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Personal wealth creation and financial independence can be achieved by understanding and applying principles of leverage and scale, which are often more accessible and rewarding when pursued in regions with lower costs of living and different economic opportunities, such as Southeast Asia.
The livestream discusses principles of wealth creation, emphasizing leverage and scale as key drivers, applicable across different countries. The host shares personal experiences and observations about opportunities in Southeast Asia, contrasting them with the US. He highlights how technology serves as a powerful form of leverage, enabling content creators to serve a large audience with minimal marginal cost, which is crucial for building wealth.
The conversation then delves into specific locations like Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Spain, and Portugal, comparing their unique characteristics, opportunities, and living experiences. The host notes that while many Thais move to larger cities like Bangkok or Pattaya for better economic prospects, international travelers find diverse cultural experiences and varying degrees of development across these regions. He expresses a particular fondness for cities like Phnom Penh and Kuala Lumpur for their distinct vibes and convenience.
Further discussions cover financial independence goals, with the host outlining a target of $2,000 per month to live comfortably in Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines, while also aiming to build an online business. The challenges and rewards of integrating into new societies are explored, including building social circles, navigating dating apps, and understanding cultural nuances. The host also touches upon the impact of external factors like natural disasters and infrastructure on life in certain regions, and the global influence of personal networks on earning potential.
Wealth creation in Southeast Asia is about leveraging and scaling your efforts to serve more people, rather than just working harder. This approach is highly effective in regions with lower costs of living and unique economic opportunities.
Achieving financial independence in Southeast Asia involves understanding principles of leverage and scale, often facilitated by technology. The lower cost of living allows for comfortable living on a smaller income, making it easier to reach financial goals.
Southeast Asia offers significant opportunities for wealth building due to its lower cost of living and distinct economic dynamics compared to Western countries. This environment makes principles of leverage and scale more impactful for personal financial growth.
Key takeaways for wealth building abroad include understanding that your income is tied to how many people you serve, not just your effort. Building strong social networks and leveraging technology are also crucial for expanding earning potential.
Leverage is fundamental to wealth creation as it allows you to multiply your impact and reach. By serving a larger audience, often through technology, you can increase your earnings significantly without a proportional increase in personal effort.
Challenges for living abroad in Asia can include navigating cultural differences, building social circles, and understanding external factors like infrastructure or natural disasters. However, these are often outweighed by the opportunities for financial independence and wealth creation.
0:04 Hey, hey. Okay, there we go. It looks like I'm getting, uh, it looks like I'm on. Great. Okay, so the audio, I'm definitely getting some feedback here in the bottom bar. My apologies here, still new to this live stream setup.
0:59 Hey, can you hear me? Let me know if you can hear me. It appears that I'm using the built-in mic right now. So I'll just give people a few minutes to jump back on and totally understand if it's not a good time now. Yeah, really disappointing. I'll have to work on that.
1:36 Hey, okay, great. Thank you so much. Okay, great. DH CM, yeah, I'm running it through my laptop mic, which, uh, I don't even know why I'm wearing my headphones. Nobody's talking back to me. So, um, great. Okay, great. Yeah, I'm glad to hear that.
1:51 You mentioned asking Thai students about their haircut. You know, it's challenging because I think the English is limited. I don't really want to, um, you know, I have some concern about filming people under the age of 18. I just think that it's, you know, there's some potential repercussions there and obviously to respect their parents. So I'm not sure if I'd be doing that.
2:58 You might try the more human side of being a blogger, a British vlogger vlogs about how he's struggling with his partner and raising their son. He reads other stories but also his own. Yeah, you know, telling stories would be good.
3:12 And I think that, you know, if I'm being honest, I do have a lot of interesting stories from my time here. That's something I should talk about more just because I've had a lot of interesting experiences and seen a lot of stuff over here that's really different from what I'm used to in the United States. And where I'm at too is like the polar opposite of where I am in the States, just, you know, 12-hour time zone difference, so on the other side of the planet entirely, and it feels that way. It certainly feels that way in mostly pleasant ways. I love being in this part of the world, and I think the people are part of what make it interesting.
3:54 You know, I will say, I think that the people are different here in Hat Yai. You see an interesting mix. There's a lot more people who are of Chinese descent here in Hat Yai, similar to Bangkok. I, in Chiang Mai, I found it was much more like Lanna people, also people from Myanmar, people from Lao. More people from Myanmar, I think Myanmar has got a larger population, but Laos is definitely on my list.
4:25 I've heard that it's very popular to go to Laos for a visa run from Vietnam. So people who are staying in Vietnam who need to exit the country and come back in, they have like a bus service from Hanoi and probably also from Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City that will take you to Laos, and then you come back. And so that might be cool, like head over there for a day, check it out.
4:50 I have a buddy, I can't remember his name, I think he's in Arizona these days, but I met him when I was in Chiang Mai six years ago. And he went up to Laos and he said that he enjoyed it. The people were super friendly there. Just at the time, there was just not much development, so there wasn't much to spend money on and there wasn't much to do. But I think for a day, it could be cool.
5:11 I know it's got more of a country atmosphere, probably similar to where I'm from in the United States, especially outside of the city where you have a lot of people that are, you know, they're kind of country people. They're a little bit slower-paced lifestyle. I've heard there's a lot of cool rivers, which is similar to where I'm from in the States. You have a lot of people that enjoy spending time on the river. It's a popular weekend pastime.
5:40 It's really different because while I grew up in the South, I grew up in a city where it's this entertainment capital, and it's almost like growing up in Las Vegas versus growing up in the Nevada desert. Even though they're in the same state, they might only be a couple hours apart, it's a very different atmosphere.
