Can somebody PLEASE report on India, I am seriously considering it.

Cheers

I'm still in Tenerife. But looking to move due to Black Tuesday 5th June!

Yeah, the Balkans would be good. Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece. Also, Croatia - there's gotta be some Croats out there.

Cambridge, UK



Cost of Living - Expensive housing, lots of shops, upper end & independant. Bus service through out city. 3

Recreation - Beautiful buildings & architecture. Great history and heritage. Several universities. Lots to do. Only 45 minutes from London. 9

How fun is it living there? Lots of people, the night life is okay, couple of decent clubs, pubs & bars. Other cities near-by too. 7

How Scary? - Not scary at all. It's such a multi-cultural city, many people from all over the world, USA, Spain, Poland, China etc. Generally a friendly and attractive city. 9

Poker Playing - UK gambling system is good. London 45 mins away (great casinos there), lots of gambling venues, also various other cities with casinos and poker-related home games 8.5

How Easy to Get There and Stay There? - UK is known for having a 'good' immigration policy that makes it easy for foreigners to come and stay, especially if you're European. Lots of places would hire you over English if you're European, however, obvious in the current economic climate a job may be hard to come-by 7

Depends a little bit on where you live. But in the central parts of Stockholm its really expensive. I live 40 minutes from the central station and I pay around $400 for a one bedroom flat.

Im a white swede and I think a lot of people are just like me. I basically hate people who immigrates to Sweden and live of the taxpayers money. The Kingdom of Sweden will pay your rent and your food, and your healthcare etc etc. And you basically can sit on your ass and smile.

With that said, I admire and like people who actually work here. I've worked with people from Iraq, Iran and have no problem what so ever with them. I just hate leechers.

If I were to move from another country to Sweden I would try to buy/rent a place in a smaller city. Like Lindköping/Uppsala. Much cheaper and really safe.

This is the best review of a country yet! How do I sign up?

Could anyone do Fiji?

Wuhan, China

Firsthand Experience? - Yes, lived there for 1 1/2 years

Cost of Living - 9: Outside of the major cities, the average Chinese *family* has a monthly salary of 3000 RMB. ESL teachers make a minimum of 4000 RMB (most way more than that) and the min wage workers teach for 10 1/2 hours. So, they have enough time for another job or tutoring and that can pull in more money than their primary job. As for prices:

$1 USD = ~6.4 RMB

Beer (domestic): 3 RMB
Breakfast food (baozi): 3 RMB
Low-level Chinese restaurant dinner: 10-15 RMB per person
Bus: 1-3 RMB. Old buses without air-conditioning are 1 RMB. New buses that travel long distances or through tolls are 3 RMB.
Taxi ride: Wuhan is a huge city. So, it could be up to 50-60 RMB for rides from one side of the city to the other. Most normal rides are closer to 20 RMB though.

Nightlife/Recreation - 5: Nothing special compared to the big three (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou). You have your typical Chinese clubs that play ****ty Chinese hip-hop music and miserable covers of western songs. There are some bars that are more foreign friendly due to their drink selection, but overall the expatriate community is pretty weak in that area. A large portion of the foreigners in Wuhan are Christian missionaries who avoid bars and pussy like the plague. If you're looking for a solid nightlife, stick with the big 3.

Women are fairly easy to get if you put forth some effort and learn some Chinese. Wuhan has the highest population of college students in China because it is the academic center of all of central China. Students will come from provinces all around China to go to college in Wuhan. Just don't get in too deep with them. Meeting the parents is an informal declaration of marriage to some families.

How Scary - 3 - Like any other city, things will be intimidating for foreigners right off the bat. Despite its size, Wuhan is not a modern city. There are very few English signs (they're finally putting up new street signs) and nearly all restaurant menus are in Chinese. It is in the process of rapid urbanization and construction is rampant due to building the much needed Metro (how a city with 10M+ people can live without a metro is beyond me). This has severely lowered the air and water quality. You couldn't pay me to swim in the lakes there, let alone eat fish caught out of them.

In terms of safety, I would worry more about shaky sidewalks and things falling on my head rather than actual physical crime. You hear about the occasional foreigner getting his ass beat by a gang of Chinese for doing something like hitting on some Chinese guy's girlfriend, but that's pretty rare. Just lay low and use common sense and you'll be fine.

Poker - 3: Although gambling is illegal in mainland China, you don't have to search too far to find home games. I'd avoid the high-stakes home games like the plague, especially if the table has many Chinese locals in it. You can't go to the cops if you get cheated and you won't be able to solve any problems at the table unless your Chinese is really good. Stick to expat games and keep a close eye on players if you do want to go up to high stakes.

With use of a VPN, you could probably play poker online. I have been out of online poker since UIGEA. So, you might have to defer to somebody else.

