liked the Terminal 21 mall. I liked, I don't know how to explain it, it's just such a unique place. Pattaya is just such a unique place, very strange in some ways. I don't know, it might be one of the strangest places I've ever been, and I could see why some people don't like it. But I was like, huh, you know, there's a lot...

1:25:30 But I was like, you know, there's a lot of good food here. There's a lot of modern conveniences. There's also kind of an underbelly there that might rub people the wrong way. It's certainly not for everyone, but yeah, I'm willing to give most places a shot.

Da Nang Traffic and Developing Infrastructure

1:25:51 Hey from Bangkok, what's up? I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to meet up with you. I ended up running into some health issues in my last few weeks in Bangkok. I got COVID and then had like an ankle issue, and so I was laying in bed up until a day or two before I left Bangkok.

1:26:21 So I think you may have been the person that reached out like, 'Hey, let's meet up in Bangkok.' So, hope we can do a rain check there and link up again in the future. But yeah, I'm here in Da Nang settling in and it's great. I do want to get some water because my throat is dry.

1:26:59 Tony says, 'Yes, that was a great way to describe the benefits of a balcony, closing off the stimuli. I will use that phrase from now on.' I mean, the way you just described balconies, well, thank you so much, Tony. Yeah, there is an element of exclusivity to some of the rooftops in Bangkok.

1:27:16 I mean, I went to a rooftop with some friends six months ago, I think this was in January. I was there to extend my visa. I was living, I think I was living in Chiang Mai at the time, and my friend said, 'Hey, let's go check out this rooftop.' I don't know if it was a rooftop, it was like on the 44th floor of this building and they had a nice deck area.

1:27:46 So at that coffee shop, you know, the drinks are you're paying a premium. So the coffee was like 250 baht, which is pretty expensive for a coffee in Thailand. This is like seven bucks, something like that, $7 in change. But you're paying for the view, right? And because you get this beautiful view of the skyline, and you're also paying for the exclusivity.

1:28:13 So you're not packed in there, you've got really comfortable furniture, plenty of seating, nice Wi-Fi, and you can really relax. Some places in Thailand are so busy with people, it can be tough to have a conversation, right?

1:28:33 So to me, like the $7 is well worth it. I'm like, yeah, okay, it's expensive for coffee, but I'm really paying for this peace and quiet in the middle of a city of 15 million people where space is in extremely high demand.

1:28:46 And most businesses cater to either lots of people paying a low price or a few people paying a high price. I'm willing to pay a high price. And this isn't about Bangkok, I'll speak about San Francisco here in this instance, but I went to a really nice Michelin star restaurant in San Francisco for my birthday a couple of years ago.

1:29:07 The price was around $300, and I had a bunch of credit card points saved up, so I paid much less than that. I think when I used up my points, I ended up spending $80. So it was a really nice restaurant, one of the nicest meals I've ever had in my life.

1:29:27 But it was my 30th birthday, I wanted to really just treat myself and go out and enjoy something nice. And a former friend of mine, somebody I reconnected with at the time, was like, 'Oh, I would never go there. I would never spend that kind of money.'

1:29:45 And I was like, 'Man, I'm paying that because there's a lot of people in San Francisco I don't want to eat dinner with.' There's a lot of people in San Francisco that I'd rather not spend time with. And when you're paying that kind of price, you're not paying for the people you're going to be around as much as you're also paying for the people you're not going to be around.

1:30:06 So like if I go to McDonald's in SF and like there's people wigging out and people melting down, that's not a very fun experience. Would I do that? Yeah, I've been to McDonald's in SF. I'm not too good for McDonald's, but there's times when I don't want that experience.

1:30:27 That's not a critique of Bangkok. I haven't found that situation in Bangkok. It's more just a matter of like, people are going to have their conversations, they're going to be lively, they're going out with their friends in Bangkok, they want to have a good time.

1:30:40 And sometimes you just want to have a quiet cup of coffee with your friends, take in the city, process your experience, digest the foods you had. The stimuli in any megacity can just be overwhelming. I've had similar feelings in New York City.

