The Expat Experience Thailand vs Philippines

The ultimate deathmatch is here! Philippines vs Thailand and only one will come out victorious!
All joking aside, this was just a friendly chat between two Expats coming in from two very different walks of life. My new friend Arif, whom I met while he was vacationing in the Philippines, is an expat like me. Originally from Pakistan, he lived for many years in the US as well as Iran, before choosing to retire in Southeast Asia. Currently he is choosing Thailand as his place to settle down, however there is still a chance I can persuade him to make an eventual switch over to the Philippines. As the saying used to go (before it was changed around by the Department of Tourism to "I love Philippines", for some inexplicable reason).

In this video we discuss our individual experiences as Expats, living in foreign lands, which we now call our homes. We talk about food, culture, cost of living and overall lifestyle that can be had in both Thailand and in the Philippines from our own personal life experiences and perspectives. Sprinkled in are some clips I shot for some of my previous videos to showcase whatever it is Arif and I are discussing for this expat showdown. In addition to that, Arid had also contributed some videos that he had shot when talking about Indian, Pakistani and Thai food, as well as the impressive looking train system that exists in Bangkok, Thailand. I counter that with some footage of my own to show the MRT line in Metro Manila as well as some of the other methods of public transportation and some of the beautiful views around the Philippines, the country that I have come to love and call my permanent home for going on for 5 years now. I also mentioned a little about my wife's neurological condition, since this is now such a defining part of my life. In other words, we bring out the good and the bad parts of the kinds of life experiences that we are both having in our adopted home countries.

Both Thailand and Philippines have their own respective pros and cons, but we both agreed that the PEOPLE of the Philippines, are some of the nicest, kindest and polite people that you can find anywhere in the world, while the food in Thailand is some of the best that can be had anywhere. Both Philippines and Thailand have a whole lot of wonderous beauty to explore and both are amazing countries to not only visit, but to make a permanent move to. At the end it is up to the individual which country is the better choice. I just hope that with this video Arif, with his decades of experience in Pakistan, United States and many years living in Iran, has taken to retire in Thailand. I on the other hand am a Ukrainian-American, have made the permanent move to live in the Philippines in the late winter of 2019 and feel as happy as can be living in this amazing country.

Ultimately, life is about experiencing all that the world has to offer and sharing our experiences with others is what Arid and I both really enjoy. I hope you will stick around to the end of this video and comment on anything that you found to be interesting and if you have any suggestions on anything else that you would like for me to make a video about in the future.

Please check out my friend Juergen's YouTube Channel, my German Expat friend living in Metro Manila
   / @juergenfromgermany  



#philippines
#thailand
#expat
#food
#costofliving

0:00 Intro
0:21 Video Start
1:51 Why move to Asia
3:45 Philippines vs Thailand
17:31 Cost of living
20:22 Bangkok Transportation
24:45 Metro Manila Transportation
26:06 Conclution