macau?

MACAU

Cost of Living - 7 if you are satisfied to eat just local Chinese food you will do find. apartments are fairly cheap. Macau is much cheaper than Western Europe and generally cheaper than the USA as well.

Recreation - 1 There is almost nothing to do in Macau besides play poker, gamble casino games, brothels, food. However Hong Kong is close. Hong Kong is very expensive. The boat ride to HK sucks. It is very bumpy.

How Scary? - 10. Macau is like the safest place in the world. Cameras everywhere and police everywhere. I don't think anyone would try anything. It's a small place

Poker Playing - 10. Poker games, action is not that great anymore but games are always running. Smoking is encouraged.

How Easy to Get There and Stay There? - 7 You have to leave frequently but apparently there are no laws against long term visa running (going and returning). i think trying to get a long term visa is very hard. i know it is very hard to open a bank account there.

Macau is a vacation spot for Chinese gamblers. If you are the type of person who enjoys spending 16 hours a day in a casino with other poker players, inhaling second hand smoke and only leaving to go to bed and sleep with hookers, you will love Macau. I think most people will find Macau to be fun for a short while but gets old fast and unhealthy in every way possible.

If you speak or learn Chinese I imagine more doors will be open to you. But really, it is a relatively tiny island with very little going on besides degen gambling.

BANGKOK / THAILAND

Cost - 7 People talk a lot of BS about Bangkok. It can be very cheap if (1) you live a cheap area. Most people will find the cheap areas much less desirable or baller. For example in BKK, the cheaper area is like towards Onnut and Victory monument. the stuff closer to siam, thong lo, asoke, etc is more expensive. (2) you don't want high quality anything whether it be housing/ food/bars/western electronics... street food is cheap but dirty, etc... Girls in cheap bars are ugly as sin. ... you really need 2k minimum a month to lead a good life style in bangkok imho .. stuff like "oh taxi is only 7 from airport, except it will be a total piece of ****. if u want a nice SUV it is $30 etc etc etc

recreation - 7

lots of shopping malls but they are mostly the same. lots to do in bangkok but slow traffic and high pollution. it is not a walking friendly place. being outdoors is not fun. it is very hot.

how scary - 4

everyday westerners are attacked and murdered. almost everyday you hear about bus or tuk tuk or westerner killed in car accidents. there are a million scams. drugs are highly illegal and police very corrupt. no due process. no freedom of speech. tons of scummy westerners around. tons of scammers. people always getting their drinks spiked. people always having problems with tuk tuk drivers and taxi drivers bar employees. Thailand, the parts that tourists YOU will spend your time in, is really not at all safe. People just don't realize it because there are so many tourists and it is just like a big party. Once you become not a noob it is not bad at all but for the purpose of this topic, for fresh off the boat 22 year olds, yeah thailand is not really safe and has all kinds of potential problems waiting.

poker playing - 3 - no live poker. very illegal. home games get broken and player arrested. you can play online but there is massive web censorship here. who knows if poker could get blocked one day by gov or by sites themselves.

long term staying - 6 - very hard to stay long term. you have to keep finding loop holes like education visa. otherwise the gov limits your tourist visas.

SINGAPORE

Cost - 2 super expensive. hotel rooms hard to find for less than $150/night taxis are limited by gov and at certain times of day their prices are raised. you will probably need to learn bus routes

recreation- 10 tons of stuff to do not cheap on wallet

how scary - 10 safest place on earth.

poker playing - 7 some live poker and online poker but legality is a grey area. banking is not easy

staying long term - 5 - a country that is well regulated and not keen to just letting people without a purpose move there.

Singapore is an amazing place but very expensive. you will find better value in south east asia but a lower quality of life.

To be a "Baller" in Singapore you would need to be a millionaire. I think driver license are limited and you have to buy one, very expensive. Tons and tons of people with big money. Singapore will make you feel poor and small.

Ill rate a few places that i've been to now, kinda bored

Ill preface this by saying I'm from LA so most of my standards come from there. I generally spend big on my apartment, and live generally decent but not extravagantly on everything else. In the US I spent about 35k a year, while traveling its looking to be more like 45k a year maybe a few thousand more depending on side trips.

