Quote: (11-16-2018 08:11 AM)Pride male Wrote:  

Are there countries without shit holes? Japan, Swizerland, Norway?

No, as we don't have a clear definition of what a shithole is.

In the countries mentioned above, there is no place with real poverty. But there are places, which still suck to live in. For example a Japanese village called Nagoro is demographically so fucked up, that the last residents replace the leaving or dying ones with puppets. That's a true shithole, as a place like this does have 0 future.

Quote: (11-05-2018 12:21 AM)Kelent Wrote:  

Quote: (11-03-2018 11:13 PM)MikeS Wrote:  

Quote: (08-14-2018 05:33 PM)Longshanks Wrote:  

Sofia, Bulgaria.

Really? I've lived here for five years (originally from Denmark) and aside from the unfortunate high pollution - which is about to get worse now that winter begins, poor road and sidewalk maintenance outside of the center, and the many ugly commie buildings in residential areas (which is not always an indicator of the state of the apartments within, I've visited dates and friends in several that were fully renovated), I would not at all consider Sofia a shithole.

Lots of parks - small and large - and generally quite a lot of trees along many streets and boulevards as well. Most of the central area is pretty nice - even if nothing as charming as the Old Town of Bucharest or cities like Budapest or Prague - and having undergone a fair bit of improvements just in the years I've been here (like the main shopping streets, and the usually crowded parks and fountains in front of the National Palace of Culture - NDK)

It is a very grey city though so it gets uglier than most during the winter, but the rest of the year I quite like it. The autumn here has been beautiful.

I haven't been to any serious shitholes for comparison. Parts of Bangkok may qualify, but overall I love that city, and there are definitely some smaller cities and towns here in Bulgaria I have been unable to find anything charming about at all - though many others I have.

How did you end up in Bulgaria? I've often considered living in the Balkans/EE for a year or two if I could land some kind of remote work in tech (or something local in an English working environment).

The most basic requirements were that it had to be a country within the EU (for some personal financial and legal reasons) and with low costs of living (though things like electronics and stuff from international chains still cost the same or almost as much as in Western Europe). Having both mountains and seaside and long warm summers were probably the main secondary factors.

I'm not locally employed so I'm not sure what kind of salaries foreigners might be able to get here but I've heard there are some acceptable but probably entirely unremarkable options in some sectors.
The average monthly salary for locals is only around 800 leva - 400 Euro - a bit higher in the capital and lower in smaller cities and towns. Even after talking to many locals about how the hell people make do with that kind of money when I almost pay that much in rent (and that's still quite a good price as far as I'm concerned), and a smartphone can cost a months salary, I'm still not entirely sure how they make it happen, aside from a whole lot of houses and apartments seemingly being passed on and time shared between family members.
Most of the women I've dated or been in relationships with here have been well educated with above average salaries.

My definition of a shit hole is trash and filth everywhere. Dilapidated buildings and homeless beggars and crime.

California - it has more people who like to like to stuff their sexual organs in defecating holes of other people then any other place in the world.

Chisinau was a shithole but the women were hot and I got sauced by a Russian MILF who looked 23 for two weeks straight so I will remember the cracked sidewalks, side-eyeing grandmothers with thick mustaches, and wild dogs posing for photographs on the steps of parliament fondly.

Quote: (11-17-2018 09:10 AM)Pride male Wrote:  

My definition of a shit hole is trash and filth everywhere. Dilapidated buildings and homeless beggars and crime.

Which would describe much of Los Angeles these days. Sad but true. As mentioned earlier in this thread many parts of the U.S.A. are starting to resemble 3rd world shit holes.

I just got back from another short stop in Japan and while it is not perfect and I have not been everywhere, I do think it is probably the most civilized place on earth, or very close to it.

As I get older, the peace, tranquility and cleanliness is becoming very appealing. Taking a hard look at Japan over the next year or so.

Harlem in New York City

Cleveland
Buffalo

Quote: (11-17-2018 10:36 AM)RVF400 Wrote:  

Quote: (11-17-2018 09:10 AM)Pride male Wrote:  

My definition of a shit hole is trash and filth everywhere. Dilapidated buildings and homeless beggars and crime.

