@scotian
Solid write up on explaining several of the differences. I wanted to add a few thoughts on this. I have lived in both BKK and Manila so I have some experience on the subject.
Thinking about the two cities from the point of view of actually living their it is wise to think about some other important details.
Making friends…
- BKK
Your friendships will almost exclusively be with other foreigners. When I say friends I am talking about people you actually call up on your phone and meet up with to hang out. Not just acquaintances you see out often at the clubs and chat with for a while.
Making Thai guy friends is difficult and just not that enjoyable for the most part. The language barrier is your first obstacle as most thai guys don't see the need in learning english like many girls do. And even if you learn conversational thai it is hard to identify with thai guys and find any common ground with them. The thai culture has a strong identity and philosophies that are different from our western culture unlike Filipinos who very much identify with lots of American/western culture.
Generally the only Thai guys you will make friends with is the few who grew up part of their lives in North America or Europe. This is not very common compared with the Filipinos. The other group of Thai guys are the very rich, and well educated and this circle of guys is much more difficult to get into. And even though I did make into this circle of guys after a few years it was still a more surface level friendship.
There are obviously a ton of foreigners visiting or living in BKK. But the length many of the guys are staying is usually in the range of months and not years. Just look at this forum and you will find lots of guys who have spent several months living in BKK but you will find very few who make it more than a year. This means there is a constant rotation of people in and out and a need to continuously make new friends.
The guys who are living in BKK (between 20 and 40 years old) are usually internet self-employed types. Thailand has fewer foreigners who are actually expats working with local or international companies and therefor staying on long term contracts. You will find many more of these people in Manila in comparison.
This set up causes a few things…
1. A constant need to go out and actively make new friends as people are coming and going all the time.
2. A more difficult time building a long term social circle.
3. An incentive to spend way more time with thai girls leading to many guys to get involved with serious relationships they otherwise would not if they had other guys to spend time with.
This is not to say at all you can not overcome these things. I was lucky enough to make lots of great friends who were long term expats or other self-employed guys who were staying for the long term. It just took me about a year to make it happen, and once it did my quality of life shot up for the rest of the years I lived there.
- Manila
The first major difference is the fact most people in Manila (Makati and Fort Bonifacio to be more precise) speak decent to great english. And this includes both guys and girls, young and old. Sure it takes time to get used to the accent and some times the use of syntax and lingo are different but ultimately you can communicate on a very high level. Even to the point where it doesn't seem to make sense in even learning Tagalog compared with the obvious need to learn some Thai.
The other huge difference that scotian mentioned is how much more Filipinos identify with western culture, more specifically American culture. This means things like humor and sarcasm are often understood. It also means that you have a ton of things in common. You can talk about the most recent episode of games of thrones and chances are they have watched it or if they saw that dunk by Kevin Durant the night before. Filipinos love basketball.
This changes the whole dynamics in that you can make friends with and enjoy hanging out with many of the filipino guys. You will also find that the filipino guys want to accept you into their circle of friends unlike Thai guys who are much more skeptical of truly letting you into the group.
Making friends with other foreigners is also different in Manila. There are not nearly as many tourist, not even close. Also the Philippines has more integration with foreign (especially american) companies and you will meet a lot more long term expats. So in Thailand when you meet another foreigner your first assumption is he is a tourist and you will probably never talk to him again so no reason to try and make a big effort in being friends. However in the Philippines you don't always make that assumption and are more willing to make an effort to find out about people because there is a decent chance they are living there and you will see them again.
This causes a few things…
1. Much faster to build a long term social circle.
2. More integration into Filipino society.
3. Less need to spend so much time with girls as you have lots of guy friends to do shit with during the day, causing less need to have long term girl friends to keep you company all the time.
Solid write up on explaining several of the differences. I wanted to add a few thoughts on this. I have lived in both BKK and Manila so I have some experience on the subject.
Thinking about the two cities from the point of view of actually living their it is wise to think about some other important details.
Making friends…
- BKK
Your friendships will almost exclusively be with other foreigners. When I say friends I am talking about people you actually call up on your phone and meet up with to hang out. Not just acquaintances you see out often at the clubs and chat with for a while.
Making Thai guy friends is difficult and just not that enjoyable for the most part. The language barrier is your first obstacle as most thai guys don't see the need in learning english like many girls do. And even if you learn conversational thai it is hard to identify with thai guys and find any common ground with them. The thai culture has a strong identity and philosophies that are different from our western culture unlike Filipinos who very much identify with lots of American/western culture.
Generally the only Thai guys you will make friends with is the few who grew up part of their lives in North America or Europe. This is not very common compared with the Filipinos. The other group of Thai guys are the very rich, and well educated and this circle of guys is much more difficult to get into. And even though I did make into this circle of guys after a few years it was still a more surface level friendship.
There are obviously a ton of foreigners visiting or living in BKK. But the length many of the guys are staying is usually in the range of months and not years. Just look at this forum and you will find lots of guys who have spent several months living in BKK but you will find very few who make it more than a year. This means there is a constant rotation of people in and out and a need to continuously make new friends.
The guys who are living in BKK (between 20 and 40 years old) are usually internet self-employed types. Thailand has fewer foreigners who are actually expats working with local or international companies and therefor staying on long term contracts. You will find many more of these people in Manila in comparison.
This set up causes a few things…
1. A constant need to go out and actively make new friends as people are coming and going all the time.
2. A more difficult time building a long term social circle.
3. An incentive to spend way more time with thai girls leading to many guys to get involved with serious relationships they otherwise would not if they had other guys to spend time with.
This is not to say at all you can not overcome these things. I was lucky enough to make lots of great friends who were long term expats or other self-employed guys who were staying for the long term. It just took me about a year to make it happen, and once it did my quality of life shot up for the rest of the years I lived there.
- Manila
The first major difference is the fact most people in Manila (Makati and Fort Bonifacio to be more precise) speak decent to great english. And this includes both guys and girls, young and old. Sure it takes time to get used to the accent and some times the use of syntax and lingo are different but ultimately you can communicate on a very high level. Even to the point where it doesn't seem to make sense in even learning Tagalog compared with the obvious need to learn some Thai.
The other huge difference that scotian mentioned is how much more Filipinos identify with western culture, more specifically American culture. This means things like humor and sarcasm are often understood. It also means that you have a ton of things in common. You can talk about the most recent episode of games of thrones and chances are they have watched it or if they saw that dunk by Kevin Durant the night before. Filipinos love basketball.
This changes the whole dynamics in that you can make friends with and enjoy hanging out with many of the filipino guys. You will also find that the filipino guys want to accept you into their circle of friends unlike Thai guys who are much more skeptical of truly letting you into the group.
Making friends with other foreigners is also different in Manila. There are not nearly as many tourist, not even close. Also the Philippines has more integration with foreign (especially american) companies and you will meet a lot more long term expats. So in Thailand when you meet another foreigner your first assumption is he is a tourist and you will probably never talk to him again so no reason to try and make a big effort in being friends. However in the Philippines you don't always make that assumption and are more willing to make an effort to find out about people because there is a decent chance they are living there and you will see them again.
This causes a few things…
1. Much faster to build a long term social circle.
2. More integration into Filipino society.
3. Less need to spend so much time with girls as you have lots of guy friends to do shit with during the day, causing less need to have long term girl friends to keep you company all the time.