[mrnomer14]

Hey boys

I have a somewhat "high quality" problem.
I have 7.5 months of location independent work each year, and have two stints of 2 months each I must spend in the first world. As soon as that next stint is up (September 13) I have booked a cheap ass flight to Kuala Lumpur as a launch point for a 4-5 month sojourn in SE Asia basically to test out a few cities for a month at a time each to find the best place to live long term on future voyages.
I have narrowed it down to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Jakarta, Manila, Cebu (or Davao) and a short side trip to Phnom Penh and Bali possibly as well.

My main priority is Quality Of Life (surprise!) which includes a nice pad, good dating options, good nightlife and the option of first world facilities on occasion.

Given the period Sept 12 through to Jan 31 2014, what in your opinion would be the best itinerary/route to take?

Any and all suggestions welcomed!

[Puddles]

smallish city on the southern coast of Cambodia, sihanoukville. night life is excellent for SE Asia, quite touristy in parts, a lot of quality ex-pat managed restaurants. plenty to do and it doesn't have that feeling of squaller that many Asian cities have

[mrnomer14]

(06-22-2014 06:00 AM)Puddles Wrote:  

smallish city on the southern coast of Cambodia, sihanoukville. night life is excellent for SE Asia, quite touristy in parts, a lot of quality ex-pat managed restaurants. plenty to do and it doesn't have that feeling of squaller that many Asian cities have

Hmmm. I stayed for a couple of months in Phnom Penh but didn't make it down there. May have to spend a week or so there! Would I not get a tad bored?

[Doc_J]

Take the "possibly" off from Bali and make sure you go. If you haven't been before especially. To get some comfort and party options stay in Seminyak.

By your route it seems like all you're looking for is pussy and night life. Even that being the case, I would still hop by one of the Thai islands with more party (Samui, KoPhangan or PhiPhi). You'll need a breather after spending some days in Bangkok anyway.

Since you are going through Malaysia you might want to include Singapore in your plans as well.

[Afarang]

(06-22-2014 02:57 AM)mrnomer14 Wrote:  

I have narrowed it down to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Jakarta, Manila, Cebu (or Davao) and a short side trip to Phnom Penh and Bali possibly as well.

My main priority is Quality Of Life (surprise!) which includes a nice pad, good dating options, good nightlife and the option of first world facilities on occasion.

Well that that leaves you with:

Bangkok
Jakarta


I cant comment on Manila, never been, nightlife in Bali/PP/CM all is very small and not so many dating options.

[Kangaroo]

I agree with Afarang, i would just go to Bangkok and Jakarta. If you like the look of Filipinas and mainly online game then add in Manila.

[tpiddy]

My advice if you really want to work and game remotely is do not move around too much. Hopping even every few weeks, learning a new place and settling in, and pipelining and meeting girls is more time intensive than you think. I recently visited Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Jakarta but haven't visited the Philippines.

Both Bangkok and Jakarta are massive developing cities but I found Jakarta harder to get around with worse traffic and a bit more expensive to stay in, especially drinking. Bangkok feels more accessible with more activity and is more tourist and expat friendly. That said, there's some benefits to less tourists and expats and depending upon the style of girl you like Jakarta may be preferable.

Both Bangkok and Chiang Mai have a culture of remote working as well and there's coworking spaces in both cities. It'd be easy to meet like-minded westerners in either place. Chiang Mai is cheaper and will have a more relaxed feel. I really enjoyed staying there but at some point the city may feel small. There's still good results from the nightlife but online game will be harder than the bigger cities. There's also a much higher chance of running into the same girls with logistical challenges to juggling multiple girls. I once had two girls I was seeing both invite me to the same club the same night because the city is just not very big.

I'd check the threads for the cities here and try to really define the goals of your trip, perhaps rank order them in priority. Include your work and non-girl related lifestyle/tourists activities as priorities. Once you understand the pluses and minuses of the locations a bit you can align them with your priorities.

[Xm24]

Don't forget Boracay in the Phil's (read naughty nomads- great guy site about SEA-

http://naughtynomad.com/2010/06/27/top-1...-s-e-asia/

Check out fellow RVF brother Fistos interview with Roosh-
http://www.rooshv.com/how-one-man-banged...n-5-months

Fistos blog is awesome tons of reviews- those guys are men's men's have been very cool to me so much love to their crew-
http://www.swooptheworld.com

[Brodiaga]

A good problem to have. What I would do is spend some time in each of the places you've mentioned. I'd probably start from Bangkok, maybe find an apartment there for a month and do some side trips in the meantime, decide where to go next and for how long, then move again, for example to Jakarta or Bali, do some more side trips around the country, decide where else to go or maybe stay at one place for the rest of the trip if you really like it.

[mrnomer14]

Sweet reading now, thanks! Hmmm Boracay eh...

