Best Country in Asia to Live?

Summing up my other posts comparing which is the best country in Asia to live.

best-country-in-asia-to-live

South East Asia that is, assuming you want to get away from boring westernized developed countries.

Overall those three are pretty similar and all great fun, but there are some major differences that make each different.

Choosing which one is best for you can’t really be done with research, you need to visit them yourself and then decide.  I hope to visit Vietnam soon to add some content on that.

Best Country in Asia to Live – Summary

Thailand

Thailand has some very major positives that lead most people to choose it.  It has the best infrastructure and is probably the safest of these countries.  If you find yourself in a bad situation you would rather be in Thailand.

It also has very good internet and finding a very nice apartment for a great price is not hard at all. Perfect for digital nomads.

On the other hand who wants to be forced to go on visa runs every 3 months and lose time working online or grinding Thaifriendly?  And the visa runs might get harder as time goes on.

The locals also don’t speak English very well and some seem to have a bit of disdain for foreigners.  You can get casual hook ups with girls, but not as easy as in Phils.  If Thailand didn’t have the horrible visa situation I may live there….. but it does so I don’t.

Cambodia

Cambodia is the cheapest option and the visas are ridiculously easy.  If you just wanted to exist in Cambodia you could chill on the beach for $600 a month and it really wouldn’t be that hard.

But if you get in a motorbike accident and need urgent medical care it will be very sub standard.  If you want to live on the beach in Sihanoukville enjoy having no power 15% of the days.

Friends with benefits will be few and far between.  You can either have a serious girlfriend and break her heart if you don’t end up marrying her or pay prostitutes.  I certainly have no interest in that first option, and the Sihanoukville bargirls were terrible in bed for the most part.

It’s also the least developed of the three by far.

Philippines

Moving to the Philippines has some problems of its own.  The internet can be really annoying which isn’t good for a digital nomad.

The apartment value is worse, a 28sqm studio in a nice Manila high rise is 25k pesos (still cheap, but twice what it would be in Thailand) plus utilities, which are also the most expensive of the three countries.

The Huffington Post makes a good point about the large gap between the rich and poor here and how that affects crime.

But the ease of the visas, the western food rarely costing more than $5 a meal, and the girls being quite open to friends with benefits situations helps you recover losses.

Although living in the Philippines doesn’t win on costs or internet speeds, is a close tie for transport and facilities with Thailand, and another close tie for visas with Cambodia, it’s still the best country in Asia to live in for me.

Best country in Asia to live series:

19 Responses

  1. jspill says:

    Everyone I know who says Thais aren’t friendly is decrepit in appearance in some way. Thais place a high importance on external appearance, it’s culturally seen as a reflection of internal merit. Don’t mistake that for being unfriendly, just take advantage of it and ditch the gym shorts, baseball cap etc. Then it’s the still in the top 5 friendliest countries in the world. You mention in other posts a high % of girls ask to ‘borrow’ money after banging, so part of the friendliness in Phils has an agenda.

  2. kick2dante says:

    lol at thinking thais are friendlier than filipinos

    • JP says:

      Really good content, you do a great job with this blog; kudos.

      From Canada, live in both Th and Ph half the year each. Definately friendlier in Phils, no question.

      Dante/Kick2Dante & team… why no posts about Chiang Mai (the digital nomad capital of the world), or Davao?? (one of the top 3-5 safest cities in the world, and capital of indescribably good ultracheap durian… srsly like eating gods vagina – but only when its in season and tree-fallen, ie. not cut)

      • kick2dante says:

        haven’t been to either so dont have much to write about on the subject, have researched but this blog is more about day in the life type stuff

      • jspill says:

        It’s on the list, I’ve been Chiang Mai and planning to go Davao. CM isn’t good for girls but I’ll do a write up soon, it has other strengths, cheapness and nature

  3. Skins says:

    Interesting post. Can’t wait to visit the Phils. I’m planning to check out Sihanoukville first since I’m in that area now. That Cambodia visa is very appealing…

    At this point you need an education visa to live in Thailand. Fuck all those trips to immigration and flights out. Not worth the hassle. Plus the Thai’s don’t like us. #facts

    • jspill says:

      Plans for 6 month visas approved today, and 12 months proposed, hopefully it happens: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/645828/multiple-visa-a-trade-boon-say-operators

      Certain factions of the government don’t like us, but the average Thai on the street does. Not as much as Viet / Phils – it’s almost unheard of to have male Thai friends but that’s easy in Viet / Phils – but part of that is just being shy and leaving people to their own devices, too.

      Anyway who wants Thai friends? As long as the girls are DTF

      • Skins says:

        That’s interesting… Hope it works out. Yeah maybe that was a bit harsh… Thai’s are generally friendly but I just never felt welcomed there. In other countries the locals love to mix it up with the farangs.

        • jspill says:

          Yeah Viets will come up to you and ask to chat. Thais don’t want to impose. I actually prefer that, I just want to be daydreaming on my iphone whatsapping girls (would get snatched out of my hand in Viet/Phils).

          It’s def a more nationalistic country, also just more westernized though, way closer to a developed country. When it gets that bad I’ll just leave for Viet/Phils and hopefully by then those places are safer / more amenities. Ho Chi Minh is a village compared to BKK.

          • CJS says:

            “would get snatched out of my hand in Viet/Phils”
            So how bad is it really in Phils? That sounds comparable to Latin America, pretty bad in other words. According to the osac report crime is considered “high” there. They use low, medium, high, critical ratings. I have experience from a Latin America “critical” country. It doesn’t have to be life or death but you gotta be fucking careful.

            https://www.osac.gov/pages/ContentReportDetails.aspx?cid=19118

            • kick2dante says:

              phils is fine, i think all of sea is fine and you are unlikely to run into any problems

              i roam streets alone after dark often, never had an issue

            • jspill says:

              Not as bad as South America

              Mostly ‘snatchers’ as they call them target girls. You’ll meet a lot of pinay and viet girls who complain about it

              Dante looks like a homeless person and I’m 200lbs jacked so we’ve both never had a problem

      • J.R. says:

        You seem to be basing all your opinions on your experience as someone who speaks close to zero Thai. I can assure you things change a lot of you can actually speak to people in their own language.

  4. Skins says:

    Good strategy. Yes sometimes it’s nice to be left alone. People over here are incredibly nosey which is annoying. Great people though.

    Hey Dante, have you been to Davao? I’m trying to choose a city to camp for a month or so. Torn between Cebu and Davao. Or maybe I’ll just run through the whole country then decide…

  5. kick2dante says:

    i still have not but wish i had…. if you go let me know….. i always advise anyone to see a city with their own eyes anyway since its so cheap to move around

    fyi jspill is #1 thai fan boy, if thailand = justin bieber he would have been the one that made up the name beliebers :p

  6. kick2dante says:

    thanks for the kind words! keep coming back!

  7. Andi says:

    Fuck right off, keep your ass in the USA or whatever country you’re in, and don’t come back to asia

  8. Anonymous says:

    Andi? lol Fucked up by the sounds of it. Where are you living? In a flop house?

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