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Slightly OT: Everytime there's a discussion about living in SE Asia or Thailand people give many good reasons to go. Very rarely to never one dares to mention

Slightly OT: Everytime there's a discussion about living in SE Asia or Thailand people give many good reasons to go. Very rarely to never one dares to mention girls there as a reason. In this thread there's one person only who does mention girls. Since I have never been to Thailand or SE Asia I am just wondering how much weight does this factor have in decisions to live in SE Asia (this is a serious question). Edit: Fyi, this post got so many downvotes and I just don't understand why. People try to hide the truth and want us to believe that everybody goes to Thailand because of all these amenities, good Internet but not the one reason I mentioned? If downvoters keep on this hypocrisis I will delete the post again. This is ridiculous. I would like to see one downvoter replying and explaining why he downvoted. Guys, keep on downvoting. I think the downvoters are exactly those who visit Thailand just because of this one reason.

aianus 9y ago
Fwiw I lived in Vietnam for 6 months and had girls stop me in the streets to take a picture with me and give me their numbers.
- SXX 9y ago
  I think you should at least mention province you were visiting since people behavior is really different depend if how close the place to usual tourist routes. I spent just 3 months in Vietnam and didn't traveled that much, but there is huge difference in people reaction to foreigners. In the South as soon as I moved away to the places that tourists rarely visit I always get attention from all sort of people because you can literally be the only European guy who was around in past week. Also I was surprised how many kids of school age have a good English skills. In same time in SGN nobody ever spent time on me with no reason.
- robocat 9y ago
  My very limited experience is that girls in Vietnam are mostly interested in a relationship. I remember talking to one 19 year old couple that seemed taken aback that I had had a few girlfriends and never been married...
  - SXX 9y ago
    From my still limited knowledge they take marriage very seriously and divorce is pretty much like death. There are all kind of people of course, but society they live in enforce it on everyone. As always it's depend on urbanization since people who move to work in big cities away from their family are less concerned with traditions.
- phewvvg 9y ago
  Spent just a week in Hong Kong when I was 22/23 and got stopped for pictures 3/4 times. It felt like a real novelty at the time, but I imagine I'd tire of it eventually.
drawnwren 9y ago
Hi, I lived there for about a year - so I feel like I have some understanding of how things work. How much of a factor that plays is totally up to you. For some introverted men from the US, this can be the number one reason they go to Thailand. There are plenty of people who live relatively normal American lives, i.e. going out on weekends and being normally social. Then there are people who really dislike the girls there for whatever personal reasons but still enjoy Thailand for its amazing other draws. Things like extremely cheap cost of living, amazing massages (seriously this is huge), insanely gorgeous vacation destinations less than a $100 ticket away.
homakov 9y ago
It is kinda personal but yes girls are considered major perk of Thailand (both "normal" and not). Thats one of the reasons i spent there 2 years.
- thinbeige 9y ago
  How was it when you came back? Culture shock, hard to get along again or was it easy?
s3nnyy 9y ago
Upvoted.
stephenr 9y ago
Honestly the majority of expats I see in Thailand for women/girls appear to be retirees. It's not really that common (for me at least, but I don't live in an area popular with expats) to see young or even 30s/40s guys with a Thai "girlfriend", and those I do see, it appears to be more likely a legitimate girlfriend. (Note the difference)
coldtea 9y ago
>Very rarely to never one dares to mention the girls there as a reason. In this thread there's just one person who does mention girls. (...) Edit: Fyi, this post got many downvotes and I just don't understand why Since most of the commenters on HN are anglo-saxon protestant prudish and PC, this is one of the topics that you're not supposed to talk about.
orthoganol 9y ago
Do you really expect an uncomplicated answer given the range of people we're talking about? I mean of course there's a subset of heterosexual young men who weigh women high in their travel decisions, and that's across every ethnicity for almost every region of the world, not just SE Asia. Pick a country. There will be a reputation there, of one or a few ethnicities or nationalities having privileged status in the dating pool. North American gringos -> South America; French guys -> American girls; White guys -> Japanese girls; Argentinians, British guys, etc., etc. Of course girls is a factor for some. And then of course it's hardly a factor at all for many others who, SEA in particular, want cheap living, beautiful nature, safety, super polite and humble population, and escape from Western first world social practices, people, egos, politics they don't like. If you're trying to chalk everything up to a single thing, you're showing a limited mind. Edit - hijacking my own comment, after insulting religious institutions on the Muzzmatch thread, I appear to now be defaulted to the bottom of comment threads, despite upvotes. That's happened to all my comments since then, when they used to be defaulted at top and usually hung around there. Hopefully it's temporary... ? Am I going to need a new account/ VPN ? Edit2 - yep, blocked from posting ('too much posting', well over an hour after last post). Farewell HN. Orthogonal out.
- stephenr 9y ago
  I wouldn't say "safety" is a reason to come to Thailand. Unless you meant "learn to practice personal safety in every aspect of daily life" Edit: to clarify, even if you ignore all the household issues to deal with (eg "electricians" saying "what's that third wire for" is common) Thailand is number four on the most dangerous places to drive list. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/most-dangerous-countries-to-drive/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/most-dan... Outside of Bangkok, the following are just accepted norms for driving: • no seatbelts • no child seats • ignore stop/give way signs/traffic lights • drive the wrong way on the side of the road (applies to vehicles of all sizes) • no understanding of how roundabout works (enter without looking, force existing traffic to stop for you) • drive at 150kph+ on a 90kph road • ignore marked turning/straight lanes, cut across non-turning traffic to make turns at intersections I've seen kids drive better in GTA than some people do here.
pentae 9y ago
It wasn't a factor for me, because I am more attracted to European/Caucasian women. And sure enough Murphy's law did have me end up with quite a beautiful Thai lady, I dare say could possibly be out of my league in the US or Australia. However this was not by design. I came mainly for the tax benefits base and low cost of living of setting up an office in Thailand. There's quite a lot of annoying bureaucracy involved but a good agent can handle that. It's also a great place to self fund a startup as your team can all live quite cheaply giving you double the runway. Anything else I can add has probably already been said.
- thinbeige 9y ago
  Honest reply, kudos.
- charlesdm 9y ago
  Women aside (since I'm in the same boat as you), how's the tax situation like? How much are you spending per month on CoL?
  - pentae 9y ago
    Well as someone who is NOT a US Citizen (this doesn't work for US citizens) I'm able to base my tax residency in Thailand, which has no CFC Laws and enables me to remotely manage and control my offshore corporations and not pay tax on income abroad unless its remitted to Thailand within 12 months of earning it. In other words, I only pay tax on what I spend on Thailand. As for my local Thai company it exists mainly to issue work permits and pay a small amount of taxes to justify our existence. The profits from our creations are generated in overseas corps. As for CoL costs it totally varies. Some of the local people I hire can live off their salary of $700 a month. A comfortable western lifestyle would be about $3k a month, imo. I spend a lot more due to travel.
    - toomanybeersies 9y ago
      As someone who spends less than $3k a month and lives a comfortable western lifestyle in a first world country, that seems rather high. Now I haven't been to Thailand, but in Vietnam you could live very, very comfortably for half that.
LouisSayers 9y ago
Yes, love the girls over there and it is a nice perk! But not the ones you're thinking of. I've spent about 5 months in Thailand and there are a lot of western girls over there in holiday mode. American, French, Polish, German... and I guess a whole bunch of other countries too. Personally, as a kiwi, I love the American girls - and always hope to run into some. And if friend's and I meet some girls we are ready to reply "you're from America?! The greatest country in the world?!" With a look of astonishment on our face haha :D
intrasight 9y ago
>Very rarely to never one dares to mention girls there as a reason Because you'd be stating the obvious. If you're a heterosexual man, then women are "the reason" for everything (perhaps excluding making your parents proud, but even that one could say is related). It's biology. It's the reason you'd move anywhere. It's the reason we do anything. It's the reason you brush your teeth. The reason you get our of bed for Pete's sake :) And if you're a heterosexual woman, then men fill the same reason. So what, if anything does Thailand have to do with this?
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

