@Anson *******

Whats your problem? I'm adding some context to a nuanced discussion and pointing out its not a black and white choice. The OP asked the question, meanwhile you're just trolling here and being downright Rude. Go away if you have nothing valuable to add.

@Stuart ********

I see. I just find it strange that this is insisted upon for an e-visa too. For a standard visa sticker, yes, I've done it before several times.

@Jonathan ********

Yes, it depends. I found that hotel rates in Penang have certainly increased compared to pre Covid, and thus a decent hotel is not any cheaper than in Thailand. By contrast, an apartment in KL is roughly similar in price or a little cheaper than Bangkok and seems to be legal for short term rentals too, without the drama that goes with short term AirBNB rentals in Bangkok/Pattaya etc.

@John ******

I should also add that for members of the LGBTQ community, Thailand is of course far superior to Malaysia for obvious reasons.

@Maksym **********

You can. In Thailand, 50 Baht is just barely enough for a meal at a food court but without a drink.

@Kenny ****

Well I don't know what you're eating where 3 meals only cost 500 Baht but it sounds like you're restricting yourself to the cheapest food you can find and that's not enjoying life.

@Anson *******

I'm pointing out the good and bad, certainly not selling Malaysia! You're joking right?

@Tod ********

Wow. So if you forget to do that, despite being an e-visa, you could be denied entry? Glad I still have a visa sticker - I just carry both passports, but really, with an e-visa they should just allow you to update your passport number online or something.

@Brad ********

Thais express this same attitude online. Many nationalists despise foreigners and even the slightest criticism of Thailand will earn you a lot of laugh emojis and viscous hate, defending Thailand and belittling your country / whatever other country you're comparing Thailand with, particularly if it's Myanmar, Laos or Cambodia, which they absolutely hate.

Go to any news article on Facebook or YouTube in Thai and you'll find the overwhelming majority of responses are anti-foreigner and anti-immigrant. Many Thais want all the migrant workers to leave, if it were possible.

You're probably not aware of this, as you don't speak or read Thai. That's why so many foreigners here have this mistaken belief that we're well liked, when it's far from that.

I often get no response from certain middle aged and older Thais in my local community when I go for a walk and smile at them or say "sawatdi krab". Some look at me in a strange way yet I've been living here for years. I always have a positive attitude but I'm not naive either - a lot of Thais simply don't care for foreigners much; some are influenced by all the badly behaved foreigners on the news, that kind of thing.

It's not really all that different among Thais, especially your more educated Chinese-Thais, than Malaysians online.

The only real difference is Malaysians speak far better English, so you'll notice them online more than Thais, because Thais will be saying derogatory things in Thai, rather than English.

@Akshay ***

OK, interesting. Thais are less direct and you might be surprised to find, not all that foreigner friendly. Don't get me wrong - I am not one of these cynics who constantly bashes Thais (far from it) but I am also not one of these rose colored glasses types who believes Thais love foreigners so much they're willing to kiss our feet. This is sheer nonsense. I think in this group there are a lot of people in the latter category.

As a matter of fact, Thais are more nationalistic and exclusionary than Malaysians are. They do NOT want foreigners to own land in their country and always look at foreigners as "perpetual tourists". Even the English-language media refers to expats as "tourists". They want to make it more difficult for foreigners to settle here and would prefer fewer, not more tourists (talking about literally every Thai who isn't in the tourism industry and even those who are working in tourism, many would prefer quality over quantity). It's difficult to integrate into Thai society as a foreigner. Even if you speak Thai as well as I do, with minimal or no accent and fluency in reading and writing, you'll get along with Thais but still won't make that many [close] friends. Thais prefer their own kind. Most friendships with Thais will probably be superficial and not very deep, unfortunately.

Malaysians may seem like a harder nut to crack but easier to befriend (eventually at least) and I do realize that with Thais, especially among the upper middle classes, there is often a lot of common ground with foreigners too, so it's not all as bleak as I've stated.