Should you spend your golden years in Thailand or the Philippines?
We'll compare the two nations in terms of finding love, language,
culture, beaches/islands, cuisine, accommodation, healthcare, infrastructure, internet connection,
TV, crime and safety, visas, and a little something about romance.
Total of 9 categories, and then we’re going to crown one winner
When you finish watching, you will greater understanding of
both nations and what to expect once you arrive
This video will use data and information from many organizations,
such as the US Department of State, the World Bank, Bloomberg, and CNN, to mention a few.
the intention of this video is not about bashing a country but to help you make an informed decision
this video is not appropriate for Filipinos and Thais because you may get offended
this video is intended for travellers, expats and retirees
give this video a LIKE if you are looking forward to retire or moving to the Philippines or Thailand
let us begin with the first category on our list
we don't need to provide you with any proof because this is common knowledge
unlike Thailand, English is a national language in the Philippines
although, for the time being, Thailand's famous tourist hot
spots are crowded with Thais who can speak a little English or have strong English skills
if you reside in or near one of these places you will have no trouble interacting with Thais
particularly with businesses that cater to foreigners
if you don't speak Thai, stay near a tourist hot spot which shouldn't be a problem
however, the Philippines will continue to win this category
because English is one of their official languages
the following category is beaches and islands again this should be common knowledge
the Philippines will have many more islands and beaches than Thailand
the problem is, how many of such islands in the
Philippines can you visit to live or stay overnight?
the bulk of such islands are inaccessible
most have no hospital or hotel, no electricity, and no running water
most of the islands in the Philippines lack this type of infrastructure
in terms of the amount of beaches and islands, the Philippines came out on top
beaches and islands goes to the Philippines
but it doesn't mean Thailand doesn't have beautiful islands and beaches
Thailand has a plethora of fantastic beach and island getaways
go ahead and give this video a like or thumbs up, if you agree to what we said so far
we think food, accommodation, medical care, and the hospital are no-brainers
they all go to Thailand, but this is not our opinion
we will show you different information based on outside sources
this is more difficult to prove in the case of food because so much of it is subjective
but what if we went out and found specialists or chefs in the food or restaurant industries?
inquire as to which cuisine they favour
there is an organization named Asia's 50 Best Restaurants,
which is run by a media firm in the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and Singapore
since 2013, they have compiled a list of Asia's 50 finest restaurants
they pulled around 300 restaurant professionals across Asia to choose
the greatest restaurants in the region
between 2013 and 2020, 51 restaurants based in Thailand were named Asia's 50 Best Restaurants
during the same time period, the Philippines has only four restaurants on this list
some of you may argue that some of the Thai
restaurants that won the prize do not serve authentic Thai cuisine
however, over 50 restaurants based in Thailand were named Asia's 50 Best Restaurants
we're confident a few or a dozen of them were 100 Thai or a fusion of Thai and other cuisines
in addition, CNN Travel published an article in
which three Thai dishes were named among the world's 50 finest foods
whereas the Philippines only has one dish
talk to CNN or Asia's 50 Best Restaurants if you think that was biased
please don't come to us
food goes to Thailand hands down
thumbs up if you love Thai food
this category is hard to prove,
and we still believe Thailand has more options than the Philippines
but for the time being, we're going to keep this area blank,
and we believe that if your monthly budget exceeds $2,000 USD, you should do the same
with that budget, you won't have too much problems finding accommodation in Thailand,
the Philippines, or anywhere else
you can live almost anywhere on the planet
let's talk about Thailand hospitals first
there are two types of hospitals in Thailand
the first is government-run hospitals and the second is international or private hospitals
the government-run hospitals in Thailand are what you call universal hospitals
they are for everyone, including foreigners if they choose
government-run hospitals are a lot cheaper than private or international hospitals
however, foreigners will have to pay more than the locals,
as government-run hospitals serve the Thais
you can expect a typical government-run hospital to
look like what you think a third world hospital would look like
although there is an exception to this not all government-run hospitals are the same
regarding Philippines hospitals, we're not sure how the Philippines hospitals are structured,
so we can't speak about that
according to the largest research group in Spain, it compiled the top hospitals in southeast Asia
of the top 100 hospitals in southeast Asia,
Thailand has 44 hospitals listed versus four hospitals from the Philippines
