Mazatlan, Mexico

Lived here almost 4 years, about 6 months of that in hotels.

Cost of Living - 8/10

Mazatlan has all the makings of a resort city, but it isn't. The #1 industry is fishing, #2 is the Pacifico brewery, and tourism third. As such, you don't see the inflated prices of Cancun or Cabo or Cozumel. Rents can easily range from 1000+USD for a turnkey furnished oceanfront condo with all amenities, down to ~100USD for rent in an unfurnished house in the less desirable neighbourhoods. Most expats opt for a 2 or 3 bedroom house in or near the Centro Historico, rent being 300-600 unfurnished. If given the choice between furnished and unfurnished, I think I would go unfurnished. I don't know what the **** is wrong with some people's eyes but I've seen many an aesthetic abortion down here.

Expect electricity bills to be pretty cheap, government subsidies sometimes cover 80% of the bill. 20 USD would cover most months (fridge, lights, fans, PC 24/7, some AC). Gas (for the stove and those residences with water heaters) lasts a goddamn lifetime, 1 large cylinder refill is <35USD and should last a year. It varies because many places in Mexico don't have hot water heaters, they have electric showerheads that were designed by Satan and installed by Charles Darwin's impatient ghost. Saves on gas, trips a lot of breakers.

Cable and internet, or phone and internet, are your two real choices. I opt for cable and net (Megacable) for $500 pesos a month, the exchange rate has been moving a lot lately but I figure conservatively at 12.5 MXN/USD so $40USD. Internet is pretty reliable, probably 1 disconnect every 2 days, average duration < 1min. Wireless 3G sticks can be had for 30-60USD and coverage is excellent.

Seafood is cheap and very good, lots of fresh produce, fresh meat (they loves them some chicken and some pig). In the local baseball league, our constant rivals are the Tomatoes and the Oranges, so there's a lot of agriculture in this state.

Can't help but mention the beer. Beer is cheap (about $5USD for an 8-pack) and fresh, the Pacifico brewery brews Corona too so that would be the freshest Corona you ever had. A bit like the smartest ******, but whatever. Liquor is also very cheap, except for scotch. A 750mL of Bacardi might go as low as $7USD.

Recreation - 8/10

I guess it depends what you want, but most people would be happy here. There's lots of beaches and all associated activities, tropical climate, good night life, and good scenery. Ocean sunsets are probably responsible for the high teen pregnancy rates. Well, that and the fact that it's Mexico.

The people are friendly, used to seeing tourists but not dependant on them entirely, so there's a good social dynamic. English is widely spoken in tourist areas and at most companies (cable, internet, power, etc.), and there's always someone around to translate. Plus, Spanish isn't that hard for a second language. The letters are the same, the accents aren't complicated, and there's no weird bushman clicking noises or anything. The girls tend to be very attractive in this state, and the birth rate is so heavily weighted to females that someone should do a study. Oh, and they tend to be well chest-invested. Go figure.

It's a city of about 400,000 so it has lots of amenities but it's not overwhelmingly large. You can catch a baseball game for cheap, ringside at a boxing match, do some sportfishing, maybe hit the titty clubs. There's at least 5 tit-holes in this city but that isn't suitable talk for this forum. I can say, though, that if you're ever thrown out the front door of a strip club and find yourself immediately on a dirt road, you should be ashamed of yourself.

How Scary? - 7/10

This is a hard one to rate. This is Sinaloa state. This is the home state (not the home city, that would be our capital Culiacan) of the largest drug cartel in Mexico, and likely in the world. There are bodies found almost daily, maybe 6 days out of 7. Everyone needs a day off. Many times the body will be mutilated and/or displayed in a way that many people find shocking. Sometimes shootings happen in public.

That being said, in 4 years there has been 1 foreigner killed here. By the cartel at least, some guy from South Dakota might have poisoned his wife because he just couldn't take it any more, but that doesn't count. This cartel violence is in no way random, there is no chance of you being accidentally targeted. The extent of your involvement in a shooting would be "Circle the block again Manuel, I couldn't get a clean shot because of that tourist". Just don't sell drugs. Seriously. Don't. You can buy them though.

Are the police corrupt? Yes, but with the economic disparity it's kind of a puppy dog corruption, like harmless and adorable. My first bribe was to get me out of posession of small amounts of two different drugs, a nightmare in the US and pretty bad in Canada, cost me a little over $30USD and they gave me the drugs back. This wasn't a shakedown, I was guilty, and it seems to me that everyone left that negotiation satisfied. I've seen drunk driving for $50USD, simple posession for $15, speeding tickets for $10, and I heard that sex in public was more than all of them put together. You don't have to pay anything, you can just tell them to take you to jail, but come on.