Also, before BF i lived in austin texas, which so far was better than anywhere I've lived since, food/girls/culture everything, so I had really high expectations. Still i've enjoyed a lot of cities so Ill share them with you

Montreal Canada, overall rating C

cost

rent costs a bit lower than most of canada and a lot of the US, but still a bit expensive. I tend to splurge on my apartments, but I paid about 2500 for a very nice two bedroom. I had friends who got a 4 bedroom on st denis for 3000 a month. Food and general living expenses are damn near ridiculous though, expect to pay like twice what LA is, a 12 pack of molson (cheap beer) is like near 20 bucks. smokes are expensive, eating at even a cheap restaurant is usually 15-25 dollars. expensive dinners are 50-100.

food

very, very, very good if you spend money, some very nice restaurants in vieux port and st. laurent... the cheaper places generally suck, a lot of lebanese food and a lot of bad burger/ sandwich joints. Meat at cheap places is always overcooked. double pizza is fine if ur drunk as hell.

recreation/girls
Ill preface this part by saying that french canadian people aren't as warm as I'm used to, like they aren't mean but they definitely are a bit of a closed culture and not too open. Im a very friendly outgoing guy, but I don't speak any french which made things harder for me since I lived in the french side of town.
Anyways...
tons of nightlife and a pretty deese bar scene, st laurent is better than crescent, even though crescent is more anglophone, in general though a lot of really loud guy infested clubs, not as many chill singles bars etc, and the ones that are chill are table sort of setting like st surplice on st. denis, so if ur into picking up chicks its a bit tougher. Banged a few skanks, but usually i get more for my effort. Had a friend who did pretty well with some younger girls (they just let like 16 year olds in to the bars), but he spoke french.
Theres other fun stuff to do touristy wise, seeing mt royal, driving around to nearby cities like st. jean or quebec, going to the old olympic stadium. Left right before hockey season but I imagine that was awesome.

how dangerous
not much more than any big cities. A lot of police, I was robbed but I lived in a first floor apartment without bars near a major metro station. homeowners doesn't cover a foreign theft btw.

poker playing
this is where i set up my bank account and established residence etc. I plan to return to canada about every six months, but probably not to montreal, likely to vancouver. I love it there and its so much like america that ill kind of consider it my new "home" while I'm expiating. Opening up bank accounts was insane easy, poker sites all allowed except extraction. Also a decent live casino nearby that spreads nl up to 5-10 maybe 10 20.

staying long term

US you can stay 6 mos at a time, i believe you have to wait another 6 mo to return. Just say you are traveling and it should be fine. I imagine getting a visa wouldn't be impossible either if you knew the right people or enrolled in some classes.

Culture
Not the greatest. Like they are of a pretty sophisticated heritage, but its all for nothing if people aren't really nice and friendly, which I found wasn't the case. Some may have other experience, but I've lived a ton of places now and montreal was comparable to say Los Angeles in terms of friendliness, most people are just kind of doing their own thing. They aren't mean just aren't really outgoing and nice, esp if u don't speak french with the francophones. Other aspects of culture are cool though, great art, public works, cuisine (the pricier stuff at least) etc is good.

Buenos Aires Argentina, overall rating B+/A-
cost
this city has a lot of disparity, you can definitely rent cheap, 400 or so a month if you want to live alone in san telmo, prob even less if you want to live near boca or something like that. If you want to live in the nicer areas like palermo or recoleta, a furnished short term 2 bedroom will cost you around 2k, maybe a bit less or a bit more. I got my own lofted 1 bedroom for 1400 a month, was unreal nice though. Like I said though I generally splurge on where I live, its so important to me. Food is pretty cheap, not as much as I thought tho. A nice steak dinner will be like 15-20 bucks, some pasta or something at a restaurant a little over 10 bucks usually. Groceries are pretty cheap, and drinks (liquor and wine) are insane cheap. A decent bottle of malbec will cost like 15-20 pesos, (4-5 bucks). You can by a 750 of rum or tequila for like ~10 bucks. Smokes are like $1.50 a pack.