Which would describe much of Los Angeles these days. Sad but true. As mentioned earlier in this thread many parts of the U.S.A. are starting to resemble 3rd world shit holes.

I just got back from another short stop in Japan and while it is not perfect and I have not been everywhere, I do think it is probably the most civilized place on earth, or very close to it.

As I get older, the peace, tranquility and cleanliness is becoming very appealing. Taking a hard look at Japan over the next year or so.

What about China? I heard they have empty cities there.

Dhaka, Bangladesh.

I live here willingly but Saigon is by most definitions a shit hole. You're breathing in moto exhaust 24/7. Can't walk anywhere because of the traffic and lack of sidewalks. There's not much greenery, and parks. The humidity, heat, rain,etc. can trap you in your apartment for days which gets depressing if you're not careful. And Vietnamese food is probably the most overrated cuisine I've ever come across. It's basically bahn mi, com tam, pho and 20 other types of soup.

But somehow the hordes of sexy asian women make up for it.

Quito was rough, livible but more challenging to find value. Saw a thief grab a woman's bag in broad daylight and take off, in the first five minutes driving into the city. Every attractive girl was foreign. But Guayaquil is even worse ...?

Reading what some people consider shitholes show how little traveled some of them are or how egocentric (when it comes to their own nation) some people are as well.

^Well you're not far off the mark. Im a colonial era nostalgist that thinks most parts of the world are dung heeps without the white man keeping things in order.

But enlighten us or I'm just going to presume you're an 'Ive been to shititier countries than you' troll

The question of the thread is relative, it was not "what is the worst place in the world", but the ones we have been to. I don't travel to the worst places in the world, but ones that interest me, so the worst place I've been to will never be that bad.

Bulgaria is dreadful outside of urban centers. Everytime you see a dilapilated house and think "there's no way someone lives there", you'll see clothes hanging outside to dry and realize there are third world countries in Europe.

I've been to some of the supposedly worst neighborhoods in Osaka. They are like slightly run down blue collar places where I'd have no hesitation walking around after dark.

Quote: (11-19-2018 07:09 AM)Trumpian Wrote:  

^Well you're not far off the mark. Im a colonial era nostalgist that thinks most parts of the world are dung heeps without the white man keeping things in order.

But enlighten us or I'm just going to presume you're an 'Ive been to shititier countries than you' troll

Then why do you live in Vietnam?

I haven’t been to Africa, the Philippines, or Bangladesh, so bear that in mind.

While north India was dirty like much of the rest of the country, I won’t go so far as to say it was a shithole on the virtue that the people I came into contact with were quite pleasant and I never felt unsafe. Not fearing having my ass beat makes it hard to hate the place too much. It might help that I can pass off for being just a very light skinned North Indian, so maybe it helped that I didn’t stand out from everyone else. I was in New Delhi, Ghaziabad, Agra, and Jaipur. The air pollution was a bit rough, and I had a big problem with car sickness from always suddenly moving and stopping so much. Other than that, I really don’t have anything bad to say about the place. It’s an old civilisation, and there was enough charm to it for me to enjoy it on a trip. I have a friend from my university days who lives and makes his living there, and I stayed with his family. If you have a contact in India, that’s definitely the way to go. He was able to hook me up with everything I wanted to do, and I was in good hands. I do wonder though if I didn’t have any contacts and had tried to navigate my way through the place, I might possibly be able to understand calling it a shithole.

In North America, I think the Mexican border towns are the biggest proper shitholes I’ve ever been to. I think it speaks for itself when you just name off places like Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo, and Juarez along the Texas-Mexico border; I always felt tense and I never could fully relax when I was there. Always looking over my shoulder, which just gets old after a while. I can’t speak for elsewhere along the southern border, but at least along the Rio Grande, there’s a point that i’d guess as being roughly 50-75 miles from the southern border where you’re technically in America, but only in name. Feels dangerous. Wouldn’t recommend it. Exceptions to this are El Paso and even parts near South Padre, but that’s only a small walk from actually being in those Mexican border towns in itself. About 10 years ago, a local (Mexican in origin, and questionable nationality) in this general area was to get us a little oz sack; I asked my a relative what he was doing, and he said that was going to run to Mexico real quick to get it. 30 minutes later he was back. Shit like that got me feeling the danger of the southern border in a very real sense for the first time.

