Angeles City

[QUOTE=GoodEnough;2224519]I wasn't aware that there had been an intentional devaluation as I've not read anything about it. GE.[/QUOTE]Not intentional, just market trend. The change in value of the dollar relative to the piso over the last couple years has been quite striking. I easily recall a few years ago an exchange rate near 40 to 1. It's now well over 50 to 1.

[QUOTE=RickRock;2224480]Yes, many (most?) Filipinos want to leave their country. There are millions of them in other countries for work or marriage in fact. Thai people on the other hand aren't nearly as likely to want to leave. Guys often seem shocked when they get a Thai girlfriend or even wife and find out that no, she doesn't want to go to Europe or America. She wants to stay in Thailand. Consider why that might be.[/QUOTE]The Philippines has the highest percentage of their citizens living outside the country - 19% almost. No surprise there.

I have never been able to explain why Thais don't want to get out of their country.

[QUOTE=MrEnternational;2224479]Come on man. The Angeles trike deal is the biggest ripoff in PI.[/QUOTE]Yes, I agree the trikes in AC are a rip-off. I never said they were fair. But I think quite a lot of the hotels and restaurants are also a rip-off compared to provincial or other non-touristy parts of the Phils. And that is my point: why is everybody always complaining about the high trike prices and not the other high prices?
I've never been to Boracay but I assume the trike drivers there are also charging much more than the 10 peso they are charging in Dumaguette.

[QUOTE=Blanquiceleste;2224530]I have never been able to explain why Thais don't want to get out of their country.[/QUOTE]Maybe it's tied to their profound love and honor of their royalty. Strong sense of nationalism.

[QUOTE=Blanquiceleste;2224530]The Philippines has the highest percentage of their citizens living outside the country - 19% almost. No surprise there.

I have never been able to explain why Thais don't want to get out of their country.[/QUOTE]Perhaps the large number of Westerners who want to live in Thailand should provide a clue? By most accounts, and I have heard some Brits discussing the issue in Pattaya, the Thai government is making it more and more difficult to get residency and even some with a foothold already in the country are having issues staying there according to them. If so many foreigners are trying to stay there, I expect that suggests some merit to living in Thailand, especially when you are already a citizen and you speak the language.

But, you asked why Thais don't want to leave their country and here is my explanation. Because they love their country, they love their king and they love their family. And living conditions in Thailand, by most accounts are better than in the PI. Birth control is widely available and it is practiced, resulting in smaller families and better chances of moving ahead. Another factor is that Thais tend to be practicing Buddhists, and Buddhism teaches that wealth is fleeting. Thus, leaving the home of your faith (Theravada Buddhism is centered around Thailand) to chase wealth is going against the grain of their entire culture. Also note the large percentage of males who serve part of their life in poverty as monks.

I don't think that many, if any, of those qualities apply to the Filipinos, except for the love of their family. I have made contact with OFW Filipinos and met some in Malaysia. The often serve their lives toiling away to support their families, who are also taking care of their children back home. Children they rarely get to see and grow up while they are away. And yes, they really want to marry a Westerner and immigrate (and get you to take care of them, their kids and probably their entire family too!) Other than their devotion to family, the PI seems to be the opposite of Thailand in regards to those social factors I've mentioned.

[QUOTE=Blanquiceleste;2219651]I spent 5 nights in AC last month. Tipped all girls 100 - 200 depending on level of service provided, along with a mandatory Toblerone bar. Barfines set at 3000 - 3500 in bars on Fields.[/QUOTE]It's a decade I haven't been to the Phils. Does it mean that when you pay the barfine to the bar, it already includes the FS, and you just need to tip the girl according to her service?

Is it like this in all the Phils?

I don't remember this procedure, and it sounds different from the thai system.

[QUOTE=Blanquiceleste;2224530]The Philippines has the highest percentage of their citizens living outside the country - 19% almost. No surprise there.

I have never been able to explain why Thais don't want to get out of their country.[/QUOTE]Most people don't want to completely uproot their lives and move to a different country, culture and language. I have been to some real shithole countries and when you actually talk to the people there they want the economic and other advantages of living in the developed world but would prefer it to be in their home country.

Here most of the people leave temporarily with the intention of returning eventually to live their retirement on the proceeds of their foreign work or out of simple necessity to be able to remit money to their family. I think that Philippine are preferred for foreign workers because they speak English more than just about all other comparable countries.

[QUOTE=NamasteParis;2224643]It's a decade I haven't been to the Phils. Does it mean that when you pay the barfine to the bar, it already includes the FS, and you just need to tip the girl according to her service?

Is it like this in all the Phils?

I don't remember this procedure, and it sounds different from the thai system.[/QUOTE]What procedure did you encounter a decade ago in AC?

Everywhere it is not the same. In Angeles City, the barfine includes everything. Tipping is up to you. In Makati, the barfine does not include FS. You have to tip the girl.

[QUOTE=NamasteParis;2224643] It's a decade I haven't been to the Phils. Is it like this in all the Phils? [/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=SoapySmith;2224524]Not intentional, just market trend. The change in value of the dollar relative to the piso over the last couple years has been quite striking. I easily recall a few years ago an exchange rate near 40 to 1. It's now well over 50 to 1.[/QUOTE]I think today's rate is 54.07. That's only slightly below what it was when I arrived here many years ago. It seems to me, though I haven't been assiduously tracking the rate, that the sudden weakening has been fairly sudden and I don't really understand why. The socio-economic conditions haven't changed dramatically over the past several months. For me, Economics remains "the arcane science," so if there's anyone out there who could help explain what's going on, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would find it helpful.