6:02 DH Kim says it doesn't have to be your story. Maybe some stuff you think people will find interesting. Maybe dig up stuff that people don't know about but would be interested in, like how Thais can overcome poverty. Well, I think people in any country can overcome poverty by, uh, basically through leverage. You really need leverage if you want to make a lot of money, and that's really the amplification of your efforts.
6:31 A lot of people think of leverage as debt, but debt is not the only form of leverage. Leverage can be like owning a building, owning a condo. Technology is another form of leverage, like I leverage the YouTube platform to reach a lot of you who can view my stream at one time, and also a lot of views afterwards.
6:49 I was surprised the last stream I did, I think last weekend, it's up to like 200 views. I was shocked that so many people would want to watch the replay, but it's, uh, you know, you and also with technology, the advantage of technology as far as building wealth or creating wealth is that it's, you have no marginal cost of reproduction. So I can make one video and a thousand people can enjoy it. It costs no more for 10,000 people to enjoy it.
7:20 So that's where making related quality content is helpful. And so yeah, and you need scale also. I say it, I think about it a lot in my day-to-day life. You don't get paid based on how hard you work, you get paid based on how many people you serve. And so that's why the wages or the income in tech or engineering are so high, is that you're working on projects that serve lots and lots of people.
7:47 So these are these principles I would say work in any country. You just have to kind of apply them and put a lot of time into it, a lot of effort into it. It's not an overnight process, but it's something that can pay off in time.
8:02 And I do have, like, for Thais, a lot of Thai people moved to Bangkok to find opportunity. Several of my friends in Bangkok came from Chiang Mai or the North. And you can hear similar stories in Pattaya. I would talk to the massage ladies in Pattaya, and universally they would all be from the North, and they're like, 'Well, you know, it's just hard to find work in the North.'
8:26 I even had a dermatologist I knew in Pattaya, and she was really good. And I was talking to her, like, 'Where are you from?' And she was like, 'I'm from Chiang Mai, but I moved to Pattaya to open my clinic because you just have more opportunity in Pattaya to do business.'
8:44 So, um, that's something to think about as well, is just like, you know, a lot of Thai people are already thinking about that and so they'll move to Bangkok or Pattaya because these are some places where you have lots of opportunities with foreign tourists and people bringing in money from around the world, people looking for different kinds of services.
9:07 And in Bangkok, I mean, Bangkok has a solid tech industry. One of my friends works in the tech industry in Bangkok. I'm not going to share too many details about her, but, um, yeah, I mean, there's opportunities in tech in Bangkok, and that's really one of those ways that people can, uh, make a lot of money relative to what they could make say, back in their hometown or in a different industry.
9:41 DH Kim says, 'Yes, Laos and Cambodia get far less attention and in Thailand and the Philippines, but that's probably for a good reason.' I enjoyed Cambodia a lot. I'd love to go back. Honestly, like if we're talking about just for dating, like I found Cambodia to be one of the best countries or places I've ever been for dating. Like I used Tinder in Cambodia. I also met women on the street.
10:06 Like one of my friends in Cambodia, she owns a hotel and a cafe, and she struck up a conversation with me. I met her because her cafe is right next to the Phnom Penh airport, and I really enjoyed it. She served me some Cambodian food, and she's really a sweet person, such a warm person, such a kind person. And I love Cambodia.
10:30 And I also have some friends there, some expat friends that introduced me to it several years ago because I was planning a long trip to Asia five years ago. And I talked to my buddy who works in Phnom Penh. He's like, 'Yeah, come to Phnom Penh. I know you've been to Bangkok, but you should check it out.' I'm like, 'Okay, I'll give it a shot.'
10:52 And he took me to a Malaysian restaurant, which was amazing, man. That food was good, and we just had a blast. We were out partying, and, like, yeah, Phnom Penh is, to me, an underrated city. I know that there's some tragic history there, but I loved the city. I thought it was super cool.
11:16 It just, like I remember getting out of the airport and getting, I got a tuk-tuk. I can't remember how I got to my hotel in the Riverside from the airport, but I remember just going down the street and seeing dogs running, and people on bicycles, and people on tuk-tuks, people on motorbikes, people in extremely high-end cars. Like I remember seeing like a Rolls-Royce in Phnom Penh. I've never seen a Rolls-Royce in my hometown back in the States.
11:46 So you just see this, it's really an eclectic city. It reminded me a lot of New Orleans. That's like the best American comparison. For those who are watching this in the rerun, have you ever been to the city of New Orleans? Phnom Penh reminded me so much of New Orleans. It has that river town feeling, that French influence.
12:07 It's, you know, it just, it's vibrant, it's charming, it's such a cool city. And for me, it's just such a cool city. It's different, you know, it's definitely different from Bangkok. It's got a more modest population, but it's growing rapidly. I mean, when I was there four years ago, I saw tons of construction. I think you still see that today, and the future of Cambodia, I think, is bright.
12:39 It's, I like all the countries in the region. Right, so all the countries I've been to in the region, I look at them as different flavors of the same kind of general vibe, and I found different things that I like about all of them. Are they all the same? No, they're not all the same, but there's so many different interesting people that you meet.
12:58 Interesting people that you meet and people you can talk to and food to have, and architecture. I love the architecture in this region; it's so cool. It looks so different. I think part of it is the concrete. Concrete's extremely expensive in America, and so you just don't see as much being built out of concrete. But here, they produce so much concrete that it just has that, I don't know, otherworldly experience.