Poker Playing - 6/10

The live scene here is limited to one casino (Royale). There are other casinos, but they only have the sports book and slots. Some just have slots. I can confirm first hand that the emergency exits at Royale worked fine last I checked, they run NLHE tournaments and a cash game after dinner, as well as roulette and blackjack. Expect tournament rulings to be atrocious, I was once told I could not move all-in preflop because it wasn't a full raise when a guy shoved before me. Haven't been back since.

There are a lot of retired expats here (like 30,000+) and they do get games together regularly during high season. Several leagues have come and gone, venues have changed, etc., but if you ask around someone will answer. This year I'd try the Hotel El Cid Marina, I think Wednesday but not sure.

Online is legal, and if it isn't then nobody cares. The police have better things to do, and Mexican people love gambling (dominoes!), so you can play online at a cafe or restaurant no problems.

How Easy to Get There and Stay There? - 9/10

I am sure this has been answered, it's the same for all of Mexico. If you have an income (1000USD+/month I think), or a pile of money, and you jump through the right hoops you'll be fine. Actually, except for crossing borders nobody checks paperwork or ID's here. I doubt your neighbours are going to get mad at you and call immigration.

Anyone for Los Angeles and/or San Fransisco? Would be really helpful.

Malta, Sliema Area
if you move to Malta you really want to live somewhere in Sliema/St Julians or surroundings (except if you like countrysides)

Living here since 2 years

Cost of Living - 7/10
You can get a nice furnitured 1-2bedroom penthouse for like 800€+ or a nice 1bedroom appartment for 400€+. Also sick baller villas and penthouses are available. Finding an appartment is very easy. Prices are for long let (6month+). You pay 1month deposit and 50% of rent agency fee.

Electricity kinda expensive, like 100-150€ with air conditioning. Internet very cheap (starting at 12€ for 5mbit cable), mostly reliable and you can get up to 100mbit fibre power internet if you want.

Frozen food is expensive (since it is an island and everything has to be imported), other items probably same price as everywhere in europe (which is higher than in US I guess).

All in all definitely a lot cheaper than London but more expensive than Thailand.

Recreation - 8/10 in summer (4/10 in winter)
If you want to come for a few months you definitely want to come in summer (april-september)
Then there is a lot going on like awesome boat parties and festivals. You can party 365 days a year (not so freaky partys in winter), but the clubs are modest from interior. However, you pay no entry and can go from club to club. Beer is like 2€. There is one place on the island where the party is going on (Paceville, St Julians).
I am not a fan of maltese women in general, but it does not really matter since there are more foreigners than maltese people here in summer. Mostly language students from all across the world so there is something for everyone. You find a lot of stripclubs but no prostitution.
It is also a great place for diving as i heard. Renting a boat should also be fun. You can play soccer or tennis. There are plenty of other Poker players living here.

How Scary - 2/10
Lowest crime rate in europe. Just don't let them steal your money or phone while partying and stay away from married women. Walking home drunk at 5am through lonely streets is no problem.

Poker Playing - 8/10
Probably every foreigner you meet who lives here works at a betting company (sportsbetting, casino, poker) or plays poker. All poker sites and MB/NT no problem at all. Internet and Power mostly reliable.
Do not really know about live poker but it is not so good as far as I know.

How Easy to Get There and Stay There? - 10/10
Just rent a hotel for a couple of days, make an appointment with a real estate agent (check malta chatter thread), he shows you some appartments - you decide which one is best and you can move in. No Visa required.

Thanks for the review KambiuM. I would like to add that I remember reading some news about new laws making it more difficult for people outside of Europe to move to Malta, like them having to spend atleast 2000€ in rent per month?

You are welcome, Isaac. I never heard of that and can not really imagine it. Since you do not have to get a visa or anything and pay everything like rent and internet in cash, nobody will know you are here

Maybe you have a link? I assume it is a misinformation, which is, as I recently found out, not uncommon for things you read on the internet.

Maybe I missed it, but anyone knows anything about Vietnam? Is it legal to play online in Vietnam? Thanks in advance for any info.

figure I'd ask here.

I was in Medellin (boring) and because of the volcano, my flight got cancelled and now I'm in Bogota. I'm thinking about spending a week here, that or maybe go to Santa Marta o Cartegena.

Any input is welcome.

Contact me i live in bogota.

http://www.internationalman.com/glob...nal-shangri-la

^Planning on moving to Prague in January. Just came back from a week long visit there and it was the nuts.

anyone with kuala lumpur - malaysia ?