1:31:00 When I visited New York City last time, about 10 years ago, I remember going out to a bar with my girlfriend at the time. We ordered our drinks, and immediately the bartender says, 'You know, there's an expectation of tipping.' And I'm thinking, wow, like I'm used to bars back in Nashville. I order a drink and I relax, I enjoy it, maybe 15, 20 minutes, maybe 30 minutes, I order another, and then at the end of the night, I tab out and I tip then.

1:31:38 It's not just this transactional thing. In New York City, she's thinking, 'You're here for one drink, you better tip as soon as you get your drink because you might disappear out the door and then I don't get my expected compensation.'

1:31:48 So that kind of put a damper on the experience. Because my girlfriend at the time was a bartender herself, so she was surprised because in Nashville, she wouldn't bring that kind of attitude to somebody. But I get it, it's an expensive city, people are hustling, trying to get ahead, they've got stuff to do.

1:32:11 But yeah, big cities can be very overstimulating for introverts. GMM says, 'Ah, Da Nang is a good place. Vietnam overall is good and the food is fantastic. Only thing I never get used to is the traffic in all the major cities, and I've been driving a scooter in Bangkok many years.'

1:32:29 Yeah, the traffic here is wild. Definitely had a few close calls. It's something to get used to. I keep my head on a swivel when I'm riding my pedal bicycle around, constantly double, triple, quadruple checking because sometimes people are driving in the wrong direction.

1:32:53 Sometimes the streets will fill up because you'll have buses and somebody will be parked in the street, and there will be a bus coming from the other direction. So one bus drives around in the wrong lane, and so all of a sudden it gets locked up. And then there's motorbike drivers piling up behind them, and so then those people start driving on the sidewalks to try to get around the buses.

1:33:17 I actually got hit, fortunately not hard, and I was more of a surprise than anything else. But I was on the sidewalk just staring at these buses playing chicken. One decides, 'Okay, I'm going to back up,' but of course, the motorbikes get tired of that. So this motorbike comes flying around onto the sidewalk and bumps into me.

1:33:39 And I yell out like, 'What are you doing, dude?' And he's like, 'Oh, sorry, sorry.' He even said it in English. But that was my welcome to Vietnam moment. I get it, it's a developing country, it's rapidly developing. They're quite literally building the city and trying to sort out the flow of traffic and the infrastructure.

Saigon Traffic and Long-Term Asia Plans

1:33:58 But it's a major adjustment. I'm not a motorbike rider, I just didn't grow up on it, and I struggled to adjust to it. So that's something that was a real shock. And I think it's even more extreme in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. It's yeah, some of the wildest traffic I've ever experienced.

1:34:45 I guess that's, yeah, out of 20 countries or close to it, I think Vietnam has some of the wildest traffic. Tony says, 'Have to step out for a bit. Looking forward to your next update.' Well, thank you so much, Tony. I hope you have a wonderful day. So great to chat and catch up, and yeah, I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a great week ahead.

1:35:09 GMM says, 'How to cross the road in Vietnam for dummies: Close your eyes, pray, walk, and hope nobody hits you.' Yeah, I mean, you have to kind of just force your way through. And one tip I heard, and this is like, I still don't fully understand it, they were like, 'Don't make eye contact. If you make eye contact, then people will assume they can go.'

1:35:38 And so you have to like, not make eye contact. And I'm like, that's the opposite of a lot of places I go to. I'm trying to make eye contact with the driver because if we see each other, then they register that I'm there. But here, it's like you just have to push your way through, and the flow is confusing.

1:35:54 One thing that I've tried to do that's helped me somewhat is that I wait for a Vietnamese driver to go through, and I try to ride side by side with them, parallel or right behind them. Because that way, I feel like they know the traffic a lot better than I do, and they're able to navigate the situation more effectively.

