@samlepak

Please don’t come. Rent has doubled in price in a matter of 5yrs. Myself and other locals are being pushed out of the city and forced to move to places that are +1h commute from work. People are struggling and suffering. And yet it is all ok because rich foreigners want to “spice up” their life… I repeat, do not come, and if you do have to come, please try to do damage control

Canggu is a busy but safe tourist destination. I have found the people here to be kind and generous, and the visitor service staff will generally know 3 languages (English, Balinese & Bhasa Indonesian). You'll still see hints of the rice-paddy village that it once was behind the fancy new hotels and developments, but have no doubt this bustling city of30,000 residents (and possibly 90,000 tourists) is not going back. If it's solitude you seek, there are plenty of other Bali destinations, some q

I love Chiang Mai for obvious reasons: Cheap, culture, food, and great people. Love it! :) My only con: It's super hot and humid. I can't deal with that amount of humidity personally. Maybe something to look out for people who can't do well with high humidity level. For me: Great for 1-3 months but not the whole year.

i stayed in BA for a few months and it firmly wasn't for me. It's a beautiful city and comically cheap for the quality of food / goods / services. People are rude and accomodation is pretty bad. Plus with the inflation of the dollar to peso (3x the buying power for foreigners) it was getting dangerous when I left. (I think someone tried to kill the vice president last week) Excellent to visit, not great to live.

I really enjoyed my first week here, but as I got to know more locals and heard their stories, I was disturbed at the security situation. Almost everyone I met has horror stories about being robbed at gunpoint, robbed by the police, and in one case even drugged and robbed by a taxi driver. It's not even safe to walk a short distance at night (locals told me to just take Uber). Beyond the security issues, scams also abound, and the covid policy is wacky, with hand sanitizer being forced on you ev

Just arrived in KL, we are 30/35yrs+, a married couple and digital nomads, and wow.. What a city! This is the New York City of Asia. These appartments are epic. Grand views, very affordable, luxurious! You would pay 10-fold for the same deal in NYC or Tokyo or Dubai. And the food is fantastic. Indian, Malay, Indo, Chinese, American, European. The world is here!

I liked Ho Chi Minh City a lot. It has all of the convivences one could expect from the city except for an MRT system which as of September 2022, they are in the middle of building one anyway. Things are affordable although I have noticed a tamer street food scene compared to other places in Vietnam like Hanoi. Seems to be making more room for higher end dining but affordability is still easy. HCMC without a doubt has some great nightlife, so party animals are going to be very happy here. I am s

Istanbul was a terrible experience for me, and in more ways than one. 99% of people do not speak a single word of English, which makes every interaction exhausting. It does not help that Turkish people are short-tempered and get frustrated pretty quickly. Ubers are annoying, they keep canceling on you and it makes going somewhere such a hassle. Regular taxis are notorious for being scammers. Even an Uber driver tried to scam me by asking me to pay by cash even though I was already paying by

Please don’t come. Rent has doubled in price in a matter of 5yrs. Myself and other locals are being pushed out of the city and forced to move to places that are +1h commute from work. People are struggling and suffering. And yet it is all ok because rich foreigners want to “spice up” their life… I repeat, do not come, and if you do have to come, please try to do damage control

Canggu is a busy but safe tourist destination. I have found the people here to be kind and generous, and the visitor service staff will generally know 3 languages (English, Balinese & Bhasa Indonesian). You'll still see hints of the rice-paddy village that it once was behind the fancy new hotels and developments, but have no doubt this bustling city of30,000 residents (and possibly 90,000 tourists) is not going back. If it's solitude you seek, there are plenty of other Bali destinations, some q

Really shocked by the safety number here. Cape Town is very safe if you act normal. The crime happens in the townships and not in the cities. Nothing to be afraid of in Cape Town as long as you're not stupid.

👍 👍 Malls are fucking awesome, free wifi + free coworking spaces, toilets cleaner than Europe/ASEAN 👍 Public transport is pretty good 👎 Foods are a bit bland compared to ASEAN and Mexico 👎 👎 Safety, lots of racist/xenophobic catcalling on the street especially when I am an Asian. "Oi Chino Chino!" -- something I didn't get in other latam countries

Istanbul was a terrible experience for me, and in more ways than one. 99% of people do not speak a single word of English, which makes every interaction exhausting. It does not help that Turkish people are short-tempered and get frustrated pretty quickly. Ubers are annoying, they keep canceling on you and it makes going somewhere such a hassle. Regular taxis are notorious for being scammers. Even an Uber driver tried to scam me by asking me to pay by cash even though I was already paying by

The city is quite pleasant. There are some good streets to walk. It never feels crowded, except the most touristic areas. Architecture is interesting (but nothing to write home about) in a small touristic area, outside of it it's mostly ugly Soviet-era apartment blocks and ramshackle small houses. A couple of years ago the city was cheap, but now it's more expensive than many European cities and Asian capitals. When it was cheap, it was nice to stay there despite its drawbacks. Now it is very q

The worst. Everyone in Manila is controlled like Rats in a cage. I rented an Airbnb and a girl I met couldn't go swimming in the pool because she wasn't a "registered guest." The entire city stinks, the bathrooms in the nicest buildings in Makati stink, and it's awful. The rich treat the poor like dirt and take advantage of them on every opportunity. I will never visit it again. Horrible place. If you like a place where the rich treat the poor like dirt and keep them separated from them with big

I concur with the most recent review before mine. This city is great for foodies, the Internet + cellular is great, cafe pasado in Tambo+ convenience stores is dope. Do try all the S/ 12 lunchtime menu del dia all over the city! Calle Chinchon at San Isidro has a lot of the good ones. Nightlife: As an Asian man I found myself better accepted by Peruvian girls than in Colombia. Downside: Public transport is nearly non-existant compared to CDMX and Medellin. But Indrive and Uber are cheap enough.