13:24 Jinsa asks, "Have you been to Penang, Malaysia?" I've been to KL and I like KL a lot. KL, to me, is I would call KL the most underrated city in the region because it's not a party scene. You do have a party district there, they do have bars there, but because I'm not as much of a party guy, I loved KL.
13:45 And for me too, KL is one of those places that's not as much a place to visit like I would like. I did enjoy my visit; it's a place to live, it's a place to go and be there for a long time because it's very convenient. The public transit is awesome. I was shocked at the public transit; this is so convenient. I like the development, I like the malls everywhere.
14:11 I like the food a lot. I mean, for me, being a Western person, you get a lot of variety there that in a monoculture or a homogeneous country, you're not going to get that extraordinary variety as much. You still have it, but in KL it was like, "Wow, you've got amazing Indian here, you've got amazing Muslim food here, you've got the local Malaysian dishes." You also have, especially in KLCC, you have these massive shopping malls that are serving food from all over the world.
14:42 So it really reminded me a lot of the United States in ways that I liked a lot. Of course, the United States is a former British colony, Malaysia's a former British colony, but I loved Malaysia. I'd be happy to go back there at some point in the future. I'm not sure when that will be, but it's very developed.
14:59 I enjoyed also the Chinatown in Malaysia, liked Petaling Jaya a lot. I like the names too, just like "Bukit" means hill, so it's a very hilly city. It reminds me of my hometown because my hometown is a very hilly city.
15:16 I think some of the people that I've connected the best with have been in this region, have been Malaysian people because they speak really good English. For my Malaysian friends, they both lived in the States, so they actually went to college in the States and they worked different jobs in the States and then they went back to Southeast Asia after they graduated. So we can really connect a lot because we have a lot of shared experiences that I think I may not have as much with some other places.
15:44 Of course, my Thai friends have also either lived in the States or their parents lived in the States for a while, and so there's a lot to connect with. But as far as just shared experience goes, I really liked Malaysia, Malaysian people.
16:00 There was a lot for me to go back to. I want to see Penang in the future. I also want to see Georgetown, which I guess is part of Penang. And there was one other place like Malacca, that's where one of my friends is from. He was like, "You got to go see Malacca." So Malaysia is definitely up there for me.
16:18 DH Kim says, "Have you thought about spending time in Eastern Europe? Some nomads also try that area in Spain, which can be surprisingly cheap for a Western European country." Yeah, so I was in Spain about a year ago and I loved it. I loved Spain. I spent a couple of weeks there, also visited Portugal on that trip.
16:40 Spain is really, really appealing to me. It just, you have warm and friendly people, but it's also very developed. The public transit was very good. I took the train in the country, I also took some buses in the country. People were very friendly and coming up to me and talking to me.
16:57 And there was that shared experience conversation as well. A number of the people I met in Spain had lived in America or had visited America or wanted to move to America. A lot of young people in Spain are struggling with opportunity there just because the youth unemployment rate, it's like one of those commonly talked about things when it comes to Spain.
17:17 But I'll talk about it just because I think it's relevant to this conversation. A lot of them were like, "Man, I really want to try moving to New York or LA because we hear about the opportunity there that's not as common here, especially in the Andalusia region." So I loved Spain, loved the food in Spain, loved the cleanliness. It was very, very clean, almost like a museum in terms of cleanliness and really safe as well. I didn't feel danger.
17:44 Now, I will say when I was in Spain, I pointed out a public park to just some kids I met. I say kids, college-age students. I was just talking to them about this part because I was like, "You know, back in the States, I love going to public parks. They're beautiful, you get some time in nature." And they were like, "No, you don't want to go to that park, that park's not safe." So there's probably that element out there, but I didn't experience it. I felt fine the whole time.
18:15 I'd be happy to go back to Spain. As far as Eastern Europe goes, it's of interest to me as well. I think that, you know, it's definitely intriguing because growing up in the States, I knew some people from Eastern Europe. They warned me not to go. My friends in the States growing up, they said, "You know, be careful."
18:37 I'm not as much of a fan of the extreme cold weather, so that's something that in Eastern Europe, it would be somewhat of a barrier for me. I just don't like the extreme cold as much. So from a weather perspective, that part would not be as appealing to me as say, Spain or Portugal, which are very, very mild weather-wise.
19:13 I was in Spain and Portugal in January and didn't feel cold. It's a little bit chilly and breezy, but I didn't get that sense of like there's going to be a snowstorm here or something like that.
19:30 But yeah, definitely plan to go back to Iberia. And on my way back to the States, I'm trying to plan a tentative route back to America because I have a lot of things I need to handle back there. I'm looking at the different paths, and one path would be through South Korea, which is very appealing. I've not been to South Korea.
19:50 But another path I could take would be to fly to say, like Turkey or to Western Europe, Portugal, Spain, perhaps Greece. So that's kind of what's on my mind lately is like, okay, if I need to go back to America, then how am I going to get back there? And what could be a cool layover for like a week or two just to kind of break up the culture shock of going back to America?
20:16 And I already know I'm going to run into a lot of culture shock. I remember when I came back from Latin America, and this is my time to complain a little bit about America. In 2021, I was in Latin America from January until late June, so I was gone for close to six months. It was early February, I think it might have been the first week of February.
20:44 So when I came back to America in late June, I'm going through customs and the customs officer asked me, "Did you bring anything back?" And I'm like, "Uh, no." He's like, "You spent six months there and you didn't bring anything back?" And I'm like, "Oh wow, welcome to America. Love the horrible customer service here. Love the horrible attitudes of people here." But, you know, that was that first culture shock. I'm used to people in Latin America being very friendly and warm, and this guy is just over the top nasty.