Getting there - 6: Wuhan only has a few direct international flights. Aside from one line to Paris which recently opened, the remainder are to nearby Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. If you are flying from America or Europe, expect to fly into Beijing, Shanghai, or Hong Kong before going to Wuhan.

Anyone have any information on monaco? I'm sure it is expensive. Wondering what the poker action is like.

^If you have to ask, you cant afford it

Any idea of Montecarlo (Monaco)?

Are there daily live cash games from 5/10 to 25/50?

What about nearest casinos in France and Italy?

saigon (ho chi minh)

cost of living:10/10 ridiculously cheap, beer can be found for as little as $0.50 and a bottle of grey goose with table service is only around $100 at the top clubs. food is cheap as well and even the western restaurants are cheap. housing also very cheap. you can get a massive 3 bedroom house for as little as $700 pm.

nightlife/recreation: 6.5/10 everything from football, golf, climbing walls, lots of swimming pools, tennis (ball boys available for $1 an hour lol). nightlife is ok but the music scene is lacking a bit. there are still decent nights out and a few new nights have started so it may improve in the future. also your only a few hours away from some nice beach spots so you can always head there to get out the city for a bit.

how scary: 9/10 lived there 10 months and never felt in danger at all. the only problem is the traffic but it looks a lot worse than it is. i drove a bike there and only came off once and that was because i was blind drunk.

girls: 9/10 good mix of girls. easy to pull vietnamese girls although having a relationship with them can become annoying as they have a constant need to know where you are etc and it gets a bit tedious. lots of ex-pat english teachers that like to open their legs and there are plenty of backpackers to be had as well.

drugs: 7/10 im not a big weed smoker but the quality is not so good. occasionally some stuff comes in from thailand or cambodia which is a bit better. tried to buy coke and it obviously wasnt. can buy ecstacy for $25 a pill but the quality is hit and miss and the nightlife in saigon means there is no real need to be buying pills. can get crack and meth if you want. found a vet that would sell me 50mls of ketamin for $24 which yields about 5/6 grams so that became my drug of choice in vietnam

poker: 5/10 not sure if online poker is illegal but managed to access pokerstars no problem. there are a few live games but i never checked them out

visa: can stay 9 months without doing a visa run, topping up 3 months twice and then a further 2 1 month extensions before needing to do a visa run.

Granada, Spain
First hand experience (resident)

Cost of living - 8 Rent is ridiculously cheap. I pay 202euros/month for a spacious four bedroom apartment including roof terrace in an affluent area in the centre of the city, which is about half what my brother pays in the UK. Groceries, going out, etc all cost about the same as UK prices. Wine from supermarkets is amazingly cheap. Finding a bottle that costs more than 5euros is a challenge; even the stuff under 1euro is perfectly drinkable.

Nightlife/Recreation - 9 Granada is a very popular tourist destination. There's the Alhambra, old mosques and palaces. Beach is 1hr away. Southern most ski resort in Europe is 1hr away, and snow is good December - March. Football team is in the primera liga and tickets are super cheap. Nightlife is good, entry usually around 10euros (free for girls) and drinks are pretty cheap if you go on the right nights.

How scary - 10 I've never once been harassed or threatened. There are some sketchy areas where the gypsies live but tbh they're quite hard to reach unless you actively set out to find them. Hardly any pickpockets or street con artists.

Poker - 3No casinos in Granada. Closest is in Malaga, though I've never been. Internet poker is legal but somewhat restricted atm.

Getting there - 10 Around 1.5hrs from Malaga, which has direct flights from all over Europe. International are routed via Madrid. EU citizens can live and work in Spain for as long as they want. Dunno what the limit is for US citizens although many of my American friends have found jobs no problem.

Seems awesome, too bad Spain is regulated now . Hows the weather in Granada between October to April?

anyone in Armenia?

They all emigrated to Spain.

It's never cold (below freezing), although probably this year the government will reduce the temperatures as an austerity measure. Good place to spend the winter.

Anyone have information on Nicaragua? I'm going to spend 2 months there in Leon

Nica is chill. very cheap. the girls dont look too great, but of course there are plenty of exceptions, especially in a place like leon. I confuse leon and grenada, but both were kind of colonial type cities. think grenada had a bit more nightlife action, with a main drag that was very open air with street performers and restaurants, but didn't really go clubbing there at all. Leon we went out drinking a few times and had fun. for the scale thing:

cost of living: 9/10. its nicaragua. nuff said. cheap as balls.

nightlife: 6/10 - although i was there on a family trip....me and my uncle went out drinking one night but really I wasn't into it, but there's def some dance clubs and bars. I think there's a decent expat population there, but mostly retirees. Not positive about recreation, I'm sure there's a bunch of outdoorsy stuff to do, volcano boarding is in nicaragua, and there's a coast with great surf/fishing and also lake not too far away.