food
pretty bland but generally good I guess. Most porteno cuisine is just meat and potatoes, a ton of steakhouses etc. but more or less bland and not many garnishes etc. Empanadas are really good and cheap usually 3-5 pesos per, great value and really delicious and flavorful. A lot of italian influence in the city, but honestly it all sucks, I can't believe a city with such italian heritage (mostly through port trading for hundreds of years etc. )managed to **** up pizza and pastas as bad as they do. Its like a C- though, does the trick but just generally wtf. You can find some mexican food if you look around too, and some really solid sushi places. Use buenosairesdelivery.com to get food delivered if you grind a lot.
recreation
ridiculous nightlife, usually a super young crowd, boliches don't open till 1-2 and stay open till 9. Honestly after the initial effect wears off it just seems dumb, go out at a regular time people, get some ****ing sleep so you can work in the morning instead of being lazy (shops and restaurants/services are just randomly closed a ton, and tons of kids just plain don't work). More low key bar scenes in palermo/plaza serrano/ las canitas. easy to hook up with girls but I was kind of casually seeing someone for most of the trip so I didn't bang around too much, another expat randomly. But girls are generally hot, and european looking, not too many brown looking bitches unless they are peruvian. A lot of people said argentine girls are very possessive and psycho once u are in long term relat mode, but pretty much all girls are like that so whatever.
how dangerous
Seemed okay, never saw anyone get hurt but heard some horror stories. A lot of people get stabbed in south america, knives are really big down there, if you get robbed give it up, no way its worth getting your throat slit. But buenos aires itself seemed pretty safe, tons of fed cops everywhere. Driving is crazy though, cars basically don't stop for you and when the light turns yellow they just gun it. Watch out even when u have a walk signal.
poker playing
easy, no issue since I had my bank accounts already set up. Use fibertel and get the 6 mega connection, is the best we could find and was reliable enough for poker. Decent poker in tigre and in puerto madero too.
staying long term
this place is the stone nuts for staying long term, you can do a visa run to uruguay every 90 days (1 day in uruguay, say colonia or if you want to ball punta del este in the summer) and your visa is renewed. Verified this works, you can stay indefinitely, met some dude who had been down there 3 years.
Culture
Awesome attitude, my spanish sucks but it got a lot better living in BsAs, but people are very friendly, its almost remarkable, they help you out with whatever and will give solid advice. But, the culture is a bit lazy tbh, things don't get done always and restaurants/stores will just be randomly closed. (tons of restaurants are just closed on monday for seemingly no reason). Just generally nothing like america in terms of work ethic, but id rather have friendly people than stressed go getters at this point in my life.

Budapest hungary (just got here so not so sure about everything) rating NR
cost
cheap as hell. once again splurging on apartment, but likely won't be spending more than 1200 on an apartment, maybe a bit more if I decide to ball ridiculously (this will get me an unreal sick pad). You could easily live here for 500 if you wanted to live in a less nice place. Other than that everything is so cheap its sick, meals are like 5 bucks, nice dinners will be a bit over 10, maybe 15. Wine and beer are insanely cheap too. smokes maybe 2-3 bucks a pack. subway fare is a dollar if you decide to even pay it.
food
a lot of really good cuisine from all over randomly, only tried a few places but so far very impressed. Found and insanely good mexican place with burritos for like 5-6 bucks. Haven't tried too much local cuisine, actually about to go tonight, but I'm sure its good, a lot of spice and flavor in everything.
recreation
haven't been out, sure its sick tho, i hear they turn the bathhouses into raves at night during the summer. girls are hot but really tall, every chick is like 59 most 510 +. guys are all 6 feet, but I'm gonna assume they don't have my sick cali swag.
how dangerous
still not sure, but seems fine, a lot of police and drivers aren't nearly as crazy (coming from BsAs)
poker playing
easy, bank apparently takes like 20 min to get setup, internet seems fine so far.
staying long term
Might be a bit more difficult, you can only stay 90 days in the Schengen zone per 180 days as an american, but I'm looking into getting an extended hungarian visa, honestly don't think it will be too much trouble.