21:14 And that kind of experience is just like, I yeah, it's one of those things that I don't like about America. I'm not looking forward to I could get a better when this time. I think when I did my four-month trip in Asia four years ago, when I came back to LA, and this was during COVID, late March 2020, coming from Bangkok, the customs people were fine. They were indifferent. They were like, "I'm bored." But they weren't over the top nasty like this customs person in Atlanta was.
21:48 So definitely something to think about, but I could get a little bit of an interruption by going to like East Asia or to Western or Southern Europe, which are more similar to the United States than Thailand, which is decidedly very different from the United States in positive ways.
22:11 Thomas asks, "Can you come to Australia visa-free?" Yes, so I think for Americans, we get, I think we get 90 days. Similar to Malaysia, we get 90 days in Australia. I would like to go to Australia at some point in the future. I'm a big fan of like some MMA fighters that are from Australia, like Alexander Volkanovski, also Robert Whittaker.
22:37 Well, I think Robert Whittaker was born in New Zealand but grew up in Australia. There's also, I think, Jack Della, he's from Australia. Australia seems very cool. I grew up listening to some hardcore bands from Australia too, like Parkway Drive. They're from Byron Bay. So Australia has always seemed like a really mysterious place.
23:00 I also want to do like a, I don't want to get in the water with them, but I want to do a shark tour. I want to go and look at great white sharks. I don't know if I have the guts to get in the cage and be in the water to look at them. I think it sounds terrifying, but I really want to go see them just to see what they look like.
23:17 And yeah, just see some really big sharks. I also want to check out a crocodile farm while I'm here in Thailand. I haven't gotten around to that. I think there is one near Pattaya. So I may look into that because I'm thinking about spending most of the rest of my time here in Thailand and Bangkok.
23:56 of my time here in Thailand and Bangkok, because Bangkok is just such a cool city. It's one of my favorite cities in the world. There's such an eclectic, mysterious vibe. Like every time I go to Bangkok, I have no idea what's gonna happen. The more I go there, the less I know what's gonna happen. The more stuff I see, it's just wow. It's just a thrilling, thrilling city. I love Bangkok.
24:23 Jensa says, "Liked your video about your FI number. Can you share more about how you're thinking about what's enough?" Well, this is the way I conceptualize it, Jensa. I want enough money to pay my rent, food, and transportation, and my visa fees, and then have some to save every month.
24:43 And then from there, my goal after I hit my FI number is to pick a country in Southeast Asia. You could do the slow travel wheel, which I'm a fan of. Vagabond Awake, I'll throw his channel name down there; he's got a really awesome channel. He's been at this for a really long time, and you can tell. He's probably been to 70 or 80 countries and spent a long time in each of them.
25:12 Which to me is, I don't want to say the most impressive, but he's got a certain perspective that is not easily replicatable or replicable. And you know, I think at that $2,000 per month, if I have to go with the Philippines, like I like the Philippines a lot. That's the easiest one for Americans. Americans can get like up to three years on a tourist visa for their retirement visa. You only have to be 35 to qualify, which is going to be me in four years.
25:40 So that $2,000 a month, I feel confident I could live in the Philippines. Not in Bonifacio Global City, maybe not in parts of Manila, but certainly other parts of the country. I could live fine on that amount. And then what I would do, because there's a lot of reciprocity there, is I would get with a lawyer and I would get permission to work in the Philippines. I'd also try to work toward Philippine citizenship.
26:06 And in that process, I would establish my business because I want to do business, but I only want to do it above board. I only want to do it with the right rules and laws and stuff. So that's the goal: get to the point where my income from my investments pays for my cost of living, and then build upon that, live a lifestyle I want to live because I enjoy living over here much more than living back in the US, but also be able to move forward with an online business of some kind that is not tied to a location.
26:35 Because I can make lots of money in America, but I don't really like to live in America. And so the opposite side is I can live cheap, and I say I can live economically in Southeast Asia, but I cannot make the same income say, teaching English. It's just not scalable as easily as certain other business ideas that I have because it's typically a one-to-one thing. So I'm getting paid X amount per minute, whereas in certain other businesses, you have outsized potential upside like with streaming or YouTube, for example. There's no real limit on how many people I can serve with a business like this. And so that's what makes this more appealing.
27:23 However, I don't have a work permit in Thailand. And so, you know, I'm not looking to do something like that where I'm running afoul of the law. I just want to do everything by the book. I don't have any interest to break the rules. My ideal would be to spend the rest of my life in Asia. So the Philippines is very appealing for that reason.
27:51 I hope that's helpful. So, what's enough for me? Paying my bills and owning my time, using my time to do work on what I want to work on, as opposed to what I have to work on.
28:03 DH Kim says, "I went to Kota Kinabalu and Malaysia, Malaysia 2008. It was really disappointing." I'm sorry to hear that. That's really unfortunate. Yeah, I never got to the sort of beach parts of Malaysia. KL was super impressive, but I didn't get out of KL. I liked KL a lot, but I do think it's important to see more than just the big city to get the full picture.
28:32 If you can, why not try to find a tech job in Singapore? Many highly skilled expats work there. I think I'd have to go back to graduate school, and that's kind of where I'm at now: I don't know if I want to spend the money or borrow the money to go to graduate school. Singapore is awesome. It's I loved it. I visited Singapore four years ago. I was there for about a week. I loved the architecture, I loved how safe it was, I loved how clean it was. I love the access to Southeast Asia. You have access to all these cool places.
