I believe enjoyment = reality – expectations. The more you can go in with accurate expectations, the better the Thailand experience will be.
If you think Thailand is this perfect fairyland, you will 100% be disappointed. On the other hand, if you have a good understanding of what’s good, what’s bad, you’ll have an amazing time.
This isn’t Thailand bashing. It’s me trying to convey to you the most accurate version of the Thailand experience.
1. It’s Fucking Loud
To give you an idea, I don’t even have the A/C on in my condo most of the idea. It might sound extreme, but even the A/C noise is already too much for me. I am very noise sensitive.
I’m writing this article, or working on my laptop, I want complete silence. A/Cs are generally loud, even if you use the fan-only setting.
But the A/C isn’t even what ACTUALLY loud, it is the general outside noise that you’ll have to prepare for. It’s loud. Very loud. I guess that’s the case with most big cities, but it’s just something I want you to keep in mind.
The only way to EFFECTIVELY deal with this is to live in a high-rise condo (I am talking 10th floor upwards). Then you are safe, and that’s my recommendation. Or you are just rely on pure luck without planning.
The other option is going to Vietnam first (try Saigon), any place after that will feel like you are on a meditation retreat.
Jokes aside, the outside noise can really fuck with you if you are noise sensitive like me.
I’ve stayed on the 5th floor of a condo in a side street, and still had to move places because the outside noise was unbearable. My standard is this: if I open my window and can’t hear if the window is open or not, that’s the level of noise I’m comfortable with.
2. Expect Cute/Average Girls, Not Super-Hotties
Thailand is one of the easiest, and best places for meeting women. Whether that’s online dating, or nightlife.
For 9/10 guys watching this video, it’ll be an insane upgrade from their dating life at home – especially if you live in a Western country.
Slim, feminine, cute. If you have those expectations, you will not disappointed.
That part is 100% from what you read online, but …
I am not sure how to convey what I am trying to say next because beauty in terms of looks is often very subjective, so I am using a generic phrase (I hope you get what I mean) …
“Super Hot“
If you want to meet a super hot Thai girl that’s probably not going to happen. Maybe one you’ve seen on Instagram, TikTok, in YouTube reels, etc.
Yeah, those are the anomalies.
Don’t expect to meet them on dating sites, and even in nightlife venues most working girls don’t look like that. In fact, nightlife is probably your best bet, but even then, expect to scout a handful of gogo bars before you find a dimepiece.
In my opinion, your best options are Crazy House at Soi Cowboy in Bangkok, and Sapphire in Pattaya. Some of these gogo bars have Instagram pages, so you can see exactly what to expect.
Looks-preferences are very subjective, so please take all of this with a massive grain of salt. Just my perception, maybe you will think that there are tons of super hot Thai girls everywhere.
What I just said applies to the average guy.
Not necessarily only in terms of looks, but also in terms of the willingness to put in effort.
If you are willing to use tricks and hacks for online dating, reset your online dating profiles a bunch of times, use lots of paid features, have a decent Instagram, invite the girl for dinner … then of course you’ll have an easier time meeting those super hotties.
But if you are like me, and derive a big part of the enjoyment from the ease of meeting up – and get turned off by “putting in too much effort”, then expect average to cute girls.
3. Use The Right App, Fake “Matches”
Based on my experience on dating apps: ThaiFriendly expect A LOT of freelancers. A lot of girls that look like normal “good” girls, but eventually let you know that they are looking for money.
It’s great if you are looking for that as you can message anyone directly, but for normal dating ThaiFriendly is perhaps not the best option.
Tinder is okay, but you will get a ton of ladyboy likes/matches which will can create the illusion that you are doing better than you actually are.
Once you filter through and remove all the ladyboy matches, all the unattractive ones, you are often left with only 10% of actual, solid matches.
A lot of guys online will let you know that they got hundreds of matches in Thailand, and that’s factually true. What they don’t show is the quality of those matches.
Expect at least 50% of your matches/likes to be ladyboys/freelancers/unattractive ones.
Bumble is probably your best bet. More educated Thai girls on there, many look quite nice. I think if you want “normal” dating, you should go with Bumble and give that a try.
To finish off, I’d like to briefly mention two more things:
When you get a SIM card at the airport, it is – in my experience – most likely a used one. You install Line messenger app and will notice random Thai people adding you “by phone number”.
That’s how you can tell. An anonymous alternative for registering LINE messenger app (and pretty much any app) would be using sms-pool.net
If you are more serious about dating, or a particular girl, there’s a paid tool called Pimeyes. I’ll leave it at that, but let me just say not uncommon to meet a good girl, perhaps even a highly educated one, only to find out she’s doing … you know what online.
So, that’s a good tool if you’re on the more serious side of dating.