It gets chilly at night and most places don't have a heater, so pack some extra thick socks! Felt quite safe compared to other latinAm countries. This had a safer vibe than Guayaquil and all was very affordable. People are friendly. Went to the zoo, spa, a few hiking trails and such but otherwise not much to do. Great if you wanna hunker down for a few months and live cheaply in a quieter part of Ecuador.

All in, Austin is a good city. We live in Hill Country now so we're a bit removed. But it's beautiful area once you get away from the highways. A good tech scene. Not too expensive (~$2100 for a nice 2 bedroom apt) for the U.S. Has wineries and breweries galore. Not a great place if you are a recovering alcoholic (!). Cons: extremely hot in the summer; reaches 110 F (43.3 C) in summer afternoons from June - September. Not very diverse. Highways are loud and obnoxious.

Seoul has many good things in every perspective. Safety! IT infra! Food! many shops until night, Super fast Delivery, Kind and fast service, Hip places opens in every minute, Kind & Educated people(Education in Seoul is crazy, almost social issue), and even nature everywhere(huge river, mountains are in the city, you can easily find mountains to climb)

A previous review said it well. Belgrade does not have much to do. Unfortunately there is the fortress with the military museum, the Tesla museum, and Tito's. The other tours outside the city vastly over charge too. Locals took me to Novi Sad for cheap and a tour there was around $90. The nightlife is something everyone brags about here but the reality is you won't meet people or break into groups very easily. It's a very clique like city where everyone hangs with the friends they know. I've b

Mumbai, August 28-September 2, September 7, September 11 2019. Got a friend to pick me up at the airport, so I can't evaluate how well UBER works from the airport. Prepaid taxi from the airport is my usual recommendation, and if I was traveling tomorrow that is what I would do. Inside of Mumbai, UBER was my go-to app and worked well. Autos (aka 'Tuk-tuks' in some places) get around well and are cheap, some are also on Uber. Be aware that unless you use a service like UBER, as a foreigner, th

Touristy circus of a place. Everyone is trying to rip you off... even as fluent Spanish speaker. Check out PV or anywhere west coast instead.

AMAZING country, You will not get bored because it is super rich both culturally and for nature-related activities (hikes, lakes, waterfalls, etc). Everything is pretty close to Quito. But be very careful not to walk around with laptop or cellphone-not even at daylight. Safety is not good. Specially if you are alone.

Great for a visit. Beautiful scenery. Good food. I thought it would be great to live here, start a startup and be in the same time zone as SF, close to Seattle, etc. But compared to Vancouver in 2009, one big change that totally ruined it for me: Absolute zombie apocalypse of drug addicts and shouting/violent home less people. It was shockingly bad. The locals often visibly carry naxalone (anti-overdose medicine, I learned) because there are so many people overdosing in the street. Police were n

Bansko is the only place in the world where you're expected to "buy your friends" The Coworking spaces (Coworking Bansko) in particular is owned by an overweight Austrian, that created this cliquey - segregated society from the people who pay his coworking space, Therefore, you might see a group of them playing volleyball in the park, or in the pool, but you won't be welcomed nor invited, Since you don't pay the monthly fee of the coworking space. Such a disgusting behavior for foreigners, st

Beirut is a place where ideas are formed, and where art, culture, cuisine and an ardour for life thrive. Bars, restaurants and clubs come and go more frequently than the snow on the mountain peaks that form a backdrop to the city. But finding the new places - only to later realise they have vanished - is what makes for singular, memorable nights on these warm shores of the Mediterranean. Unlike in many other capitals in the region, there is a liberal attitude towards drinking in Beirut, where yo

Not gonna lie, I was pretty curious and kinda hyped before I came to Singapore. However, within 24 hours all of my curiosity turned into disappointment. Yes, Singapore is clean by any standards but especially by Asian standards. And yes, you have shopping malls, fancy skyscrapers and free toilets everywhere. But beside from that Singapore is boring and has no soul. It just seems like Singapore tries to copy interesting parts of other countries and their nature. Take Cloud Forest for example wh

I mostly don't like it here. Possibly I am too used to USA or have not traveled enough. PRO: It is beautiful, with great natural resources, inexpensive rates & lots of activities to do. There are carriage rides & snorkling, beach events, etc. Lots & lots of great places for brunch or dinner & drinks. CONS: There's a strong cultural, economic & racial divide here. The locals see the tourist as distinctly different from them. It's hard to find any locals to have a conversation & just tre

Tokyo has so much to offer and so much to do. It is easily overwhelming. Whereas I usually take my first week to explore a place Tokyo’s sights just kept on going. I remember ending up in a hidden cocktail bar, a mexican rooftop party with 1 meter margaritas, spending a whole day going only to French places(?), visiting a store that only imported 2nd hand hiphop apparel, and throughout it all the best michelin star ramen. It just seemed endless, completely unrelated and incredibly fun. Six wee

Marbella is probably the best place on the European mainland, warm and mild weather, big international community,(German, English, Scandinavian) fast and stable Internet, very relaxed about drugs and prostitution. It is the safest for female travellers, the police detains every man that verbally or fiscally abuses a woman. Prices go from 20€ a night to over 200€, that is why there are real successful digital nomads here, no "Tramps" with laptops. If you avoid the city centre and Puerto Banus

Pros: Friendly people, safe, stable government, efficient and fast public transportation, established foreigner (gaijin) population due many English teachers, many great food options, many festivals (cherry blossom fest), onsens! Cons: Expensive, work til you die at your desk mentality, drunken businessman culture, groping on packed public transit, lack of mental health services so be cautious around the destitute, over sexualization of underage females, high risk if caught with illegal substan