29:04 I admire what they've been able to do with that country to go from a very poor and down-and-out kind of place to among the most developed countries in the world, arguably the most developed country in the world. I would say it's up there with Scandinavian countries, Japan, and Korea in terms of just that hyper-developed feel. So that's certainly appealing.
29:33 You know, and I'll give the downside now because I mentioned the upside about Singapore. The downside is that I've started to get some Silicon Valley names on my resume, and as an American, it's easier for me to go to a place like the Bay Area, California, than it would be to go to Singapore. Singapore, you do have the advantage of really low income tax; I think it's like a 10% flat rate. But then I'm also on the other side of the world.
30:02 And in, you know, the Bay Area, California, it's just more along what I'm used to. I'm really accustomed to living there. I love the weather in San Francisco, I love the culture in San Francisco, I love the opportunities. You've got plenty of opportunities to move up. There's so, it's basically like the wealthiest area on the planet if you look at the per capita number of millionaires, the mega-millionaires, the mega businesses, the businesses there that have a mega, outsized impact. You look at the education level; I think 75% of the people in the Bay Area have an education. It's my favorite part of the United States.
30:46 So, San Francisco is one of the very few places in America that I like almost as much, or as much as I do living in other parts of the world because it's so developed. It's also easy to get to Asia. If you want to fly to Asia from San Francisco, you're not having to fly across the country or across Europe and West Asia to get to say, East or South or Southeast Asia. So that's kind of the downer on Singapore: it would take a lot more legwork to be working there versus San Francisco.
31:19 Hong Kong. Yeah, it just... yeah. Let's see. Jensa says, "Thinking of Bangkok this summer, neighborhoods not touristy you recommend?" You know, I would say not so much touristy versus not touristy, but you might think about some centrally located neighborhoods that are not on Sukhumvit. I would say Sukhumvit is the most touristic strip or most catering to Western people. You have like Nana, which attracts a lot of Western tourists. You also have on that line, you have Silom, you have On Nut, you have Ekkamai.
32:16 Why don't we pull that up actually? Let's see here. I'm going to pull up a map of Bangkok and I can actually just show you that way. Bangkok. So here we've got Bangkok, and I'll show you just to kind of have a starting point of reference. This is what I would say is the most touristic part of the city.
32:53 This is Sukhumvit, and so this is where you'll see a lot of Western tourists. So if I were somebody who's trying to avoid this stretch from like, just through here, then I'd take a look. I'm a fan of, I stayed here. So I stayed up here, Victory Monument, when I got to Bangkok last summer. It's not the fanciest neighborhood, but it's very convenient. You're still on the BTS, and you've got an MRT station right here. This is actually where I stayed, 21 Living Place. Recommended if you're not sure where to stay, but staying somewhere here where you have access to these public transit lines, but it feels pretty Thai. I saw mostly Thai people here. You have a lot of Thai people living here for work. You have a lot of Thai people commuting through here as well.
34:06 This Victory Monument itself, you've got a ton of bus stations or bus stops all around this spot. I always pass through here to get up to immigration. But yeah, I would say Victory Monument is one area where I would say it's not very touristic. You still have great restaurants, you have a couple of malls here that are really convenient, that have some great restaurants, once again, filled with Thai people. There's also Now, Ruam is not as non-touristic, but you still have a lot of good Thai restaurants through here. And then once you get down here is where it does get more touristic. You're talking about the Siam area around here. You have some high-end shopping: CentralWorld, Siam Paragon is probably the fanciest one, but I also spent time in MBK. MBK has got like an electronic mall.
35:06 But yeah, that's where I would say most people that are visitors do want to stay, east of the river. I haven't really... I don't know, I haven't been very far west of the river. That's something I want to do in my next time in Bangkok, in about a month. I'd say about a month I'll be in Bangkok. And so that's where you go if you want to be even less touristic, but you're not going to run into as much English over here. You're not going to run into as much... I would say I don't want to call it inconvenient, but you're going to have to do a little bit more legwork over on...
35:41 A little bit more legwork over on this side of the river. My Thai friends mostly spend time east of the river because they work east of the river. So for them, after work, they're looking for stuff to do that's close by, and they'll spend time over here. Even with Sukhumvit, you don't necessarily have to do touristic stuff. There are some great restaurants near Sukhumvit. I went to this restaurant, Buenazo, it's a ceviche restaurant. Mostly Thai people eat at this place, and there's definitely still cool stuff to do here, like go-karting. I didn't know there was go-karting here; I got to check that out sometime.
36:38 Onnut is awesome. It's a couple of BTS stops away from everything downtown, while being of good quality. Onnut is like a hidden gem. One of my Thai friends lives in Onnut and grew up there. It's definitely really popular.
37:16 You have a mix of proximity to the city but also plenty of development, and a lot of Thai people live there too. That's where I find my best experiences have been, where you do have a lot of Thai people, but you're not too far away from the tourist stuff. It's a level of comfort. There are parts of Thailand I've been to where it's only Thai people, but nobody has a strong command of English, so you do feel a bit more isolation. Being in Onnut, not so much.
37:50 Jake says he's only been living in Bangkok for two weeks, starting language classes next week, but has been clueless about how to establish a healthy social circle that doesn't revolve around drinking. One of the first things I'd say, Jake, is to check out meetup.com. If you have a certain interest, I know there are crypto meetups in Bangkok, and an AI meetup that I've been wanting to check out.