according to this research group, Thailand has over 10
times the number of the top 100 hospitals in southeast Asia than the Philippines does
yes, the Philippines of St. Luke's Hospital, which is very modern,
very westernized, it's world-class and a costly hospital in Manila
we're sure there are a few more world-class hospitals inside the Philippines,
or at least four of them on this list
but in Thailand 44 hospitals are in the same category
if you have a severe injury or need life-saving medication you
better pray that you live next to one of the four hospitals in the Philippines
this chart showed only hospitals in southeast Asia, but if you compare
with other countries in Asia such as Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea
Thailand still has six hospitals in the top 100 hospitals and zero in the Philippines
in Thailand, they don't just have world-class hospitals,
they also provide first-rate dental care
furthermore, many Thai physicians and dentists have master's degrees,
as well as additional degrees and certificates from the United States,
Europe, Australia, and other English-speaking nations
the majority of Thai doctors and dentists study western medicine rather than Chinese medicine
this implies they speak English very well to perfectly
if you speak English, you will have no trouble with a language
of course, nothing is perfect -- if you look for it online
you will find stories where some people were misdiagnosed or given the wrong medication
even though Thailand has some of the best hospitals in Southeast Asia,
it's not 100 perfect just like anywhere else
one last note on medical care in Thailand versus the Philippines
if you do a quick Google search about the "best countries for medical tourism"
you'll find many of those articles will talk about Thailand compared to the Philippines
getting the best medical care depends more on A) selecting the right doctors and
B) trusting in a "medical travel certified" medical
tourism company with professional care management services at the destination
hospital and medical care goes to Thailand
as for TV, in the Philippines, a majority of Filipinos speak English
therefore, you will find many TV channels in English, as well as
other prominent American media outlets such as National Geographic, MTV, and many others
in Thailand, it's similar, although there are fewer English channels altogether,
especially outside of the major cities and away from tourist hotspots
if you don't have enough English channels in your region and are
living in Thailand for an extended period of time
you may always acquire different TV bundles that will include hundreds of English channels
including kids, movies, sports, and news
as for the internet, we don't have any data to back up this claim
we can only show you our internet speed while residing in various cities around Thailand
overall, our internet speed ranges from adequate to world-class
in other words, in some regions of Thailand,
we receive approximately 5 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload
we can obtain super fast internet speeds of up to
40 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload in larger cities like Bangkok or Chiang Mai
this is the internet speed for which we paid 300 baht
or about 10 USD each month when living in Chiang Mai
overall, we'd be surprised if you received
less than 5 Mbps download speed on your landline anywhere in Thailand
the Philippines, on the other hand, is divided into many islands
making it difficult to acquire adequate internet connection in many locations
Thailand wins hands down in terms of internet speed
for the infrastructure, according to statista.com website
the infrastructure in Thailand as of 2019 is rated at 67.8
and the Philippines is rated at 57.8, on the fifth last place
the world bank website ranks Thailand's infrastructure 3.14 and the Philippines 2.73
what do all the numbers mean? we don't know, but we know a higher number is better
to visually see the infrastructure of any country, we think international airports
will be the most apparent indicators to judge the infrastructure development of a nation
so check out the international airport in Bangkok and the international airport in
Manila to see which one looks more modern than the other
here are the total reviews by travellers on Google
clearly, Thailand wins this
overall infrastructure and internet speed go to Thailand
TV is iffy and more like a tie, but we'd rather
have decent internet speed than 1000 TV channels but who watches tv anyway
so in this category, we give it to Thailand
we have statistics from the US Department of State for US citizens travelling or living
in Thailand and the Philippines in this category
from October 2002 to December 2016
you can see that over 14 years there were 391 US citizen deaths in Thailand
during the same period, there were 286 US citizen deaths in the Philippines
however, if you look at the total number of US citizens travelling to Thailand, more US citizens
went to Thailand than the Philippines during the same period and we're talking millions more
about one million Americans visited Thailand that same year
of course, more people come, which means a higher chance of deaths and other things
in the Philippines, the number one cause of death
for a US citizen is someone killing them or homicide
the second is road accidents
in Thailand, US citizens leading cause of death is not homicide, but it is road accidents