GE.

[QUOTE=Blanquiceleste;2224530]The Philippines has the highest percentage of their citizens living outside the country - 19% almost. No surprise there.
[/QUOTE]I think the official rate of expatriation, or at least the rate used most commonly in government papers and studies is about 10%. While I'm not arguing with your number, I'm curious about your source, as 19% of the population would be in excess of 20 million Filipinos living outside their country, and that is a huge number.

I was once a senior manager of a large development project here, and I used to know all of these numbers, but that was 5 years ago and I've not stayed current. The equation however is simple. The country has a young population and the number of people exiting the labor market each year is dwarfed by the numbers seeking to enter it. The formal economy cannot begin to create a sufficient number of jobs to absorb all of those seeking work, so many are forced abroad. I have no idea what the real unemployment rate is here, since the government seeks to dampen the rate by including those employed in the "informal" sector, which means that guys trying to sell you a coconut on Rizal St in Manila, and the guys trying to sell you counterfeit viagra on Burgos street are all counted as "employed. " I also forget the number of individuals actually paying personal income tax, but relative to the general population it's quite small, which again is an indication of the limited employment opportunities open to people here, where even a job selling shoes on a six month contract in SM requires some college education.

GE.

There are so many Filipinos working around the world that they have a name for it: OFWs. There are more than 10,500,000 of them at last count (with 20,000 in Thailand! It's a major pillar of the Philippines economy. In 2011, official remittances sent back from OFWs were $20,000,000,000 USD. That's the "official" number. The real number is likely much much higher.

As for why this exists in the Philippines and not Thailand, I think it's pretty obvious for anyone who has been to both countries. I guess it's not though, judging by some ponderous comments posted here. So let's look at the numbers.

Human Development Index (higher is better).

Thailand HDI 0. 755 - Ranked 83 of 193.

Philippines HDI 0. 699 - Ranked 113 of 193.

GDP Per Capita (higher is better).

Thailand GDP-PC $6,591 - Ranked 84 of 193.

Philippines GDP-PC $2,967 - Ranked 126 of 193.

GDP Purchasing Power Parity Per Capita (higher is better).

Thailand GDP-PPP $17,786 - Ranked 72 of 193.

Philippines GDP-PPP $8,229 - Ranked 118 of 193.

Thailand official unemployment rate 1%.

Philippines official unemployment rate 5.4%.

Not so mysterious when you look at the actual facts and figures. I don't need a weatherman to tell me which way the wind blows and just looking at Bangkok and Pattaya in comparison to Manila and Angeles City really tells me all I need to know, but it's nice to have the stats to back up the observations.

[QUOTE=GoodEnough;2224744]I think today's rate is 54.07. That's only slightly below what it was when I arrived here many years ago. It seems to me, though I haven't been assiduously tracking the rate, that the sudden weakening has been fairly sudden and I don't really understand why. The socio-economic conditions haven't changed dramatically over the past several months. For me, Economics remains "the arcane science," so if there's anyone out there who could help explain what's going on, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would find it helpful.

GE.[/QUOTE]The US dollar is the undisputed world reserve currency. Most currencies are measured and weighed against it, and it is currently quite strong (and strengthening).

$1 USD buys 54 PHP today, up from 43 five years ago.

$1 USD buys 23,500 VND today, up from 21,000 five years ago.

$1 USD buys 4. 14 MYR today, up from 3. 16 five years ago.

$1 USD buys 14,800 IDR today, up from 11,300 five years ago.

$1 USD buys 1,500 MMK today, up from 974 five years ago.

Gold is also a store of wealth versus the dollar. When "the price of gold" goes up, it means the US dollar is weakening (cheaper). When it goes down, it means the US dollar is strengthening.

Spot price on 1 oz of gold is $1193 today, down from $1350 five years ago.

But.

$1 USD buys 32.5 Thai Baht today, down from 33 five years ago.

You can guess why.

[QUOTE=RickRock;2224751]There are so many Filipinos working around the world that they have a name for it: OFWs. There are more than 10,500,000 of them at last count (with 20,000 in Thailand! It's a major pillar of the Philippines economy. In 2011, official remittances sent back from OFWs were $20,000,000,000 USD. That's the "official" number. The real number is likely much much higher.

As for why this exists in the Philippines and not Thailand, I think it's pretty obvious for anyone who has been to both countries. I guess it's not though, judging by some ponderous comments posted here. So let's look at the numbers.
[/QUOTE]Yes, OFW remittances are a bulwark of the economy and I believe constitute the second largest source of foreign currency. And the statistics you quote, while probably reasonably accurate, (ie the actually unemployment rate here is likely far higher than 5. 4%) they describe what is, but not necessarily why. As of 2017 the Gini Index of this place was about 40.1 while that of Thailand was about 37.8 and in this case lower is better. So in the Philippines a small percentage of the population controls more of the country's wealth than is the case in Thailand.

GE.

The unemployment numbers are definitely false. One economist says more than half of adult males in the Philippines have nothing to do with productive work of any kind. Even that seems to be a low estimate to me!

We can discuss whys in some detail. This might not be the place for it.

The main point for me, what all of this points to, is that the Philippines is severely lacking in so many areas that the people of the country flee the place in mass on a scope and scale not seen of any other country in peace time. So when the cheap sex dries up in a place like that, you have to wonder why anyone would go out of their way to visit, especially if it involves transiting through much better developed places like Bangkok where sex is perhaps even cheaper and more readily available alongside of all other aspects of a modern society.