CultureDon't have as much info on hungary but it seems like the nuts, people very friendly, everyone speaks english, even tons of stuff is written in english. Unreal architecture and a rich old world heritage which I have yet to explore. so far it looks amazing though. Also really centrally located, can pretty much fly anywhere in europe for nothing, plan on making at least 5 side trips.

figured i'd weigh in since i've been a lot of places, sorry for quoting a lot

I had similar feelings, cost of living is pretty cheap, the night life is based around mainly the area of Parque Lleras (a good shopping mall that escapes me as well), it is mediocre, not much to do on non-weekend nights as nothing is happening too often. Not too much to do otherwise for fun. I felt completely safe, cabs are everywhere. The women are probably the hottest of any country I've been to (about 25 or so), they are very in to plastic surgery and nice on the eyes. Not many people speak English so I don't recommend it without a basic understanding of the language. I liked Bogota also, a larger city with more to offer, the city has the infrastructure for maybe 500k people when it houses millions though.

Worst country on my list out of em all, expensive as hell to drink, the gov't hates alcohol so they tax it hard, was more expensive out than in NYC. The women cover up due to religion, and the religion escapes me, perhaps Hindu, but the people were not friendly, food was okay.

[QUOTE=Quidsy;29886919]Has no-one done London yet?

I have heard that the natives here are not very attractive, confirm or deny anyone?



I deleted the post from Melbourne I saw, it was super expensive, very very very tough to rent apartments. The women were some of the least attractive out of anywhere, we couldn't believe it, we went out a ton and left early on our lease due to this. They are mainly 5's and 6's and they think because they are relatively hot that they are 8's or 9's which on average with some occasional 8's if you get lucky. St. Kilda is neat, it's a crappy beach though. The nightlife is okay, lots of night life is spread out, if you hate one place you basically have to cab to others. The minimum wage here is something like $15/hour so this leads to average beers being like $6-10, same with food, so only recommended to the more baller players who aren't interested in women or nice weather. The rake at Crown is brutal as well as they have no competing casinos, sorry for the harsh review on this one, just trying to be honest and I understand if people disagree, but this is for help and I'm sharing my knowledge, I was not alone at all on this one either, everyone I met saw it this way.

I agree with most of what you are saying. I would like to add that the banks are prohibited by law to transfer money to online poker sites, and gambling sites in general. You have to transfer money to an online bank that is based outside Norway, then transfer to the online sites.

Norway has a state monopoly on gambling, which is why they are doing their best to make online poker unavailable for us. (They claim it is to fight gambling addictions. LOL) It's pretty ridiculous, the state run company "Norsk Tipping" does not even offer poker themselves. Many pokerplayers in Norway are semi-joking that the police spend more resources on finding and busting small pokergames than they spend on finding and busting rapists and murderers. As a consequence, they are busting a bunch of live poker clubs.

I read somewhere a long time ago that there was a court ruling in a poker-case that made microstake homegames legal. Most pokerclubs play for a lot of money, so the ruling will almost never apply to them anyway.

As for the safety of Norway, it is not so bad at all, even in Oslo. Just avoid the central station at night, and some of the areas in the east of Oslo and you should be fine. Binge drinking is the most common form of drinking here, at least if you are under 40 years old. I grew up in the suburbs outside Oslo, and I have always felt safe.

As far as economy and prices goes this is truly a ridiculously expensive country, as mentioned. Living in Oslo is a lost cause unless you have a large paycheck every month. Expect a one-bedroom apartment in Oslo to cost at least €1k per month, and the same in the suburbs. If you want to move here you should buy the apartment, which also is very expensive, not rent. It is generally cheaper in the rural areas far from the city, but there you might have internet problems.

My conclusion: if you are a full time grinder it is economic suicide to move here. In fact, a bunch of players have moved out of the country due to the absurd tax-laws. (For example: Annette_15).