to give you a perspective of how small that number is,
even if you combine the total number of deaths of US citizens in the Philippines and Thailand
that's under 700 people,
then consider how many people died as a result of homicides in just one US city
in a place like Chicago, the number of deaths per year is higher than in
Thailand plus the Philippines combined in the past 14 years
also another thing to take into consideration is the GPD
it is higher in Thailand than in the Philippines
however, the Philippines GPD is growing very rapidly or at least before the
pandemic
generally speaking, a wealthier country with
a high GDP has less crime than poorer countries with a low GDP
we can say it's pretty safe in Thailand and the Philippines, compared to a city like Chicago
if you don't do stupid things and you use common sense, you'll be fine
there are too many elements to compare, so we can't say which country is safer than the other
but one other part that you can see visually,
if you go to the Philippines, you will see a lot of security guards carrying assault rifles
to us, it just doesn't feel right and when you go to the shopping mall in the Philippines
you might see a store that sells firearms and we're not talking about baby guns
they are selling real firearms inside some shopping malls
in Thailand, they don't have that, as Thailand doesn't sell firearms in shopping malls
you will need a special license to buy and own guns in Thailand,
but for this category, we don't know which one is safer because there are too many elements
our opinion is that we will still pick Thailand, but this is not based on our opinion
so you have to go there and see it for yourself
the Thai tourist visa is now more expensive and
more complicated to renew or extend than in 2010 or later
if you want to live in Thailand for more than one year without a non-immigrant visa,
it is now more costly and a bit complicated
if you're going to stay in Thailand with a tourist visa,
you will need to obtain the visa in your home country where you have full residency
you can no longer get a Thai tourist visa from any neighbouring country around Thailand
people with money are the type of people Thailand wants to stay for an extended period of time
Thailand wants higher-income travellers and expats to live long term in the country
backpackers and other low-income foreign travellers are still welcome,
they can stay for 30 days and then extend for another 30 days
if they want to live in the country longer than that, it requires a different type of
visa or going back to your home country to get another multiple-entry tourist visas
if you cannot afford to go back to your home country to get that, then you're probably the
low-income traveller that the Thai authority doesn't want to stay in the country long-term
for long-term stays, such as retirement
we will give that to the Philippines, we believe you will require a little bit more
money to get a retirement visa in Thailand but you don't need to be a millionaire
for holidays and short-term stays, both places are about equal
overall we give the visa category to the Philippines as it is easier to
obtain a retirement visa and you can get a tourist visa that can last up to three years
if your number one priority is to find a loving relationship or a soulmate
you have no interest in learning the Thai language or learning another culture,
but your number one priority is to find a wife or a girlfriend
if that's you, we believe your best bet is to go to the Philippines
if you came to Thailand and lived in Pattaya or Patong or the red light district somewhere
in Bangkok, but your priority is to find a wife or a lasting relationship with a woman
don't come to Thailand, go to the Philippines
in the Philippines, you'll have more options than in Thailand
you don't need to learn a new language in the Philippines, because most Filipinos speak English
you can pretty much communicate with almost the entire population in the Philippines
since the Americans colonized the Philippines from 1898 to 1946
the Philippines had more American influence than Thailand
and before that the Spanish colonization in 1565 to 1898
the Spanish brought their religion to the country, mainly roman catholicism,
which means many Filipinos are Roman Catholics
unlike Thailand, which is primarily a Buddhist country
if you're roman catholic and you want to partner with the same value as you,
we believe your best option to find a loving relationship would be the Philippines
our best advice is to visit both places on your holiday before you finally decide
when you are ready to retire,
do not purchase any property and rent a place to stay for one to two years
if you don't like one of the places here, remember you can always move
there you have it, our breakdown of both countries for retirement,
love, visa, and everything in between
please make sure to LIKE this video, because it took a very long time to make it
Share it, if you know someone is thinking of retiring or moving abroad to Asia
what do you think about our list? did we hit the target or do you think we are off?
which one do you prefer Thailand or the Philippines? let us know in the comments below
for more videos and information about retiring in the Philippines or Thailand
click on one of the videos you see on your screen now
if you want to hear current and past expats who lived or retired in the country
check out this video