@marcusr

Brisbane really is Australia's best kept secret. It wont stay this way forever but it is still great for now. In a few years it will be too busy like Melbourne and Sydney.

Absolutely beautiful country. Everything functions well. Cost is low. Endless beautiful cafes and sights. Cons: The locals are not very friendly. Need an app for everything because English is not common.

(It seems my paragraph formatting is being removed due to the length of my comment, so sorry you'll have to deal with the wall of text if you want to read this, haha) Have been in Bangkok for the past 6 months. I've been nomadic for the past 4 years across Europe & the US, and as someone who is used to walking everywhere and greenery, I found it quite difficult living here. I spent my first 5 months living in Airbnbs, which were fine for around $6-800/m, and for the last month decided to live in

Chiang Mai has had a deep Buddhist influence running over the last 1,000 years and this can be felt in the helpfulness, patience and generosity of the Thai and long-term transplants you come across. The city has an active community scene (nomads, spiritual seekers, hikers, creatives), several mountains with hiking spots and waterfalls surrounding the city, over 20 water bodies inside the city -- many have cafes and walks around, several public parks, and over 13 national parks with campgrounds w

Krabi is a nice weekend getaway if you stay in Bangkok and wanna escape the city for a few days. That being said, the best area for staying is Ao Nang beach. From here, you can go to the famous Railay beach with a longtail boat within 15 minutes and also the tours to Phi Phi and Hong Island start from here. There is a club called Upbeat Bar/Loft RNB in the middle of Ao Nang that gets kinda busy, although not super crowded in the rainy season. Maybe main season is different. Stay away from Krabi

I just came back after 12 years, last time I lived in SF for 3 months in 2012. Back then it was a walkable and clean and fun, pretty safe city. The only place back then that you'd avoid was the Tenderloin. There was homeless but they actually weren't aggressive. There wasn't much robberies either. San Francisco in 2024 is very different, as you've probably seen from social media. The homeless problem has grown a lot since then, and they're not just clustered in the Tenderloin, they're all over

So… amazing food. Great public transportation. Very clean. But very conformist. Self expression limited. The irony of seeing an exhibit on graffiti, yet no actual graffiti in the streets. And the causal racism especially if you’re brown. You could be British born but still expect to be sat far away from everyone else at cocktail bars, experience comments and have weird assumptions made.

Semiyak was my refuge from the crazy traffic, massive western crowds, mosquito attacks, and inflated prices of Canggu. Seminyak is not 'Balifornia' (Canguu), some will like it for that reason alone. Traffic can get clogged in Seminyak but it's still far better than Canggu. Seminyak is just as commercialized as Canggu, but in a different way. If you're familiar with NY, Canggu has east village or lower east side vibes, while Seminyak is more soho. Of course neither comes close to the actual N