I will write about Romania, but not today. It is Friday night already.

Has no-one done London yet?

London, England

Lived here most of my life but travelled to many other big cities for comparison in Europe, Australia, US and Far East

Cost of Living
2/10 - One of the most expensive cities in the world to live in. Shortage in housing means that rents are astronomical and increasing. A small one bedroom flat/apartment in a very average area is unlikely to be less than $1500/month minimum. And flats go like hotcakes so finding and getting one is a pain. Eating out and going out all pretty expensive. And by US standards electronic goods etc all expensive. Public Transport is pretty expensive but extensive in coverage and pretty safe.

Recreaction. 10/10

I f you like partying (and especially partying involving drinking) London is one of the best places in the world. Some of the best clubs, pubs bars and central London is packed all week long, locals actually try and avoid the West End at the weekend when it’s hell it’s so crowded. Most inner city suburbs also have a decent selection of clubs and bars for going our too, and the going out and drinking culture in London is huge and everywhere. Clubs are massive but I’m a bit old for that malarkey now! I’m led to believe that drugs in London are easily accessible, in widespread use. Competitively priced and ‘reasonably’ leniently looked upon, certainly for good or bad, London and the UK has a pretty strong drug culture.

Finally, if you can’t pull in London (or in England in general) you may as well give up, there are drunk fairly liberally moralled girls and blokes everywhere.


More culturally. As a global city with a stong entertainment culture lovers of comedy/bands/ theatre/shows/opera/ballet/Art have everything everywhere plus , of course, a lot of history. Plus London’s huge cultural diversity means you can get a lot of different cultures.

Plus sport - 11 professional Fottball clubs including 5 in The EPL, Cricket, tennis, and, next year the Olympics....enuff said

Despite its reputation for poor food, London has seen a renaissance in food over the past 20 years, it’s reputation for poor food is out of date and there are enormous range of good and a few great restaurants reflecting London’s cultural diversity, although eating out tends to be pricey and is still hit and miss (just look for reviews or word of mouth to find the good places). Most tourist places are overpriced and rubbish. Many pubs now also do decent food nowadays, which didn’t used to be the case.

Weather’s a bit crap (wet) though but not cold and no longer foggy (clean air act in 1950s got rid of the smog, sorry to disappoint you Yanks). Think Seattle I’m guessing?

How Scary – 6. Crime is a problem in London but despite all the headlines has been falling. Nevertheless, even as a Londoner, I feel a bit more on edge in London than say New York, Barcelona, etc. If you keep street smart you should be ok. And although there are areas probably best avoided there are not ‘Ghettos’ like you get in US cities and really no no go areas. There are some estates that you’d not want to wander into but there are not whole districts that are not safe – infact you get $1m house streets next to rough estates!. It’s just being street smart - Wandering around by yourself drunk late at night in some areas is probably not advised. Police are not corrupt. Small town Brits can be a bit parochial and sometimes, especially mixed with booze, like a punch up but on the whole this punchy boozy horribly embarrassing Brit quality only manifests itself in the outer suburbs of London and small town England/Scotland/Wales– e.g. Sutton, Croydon and, sadly, when we go abroad on holiday or to watch football. I apologise.

Poker Playing – 9
The UK has probably the most liberal online gambling laws in the World. All sites available and legal and a lot of Brits work in online gambling poker and licensees including Gibraltar, Alderney, Isle of Man are all British Dependents.. NO TAX on poker winnings live or on online in UK. Decent internet infrastructure plus numerous and growing live poker clubs, many international poker events and cheap flights to other European cities for events other poker experiences. You can bet on anything online or in the numerous high street bookies.

How easy to get there and stay there? -9

London’s various airports are connected to most major global cities, Flights to and From Europe are also very cheap with the budget fliers. Visas not an issue for Europeans and work visas easy for Kiwis/Aussies not sure about US but short term visas not an issue.

"London’s various airports are connected to most major global cities, Flights to and From Europe are also very cheap with the budget fliers. Visas not an issue for Europeans and work visas easy for Kiwis/Aussies not sure about US but short term visas not an issue."

Expatriate =/ Short term visa, which is why nobody has discussed London. It's impossible to move there for non-EU poker players.

Er, half the places discussed here (Sweden, Brazil, Australia etc) are immensely difficult to "Expatriate" to. Stop being a dick.

Hence why this thread is worthless.

Not unless you discuss loopholes around expatriating. Ie. Student visa, "living" on a tourist visa, marrying someone in that country, staying Illegally etc.