1:36:18 I have been cut off. You know, I feel like the regular pedal bicycle is the lowest in the tier. And so I have been cut off and had to stop because a bus is like right beside me, and there's also a car parked in the road, and so there's not really much space there. So I've tried to be more patient and tried to remind myself, hey, this beats walking. If I were to do all these trips by walking, I'd never get anything done.

1:36:54 Walking an hour here, an hour there in the city. So it's been an exercise in patience. But then sometimes you just got to go because there's people behind you, there's people to the left of you, people to the right of you, people coming in the wrong direction.

1:37:09 The roundabouts, there's a few roundabouts here in Da Nang that can really, you're just like, okay, grip the handlebars and just go for it, right? And understand that people are going to just fly through the.

1:37:29 Going to just fly through the intersection sometimes. So yeah, it's, uh, it's wild. But yeah, GMM, I definitely, there's been a few times where I'm like, okay, prayers, like, just hope I make it. Hope I make it there. The worst I've experienced so far has been rush hour, to be fair, during the day. Not terrible later in the evening, not terrible. But during rush hour here, even though Dang is not a mega city by any means, that's when I've seen it seem to be the wildest, the most intense, or the most pushy. That's when people are trying to get home from work. You've also got the tourism traffic on top of that.

1:38:24 Jared says welcome. Jared, by the way, I don't know if I've seen your name on here before, but thanks so much for joining us. The big cities of Asia are overstimulating, yet the suburbs of the West are understimulating. Yeah, I totally agree, Jared. I mean, it's a tradeoff. I don't look at anywhere as better than the other. I know some people will ask me, what cities do you not like, or what cities do you like? To me, it's all about tradeoffs. I have my preferences, but I don't think any one place is better than the other.

1:38:55 But I think it's a tradeoff where in the West, you know, in the suburbs, like I grew up part of the time in the suburbs, you know, it's boring. Like it is, and there are few places more boring on Earth than a suburb in a Western democracy because that's what they're designed for. That's what they're designed for people that, uh, they probably saved up a bit, they probably had a longer career, they're looking to chill out, maybe they're, you know, a bit older, maybe they inherited that home in the suburbs.

1:39:31 And it's, uh, yeah, you just feel bored, right? Like it's designed to be boring. The experience in the Western suburb is designed to be boring and predictable. Go to the grocery store, go to the post office, handle your errands in town, and then you drive back to your house and you stay in your box for the rest of the night, right? You're, you know, it's designed for you to not have a lot of unexpected experiences. It's supposed to be very, very predictable.

1:40:08 And I think all humans need both. We need certainty and we need uncertainty. And too much of one stresses people out. I think too much certainty can lead people toward kind of sadness, and too much uncertainty can make people feel a bit anxious. So I feel a bit sad and bored when I'm in the suburbs in Western democracies. The United States is the one I have the experience with, where it's like, wow, like in my hometown, especially has been kind of turned into, it was always this way, but even more so in the last 5, 10 years, into a community for people to go and retire in.

1:40:47 So you can imagine, like, there's just not much going on after dark. Most of the businesses close at like 9 PM. And it's, you know, the cops come out in full force and they're keeping an eye on people. They're trying to stop people, pull people over for no reason. This is in the United States, and they don't want you to have a good time. So it's like, not only does the layout of the suburb contribute to just not doing much, but also the people that live there want to filter and select for people who also don't want to really do a whole lot.

1:41:33 Contrast this with the big cities of Asia, where it's just like all out, you know, in your face, unapologetic, wild neon lights everywhere, people zooming by on motorbikes. You could smell 10,000 different smells, many of which are pleasant, and some of which are not so pleasant. You've got people barking out what they're selling. It's a really strong contrast. And that's part of the beauty of life is experiencing those contrasts.

1:42:05 Because there's times when I miss those Western suburbs. There's times where I'm like, oh my God, traffic here is just, I thought traffic was bad in my hometown. No, traffic here is a whole another level. So it's all about the balance and appreciating being able to have both experiences in life and having these experiences that are so opposite, perpendicular to one another.