Anyone has Argentina stats?

Has anyone done Norway yet, and is anyone interested?

can anybody do anything in colombia? specifically cartagena or cali

can someone do Thessaloniki, Greece pls? or at least Greece. thx

I was originally from there and have traveled there for vacation every few months between 1995 - 1998... Phillippines has a govt run casinos as well as alot of poker rooms... Online poker is neither illegal or legal... For the local population it is illegal for them to play on the 20 plus poker sites that is based their in phillipines but offcourse they can always play on sites that are based out of the country... You as a expat wont have any problems playing online while there... Poker continues to grow in Asia and because of this alot of card rooms are opening...

No one is or was in Romania or Bulgaria?

Here is a small guide for "what to do if you are hiding from a loan shark, and by accident ended up in Norway"

Welcome to Norway, the coolest place north of the arctic circle. If you like snow, ice and polar bears, you're in for a treat!

First some practical information. Norway is not a place in Sweden! (Why are Americans so dumb?)
The Norwegian currency is called "kroner". One US dollar is a bit more than 6 kroner.Norwegians are spoiled, we have free health care, 130 kroner an hour is considered low, it's as peaceful as Hundred Acre Wood and still we complain. As a result of high income everything is expensive, so i wouldn't recommend going crazy with the credit card at the mall.Public transportation is good, but expensive, 15 minutes on a train cost like 60 kroner. Also taxi is ridiculously expensive!Don't think you need to take any vaccinations, all the scary deceases are almost non existing. Also no scary snakes or sharks.

Day one: Where is the snow?
You have probably heard that Norway is covered in 10 feet of snow and that we only have one hour of light a day. I'll have to disappoint you. That is only during the winter (November to February). If you come to Norway between may and august the grass is green, birds are singing and you can even get a tan! 20 hours on an air plane is heavy ****, the first day can be used to relax and meet the awesome Norwegian Vikings. Maybe even spend a weeks salary on a beer at aker brygge.



Aker brygge is probably the dumbest place you can buy a beer. It costs like 80 kroner and up for a pint. But in return it is a beautiful place, close to all the attractions in Oslo like... uhm. A lot of statues and ****.

Day two: Wtf is brunost?
After getting drunk on a half pint you might want to take it easy the next day. You can go see the castle where the king lives and check out fort akershus (it has cannons and ****!). I would definitely check out fort Oscarsborg. Awesome island with big ass cannons. If ships want to sail to Oslo, they have to pass this terrifying island loaded with cannons! In the sea outside Oscarsborg, Norwegians built a under water wall to force big ships in front of their cannons. The German Blücher was destroyed there during WW2. Awesome place! Also, brunost is cheese made from goat milk.



Day three: Do i have to wear bunad?
NO! We don't walk around in bunad every day, and it's made from wool so it's itchy.. If i could get my hands on a boat, day three would be perfect for a boat trip with bbq at some island. Bring a sweater, when the sun goes down it gets cold pretty quick.

Bunad.

Day four: Why do you speak weird?
It's because we speak Norwegian, and when we try to speak English, the words are correct, but it still sounds Norwegian. Oslo is the capital of Norway, but not a place to spend the entire vacation. You could go south, but it's a lot more to see if you go north or west. Bring a compass and some good shoes, travel time! Jump on a train or a bus to go somewhere new!

Day five and six: WOW!
Choose between some of these awesome places!

Jostedalsbreen!
Biggest glacier in Norway, cold, a lot of snow, awesome!


Also ski resort in the summer!

Prekestolen!
A long walk, but worth it! Base jumpers get killed here sometimes. Awesome!


Geirangerfjorden
One of natures many wonders.


Day seven: My legs hurt!
Take the day off, go discover a small town nearby.


Day eight and nine: That's right you old salt!
Thought it would be pretty cool to rent a lighthouse one or two of the days. Back in the days it was some dude living there that turned it on and off, but these days it is automatic so on every island with a lighthouse there is a empty house that is open for tourists and native vikings. It's not expensive at all compared to hotels. The Norwegian sea can be brutal and unforgiving. Don't expect getting back the day you planned if the weather is bad.