Comparing my own country to Bolivia, where I visited half a year ago. All scores should be 1 = worst and 10 = best.


Country - Norway
Firsthand Experience? - Yes

Cost of Living - 1 Most expensive country in the world. If you are not rich, you won't have fun here.

Recreation - 3 - The government likes to ban things and control many aspects of our lives. As a result this leaves little left to do besides watching TV for many people. Clubs close way too early, snowmobiles are banned in most areas and live poker is illegal. Other ridiculous stuff I can think of being illegal:
- programs depicting poker on Norwegian TV channels
- drinking alcohol outdoors
- smoking weed
- pro boxing
- hunting with bow and arrow
- paying for sex
- building on your own property without a specific permit

plus much more ridiculous stuff that I can't remember right now.

How Safe - 6 to 9 - Depends where you live. The capitol of Norway, Oslo would be 6 while a town in the north I would rate 9. Mostly due to random acts of violence, drug addicts and foreign gangs that often take place in Oslo, I would not recommend walking home in the middle of the night but I've done it without anything happening. Then again, I didn't meet any gangs while doing so

Poker Playing - 2 - Good internet is the only plus. You have to tax if you play for a longer period, 28%. You can't play cash games where pots exceed ca €1300 or you will have to tax each pot. Obviously being an MTT pro would be ******ed as well since you have to tax on every price above €1300. Live poker is banned by the semi-communist government.

How Easy to Get There and Stay There? - 8 - Very easy if you are from Europe and not much hazzle as I understand it.





Country - Bolivia
Firsthand Experience? - Yes

Cost of Living - 9 Almost as cheap as Africa. Everything is just so cheap I couldn't believe it. Beer in a pub is about $2, in a store it's less than $1.

Recreation - 7 - I wouldn't exactly say it's the best nightlife in the world but the cost makes up for that a lot. Good in weekends, bad the rest of the week. It's super easy to get laid, and I'm not talking about hookers because that doesn't count. Things move rather slow there which can sometimes get on your nerves. Anyway, since everything is cheap you have a lot more to do besides staring at a screen than in expensive countries.

How Safe - 4 - Stick to the better areas where the "rich" people live. Don't walk outdoors alone, drunk in the middle of the night in the middle-poor areas, high chance of getting robbed. You will also get scammed on prices a lot if you don't bother arguing. And, people will steal your cellphone and pick money out of your pocket.

Poker Playing - 3 - Internet is bad. Live poker exists but only micro stakes.

How Easy to Get There and Stay There? - 6 - I have a friend who lives there and he has to go through a lot of hoops and pay his fair share of bribes for papers each year. You just have to be willing to waste some time at the police station and don't mind giving away your money to feed corrupt police. So it's not really difficult.

Country - Poland, Lodz
Firsthand Experience? - Yes

Cost of Living - 8
It is fairly cheap here compared to western europe. Costs of mid-standard apartments ranges from 200-500$ per month. Beer in pub is around 2$, in store most around 1$. City communication is usually 60c per ticket and taxis ~10$.

Recreation - 6 Mostly on Piotrkowska street, there are loads of discos and pubs with a lot of young people because Lodz has two universities. Action mostly on weekends. During standard week a city is rather lacking fun.

How Safe - 3 Depends. Somewhere it can be rally dangerous. If you stick to popular places it's rather safe.

Poker Playing - 4 Two casinos, but no idea about poker action there. Internet connection is good and cheap (35$ for 25MB/month). Unfortunately poker is illegal (online and live, except casinos).

How Easy to Get There and Stay There 4 It's quite easy to get here from most european countries but I don't know anything about visas but as far as I remember the requirements are quite soft. Ofc european ppl can stay without problems.

If you have any more questions you can PM me.

City- Melbourne, Australia
Firsthand experience: Yes, 2 months

Cost of living-3-Im a native New Yorker and I managed to find it offensively expensive. I suppose the best way to look at is that they import everything with the exception of kangaroo meat! Pack of cigs will run you about 13$, 20 oz soda about 3$. 6 pack of beer is ~20$. I stayed in Hotels the whole time which were pretty expensive. an avg of 125$/night in the CBD (downtown). Stayed at the Crown promenade (the little brother of the crown basically (only casino in the state)) during the Aussie Millions and was spending about $220 during the week. The actual "crown" was about 100 more! To be fair though, the it seemed like the nicest hotel in the city (they have tons of shopping and a NoBu)

The way I look at it is that they're so isolated that there are no Mexicans climbing walls risking there lives to get there so most ppl there are there legitimately. Ergo High minimum wage and quality of life.