aianus 9y ago

Fwiw I lived in Vietnam for 6 months and had girls stop me in the streets to take a picture with me and give me their numbers.

SXX 9y ago
I think you should at least mention province you were visiting since people behavior is really different depend if how close the place to usual tourist routes. I spent just 3 months in Vietnam and didn't traveled that much, but there is huge difference in people reaction to foreigners. In the South as soon as I moved away to the places that tourists rarely visit I always get attention from all sort of people because you can literally be the only European guy who was around in past week. Also I was surprised how many kids of school age have a good English skills. In same time in SGN nobody ever spent time on me with no reason.
robocat 9y ago
My very limited experience is that girls in Vietnam are mostly interested in a relationship. I remember talking to one 19 year old couple that seemed taken aback that I had had a few girlfriends and never been married...
- SXX 9y ago
  From my still limited knowledge they take marriage very seriously and divorce is pretty much like death. There are all kind of people of course, but society they live in enforce it on everyone. As always it's depend on urbanization since people who move to work in big cities away from their family are less concerned with traditions.
phewvvg 9y ago
Spent just a week in Hong Kong when I was 22/23 and got stopped for pictures 3/4 times. It felt like a real novelty at the time, but I imagine I'd tire of it eventually.

drawnwren 9y ago

Hi, I lived there for about a year - so I feel like I have some understanding of how things work. How much of a factor that plays is totally up to you. For some introverted men from the US, this can be the number one reason they go to Thailand. There are plenty of people who live relatively normal American lives, i.e. going out on weekends and being normally social. Then there are people who really dislike the girls there for whatever personal reasons but still enjoy Thailand for its amazing other draws. Things like extremely cheap cost of living, amazing massages (seriously this is huge), insanely gorgeous vacation destinations less than a $100 ticket away.

homakov 9y ago

It is kinda personal but yes girls are considered major perk of Thailand (both "normal" and not). Thats one of the reasons i spent there 2 years.

thinbeige 9y ago
How was it when you came back? Culture shock, hard to get along again or was it easy?

s3nnyy 9y ago

Upvoted.