1:42:33 GMM, a scooter goes around you. Cars don't they? Hopefully. Yeah, most of the cars do stop. I'll give them credit, there are a lot of them that do stop and try to, like, nobody wants to hurt somebody. Most people don't want to hurt anybody else. So, I think they don't get as much credit as they deserve.

1:42:59 Rush hour in Saigon is the most intensive I've seen. I've been here in Asia 15 years working and traveling around. I saw a video from Robin, a channel I've followed off and on. He recently did a trip in Southeast Asia, he's from New Zealand, and the videos he showed of Saigon, I'm just like, wow, that is perhaps the most intense video of any city in Asia. And I've been to a lot of the big Asian cities, like many of the big cities in Japan, Singapore, and all the big cities in Thailand, of course, the largest city in Cambodia.

1:43:57 And it's just a whole another level. It's so intense, like you really got to have some strong guts to be able to navigate it. And I think he did get worn out after a few weeks, which I can imagine coming from New Zealand, which is a fairly limited population country, to like Saigon, which has probably tripled the people of the entire country of New Zealand. Live in Saigon, I think Saigon's around like 15 million people. Well, that was five years ago, 9 million. But yeah, even 9 million, that's like double the population of New Zealand.

1:44:39 And so I could see why somebody coming from a less densely populated country would be super overwhelmed by that. I'll definitely keep what you said in mind about Saigon, GMM, because it's appealing. I know my grandfather spent some time there after the Vietnam situation. He was in the military and he spent a lot of time in Saigon, and he loved it. He absolutely loved it, but this was a long time ago when Saigon was not nearly as densely populated.

1:45:15 And he really had a great time, and it was a time for him to let off steam after doing his job and that situation. And I'd like to kind of follow in some of his footsteps and see some of the places that he might have seen. Of course, many of them have changed a lot since then, but I'm sure there's museums. I know Jake mentioned he saw, he's been to some museums here, not here in Dang, but in Hanoi. And that's something I'd like to do as well, to learn about the history.

1:45:55 Yeah, back then it was bicycles. I wish we could go back to that to some extent, but it's not nearly as efficient. To be fair, not nearly as much would get done. People would not be able to get to work, right? Like if you live 20, 30 minutes away from the city on a bicycle, it's just not as efficient. But I do dream of that at times.

1:46:27 But yeah, I'm interested, you know, to learn more about your experiences. It's impressive that you've been here in Asia for 15 plus years and you've been working. That's sort of a dream of mine, to be honest with you, is to have some kind of situation. I don't know exactly how I'd approach that. Part of me has thought, why don't I apply to the MBA program at INSEAD? INSEAD is in Singapore, because I know getting a degree from there.

1:47:04 Now, I don't know if I'd get in. I'm not the most spectacular candidate in the world, but just trying to sort out like some way to move here to Asia long term. I've been over here for about a year now, and I could see myself staying for another year, but I'd like to chart a path toward having a career in this part of the world.

1:47:23 Because, yeah, I mean, I think there's a lot to unpack there, but I think Asia's part of the future. Just a lot of these Asian countries seem like they're on the up and up. There's this sense of optimism I feel over here. People feel like tomorrow is going to be better than today. Of course, the safety factor, I feel far safer in Asia than I do in the United States.

Life in Southeast Asia and Future Videos

1:47:48 There's also the cuisine. I grew up on Asian food in America, and Asian food in Asia is like a whole new level. It just agrees with my system a lot better. Also, the culture, I mean, I just feel more at home here in Southeast Asia than I do back in the States. I have some wonderful friends back in the States, of course, I speak English, so I'm able to communicate with people effectively.

1:48:17 But I never really, what's the word? I didn't really grow up around a lot of Asian people. I grew up in Nashville, and back when I grew up in Nashville, there's just not that many Asian people. A lot of my Asian friends, if I'm being totally transparent, they went to college and then bounced off to the West Coast, or bounced off to the East Coast, or bounced down to Texas. They got out of there.