[Cyclone]

(06-22-2014 08:45 PM)Brodiaga Wrote:  

A good problem to have. What I would do is spend some time in each of the places you've mentioned. I'd probably start from Bangkok, maybe find an apartment there for a month and do some side trips in the meantime, decide where to go next and for how long, then move again

Agreed; not to mention you can talk to other travelers (or hostel folks, if you stay in one for a while) and they can talk your ear off about what the rest of SEAsia is like. Bangkok would be the best place to start

However, I am shocked at the lack of Vietnam love in this topic. Saigon and Da Nang are heaven for remote work, especially since you can get a solid apartment for $200/month and the girls are possibly the hottest in SEAsia. It's cheaper than the rest of the region but only because there's so much competition/resources. If I ever got remote work even for $20/hr i'd move immediately to VN.

http://www.singledudetravel.com/2013/04/...n-vietnam/
.

[mrnomer14]

Yes Brodiaga that's what I'm doing.

I have been in Bangkok for a month before but didn't really get into the dating scene which resulted in (I'm gonna get flamed for this) some loneliness setting in. My mistake tho I guess. Won't happen a second time.
At this point the first month long stint will likely be Manila for the month of October, with a brief week in Bangkok first to blow off some steam! I will go back to Bangkok for a month straight tho possibly December/Jan.

Thanks for all your advice thus far fellas, hopefully can meetup with several of you for some adventures!

[mrnomer14]

Cyclone I visited Saigon (HCMC) for a weekend and loved it, but from my reading I was gathering that bedding the locals is ILLEGAL(?!) which would put a huge damper on the lifestyle...

[tpiddy]

(06-22-2014 09:25 PM)mrnomer14 Wrote:  

Cyclone I visited Saigon (HCMC) for a weekend and loved it, but from my reading I was gathering that bedding the locals is ILLEGAL(?!) which would put a huge damper on the lifestyle...

From my experience if you have your own apartment its super easy to bring girls back in Vietnam and even in most mid tier hotels you can bring girls back.

The challenge isn't the laws but that the girls are actually more conservative than the rest of SEA, despite the country being economically less developed. The girls are hot though and its kind of nice to think that a ton of weird expats haven't fucked the girl you get with (or at least less of them have).

[Cyclone]

(06-23-2014 12:07 AM)tpiddy Wrote:  

(06-22-2014 09:25 PM)mrnomer14 Wrote:  

Cyclone I visited Saigon (HCMC) for a weekend and loved it, but from my reading I was gathering that bedding the locals is ILLEGAL(?!) which would put a huge damper on the lifestyle...

From my experience if you have your own apartment its super easy to bring girls back in Vietnam and even in most mid tier hotels you can bring girls back.
The challenge isn't the laws but that the girls are actually more conservative than the rest of SEA, despite the country being economically less developed.

Yep. as a whole VNese girls are sadly conservative, but, in Saigon it shouldn't be much of a problem and there's a big subgroup of girls that are chasing white guys, and nearly every expat I met there had a steady fuckbuddy (1 of whom i even "heard" next door )
.

[2014]

If you can work online, do them all, for sure would be a great trip, post a huge TR!

[mrnomer14]

This is all very good news to hear re Saigon! I quite loved that city when I was there. Online Game or Nightclub/Daygame the way to go there?

I will for sure be posting feverishly during the whole jaunt. I am somewhat inexperienced in gaming overseas but will follow all tips on here and give it a red hot go! I think being accountable to the troops here will give me some solid motivation

[Corroncho]

(06-22-2014 09:25 PM)mrnomer14 Wrote:  

Cyclone I visited Saigon (HCMC) for a weekend and loved it, but from my reading I was gathering that bedding the locals is ILLEGAL(?!) which would put a huge damper on the lifestyle...

I'm in Saigon now and a girl I'm hanging out with works in a five-star hotel here. She says that a foreigner and Vietnamese girl can't stay in the same room in a four or five-star hotel, not sure what's so special about those designations but those are the rules. Anything else is fine, and of course apartments are no issue at all.

[libertad1312]

(06-22-2014 09:23 PM)mrnomer14 Wrote:  

I have been in Bangkok for a month before but didn't really get into the dating scene which resulted in (I'm gonna get flamed for this) some loneliness setting in. My mistake tho I guess. Won't happen a second time.

If getting lonely is your problem, then you might be better in the Philippines and Indonesia. People are not as reversed and shy as in Thailand and I found it much easier to make friends there. But life quality in Jakarta and Manila cant be compared to Bangkok, so you might want to check out 2nd tier cities.

[mrnomer14]

Hmmm I had the feeling that Bangkok smokes most cities in SEA for life quality. Maybe if I am dating a bit more when Im there? Is dating difficult in Bangkok? Would a month give me a good feel for it?

[Afarang]

(06-25-2014 01:32 AM)mrnomer14 Wrote:  

Hmmm I had the feeling that Bangkok smokes most cities in SEA for life quality. Maybe if I am dating a bit more when Im there? Is dating difficult in Bangkok? Would a month give me a good feel for it?

just join Thai friendly or Thai cupid and you should secure several dates pretty easily.

[mrnomer14]

OK cool. I dated online in LA and it was reasonable although I admittedly could have put more effort in. Is the English speaking level sufficient would you say or am I screwed without Thai fluency?