38:35 How I made my Thai friends is not easily replicable. I had a western friend introduce me to a Thai friend, and then I asked them, 'Can you introduce me to your Thai friends?' It kind of spiraled out from there. The first person you meet, it's going to be hardest to make that initial connection. Use that connection to bridge off into other people. Mention, 'Hey, I'm new to town, I'm really wanting to get out and meet people, do you have any friends that are open to showing a foreigner around, introducing activities or different things?' I'm unsure of what to do, but I'm open-minded.
39:45 It's kind of tough when you're in Bangkok and you're not sure if people can speak English. Meetup would be one suggestion. Also, Jake, I'm happy to hang out when I get up there in about a month. I know that doesn't help your immediate need because you have language classes coming up. I'm happy to introduce you to a Thai friend when I get up there, if she's not shy. Sometimes my Thai friends are a little bit shy about their English and worry they're not communicating effectively, which breaks my heart because they make such a strong effort and are wonderful, warm people.
40:57 Another suggestion, Jake, is dating apps. Not so much to go out and date, but rather to meet people. I'm not sure where you're at with that, or how open you are to it. Some people prefer to meet women organically. I like dating apps because there's some screening involved. You know what I look like, my interests, we can hold a basic conversation. There are characters on there, but also interesting people that can clue you into things you might not be familiar with. You don't have to approach it like a date, but rather, 'Can you show me around town?' or 'Can you introduce me to some cool places you like to go?'
41:56 Use dating apps, but also social apps, because there are people I've met on dating apps here in Thailand that I'm not interested in romantically, but they have a lot to teach me about the culture and their interests. One woman I met is an art teacher; she lives in Onnut. You can meet interesting people and also have like, friendships. It does get draining; the apps can be soul-sucking at times anywhere in the world. It's a little bit tougher as a guy because when I started using dating apps, there weren't many guys on there.
43:02 It was incredible back in the States around 2015. Those were crazy times. I can't believe it's been almost 10 years. That's something I would say, just a little bit different approach. Even if you see somebody you're not necessarily attracted to, but they have an interesting bio, you can take it from there. Having socialization more so than dating is key. On the other hand, there are women I've been attracted to on dating apps that I had a great time with, but we couldn't connect beyond a fling. It was fun for a night, but not a lasting connection.
43:53 There are other people I'm not attracted to, but we could be friends. Some of my Thai female friends, it's strictly platonic. Nothing wrong with them, but it's great because there's not going to be this blowup. I had a long-distance relationship with a Thai woman for about four months; we met through a Thai friend, and that did not end well because I just couldn't make it to Thailand. Our unique toxicities combined in such a way that it definitely turned toxic.
44:31 Another vlogger in Thailand from Oakland, California, a Taiwanese American who served in the Army, said he can't go back because that city has gotten so bad. I worked in and lived in Oakland, and it's unfortunate it's going through a rough time. It's kind of a boom and bust town where, in the good times, it's one of the greatest cities in the world, and during the bad times, it definitely has problems. I think it's awful for the people from there who don't have an option to leave. I love California, but I'm from Tennessee, so I do have the advantage of being able to go back home if things aren't working out, whereas a lot of people don't have that option.
45:18 Yeah, that sounds great. I'm glad to hear that, Jake. It can be hard because we see so many vlogs on Thailand where it paints Thailand as the greatest, most amazing place on Earth, and Bangkok as the capital of all that awesomeness with beautiful architecture, modern transportation, and some of the best food you'll ever have. But when it actually gets to boots on the ground, trying to integrate into that tapestry, you do feel some sense of isolation. It can be a little bit hard to adjust to.
45:55 I've definitely felt that at times in Bangkok where I'm like, 'It's hot, I can't talk to anybody.' The pulse of the city is different; it's a different rhythm than the States, where I can just get in my car, and even if I'm sitting in LA traffic, I'm in my car, listening to music or a podcast. Here, we don't have our cars, so we're more exposed to the elements. If you call a taxi, your driver may have limited English skills, so you're sitting in silence. It definitely takes a lot to adjust to.
46:32 I felt more lonely in my first few months in Thailand than I do now. Now, I just connect with Thai people a little bit easier because I picked up some basic Thai words, and that's enough to make a basic connection. I've found more and more young people that have some basic English and want to practice it, so that can be helpful as well.
46:58 Curiously, AG Kim, feel free to share that Oakland blogger's channel. I'm always interested to look at some other Bay Area channels. Jake says he has a long history with the apps, and is currently still on there, but it just feels a bit draining at times. Yeah, 2015 was the golden era.
47:17 These are all great points. Most things in life have tradeoffs. I missed driving during my early years in Asia, but now I can't stand to drive a car. I haven't had one in nearly 30 years.
47:32 For me, I'll try to show some other stuff. I don't like driving in cities; I love driving in rural areas. That's something that I, if there are a few things I miss about America, one, I miss my friends, but two, I miss just going out driving in the middle of nowhere because you have this extraordinary sense of freedom in America when you are in the rural areas.
47:55 California is like this too. I've been spending time in California, of course, before I moved over here, and it's so gorgeous. It is drop-dead gorgeous, and you're out in the middle of nowhere and you're like, 'How does this place exist?'
48:09 I just have so many stories from my time there that stuck out to me, looking at breathtaking views of the ocean, being the only person on a beach many times. Going to different places, especially coming back from Asia, I'm back in California after a trip in Asia and my sleep schedule's messed up. I'm driving around in the middle of the night, and it's whereas if you're only driving in urban environments, you're only thinking about traffic, 'Oh man, it's hard to park.'
48:40 That's the beauty of driving in America or driving in general for me is driving out in the middle of nowhere where you're just surrounded by the countryside and the cows. You see a full moon, or you see a beautiful mountain vista, and you end up in some country gas station, and people are like, 'You ain't from around here, are you?'