1:48:40 So that's not to trash my hometown, but it's something that there's just less friction there. And it's not just people of that background, it's also people that have an affinity for this part of the world. Which clearly, there's lots of people from around the world that love being in this part of the world and they want to spend time here. And so that's kind of part of my long-term plan. I'd like to sort out a way to live here in Southeast Asia long term.

1:49:14 It's, I like it a lot. You know, the heat does take some adjusting to, but there's just so much to like about it. There's so much to like about it. I haven't gotten tired of it. I thought I might have gotten tired of it, but I haven't gotten tired of it. I was anticipating, ah, you know, I wouldn't mind going back to the States for a few weeks or a month.

1:49:36 Or a month to see people that I miss and to get some errands done. I already know that if and when I go back, there's going to be the thought in the back of my mind, 'I can't wait to get back to Asia.' Because day-to-day life here has so many conveniences. It's been shocking to me; people are like, 'How are you going to adapt to living over there?' And here, in many ways, it feels more convenient than living back home.

1:50:13 Ibrahim asks for advice for Hanoi. Hello, Ibrahim, nice to meet you. I haven't been to Hanoi, so I can't provide advice for it, unfortunately. I have heard it's the cultural capital of Vietnam and that you have a lot of options for museums.

1:50:37 Let me pull up Hanoi. You've got Hoan Kiem Lake. Harold Baler, a big YouTuber, is in Vietnam right now and ate at a restaurant along the lake. This is a very popular place for people to walk around and check out. I would say there's also the tunnels museum, though I think that might be in South Vietnam.

1:51:09 There are definitely some museums in Hanoi that you might enjoy. Oh, the Hanoi Opera House looks cool; this might be a place to check out. It's ornate, gorgeous, and they really put a lot of work into it. The Temple of Literature is also a Confucian Temple and very beautiful.

1:51:50 I would check out the temples and museums. Let's see what else we've got here. Another temple and a pagoda. This pagoda is on the lake. You might even be able to do a Red River cruise, similar to what I've done in Phnom Penh. River cruises are really nice in Southeast Asia, and many offer a buffet.

1:52:31 I'm not a drinker myself, but I do like smoothies and juices, and they offered some of that on a river cruise in Phnom Penh. That was a highlight of my time there, and that's saying a lot because it's an incredible city. I'd recommend checking out those things and, of course, the malls.

1:52:53 I'm just a fan of malls in Southeast Asia in general; it's a great place to cool off. Hanoi is very busy and pretty Chinese in mindset, with a cold weather vibe. The food is amazing.

1:53:22 What I've heard a lot is that internationally speaking, and more specifically in the States, most exposure to Vietnamese cuisine is from the south. My Vietnamese American friends are all from the south, so their families originated from Southern Vietnam. That's where a lot of people are surprised when they go to the north because they're expecting Southern Vietnamese cuisine.

1:54:21 They're getting something very different; the north has its own style that's quite different from the south. Vietnamese in Ho Chi Minh City often think people in Hanoi are rude and more reserved. I've read that online; there are some differences there, and it's important to be mindful of them.

1:54:53 I am focused on exiting out of Ho Chi Minh City because I worry that if I try to do all three in one trip, it would be rushed. People have a great time in both cities. You do have to be more cautious about touts and petty scams in Hanoi, though I can't speak from personal experience.

1:55:35 There are advantages to both places, but I'll probably wind down here in the next five minutes. My voice is starting to go, and I've got some videos to work on tomorrow.

1:55:58 Living in Southeast Asia is really interesting. You can spend $10 a day or $10,000 a day; it's all up to you. I totally agree; it's mind-blowing to me how accessible it is. If you want to sit on a small stool and eat a $2 bowl of noodles, you can do that. If you want to go to a high-end dinner and spend $1,000, you can do that too, and everything in between.

1:56:34 If you want to take a weekend trip, say to Bangkok, you could spend $50-$100 each way and be on a flight a few hours later in a totally different country with a different language, atmosphere, culture, and way of life. You have so much variety in the region at all different price points.

