@stephenbelanger

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

Very nice city, but as everyone says, a bit boring after awhile. It's comfortable and feels like the suburbs, with conveniences that you don't always find in SE Asian countries. Luxury shopping malls, excellent hospitals, and infrastructure, are all things that are not as common in other SE Asian countries, (although Bangkok, TH, has good malls and hospitals). KLCC is safe, from a solo female traveler, if you're careful. I stayed in the KLCC area and was advised by other KL nomads, to stay ins

Once you figure out housing (not an easy thing but doable, especially once you stop looking in the touristic areas), Lisbon is a very charming, safe (even though I'll admit this is getting worse in certain areas), and fun city to live in. In most neighbourhoods you have the feeling of living in a small town instead of an urban area. There's aways something to do or see so it's hard to be bored living here. I still find Lisbon (and Portugal in general), to be one of the most attractive places in

We used to live in Canggu back in 2017, it felt back then like the perfect balance between western development and local culture. You used to have enough cafés and restaurants and stays were mainly affordable villas. Coming back in 2023 I have to say this place is unrecognizable. Only now I realize how much damage influencers did to Canggu, telling everyone to come here and invest and overdevelop with little to no regard to the local culture. Also the pandemic played its part, you used to nee

Stayed for 2 weeks after almost a year n a half in LatAm. Beautiful city; great food options- especially for Asian food lovers. Plenty of authentic Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese options for about 50% of what you would pay in a Western city. Decent hostels will cost $11-$15 weekdays and between $18-$30 on weekends.... Good internet; beautiful architecture and people but it is true Hungarians can be very cold at times. Overall a good stay with many destinations just a quick and cheap flight/tr

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

Hong Kong is a great city with dense urban areas but also nature and hiking routes only 15 minutes away. There are restaurants for every taste and budget, from the best US fast casual chains to high end Michelin star restaurants. It's also extremely safe, despite recent political instability.

Lived in Prague for 8 years. It's a beautiful international European city. Never learned Czech, but was fine. Almost all cafes and restaurants have English menus. Superb food delivery apps (Wolt is the best). All the food you can imagine. Vietnamese food is world-class because of the huge Vietnamese population. If you want hipster bars and cafes, there's plenty of that. If you want old-world-charm there's plenty of that. If you want posh luxury there's some of Europes best restaurants and cockta