In South America, I was a bit disappointed by Cali, Colombia, and these sentiments have rung true for most of my experiences in South America. Part of the family is from there, so I was visiting them and also spent time doing the typical tourist stuff in Medellin, Bogota, and Quito in Ecuador as well. It’s possible part of my disdain for the place has to do with my expectations for what I perceived South America to be like, but there are enough objectively undesirable things as well. I was welcome to stay in my relatives homes, but I got hotels so I could bring women back just in case. Everything gets locked down at night, and you presumably have to stay vigilant. It was also the only time I had ever gotten sick abroad from eating or drinking something that didn’t agree with my body. Turned out to be some juice a cousin made that was mixed with tap water. I guess the locals can handle it, but I was pretty much out of it for the next two days after that. I found a place to party at near the end of the trip, and the people were quite pleasant and didn’t weird me out too much, but I was still pretty paranoid about watching my back; I can blend in there just fine by how I look, but I can’t really speak the language which will always inevitably give up that i’m gringo. The traffic was pretty insane, but not any worse than East Asia and India. Wore shorts and sandals a couple days, and learned my lesson after I was eaten alive by the insects. It kind of soured me on South America, and most all those factors that make a place a shithole seem to apply (some dangerous nature, people, and not nearly as clean as the rim of my bathroom throne.)

Most recently I was in the UK, and found London to being rather close to becoming like any other American city, in that you have shithole areas, and then everything else, until we presumably run out of space or voting power. While the facilities were definitely of the developed world along with there being lots to see and do, I was particularly annoyed by the lack of Britishness that seems to pervade the place. I had never seen so many letter boxes in my life, even compared to the UAE/Oman. Seems they’re going down the same path where we’ll have a lot of gated communities and a lot of ghettos, but I personally did not feel particularly safe surrounded by what appeared to me as being some pretty hardcore moslems. YMMV

The cleanest place i’ve ever been is Abu Dhabi, funny enough. There was a little bit of sky haze, but I’ve never seen streets that clean. It was impressive.

Quote: (11-19-2018 02:07 AM)Trumpian Wrote:  

I live here willingly but Saigon is by most definitions a shit hole. You're breathing in moto exhaust 24/7. Can't walk anywhere because of the traffic and lack of sidewalks. There's not much greenery, and parks. The humidity, heat, rain,etc. can trap you in your apartment for days which gets depressing if you're not careful. And Vietnamese food is probably the most overrated cuisine I've ever come across. It's basically bahn mi, com tam, pho and 20 other types of soup.

But somehow the hordes of sexy asian women make up for it.

Yep, Saigon is a dump.

It pays really well for teachers so that's why we stay.

Quote: (11-19-2018 02:07 AM)Trumpian Wrote:  

I live here willingly but Saigon is by most definitions a shit hole. You're breathing in moto exhaust 24/7. Can't walk anywhere because of the traffic and lack of sidewalks. There's not much greenery, and parks. The humidity, heat, rain,etc. can trap you in your apartment for days which gets depressing if you're not careful. And Vietnamese food is probably the most overrated cuisine I've ever come across. It's basically bahn mi, com tam, pho and 20 other types of soup.

But somehow the hordes of sexy asian women make up for it.

I was really pleasantly surprised by the Saigonese girls. Pretty, light-skinned, elegant, feminine. Although my flag had a smelly cunt and the room I banged her in had bed bugs.

^Havent run into any smelly cunts. Had a couple bad breaths though. I chalk it up to fish sauce and non existent dentistry.

Still, hottest women in Asia though.

Hanoi, Vietnam
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Polluted dumps. Too much traffic. Natives were generally uncouth and unfriendly.

Quote: (11-21-2018 11:27 PM)Coke Zero Addict Wrote:  

Hanoi, Vietnam
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Polluted dumps. Too much traffic. Natives were generally uncouth and unfriendly.

Good call.

Siem Reap is lovely though.

The middle part of Vietnam is also nice.