Philippines vs Thailand

[cavanami]

I studied Latin in high school ( we spoke German at home)...then Japanese at the University...then when I started working, I had to study Chinese, then I was sent to Italy to work...so now, I don't speak any language!!!

Now in Thailand, so my pea brain is completely in a melt down!!!

[kamui]

I studied Latin in high school ( we spoke German at home)...then Japanese at the University...then when I started working, I had to study Chinese, then I was sent to Italy to work...so now, I don't speak any language!!!

Now in Thailand, so my pea brain is completely in a melt down!!!

 

I did study Italian at university for a year and spent one month at a language school in Firenze. Funnily when I started to learn Japanese my Italian was erased within a year completely (but I have no problems to speak Japanese and English in one sentence...).

[Guest]

Italian, Spanish, Portuguese are all Latin languages and are quite similar...After I worked in Italy for three years, I knew a bit of Italian so when I returned to work in San Diego I could quack-quack a bit using Italian with the Mexicans and it was good enough that I argued with them over a money issue and I got my money back!!!

Italian also worked in Portugal.

 

True, Italian and Spanish--assuming each speaker possesses a reasonable high proficiency level--are mutually intelligible. My Spanish is rusty but I was able to communicate quite well with this Italian guy I met on my recent Thailand trip (and he spoke no English and no Spanish), him speaking to me in Italian and me speaking to him solely in Spanish.

[shygye]

... but 90% of communication is nonverbal.

[gobbledonk]

I have found that the universal language is neither music nor mathematics - its money. Doesnt matter if the seller has zero English and zero formal education, money talks every language I can think of. The sole exception would be the true believers, be they hippies or Franciscans, but sooner or later they will need the things that money buys.

 

Go to Brazil and show the girls some money - I suspect that any conversation skills will be of secondary importance from that point on

[Wallenda]

But you did say girls available to farangs so even in Bangkok I'd say the figure is well over 10,000. You not only have Cowboy, Pat Pong and NEP but all the freelancers in Sukhumvit and other areas. All the beer bar type bars plus of course a huge number of massage places from one shop units to huge soapies all over Bangkok.

Then if you look at Pattaya and include all the beer bars and non agogo shop unit type bars in Pattaya, Naklua, Jomtien and over the dark side the other side of Sukhumvit plus all the massage places large and small, then thats probably about 2,000 bars. That would be 10,000 girls even if the average per bar was only 5 girls and it would likely be higher than that. And of course even if the average was only 10 girls that would be 20,000 girls. Then theres the agogos, probably about at least 70 of them now. If you say 20 to 100 girls per bar and say an average of 40 or 50 per bar then thats another say 3,000/3,500.

Simie.

 

OK fair enough... but... you say well over 10,000. "Available to farang" probably is too broad a criteria (criterion?) to be practically useful. I think it makes more sense to narrow it to what's readily available to a foreigner tourist or someone in the country short term. So the soapies all across town mostly can't get included by that definition since no one fairly new here would be able to find the vast majority of them, or even know how to start to find them. So with that we could include the mega-massages on Ratchada because they're world famous and blatantly obvious. Any place that you would need to be an expat having lived here years to have access to, or have a Thai friend, or need to speak Thai, or need to do great research to find, those aren't really readily available. I think that probably cuts down the total numbers in Thailand and Philippines both considerably.

 

Now... I've been examining NEP and SC's layouts and it seems as if between them there are probably just 50+ go-gos. If we assume an average of 30 girls per bar (which I think is pretty far on the generous side as a guesstimate), it would mean there's around 1500 girls working in those go-gos. If we add in freelancers at the bars, bar beers, foreigner-oriented massage places plus the massages that are easily found by foreigners... OK more than 10,000 but I think 60,000 in Bangkok would be too high. I r ealize that down in Pattaya it's mostly a foreigner market there, so if you say it's that high down there, I might believe it.

 

Anyway, even this rough look at the numbers is already making it obvious that Thailand's scene is way huger than the Philippines'. And way more convenient, obvious, commercial, developed, diverse.... and the larger the scene is, the more total beautiful girls there are available.

 

That said, if it's correct that Philippines had 15,000 available in its foreigner-oriented scene, that's more than I expected. I'm still not convinced taht's true, because these estimates tend to be high from what I've seen. Like, I remember all the times I've read about This massage place or that one, how there were 100+ girls in the fishbowl. Every time I ever went to check one of those places out in person, I'd find at most half the quoted number in the fishbowl. I think people have a strong tendency to round upwards when estimating numbers like these.

[simie]

I think your 30 girls average in Cowboy a tad low. Remember we are talking the number of girls working there in total not the number you happen to see in say a hour or two you are in there. You would be surprised just how many girls actually work in some of those bars. The 15,000 figure for the PI someone quoted was just for Angeles so drop in the ocean of the PI scene. But I would agree that the Thai scene is more easily accessable to the average farang tourist without detailed knowledge of the country.

Simie.

[unit731]

The last number I read was that there were 800,000 gals working.

 

And Pattaya had 1,600 bars.

 

I do remember one bar on Soi 8 - Pattaya - that had two stools. Smallest bar I have ever seen.

[Palatkik]

I've spent a lot of time in the Philippines lately, not by choice, but my heart stays with Thailand. The Filipino food is bland to yuck!, the security situation in places worrisome. One thing I can say for it is the scenery is second to none and the women very pleasant on the eyes - even off the beaten track. YMMV.

[typedef222]

Thailand wins hands down over the Philippines in almost every respect.

 

The only exception is if you're specifically looking to marry a (bar)girl and take her back to your home country. Filipinas are genuinely desperate to find a husband and escape -- most Thai girls prefer to stay in Thailand and just string you (and other sponsors) along.

 

Angeles City is no Pattaya -- the active area is much smaller. I'd guess Patteaya has 2 or 3 times more girls. Moreover, Angeles only has agogo bars, while Pattaya has a huge diversity of venues: the beach, walking street, agogos, beer bars... even FamilyMart (had a ST with a cashier once).

 

Beyond Angeles, there are few spots. Manila is a huge place. L.A. Cafe is just about the size of Gullivers (add up Soi 5 and KSR branches). Bars are apparently expensive (it's a Catholic country, it takes more money to suppress the outrage). Sebang (a small diving town) has ~30 girls, I imagine all tourists spots do.

 

Philippines is visibly and disturbingly unsafe. If you grew up in Kenya or Oakland, CA that may be fine with you, but it's not for those with weak stomach. I heard of scams in PI that just don't happen in Thailand (e.g. while with a girl, her underage partner knocks on your door, with police following 3 min later, pay $3000 to get out). In PI the poor are desperate kind, in Th they generally smile and accept their station in life.