Recreation-10- There is nothing you cant do here that you can anywhere in the West. There are lots of cool day trip you can take like down the Great Ocean Road to see the "12 apostles". Or to St. Phillip Island to see the baby penguins at sunset, etc. St.Kilda beach is really close to the city and is easily one of the nicest beaches ive been to in a major city, and has its own vibe and feel to it, thats not like the CBD. The nightlife on a whole is pretty awesome. Bars close relatively late, and there are the full range of bars from dives to over the top clubs (Bottle service/VIP does not exist so expect to have to "queue up" early for big clubs). Drinks are pretty expensive, and "cocktails" dont really exist (couldnt find any place that had sour mix for a Long Island the whole time i was there). But the nice thing is that tipping is not customary anywhere so thats kind of like a small rebate.

How safe- 9 - Once again i rarely ever left the Central Business District, and happen to be black (if that means anything) but i never saw anything sketchy at all. To start with though there are no guns in the country so thats nice to know. But overall people are as friendly as can be. There are virtually no homeless people in the city and no overt poverty anywhere downtown like Times Square or anything so overall safety never really crossed my mind at all. Only reason i dont say 10 is because i dont want to sound like the naive American! lol

Poker playing- 8 - Im giving this an 8 just because there is a very positive poker culture there (I think Hachem had a lot to do with that, posters of him everywhere). As far as B+M though there is only one place Casino (the crown) but it is well packed with fish on top of fishes. The rake is absurd though. At the 1/3 game it was $6/hour time PLUS 10% upto $14 i think. The only saving grace is that you dont have to tip the dealers,...In fact its against the law! They apparently they have poker nights at a lot of the pubs but i didnt partake in any of that, but I thought it was a positive sign as to how accepted poker is on the whole. Internet poker is very legal and very alive there, but the internet does suck in general. Especially since they charge you by the MB and unlimited doesn't exist, and EVERY hotel charged for internet and it was capped(I stayed in about 6 different hotels while there, only one gave unlimited).

How easy to get there/stay- 8 - Its relatively easy to get to. I know there are direct flights from LA every day. I got a one way flight thru Fiji for a little under 700 from L.A. Once there though you can stay up to a year i believe on a tourist visa (which i bought at the LAX when checking in).

Females- 9 - This rating is a merger of about an 8 for overall looks (maybe lower but im a sucker for an accent and a smile), and 10 for friendliness and willingness to hook-up. Aussie girls like to party on a whole, and I had no problems making friends and hooking up. One way that I describe Aussies in general is that they're like Europeans without the pretense. In Europe I felt like they looked down at Americans in a way. Like they are too cool and dont approve of our culture because "theirs is so much better." Where as Aussies totally embrace American culture and have no reservations about it!

Drugs- 5 - I was a pothead when there and found it very annoying. Good bud is hard to come by and expensive like everything else. Hard drugs were virtually non-existant.

Food- 7.5 - You can get everything there that you can in the west, and the quality is just as good, and you pay for it as well! Once again no tipping and tax is included in the price, so if you see 20$ dinner you pay 20$, which is nice. But the customer service isnt good either. I realized that after you are served your food, at no point will your waiter ask you if you need anything else, or even look your way really. You get what you pay for i suppose. I would give it a higher mark, but theres nothing "special" per se with the exception of kangaroo steak(which is actually REALLY good surprisingly). All in all though they have a great mix of Western and Eastern foods (lots of asian and Indian cuisine)

Overall - 9.5 - Of all the cities ive been to in the 13 countries ive been, Melbourne is my favorite of them all overall. If it weren't for the expensive cost of living and the 20 hours from the east coast of the states I'd give it a 10. Its easily the most friendly place, the least judgmental or self-righteous and most accepting in general. Best of all their summer is our winter, and the Aussie Millz is at the same time as the Aussie Open (tennis) which is awesome if your a tennis fan!

Would def recommend for a vacation/holiday, but probably not so much to go and grind on a budget!

for anyone who has lived in or been to both.... where should i move thailand or manilla?

i am looking for the best overall combination of cheap, safe, as much english speaking as possible, online poker, w33d, and easiest for a 28 year old white guy to live in by himself

Thailand.

reasons paul? please and thank you

I actually sort of understand the Seychelles part but the Canary Islands is a bit of a stretch, but they are technically off the coast of Africa. In any event, given that Ceuta and Mellila are still Spanish possission on the actual African continent your point is not that well taken, with them being a part of Spain and all.

Pleace post thoughts on Playa Del Carmen, Mexico! And about Mexico in general