Day ten: Skål!
After visiting some lighthouse take the boat back to the mainland. You will most likely find yourself in a small town called Florø. A small town at the west coast where i grew up. Maby visit my grandmother for a traditional meal like fish, or fish pudding, or fish, or fried fish, or fish. Beautifull town with a lot of nice people.


Day eleven: Æ Ø and Å
Only four days left! Time to do some awesome **** like sea rafting, kayaking or other cool things. Also fishing from a kayak is possible, but hard if you get fish...If you are in trouble and have to use the phonetic alphabet the three Norwegian letters Æ, Ø and Å is: Ærlig, Østen and Åse.


Day twelve: Samer?
The sami people are weird. They live in tents made from rain deer skin and drink a lot. Not worth to go to the top of Norway just to see a couple of drunk clowns. Instead, buy a funny hat and pretend to be one at a local pub.


Day thirteen: What gifts to bring home?
Tourists in Norway buy a lot of stupid souvenirs like hats with elk horns, wooden trolls or rocks. Don't be an idiot and bring home 10 pounds of brown cheese. Instead buy a traditional Norwegian sweater called lusekofte. Here, famous Norwegian bank robber David Toska wearing one in court.



Day fourteen: Tax free!
Norwegians are known to drink a lot, but did you know we had our own liquor? Its called aquavit (Latin for water of life)! Made from potatoes, put on oak barrels and sailed all the way down to Australia and back. The changes in temperature and movements from the sea is supposed to make it better. Famous Christmas drink that goes well with sheep and potatoes. It makes you awesome, just look at this guy!




That's all for now. I bet you can't wait to visit Norway after reading this!

That was awesome and am gonna turn that post into a brochure and follow it for the next 15 days. thanks boss

Estonia, Tallinn
Firsthand Experience? - Yes

Cost of Living 5.5 - Im basing it on Finland getting 4 points (Its cheaper then Finland, but Im sure you can find many countries that are even cheaper).

Recreation 5 - I think we have everything standard on that apartment. We have nightlife on weekends, there is a Old Town to check out and if you are into hiking then we have a lot of nature for that (in autumn you might get home with a wide variety of berries and mushrooms from forest). The downside is that we dont have some stuff (like rock climbing - if Im correct on that) that we should have and we dont have Amusement Park and our Zoo is in pretty bad shape. Our ticks have some diseases so I advice you to vaccinate yourself before you go to hiking (we also have one poisonous snake, but it usually cant kill you with his/her poison, still I advice you to wear rain boots in case you step on that snake) other then that it standard bears, wolfs and rabies.

How Scary 6.5 or 7 - I mean there are always pick-pockets and you have a chance to get into a fight, plus we have few places you should not go to and we have big issues with racism. Yet most of people who have visited have gone home in pretty good shape and black people seem to fail to notice our racism. Your chances to get killed are also pretty low.

Poker Playing 4.5 - There are not casinos who offer poker all the time ( however there are some scheduled tourneys). Online poker is tax-free and legal (but you can only play on sites that have licenses in Estonia).

How Easy to Get There and Stay There? 5 Like any other EU country, I think.

Food 5 - If you are vegan, you will starve (this also goes for muslims, jews and any other religion that forbid you from eating pork as most of our food is made from pork). If you are not on any of those groups, you will get to eat normally. As for local cuisine - dont ask what is in it or how its made, belive me you will be better off not knowing what you just ate.

Estonia, Kuressaare
Cost is the same. There is nothing to do (after a week or so) unless you enjoy fishing. Crime is really really low (even pick-pockets are rare IMO), but you can still find trouble if you search for it really, really hard. And before you think that salted salmon or spiced sprats is a good idea, you should know that they are raw. Saaremaa should be visited in summer (or in spring for fishing) and you should try homemade beer.

Wifi - should be always there. If your hotel says that they have wifi then they have it and its not hard to find hotel that has wifi. Estonia prides itself for having wifi almost everywhere (you can also find free wifi on some places) and yes even some of our buses have free wifi - those that travel from one city to another).

