Manila vs. Bangkok (I'm still alive)

Long time no see!

As you may have realized this blog is almost dead but I might blog once a bluemoon if there is a topic I consider interesting and wanna write about. Also since I'm doing more real estate related stuff I may create a blog around that topic at a later time maybe if I feel like it.

This post will elaborate on two questions I get alot lately and which have some relevance to pokerplayers and digital nomads in particular:

"Why are you in Manila?"

"What is better, Bangkok or Manila?"

First one is fairly simple to answer – because I feel good here and see alot of potential. Second one is abit more tricky and I honestly think there is no clear answer and it depends alot on personal preference and alot of other factors. I will try to point out similarities and differences going forward.

At first glance:

Both cities are major asian capitals and when you look at them out of the plane they look similar as well: lots of skyscrapers and concrete which make almost any euro city look like a fucking village. If you take a closer look though they are quite different in alot of aspects.

Tourism/Language/People:

Bangkok ist one of the major tourist hubs worldwide I would say while Manila is far from that :)

If you tell someone who has never been to Manila that you are in Manila their first reaction almost always is: "Isn't it dangerous there???". I don't think anybody ever reacted that way when I talked about being in Bangkok. The statement itself probably isn't that wrong depending on which area in Manila you choose it can get unsafe while in Bangkok you can go pretty much anywhere without worrying too much. I think main reason for this is due to Thailand overall being alot richer than Philippines (as of now) and alot of the crime that occurs happening due to people need to survive somehow. However from what I heard it improved alot since Duterte is in charge of the running the show even though there are still some areas which should be avoided particularily at night.

While Bangkok you see tons of foreigners at every street corner almost no matter where you roam in the city in Manila it can easily happen that you are the only white person in a large shopping mall – there are still alot less expats living here longterm and tourists on average stay maybe 1 night in the city before they fly to their island destinations. It's understandable though because in Bangkok there is just more stuff to do as a tourist.

Another big aspect for living in a foreign country is language and your ability to interact with people which is one of the biggest advantages the Philippines and particularily Manila holds at this point. You would need to look really hard in Manila to find a person under 50 with whom you cannot have a conversation in english. Conversely it will be incredibly hard to find a taxi driver in Bangkok who speaks english at all. This fact alone is worth so much and makes life so much easier that it's just a massive advantage for Philippines over Thailand in general. If you are a pokerplayer all this doesn't have too much weight because you aren't so dependant on other people but since I'm now more involved in realestate you need to work with alot of different locals (brokers, insurance agents, cleaners, lawyers, tenants, etc) and it's alot easier if you know all those people almost independant on their personal backgrounds speak fluent english.

I think this is also one of the points I'm more fond of the locals in Manila simply because you can interact with them on a different level. From what I experienced here the locals are alot more open and friendly towards foreigners and I think one of the main reasons for this is that you don't have the language barrier.

City structure/Traffic:

I said that from above both cities look similar but on the ground they look very different and have a different structure.

Bangkok I would say looks similar almost anywhere you go. There is a brandnew superluxurious highrise, next to it are some street vendors, you can see 2 beggars sitting around, there are some potholes in the street and it smells. It's like this pretty much in any district you go and you will know "this is Bangkok where I am".
Manila is different in a way that it has small to larger townships all over the city which are highly urbanized and absolutely highend with no smell, no street vendors, no beggars, no potholes and alot of highrises all brandnew and right next to it you have a slums with tin shacks which basically can't be found on that level in Bangkok at all. I haven't researched this topic but I would expect that wealth inequality is alot higher in Manila compared to Bangkok.

If I would give you a blindfold and fly you to Bangkok and then take it off you would know directly where you are or could narrow it down quite well. If I'd do the same and fly you to my area in Manila there is no way you would guess this is Manila if you haven't been here before because the picture the media has given you will be very different from how it actually can look like.

Traffic is bad in both cities but in Bangkok if you live close to the skytrain you can be all over the city in 15 to 30 minutes. In Manila at this point still public transport is non-existant and you are almost forced to live where you work unless you want to spend 3 hours of your precious day in a traffic jam. Even shortest distances at the wrong time can be an absolute nightmare. Luckily if you decided on a nice district you basically never have to leave unless you want to go to the airport or for some nightly entertainment in another part of the city.

Which city is better? Alot of this comes down to personal preference again. Bangkok gives you a much more authentic feel while alot of the upscale neighbourhoods in Manila are quite artificial. I still prefer the 2^nd option but there might be alot of people who would think of my current neighbourhood as "too sterile, too clean, too artificial".

Food & Nightlife:

I put those two together because it's an easy win for Bangkok in both categories. The thai food in general is just so much better than any filipino food can ever be no matter how good the chef is (sorry my fellow pinoys). Just look around the world and you will even find very good thai restos in smaller german towns while it will be a challenge to find a filipino restaurant in bigger german cities – there are reasons for that.

Luckily for me you can get alot of western and foreign food in both cities as well. However Bangkok has some restaurants which you just wont find in Manila yet – settingwise and also quality wise. It should be considered that Bangkok also as a steep markup on those so the money you spend on food in Manila will be alot less than you spend for the same in Bangkok! Situation is improving though in Manila and food and delivery options are already alot better than when I set boots on the ground for the first time around two years ago. Another problem here is that the filipinos love fast food more than life itself as it seems so that you have an intense amount of outright disgusting fastfood options which cannot be found in Bangkok in that number. How this manifests can be seen if you roam around the cities and compare the physiques of locals ;)

Nightlife I don't have to spend too many words on. There is just alot more to do in Bangkok with alot more variety. Be it bars or clubs it doesn't matter. Bangkok is one of the nightlife capitals of the world still and while Manila isn't bad don't get me wrong it cannot compete with Bangkok in any way in this category unfortunately.

