Seoul, Republic of Korea
Experience Stationed and lived for two years as a member of the US Army at Yongsan Garrison downtown Seoul, right between Samgakji and Noksapyeong Stations on the 6 line.
Cost of Living: 3 The big issue here are the massive security deposits it takes to rent a place. "Key money," as it's called, is required on nearly every rental and one can expect to pay at least 20,000usd just to move into a decent 2 bedroom in the city. In nice places it can be more. 50,000usd is not uncommon. That said, you get it back when you move out just like a security deposit. It's just that a lot of travelers don't possess that kind of available money.
As far as food is concerned it's cheap and plentiful. Street food is available, edible, and cheap. Also delicious and clean from my perspective. Beers and coffee have similar prices to any big city in USA. Expect to pay ~4usd for a local beer up to ~10usd for an import (bottles, draughts, whatever.) Public trans is cheap, clean and easy. It's about 1usd for an average ride on the subway/bus and you can use both. Taxis are extremely available and you can ride across town for less than 20usd unless it's rush hour.
Recreation: 9 Nightlife in Seoul is unbelievable. Huge open shopping malls. Tons of live music of varying style and quality. Everything from the highest end booking clubs (which I promise you can't afford) to the lowest end dive bars (where you will likely be hanging out with many American service members and hippy expat teachers.)
Two specific districts I wish to mention: 1)Hongdae, which sits right between three very prestigious Korean Universities (including the amazing Ewha Women's University where I swear 75% of the women are hot) is a huge area of bar after bar after karaoke joint after bar after restaurant after coffee shop after bar. Live music everywhere. And it isn't expensive.
2) Hyewha: More of an artsy district farther north with several blues cafes and bars of that ilk. Lots of fun to hang around in most nights. Lots of dates going on here at all times. More cultured than the sheer madness of Hongdae yet still a ton of fun.
I only knock Seoul 1 point because of the lack of available beaches, but you can be in Pusan in 3 hours by KTX and use their beaches all you want. Also Jeju island is only a 1 hour flight away and though it was barren when I was there it was still a perfect place to have holiday as long as you're bringing your own company.
How Scary: 9 Clean and safe everywhere. Even if you're stupid you're likely to not find too much trouble. Minority groups may run into problems with elitist locals but they would sooner ignore you than start something. Tons of English spoken in Seoul at the lowest levels. Tons more spoken around the Universities. Police are conscripted 20 year olds for the most part and are everywhere. Only illegal drug I saw in two years was hash. You have to go looking pretty hard for trouble to find it in Seoul.
Poker Playing: B&M: 2 Online: 8 Walker Hill is the casino with the live games but the rake is absurd. Game can vary on juiciness. Online isn't so hard to play. I played stars for 2 years there and never had one issue. Fulltilt isn't accommodated and you need to have it installed before you go. If you do there aren't problems using it. Never tried Ongame or Party.
How Easy to Get There and Stay There: 5 Super easy if you're in the military and on orders.
If not, it can be a bit of a pain. I know it's fairly easy to do consecutive 90 day stays. After that I'm not sure. I know visas can be hard to come by. You essentially need to be sponsored by a company from what I've been told. And that process can entail background checks out the ass. Thailand and Philippines are much more accommodating here but it's not awful.