49:00 That's the kind of feeling that I'm looking for when it comes to driving. But yeah, I do agree it's tradeoffs. It's certainly tradeoffs, and that's something that I am looking forward to when I am back in the States: just kind of driving out in the middle of nowhere.
49:18 Thomas says, 'Have you thought about finding a wealthy Thai mother?' Yeah, I mean, you know, that's part of the appeal. I've heard some guys have found sugar mamas over here. I don't doubt I could find one if I really wanted to, but I don't necessarily like the idea of focusing on that just because, one, I'm not in a rush to get married.
49:58 It's not necessarily always what it's made out to be. I think cross-culturally too, you need to be really conscious of Thai culture. Thai culture has so many layers to it. Even being Asian-American, being raised by my grandmother from Japan, there are still elements of Thailand that I'm learning even after a year over here. I imagine even if I lived here 20 years, I would still have a lot to learn.
50:24 There is a Thai woman that I'm interested in, but I don't want to have an LDR. So if I have to go back to America, I think it's just kind of hard on them, and I don't think it's a realistic expectation. And like I said, I'm not in a rush, but certainly for some guys, I think it's worth consideration of dating a Thai woman.
50:48 But you also have to understand, if you're talking about a woman from a wealthy Thai family, then there's probably going to be some expectations of tradition there. There's going to be some level of, 'Hey, you know, we really want you to choose the Thai man.'
51:11 So yeah, that's a fair point, and it's not just that they don't want the foreigner; it's that there are a lot of expectations, a lot of expectations of combining families, of cultural understanding, of respect, of history, of traditions. Western people don't necessarily fit very easily into that equation.
51:50 Alex, I was once going to the airport to catch a flight in Korea, my CS transition ConEd out, and I switched taxis. Imagine if I was driving my car and that happened. I drive a Toyota back in America, and maybe I've just been blessed to drive like more, I wouldn't say brand new, but late-model cars. I've never had any car problems in America.
52:11 In America, I also have AAA, which is a great service I recommend for Americans. With AAA, if I have any car issues, I can just call up AAA, and they'll send somebody out to help me fix my car. If they can't fix it, they'll tow it. It does cost extra, but I don't know that that kind of service would be as popular in Korea due to economies of scale.
52:39 Thomas says, 'Sometimes you can find what you're looking for because of her, I don't have to slave forever to buy an overpriced Australian property. I just invest my money.' Yeah, I mean, to each their own, Thomas. I don't judge anybody, especially when it comes to love.
52:52 People, I look at it like if a person has found love, as long as it's consensual, I don't have judgment for it. With age-appropriate, consenting adults, I don't have judgment for it. There's so much harshness and darkness in the world that if people find love, then it's not my place to judge or to tell them this way or that.
53:16 But for myself, I don't know that I could do that. If I meet somebody and they happen to be wealthy, sure, that's wonderful, but it's not necessarily a need-to-have for me. In the long term, I'm not worried about my ability to build wealth there.
53:38 But yeah, if that's something that you're interested in, I mean, the Filipina I met and dated in Cebu was more successful than me. Now, of course, in real terms, I was earning quite a bit more than her, but as far as relative position and career, she was doing very well. She got promoted, she moved from a boarding house to a nice apartment.
54:00 I reached out to her a few times, and I miss hanging out with her. She was a lot of fun, probably the most fun woman I've ever dated, just exuberant, high-energy, very sweet.
54:23 And yeah, I think there's a special connection that Western people can have with Filipinos because of that English. That's another reason that I'm not ready to settle down: I feel like as a guy, in dating in Asia broadly, I can date as an older man with no problems. There's not going to be that judgment.
54:44 It's very common throughout Asia for an older man to date a younger woman. I have a Facebook friend who is an executive at one of the large Japanese companies. He's in his 60s and just had a baby. He had been divorced and has some kids that are college-age, but he got divorced and remarried a woman who's probably in her 30s.
55:15 All this stuff about 'Oh, that's just Southeast Asia,' no, it's all of Asia. Even my own parents had an almost 10-year age gap, and this was in America. It's going to be a thing throughout history that older guys who are more well-established are going to date younger women who are capable of helping raise a family.
55:37 I think in my personal opinion, having the energy to help raise a family because the older I get, the better off I do, but I don't have the same level of energy I had at 20 years old. But I have maturity that I didn't have back then, so I can maintain relationships more effectively as an older man than I can as a younger man. I'm also better at figuring out what I like and don't like.
55:58 Thomas says, 'She's hot and 10 years younger than me. There are some tradeoffs, but if we break up, I'm no worse off.' And yeah, Thomas, if you're happy with her, that's what I support. If she happens to be wealthy, awesome, there's nothing wrong with that.
56:14 Certainly, most people that are being honest would prefer to have money and assets than to not have money and assets. In the Philippines, because people are closer to their families, wealth building has an element to that, and it's easier to build wealth now. Of course, in absolute terms, you can do very well in Australia or the United States, but I spend a lot of money in America that I have to spend because I don't have Thai family ties.
56:45 There's a lot of times where I'd be a lot wealthier if I came from a closer family. I think a lot of Filipinos, because they are closer to their families, they have that fallback plan, people they can trust, older relatives that can give them insight into business, goals, success, or planning.
57:05 If they want to go on vacation, the Philippines, your hometown is awesome for vacation. For most people, most Filipinos I met told me about their hometown like, 'This place is awesome, this place is amazing, this place is gorgeous.' You'd pay an arm and a leg to go back home to a place like this back in America.