How scary: 7/10 - again, its nicaragua, (aka its not costa rica and it is an exremely poor country) but compared to honduras and el salvador I'd say its very safe. Compared to panama city of the coastal cities of costa rica it has a much bigger sketch factor. I personally never felt threatened in any way/shape/or form, but it could be a bit intimidating if its your first time in central america. I wouldn't actually worry about much, and once you get acclimatized you will probably feel very safe.

Poker: I'm guessing 1/10, although I wasn't really looking. There was 1 casino in Managua but I don't even think they had poker tables. Maybe expat home games or hostel poker nights

Getting there: pretty easy. Fly into Managua, take a cheap bus.

Thanks! I'm not too worried about the women as I'll be travelling with my gf haha. We're going to stay at a place and volunteer as tour guides leading hikes through the volcanoes and volcano boarding.
I was hoping for more info on poker, apparently they do have poker at the casinos in Managua and there might be a poker club in Leon. I'm just unsure of stakes and how safe it is for me to leave a winner haha. I'm really looking forward to this trip but if there's no poker, I hope my internet connection is good enough to play online.

Any info on Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador or other safe Central/South American spots?

colombia hands down.

havent been further south yet though.

costa is sick, but super gringo-y in a ton of parts. strip malls and high rise condos dont exist in most of central america but in costa its very american influenced, which grossed me out. still cool though, a mellow introduction to travelling if you never have and are worried about safety i guess.

honduras, el salvador, nicaragua I wouldn't recommend., although there's obv plenty of cool cities around the country...just in general things are a bit more sketch. NIcaragua much less so, and I guess I didn't give honduras too much of a chance, was there maybe 2 weeks, most of it scuba diving. the 3-4 cities i went to i was bummed on. Mexico has awesome parts. argentina if u have a bit of money. I mean ur asking about an entire continent plus some, so hard too get too specific

I just meant if anyone had specific experiences in any of those countries to share it. I do appreciate your input, too. Why Colombia hands down?

Country - HUNGARY, Budapest

Experience: Resident

Cost of living- 8 - For someone who is coming from western Europe or the US, it's quite cheap. 1 US dollar=220forints, 1 euro=270forints
Budapest is more expensive then any other cities, but still cheap... For example a lunch for 2 person in a good restaurant is around 30-50euros. But in some restaurants, and many taxi drivers try to hustle anyone whos not Hungarian, so keep an eye open But of course this is not the case normally...
A bottle of beer costs 1euro, a cigarette costs 3euros
Renting... A normal 1 bedroom flat is around 250-300euros a month... Really nice and modern 2-3 bedroom flats are starting from 500 euros

Recreation - 10 - Budapest has a population of 2 million, plenty of opportunities to have fun, or get a piece of culture. Many parks, green areas, a big river in the middle of the city.. There are endless number of malls, nightlife is awesome with endless clubs and bars, with all different kinds of music... Clubs for girls are free, and for men is around 4-8euros usually. Also there is a saying, that "Hungarian girls are the most beautiful in the world" and I couldnt say this is not true And lot of girls are easy(which I personally dont like), but thats also why many likes Hungary
Our gastronomy is famous, but you'll find all different kinds of restaurants, so you can eat any nations foods.
There are lots of museums, galleries, beautiful temples, castles, famous natural spa-s and the architecture at all is really beautiful, keeping old values...
Cited as one of the most beautiful cities in Europe...

How Scary - 7 - Basically Budapest is safe, there are 23 districts, and there is only one which is quite dangerous at night because of the gipsys, and its the VIII, the 8th one... So you might want to avoid that at night, but all other parts are fine


Playing Poker - 8 - Playing live, there are 2 bigger casinos, but wont find large games, only if you ask around... Of course very high stakes cashgames are played, you have to find them... Usually from 0.25-0.50 to 2-4 the regular games are... There are also a few poker clubs with the same stuff.. Rake is 5-10%. Live tournaments really suck i have to say. Average buyins around 5000 forints--- roughly 20 euros
Playing online is legal, tax free, internet connections are really good, quite a few pros happened to move here and playing from Budapest, for example Daniel -Jungleman 12 -Cates, and many other high stakes pros from the US...



How Easy to Get There and Stay There - 9 - Pretty easy. Hungary is an EU member, its in middle Europe, there are really cheap flights from Budapest to every European countries, and flights to Budapest from anywhere in the world... You can reach European capitals for like 50-200 euros...
Train connections are very good also...
Budapest has 3 underground lines, so you can get anywhere in the city quickly... A one way ticket costs 270ft- 1 euro

Anyone have any first hand experience on Caracas, Venezuela