5 ms·

I am mystified probably coming from South Asia, what makes Thailand so attractive? when you can do similar cost arbitrage with many places in Carib and Latin Am

• nandreev 9y ago
  Food, safety, proximity to other Asian destinations, low cost, fast Internet, everything close by (e.g. one can take a break from Bangkok with a quick flight to the south)... it goes on.
  • zdkl 9y ago
    Everything you listed bar the connection to asian countries you can find in latin america
    • nso 9y ago
      Sure, but it has a completely different culture in pretty much all ways you can think of, and for some the asian way resonates more.
    • taurath 9y ago
      We get deluged in the west about crime in Latin America all day every day. It seems like a much less safe place than in Thailand.
      • teej 9y ago
        It's not media exposure. Thailand has a similar crime rate to the US. Latin America on average is much much worse. https://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings_by_country.jsp https://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings_by_country.jsp
      • tabacof 9y ago
        Latin America is very unsafe. The list of top 50 cities by murder rate is very telling: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_murder_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_murder_rate I have lived most of my life in Brazil, and even though I am very privileged, the following has happened to me: 1) Watch stolen by drug addict with a syringe when I was 12 years old 2) Cellphone stolen by a thug with a glass shard when I was 16 3) Also when I was 16, three thugs tried to steal my cellphone, they said they would blow my brains if I didn't comply and faked having a gun (I didn't). 4) Two thugs invaded my frat house, held us hostages with handguns, and stole all we had (I will never forget the cold metal of the gun touching my head, while I was threatened). 5) My car was jacked right in front of my house. 6) Another cellphone stealing incident that I'd rather not share in details. 7) My spare tire was stolen while I was in a bar for a couple of hours. This is just what has happened to me in less than 30 years. Stories like those abound. My girlfriend also went through (4) and (7), independently of me. Pretty much everyone I know has had a cellhphone stolen at some point in their lives. If you want to actually experience the dread that is living in Brazil, search for "brazil" in reddit's /r/watchpeopledie.
        • ddebernardy 9y ago
          When you're living in Latin America as an expat, the odds are pretty strong that you're in or near a tourist resort with very little (observable) crime. I say observable because, yeah, of course a mafia is operating in the area, but it's not an all out war like in Tijuana or Juarez because it's not lucrative for the mafia to scare tourists off. Tourists go to the mafia's bars and restaurants at the end of the day, which is part of how they launder money.
          • enraged_camel 9y ago
            It's not like you're gonna spend your whole time in the resort. Otherwise why bother going to Latin America? We have resorts here in the US too. Indeed, most people who travel to Latin America want to travel and do sight-seeing. And that can be dangerous, especially for "gringos" (Anglo-Saxon whites) because they are perceived as wealth targets by kidnappers. You don't really have that problem in a place like Thailand.
    • xiaoma 9y ago
      The internet in Latin America sucks compared to east Asia. It's not even remotely close. I say this having used 130 gigs of high speed mobile data over the past month, tethering wherever I felt like it, and spending under $30 USD for the privilege.
      • hackerboos 9y ago
        South East Asia != East Asia
        • xiaoma 9y ago
          I have been mostly bouncing between Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan, but even so, what Latin American city offers internet service at a similar speed and price as you could get in Chiang Mai, Saigon or Singapore? I sure haven't seen one.
        • srssays 9y ago
          Except for Vietnam!
      • seanmcdirmid 9y ago
        Hey, have you been to china? Internet isn't really great there especially if you venture outside of the Chinese net. Heck, some websites won't even work without a vpn....
    • nnd 9y ago
      Flight connections in SA are significantly more expensive, there are virtually no low-costers.
  • seanmcdirmid 9y ago
    5 hour flight from Beijing always made it convenient for a long weekend.
• nso 9y ago
  Sense of security? Everyone knows of the potential security issues in latin america, but thailand "we" don't know a lot about. A sense of the exotic? For americans it is all the way over in asia. Being in the middle of the huge asian market? The girls? The food? The cost? I myself have relocated to latin america (oaxaca, mexico) and enjoy the lifestyle here, but being from Europe which is in the middle of the two I can easily see myself having ended up in thailand or that general neighbourhood had I not planted seeds here with a job and family =)
  • coldtea 9y ago
    >Sense of security? Everyone knows of the potential security issues in latin america, but thailand "we" don't know a lot about. It's not just ignorance, since some of us do know a lot about, and still consider SEA safer.
• fulafel 9y ago
  Most people are not coming from the US.
• peteretep 9y ago
  It's dramatically safer than most of South America and the Caribbean. Having lived for the better part of a decade in both Thailand and the Caribbean, the people in Thailand seem much friendlier.
  • dmix 9y ago
    And most of their economies are on an upward trajectory in SE Asia. While the caribbean and many parts of latin America are mostly spinning their wheels in position.
• deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
• swampthinker 9y ago
  To most white Americans that want to work in Thailand, Hispanic people are scarier than southeast asians.
  • maehwasu 9y ago
    They're mainly scarier because they, you know, kill more people. I say this as someone who strongly prefers Latin America and Hispanic culture to Thailand and Thai culture.
• notdang 9y ago
  Apart from being a lot more dangerous, Latin America is more expensive than South Asia. Not sure about Caribbeans, have never been there.
  • sutee 9y ago
    I think one potential of Latin America is the time zone lines up better with North America. This might not matter, depending on what kind of business you're doing.
• dreamfactored 9y ago
  The huge majority of men go there for women, food, weather, in that order. (Not sure why this is getting downmodded - I know a lot of professional expats who live there and after a few drinks they all say those are the big draws.)
• nnd 9y ago
  You have a better living cost arbitrage in SEA, specifically in Thailand. With an easy availability of everything you’d need as an expat (simple apartment and car/moto rentals), you get a much better bang for you buck. The barrier of entry is low and you can easily set up a routine in less of a day. SA requires you to learn Spanish and you’ll struggle a lot trying to figure out things in he beginning.
• SeoxyS 9y ago
  Some people prefer the culture, the food, the party scene, the girls. Also, it's pretty safe and comfortable for expats. Also, English is widely spoken in Southeast Asia
• homakov 9y ago
  Security. After 2 years in SEA and visiting Medellin or Mexico city all i want is run away to sabai sabai.
• orthoganol 9y ago
  Well for one, they are now letting you stay for 4 years without needing an actual job at a Thai based company :) I think it's just more exotic. Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, they are pretty US-like in their own ways.
• Matachines 9y ago
  It's cheap, safe, and tech nerds love Asian girls for some reason
• pentae 9y ago
  This is also based on the assumption you are in a client/service business. However as someone with a startup in Thailand the timezone is always the first point of contention for most of us, So not disagreeing with you on that point. Not having a US number can also work against you when trying to set up meetings with partners, you get put at the bottom of the call sheet always.
  • mdekkers 9y ago
    Not having a US number can also work against you That is solvable in literally 30 minutes, for $10
• curun1r 9y ago
  No one has mentioned it, so I'll say that one of the things that I found most pleasant about Thailand was the religious aspect of it. I'm more of an atheist, but spending time in a primarily Buddhist country has a very different feel from a primarily Catholic or Muslim country. Also: - There are still cost differences between Latin America and Thailand. - The weather is awesome. Wearing shorts and short sleeves 24/7/365 is great. - I love Thai food and it's easier to eat vegetarian there than in Latin America. - There's no expectation that foreigners need to learn Thai. Beyond 'hello' and 'thank you' they basically expect to be speaking English (or Chinese). - I've always liked hanging out with Australians and New Zealanders and there's a lot of them in Thailand. - The internet is much better. Not only than Latin America, but also better than I get in the US. On the negative side, foreigners are looked at as sources of money and not everyone is good at pretending they're interested in something else. It's very easy to feel dehumanized and that you're only interesting to them because you have money. Also, while many people are listing girls as a positive, in Bangkok the assumptions they make about white men made it hard for me to be there. It gets depressing to be offered sex that often. Considering you get all benefits of Thailand in other locations as well, I strongly recommend potential expats consider Thai destinations other than Bangkok.
  • i_am_viet 9y ago
    If one spends time integrating into their society (for example, learn their language instead of just using English all the time), then one may be treated a little more positively. They don't expect you to speak Thai because they see you as someone who won't stick around and as a result, like you said, merely a money source.
    • mattnumbe 9y ago
      I agree 100%. I am currently an expat with local language skills. When other expats complain about getting treated differently because they're foreigners, and then you find out they've been here 10 years and have no local language skills, it's easy to understand why.
• alexcnwy 9y ago
  If your clients are in Europe then being 5 hours ahead is actually better than being in the same timezone (especially if you're nocturnal and only wake up at 11am ;)
• coop-throwaway 9y ago
  What makes Thailand so attractive? Do you really need to ask? Young white males can easily fuck attractive girls there. That's it.
  • sctb 9y ago
    Please comment thoughtfully and substantively or not at all.
• dagw 9y ago
  Thailand has a ton of western tourists making it very adapted to their 'needs' and greatly reduces the 'risk' of culture shock. So if you're the sort of person who wants to a warm cheap country, but still want to be able to go to a different pub every night where you can hang out with white native English speakers then Thailand is pretty good bet.
• codingmyway 9y ago
  For someone working with UK/West European clients the time zone means you can enjoy the daytime and work in the evening which I prefer. The 9-5 is too engrained from last century workhouses to change but doesn't suit a balanced lifestyle