Cost of living:

I never really look at prices too closely but Manila overall will be a decent amount cheaper in this area compared to Bangkok. How much I really couldn't say but there is a bunch of online calculators who can give you percentages. One of the main issues is that the thai baht continues to get stronger vs the USD while the peso loses value. This goes on for a long time now so when you make your money in euro or usd Manila will get cheaper over time while Bangkok is getting more and more expensive. This goes to a level now where some of the Thailand expats facing the problem of not being able to afford the country anymore. But there is good news for them the Philippines will welcome them with open arms! However one thing being said: If you wanna live a certain lifestyle it will be expensive in both cities, actually it will be expensive almost independant on where you go from my experience. But if you live on a budget I would assume that this will be easier to do in Manila especially given how the currencies developed and how they continue to develop.

Staying longterm as a foreigner/visa situation:

While staying longterm in Thailand was always a pain in the ass it's a walk in the park in the Philippines. Even if you don't have much money you can just constantly extend your tourist visa and basically never leave the country. The process is quick and efficient and at one point they even give you 6 months extension so you really don't have to do this often. The only annoying thing is if you stay longer than 6 months in the country you will require a police clearance that they let you leave which is easy to get though (if you weren't involved in criminal activity) but takes some time and driving around which makes it abit annoying.

In Thailand however they make it as hard and as annoying as possible if you wanna stay longterm. You constantly have to go in and out of the country to get new visa, you have to report to them now when you travel even within Thailand and all kinds of this bullshit – and it seems to get worse and worse.

If you aren't living from paycheck to paycheck there are more convenient options for both countries but again the Philippines is alot better here.

If you are 35 years or older all you have to do is park 20k usd in a filipino bank, fill out some documents and you basically have a lifelong visa for the country. If you leave you notify them and they will give you back your 20k. If you are under 35 there is a way to do this as well which is some sort of investor visa but it involves alot more paper work and actual investments i think – it isn't a big problem though because as being said you can pretty much stay indefinite on a tourist visa without much hassle at all.

In Thailand if you don't want to go through the constant visa runs you have the choice to aquire the thailand elite visa which gives you 5 years for around 15k usd i think. That money you don't get back though ;)
Fairly easy to see which country is better suited for expats in this area.

Overall thoughts on both countries/potentials/politics:

Thailand essentially still has the same army general in power which got in power when I was living there while the Philippines have Duterte. Even though this guy doesn't get alot of good press in the western media and some of his methods are questionable the stuff this guy does clearly works and the vast majority of the population supports him mainly because they see that things are getting better. If Thailand is alot better of than 10 years ago I'm not so sure about, the Philippines are defintitely alot better of than they were back then.

Personally I'm basically long on the Phillipines as long as Duterte pulls the strings and I hope for a similarily minded predecessor. Why?
Both countries are fairly similar – they both have insane islands, they share the same climate, people seem to have similar mindsets, the capitals aren't too different yet Philippines has half the GDP of Thailand. On top of that the Phillipines is open to Casinos & Online Gaming (which guarantees a fuckload of chinese investments) and everybody speaks english.

Now if you think about all this either Thailand has to be overvalued or Philippines undervalued. The english alone I think should make it more valuable for business and investments than anything else so I expect alot of room for the country to continue to grow given that politics stay stable.

So even though realestate yields are good in both countries (still) I expect alot more room to grow for the Phillipines going forward while first reports already coming in that real estate demand in Bangkok is tightening up (i think this is also related to the strong development of the baht).

Please don't nail me on that assessment – i did not put deep research into it but it seems logical to me. I'm very open to counterarguments though if you are more knowledgable in that area!

Conclusion:

I think it's mostly personal preference for which of the 2 cities or even countries you decide. Bangkok and Manila are both fun but there is no definite way to say which is better per se. If you are in your 20s and you like to party alot Bangkok might be better; if you want to play livepoker and live in an asian capital Manila is your choice, if you want to live on an island longterm you need to choose Thailand for now because the infrastructure just isn't here yet, if you want to invest into condos I'm convinced Manila is a better option than Bangkok atm, etc.

As you can see there are alot of different scenarios and what is ultimatively best best for me might not be best for you.


What about me?:

I'm not playing poker actively anymore but am still involved in the industry in the form of staking and affiliation. I'm still holding on to and buying crypto because I expect good things to happen. I just bought my first studio unit in Manila and have already reserved two more units which are getting finished next year. I'm also looking to buy a nice flat for enduse next year so that I get away from being a rent payer. My longterm goal is to entirely move from poker into realestate over the next couple of years. It's something which facinates me and gives me joy and also alot of skills aquired via poker and trading can be directly applied into it. As I said at the beginning of this post I might consider blogging more with a focus on realestate going forward – if there is a demand!

Kind regards from Manila, Live Strong ;)

to finalize the poast some pictures from this year:

my suite in Bangkok during the couple of days I was there

at the grand wedding of a business partner in Bangkok

my usual breakfast in Manila

in one of the brownish towers i bought my first unit

FB plug for the unit

breakfast in Bangkok this time in the legendary coffee club

having a look what all the fuss is about

still hitting the gym

#lonelyatthetop the highest building in Manilly

Paparazzi

view of one unit i considered for enduse

my cardio grounds

view of another potential enduse units - i love views!

my studio after being designed 

some table tennis beginning this year

more enduse views

lazy afternoon

new wallet

small soi in Bangkok i found this

me during the most expensive dinner I ever had but worth it