Nice review...I have also lived in Thailand for 4 years (in Bangkok,Nakhon Sawan and Sri Sa Ket and visited 66 provinces out of 78 provinces)and now married to a Filipina.In Thailand,visa laws are complex and the most common way guys manage to remain in the Kingdom is to take up English teaching jobs.Obviously,there are other visa classes apart from Non B while in the Philippines,the visa laws and visa classes are friendly such that you can live in the Philippines for up to 3 years on a tourist visa!!! unlike in Thailand where a tourist visa is only good for 3 months and any additional visa runs would raise eyebrows of the border officials concerning your purpose of stay in the Kingdom.I think the Philippines has considerably better malls than Thailand,to be honest.Malls in Thailand such as MBK,Central Plaza,Pantip Plaza etc can't compete with the Philippines malls such as Mall of Asia,SM North,Trinoma etc..though, I have to agree with you that Thailand is visibly more developed than the Philippines.