1:57:05 I found that I have my favorite, but it's very accessible to go see and do other things. My flight from Bangkok to here in Da Nang was equivalent to $60, or 2,000 Baht. It was $55 to go to a totally different country, city, and vibe. I'm really enjoying Vietnam; I'm still peeling back the layers of the onion.

1:57:34 It seems like a place where you can come on a low budget and enjoy yourself. You're not going to go hungry, and you'll have a place to stay and get around. But if you want to go all out on the luxury side, stay in a nice place, travel in style, go on a big shopping spree, or have fine dining, it's incredible in that way.

1:58:17 The scale of options is hard to beat; I think it's really unique in that way. Feel free to chime in with any last thoughts or questions. I think I'm going to be winding down shortly because my voice is starting to go. I do have a video I'm working on editing, and I may need to refilm parts of it.

1:58:41 Sometimes I get off track when I'm making a video and go off on a tangent, not sticking to the topic. I feel like I start rambling, and I've got to cut that out and get my mind back on track.

1:59:02 It's called 'Why Do People Judge You for Going to Thailand?' That came to mind because it's something I've noticed. I've definitely faced some judgment for living in Thailand for a year, and I don't think that's going to stop. It's just part of the reality; people have their perceptions.

1:59:34 Jake said something interesting to me: my channel right now is a little bit about expat apologetics. I feel like a lot of people who live in other parts of the world get flak, blowback, disrespect, and condescension. I want to come up with some support for people experiencing that because it's a recurring theme I keep noticing.

2:00:04 I want people to feel like they're not alone. GMM says it's 1 AM, so time to sleep. Have a good night. Thanks so much, GMM. Yeah, I had a solid workout today and biked a bunch. I'm thrilled to be getting back into exercise, and Vietnam is super convenient for getting into shape.

2:00:26 The food here is light, and the gyms are everywhere. There's a big fitness community here, which I wasn't expecting but is really refreshing. Jared says he watched many of my videos and concurs with many of the thoughts expressed. Hope to see more soon. Thanks.

2:00:48 Thank you so much, Jared. I really appreciate your support and I'm glad you've enjoyed these videos. I'm continuously trying to improve my craft, get better at editing, and have better lighting, while avoiding repeating myself to maximize the value of your time.

2:01:09 R says the West is full of haters. Yeah, it's unfortunately true. I notice more and more people are dissatisfied with their lives in the West; they feel like things were promised to keep getting better, but in the US, it seems like it's kind of going downhill in some ways. People don't know what to make of it.

2:01:37 They thought that every generation would live better than the one before, and that's not the case with Millennials. I think generations after me, even younger people, have even more discontent. You see a lot of these issues, and I think there's this existential crisis facing a lot of young people in Western democracies where they don't have a strong sense of hope or optimism for the future.

2:02:11 It's really sad. I notice people seem stressed out; when I talk to people back home, they just seem on edge.

2:02:26 People just seem on edge. They're struggling with bills, they're struggling with like a lot. It's shocking. I mean, it's weird because I grew up in the 90s, and there was just like, 'Oh yeah, things are going to be awesome, and the future is going to be awesome.' And now here I am in the future, and people are unhappy, they're frustrated, they feel like they've been sold a bill of goods.

2:02:56 I don't know what to make of it, but I'm going to try to narrate it and talk about it as much as I can. I want to add to the discussion, contribute my piece, my experiences, and give a platform to people like you that can share in the discussion section. Hey, this is my feeling about it, this has been my experience, this has been my observation.

2:03:20 Thank you so much, everyone, for joining. I really appreciate all of you watching. If you're watching the replay and you're not a subscriber, subscribe to the channel down below. You can catch a lot of different videos that I'm putting out. You can join us for streams, though sometimes I'm not the best at announcing them in advance.

2:03:41 Also, if you're watching the replay, give us a thumbs up. It helps to distribute the video to more people. Thanks so much, everyone. I hope all of you have a good night if you are over in this part of the world. If you are back home, then I hope you have a good day, and we'll see you soon.