stephenr 9y ago

Honestly the majority of expats I see in Thailand for women/girls appear to be retirees. It's not really that common (for me at least, but I don't live in an area popular with expats) to see young or even 30s/40s guys with a Thai "girlfriend", and those I do see, it appears to be more likely a legitimate girlfriend. (Note the difference)

coldtea 9y ago

>Very rarely to never one dares to mention the girls there as a reason. In this thread there's just one person who does mention girls. (...) Edit: Fyi, this post got many downvotes and I just don't understand why Since most of the commenters on HN are anglo-saxon protestant prudish and PC, this is one of the topics that you're not supposed to talk about.

orthoganol 9y ago

Do you really expect an uncomplicated answer given the range of people we're talking about? I mean of course there's a subset of heterosexual young men who weigh women high in their travel decisions, and that's across every ethnicity for almost every region of the world, not just SE Asia. Pick a country. There will be a reputation there, of one or a few ethnicities or nationalities having privileged status in the dating pool. North American gringos -> South America; French guys -> American girls; White guys -> Japanese girls; Argentinians, British guys, etc., etc. Of course girls is a factor for some. And then of course it's hardly a factor at all for many others who, SEA in particular, want cheap living, beautiful nature, safety, super polite and humble population, and escape from Western first world social practices, people, egos, politics they don't like. If you're trying to chalk everything up to a single thing, you're showing a limited mind. Edit - hijacking my own comment, after insulting religious institutions on the Muzzmatch thread, I appear to now be defaulted to the bottom of comment threads, despite upvotes. That's happened to all my comments since then, when they used to be defaulted at top and usually hung around there. Hopefully it's temporary... ? Am I going to need a new account/ VPN ? Edit2 - yep, blocked from posting ('too much posting', well over an hour after last post). Farewell HN. Orthogonal out.

stephenr 9y ago
I wouldn't say "safety" is a reason to come to Thailand. Unless you meant "learn to practice personal safety in every aspect of daily life" Edit: to clarify, even if you ignore all the household issues to deal with (eg "electricians" saying "what's that third wire for" is common) Thailand is number four on the most dangerous places to drive list. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/most-dangerous-countries-to-drive/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/most-dan... Outside of Bangkok, the following are just accepted norms for driving: • no seatbelts • no child seats • ignore stop/give way signs/traffic lights • drive the wrong way on the side of the road (applies to vehicles of all sizes) • no understanding of how roundabout works (enter without looking, force existing traffic to stop for you) • drive at 150kph+ on a 90kph road • ignore marked turning/straight lanes, cut across non-turning traffic to make turns at intersections I've seen kids drive better in GTA than some people do here.

pentae 9y ago

It wasn't a factor for me, because I am more attracted to European/Caucasian women. And sure enough Murphy's law did have me end up with quite a beautiful Thai lady, I dare say could possibly be out of my league in the US or Australia. However this was not by design. I came mainly for the tax benefits base and low cost of living of setting up an office in Thailand. There's quite a lot of annoying bureaucracy involved but a good agent can handle that. It's also a great place to self fund a startup as your team can all live quite cheaply giving you double the runway. Anything else I can add has probably already been said.

thinbeige 9y ago
Honest reply, kudos.
charlesdm 9y ago
Women aside (since I'm in the same boat as you), how's the tax situation like? How much are you spending per month on CoL?
- pentae 9y ago
  Well as someone who is NOT a US Citizen (this doesn't work for US citizens) I'm able to base my tax residency in Thailand, which has no CFC Laws and enables me to remotely manage and control my offshore corporations and not pay tax on income abroad unless its remitted to Thailand within 12 months of earning it. In other words, I only pay tax on what I spend on Thailand. As for my local Thai company it exists mainly to issue work permits and pay a small amount of taxes to justify our existence. The profits from our creations are generated in overseas corps. As for CoL costs it totally varies. Some of the local people I hire can live off their salary of $700 a month. A comfortable western lifestyle would be about $3k a month, imo. I spend a lot more due to travel.
  - toomanybeersies 9y ago
    As someone who spends less than $3k a month and lives a comfortable western lifestyle in a first world country, that seems rather high. Now I haven't been to Thailand, but in Vietnam you could live very, very comfortably for half that.

LouisSayers 9y ago

Yes, love the girls over there and it is a nice perk! But not the ones you're thinking of. I've spent about 5 months in Thailand and there are a lot of western girls over there in holiday mode. American, French, Polish, German... and I guess a whole bunch of other countries too. Personally, as a kiwi, I love the American girls - and always hope to run into some. And if friend's and I meet some girls we are ready to reply "you're from America?! The greatest country in the world?!" With a look of astonishment on our face haha :D

intrasight 9y ago

>Very rarely to never one dares to mention girls there as a reason Because you'd be stating the obvious. If you're a heterosexual man, then women are "the reason" for everything (perhaps excluding making your parents proud, but even that one could say is related). It's biology. It's the reason you'd move anywhere. It's the reason we do anything. It's the reason you brush your teeth. The reason you get our of bed for Pete's sake :) And if you're a heterosexual woman, then men fill the same reason. So what, if anything does Thailand have to do with this?

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]