And some pics (hope there arent too many)


Old Town in Tallinn.


Kaali (impact) crater in Saaremaa.



Kuressaare castle


Panga Cliff in Saaremaa


Jägala waterfall near Tallinn


Lahemaa national park in north Estonia


Vaskitsa (I think its a wrong word, correct me please) is really a lizard that does not have legs.


This viper is the only poisonous snake living in Estonia.

Forgot one pic (okey I forgot many, but I tried to add more "special" pics and this is one of those "special" pics IMO).

This is Tuhala witch well. In spring it starts to overflow (like 100 liters per second) and it drowns surroundings.

Portugal?

Yeah, I'd like to hear a report from post-legalization Portugal...

To Inxu, is that Only Poisonous Snake That Calls Estonia Home as [in]famous as your post makes it out to be? Seems like it's the poisonous Estonian equivalent of Punxsutawney Phil or something (Punxsutawney Phil = the celebrated American groundhog that singlehandedly controls six weeks worth of weather conditions)

Bulgaria and Taipei please

Hi,

I'm a reporter on polish section of PokerStrategy. I'm an author of article series called "Poker emigrations". Every article refers to a particular country/place and it's divided into two parts - first one consists of all the important informations (including photos and videos, also taken by myself) and the second one is an interview with a poker player, who lives in the place that's beeing described. So far, i've written about Thailand and Malta. Now it's time for one of my favourite places - Tenerife.

And now is the question/request - is there anyone here, who has been to Tenerife (let's say longer than one month) and would be able to sacrifice a few minutes to give me a short interview? In exchange I give my full gratitude and I guarantee popularity in the polish community .

Interview would be done on Skype (written form) or via e-mail (I send you full list of questions, you send me answers).

Thank you in advance guys!

this! Moving to Medellin after summer and will write one up for there once I get comfortable (only been there about a month total in the past, so want a better lay of the land before a write-up).

Link to your articles?

Cebu, Philippines
Firsthand Experience? - Yes

Cost of Living 8 - Very good. Got a 2BR in a decent apartment complex for $450. If you have a local connection, better deals are possible. You can live cheap (<$500), or live well ($2000-4000).

Recreation 6 - Depends what you like. Cebu has good night life. There are gyms, tennis courts, basketball. Beaches are outside the city but require a fee to visit. This keeps the locals out and is super lame. Night life trumps all. Live poker is available.

How Scary 7.5 - It's the 3rd world. Tons of beggars and scammers. Just be careful.

Poker Playing 4 - Live poker is available, $1/2 deep on weekends is common. $.5/$1 is 24/7. Rake is high. Possible to live off $.5/1 and $1/2 if your patient. Internet connections are available but only PLDT is reliable for online poker and it is difficult to establish. (1 year contract).

How Easy to Get There and Stay There? 7 - Easy. extending visa is fast and cheap.

Food 3 - On average, the food sucks. If you do some research and spend a few weeks you can figure out good places to eat.

PORTUGAL:

Firsthand experience. Native.

Cost of Living - 7/10 - Even tough some things have got more expensive due to some tax increases this is still one of the most chepaest countries in western Europe.
The food is amazing, high quality and with a killer prize/quality relation.

Recreation - 8/10 - There is a full range of activities from night life, to beach and nature activities. The weather is preety good almost all the year so there is a lot to do outdoors.

How Scary? - 1/10 - I would say that this is one of the most safe places in Europe. Most young people speak english and its a very welcoming and tolerant country in general.

Poker Playing - 4/10 - Gambling is legal inside the casinos where they run some small/mid stakes cash games and some mid/high stakes buy-in tournaments.
Online playing its ok and free of taxes.

How Easy to Get There and Stay There? - 5/10 - It depends a lot from where are you coming. If you coming from whitin E.U. no problem at all.
If you come from some other places there is some burocracy to deal with but as an emigrants country it also receives a lot of people that wants to live and work here.

i have also a running thread here where you can check everything with a whole lot more detail.