57:26 So yeah, that's something I'm a fan of. Married to a P, and all she needed was looks and no expectations. Why is it such a poor country? I visited that and saw so many people struggle, even the hard workers. I don't ever talk about the economic side.
57:47 I will say there are a few things that are, I always look at what is out of people's control because that's just what I look at. It's a little bit different than I think a lot of Western or East Asian people think about, but one of the things is inclement weather.
58:03 When I was leaving Manila four years ago, the Taal volcano was going off, and I was one of the last flights out of Manila because it ended up erupting. I had a buddy from the States who's married to a Filipina, and he was living nearby, and it shut down the airport. When I was leaving, I could tell it was getting smoky.
58:27 You're in a place you know that is suffering from inclement weather on a consistent basis. You also have earthquakes. My buddy in Cagayan de Oro in Mindanao was talking about flooding. He was like, 'Well, in this part of Mindanao, we don't have typhoons, but we have these awful flash floods that affect the town.'
58:47 So there are certain parts of the planet that basically just have weather.
58:52 That basically just have weather problems. It's the same like people wonder why is internet down in the Philippines? Well, some of it is that it's just harder to maintain infrastructure when you've got 7,000 islands. You look at Hawaii, and people pay a huge amount of money to live in Hawaii, not just because of land being in high demand, but also just the cost of bringing things out there. In the Philippines, it's very expensive to bring anything out there. Anything that you want is going to be expensive if it's not produced in the Philippines.
59:25 I found that in the Philippines, there are a lot of natural obstacles, just as far as being isolated geographically. It's also like manufacturing is not going to be easy when you've got sandy ground, like parts of America, for example, Florida. You don't see manufacturing much in Florida because the sand doesn't lend itself to a stable foundation. I mean, in Florida, it's gotten so bad that a lot of home insurance companies have just stepped away from Florida. They're like, look, we're not going to insure homes in Florida because of the natural disaster.
1:00:06 So you have people leaving Florida because they can't insure a home there. Now, Florida is a wealthy state, probably one of the wealthier states in the United States, but they cannot avoid the hurricanes. They cannot avoid the sandy soil. And then I'd also say in the Philippines, you just got tons of sharp people. You've got a lot of sharp and bright people in the medical field, and they've got too many sharp people. And so that will make the, and this is common throughout Asia, you've got tons of qualified people, which drives wages.
1:00:41 Now, in America, the education is so bad in parts of America that as a medical professional, you can make more money living in the middle of nowhere in America because they have such a hard time attracting qualified people. So even though you're in America, even though you're in a place that's, you know, so amazing, you may not be able to attract the right people, so they have to pay more. So there's all these factors outside of people's control that create or stop certain opportunities from arising.
1:01:17 I mean, you look at Portugal. I think they had like a 12% literacy rate in 1900. That would blow people's minds. A lot of people were like, why is Portugal affordable compared to other parts of the country or other parts of the continent? And part of that literacy is an example of that. So there's factors that happen that people can't control. It's unfortunate. I don't certainly don't like to see.
1:01:41 I mean, Duterte, I think at one point is quoted as mentioning that. But yeah, I mean, I don't hold individual people against that. I think the woman I dated in Cebu, her family, her sister moved to Canada and was happy living in Canada, working in Canada. There are certainly a lot of opportunities for OFWs, people who are from the Philippines who want to work overseas.
1:02:11 I met, I grew up around several Filipinas and I think one half Filipina and also a full-on Filipina. So plenty will immigrate for different kinds of opportunities. Same with Hawaii. I mean, Hawaii, you're going to see plenty of Hawaiians in Las Vegas, plenty of them in California because the opportunities are just stronger there.
1:02:34 Internet is bad, yeah. But I've been going for a while. I'm starting to lose my voice a bit. Almost two hours, so feel free to toss in any last questions or thoughts. I appreciate everybody so much for joining the stream. But my voice is starting to go a bit, and I've got a meeting later tonight online, so I want to save my last bit of voice for that.
1:03:17 Some of that is true in the United States. You know, some of that is true, like, you know, I could bear people in the Bay Area and the opportunities they have because of the people they know versus people back where I'm from in Tennessee. Let's set aside business owners because Tennessee is a very business-friendly state. Lots of people are successful business people there.
1:03:39 But just like people working for somebody else, and the wages are low. I remember having conversations with my friends working for wages back in Tennessee and talking about the wages in California. And, you know, in the Bay Area, you can make $30 an hour, close to it, washing dishes. There's nobody in Tennessee making that washing dishes. People are making probably 10 bucks an hour.
1:04:02 So I feel around the world, who you know, your alumni network is going to be a bigger factor in how much you earn. Because I'm at plenty of idiots in California, just to be completely honest. I mean, not everybody was an idiot, but there were plenty of people who weren't that sharp, but they were in the right place at the right time. And so that's something that I think will apply to the whole world.
1:04:27 I know a lot of people think everybody in America is a genius. But you look at the Pareto principle, 20% of the people produce all the value in a company. So even in tech companies, you've got some people that are very, very productive, and you've got other people who are not very productive. But headcount is headcount.
1:04:46 And, you know, the companies are doing the best they can to hire bright people that can help contribute ideas and work hard. But yeah, just take care of your health. Good night. Thanks so much. Yeah, I definitely need to take care of my health.
1:05:01 But thanks so much, everyone, for joining. I appreciate everybody chiming in on the stream. And sorry for the mix-up with having to create another stream. But looking forward to a nice weekend. I'm going to go out and shoot a video tomorrow. And yeah, I hope everybody has a great weekend and take care. And we'll see you next time.
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