Lived In: Buffalo, Chicago, Rome, Accra, Seoul, Shanghai... Help me choose my next city
Hi Steemit! I want to choose a new place to live :)!
Here's my full list of cities:
Buffalo
Buffalo is simply too economically depressed for life. While friends have told me that this is no longer the case and that the harbor is gorgeous, etc.... I think they're BSing, just like the Buffalo News does. My family is in Buffalo, so that's a big vote in its favor. Against it? Well, I have no idea how the hell I'd do anything work wise and most of the city at any given moment seems to be in a weed/alcohol induced coma when not at work.
Chicago
Chicago was actually a pretty decent place to live, BUT it is plagued with typical "America Problems." It has a high rate of violent crime, fueled by poverty (remember the problem is always poverty-- never inequality) and the traffic is atrocious. I don't feel like trading the sanity I've gained by being outside of the US'
Rome
Io crede che parlo italiano, pero no crede che parlo bene adesso: no ho parlato italiano tra 10 anni. Roma era una citta bella e brutta allo stesso tempo. Credo vorrei vide una altra citta nell italia-- un anno nella Roma es abbastanza.
Accra
Accra was a fantastic city in a fantastic and dynamic country. I'm sure that there are plenty of opporrtunities in Accra and in Ghana overall. This said, given what I have heard from some friends about the costs of living in Ghana full time as a non-Ghanian, I think I'll opt out at present.
Seoul
- Sadly Korea is not a country for those who are not Korean
- See point #1 re: Seoul
- Yongsan electronics market is cool. See point #1.
Shanghai Suburbs(Technically Taicang, Jiangsu-- saying Shanghai so people know the place I'm mentioning)
- Atrocious pollution
- Let's face it: China is an exciting place to live
- Let's face it: China offers a great quality of living at a very low price
- Let's face it: Chinese e-commerce is better than e-commerce anywhere else on earth and for me that constituted a hobby that became a career.
- Let's face it: there's no fucking Internet access in China
Shenzhen
- Shenzhen is the best city on planet earth
- No, really, it is. Deal with it.
- I'd love to live in Shenzhen
- Let's face it: there's no fucking Internet access in China
Ho Chi Minh City
- South Vietnamese people are much more relaxed than North Vietnamese people
- If you relax, weather you're South Vietnamese or Nigerian, South Vietnamese people will artfully steal your phone
- You will be pissed off, but at the same time amazed by the skill level
- Try this on for size: TWO IN A WEEK!
- Very hot and humid
- Great motorcycling outside of the urban center
- Awesome summer thunderstorms
- Internet access is so-so due to Vietnam's AAG
Da Nang
- Da Nang is without a doubt the most picturesque city I've ever vistited.
- Seriously.
- Behind Hanoi and HCMC in terms of "all things digital"
- Crucially for me, this includes the talent pool :(
- Internet access is so-so due to Vietnam's AAG
- I spent 2 days motorcycling in Central Vietnam. WOW GORGEOUS!
Hanoi
As discussed with @rampant today....
Hanoi has some really great aspects:
- Hanoian people generally accept others at face value (and this is awesome)
- Hanoian people are future focused in that positive, practical communist way
- Hanoi itself is a beautiful chaos
And some not so great aspects
- Traffic in Hanoi shouldn't consist of as many cars as it does. Cars should be banned, motorcycles encouraged. It's the only way to scale this city.
- Hanoian startups are government-orchestrated in that negative, impractical communist way.
- Air quality is so-so
- Internet access is so-so due to Vietnam's AAG
....so it is perfectly possible that I might just stay in Hanoi. I don't know though.
Where should I go next?
- @rampant is headed to Ukraine, which sounds exciting, but maybe a bit too unstable? Frankly I'll be waiting for his report.
- @fyrstikken mentions happiness and relative freedom in Peru
- @randyclemens mentions that New Hampshire is full of like-minded folks, doing like-minded things, and smoking pot on the state capital steps (and not getting arrested, which speaks volumes of good about NH)
"OTHERRANDOMPEOPLE" Have mentioned that Chile is awesome - @menta mentions that Cambodia is pretty great, too, but also mentioned something about a 10MBPS internet line, while I try to keep myself at a minimum of 45MBPS fiber redundant from separate ISPs converging on a single MPTCP proxy in the cloud for maximum awesome.
- @mystictot mentions that delhi rocks, and has interesting electronics markets, which focus too heavily on imports from the manufacturing giant to the northeast.
- "ANOTHERREALITY" is that Hong Kong is pretty great in terms of opportunity, but pretty much shattered in terms of a society. Ask a HKer sometime.
- @razvanelulmarin and google confirm that the interwebs in Romania are ludicrously cheap and fast and that nearly everyone speaks English and thus recommends:
- CLUJ
- Bucharest
What kinds of places do I consider great?
- Fastest possible internet
- Lowest possible rent while maintaining fastest possible Internet and relatively stable electricity and connectivity
- a local tech culture
- a future oriented local culture
- awesomeness
- a general lack of regulation of people's lives, and a lack of acceptance of regulation on the part of the people
Have you checked out http://www.fortgalt.com ?
I have, and I loved the concept. But... rentals?
I know some of our members will be renting their units out. If you're interested, I can let them know.
Wow, I want t o know more too! can i get in this?
thanks!
Yeah. It would be easiest if you use the contact form on our website.
Interested.
Do you have personal experience with this? Sounds so interesting and tempting but I don't really know what price range are we talking about here?
Thanks!
Detroit is rolling out fiber... Rocket Fiber is the company. We need more tech startups to come here. And it's a cheap place to bootstrap with a lot of engineering talent in the metro area. It's not the most picturesque place, but full of culture and diversity. Oh, and good food.
Here's the rub re: Detroit
It's in the United States, and I think that Killary wants a #bloodorgy and will stop at nothing to get it. (DISCLAIMER: THIS DOES NOT MEAN I SUPPORT TRUMP!)
And I am sure the food is awesome-- it's the states theres a reason we're all heavy. But.... I think I am going to remain USA-averse. However-- no decisions are final :)!
If you have more reasons I should be headed to Detroit, I want to hear them :)!
go Reykjavík and share with us awesome photos every single day!
I recommend trying Tuscany hills - Italy
You can check my photoshoot about this spot here: https://steemit.com/photography/@andrew0/tuscany-italy-creative-commons-photoshoot-by-me-nature-and-culture
Life is very relaxed and cheap (compared to Rome or other places in Italy) and you have good clean air and nature, history, tourism etc
Great post and thanks a lot for sharing your experiences.
I am living in Berlin atm but I have a move in my mind and I am interested in Costa Rica and Lanzarote.
Berlin is really cool, the greenest capital of the world, but after 15 years I need much more pure nature, quiteness and peace :-)
For a second you got my attention about China, but once you said "no internet" Oh hell no. Stay away.
I have friends in Bali and they love it. Hope you find a good location.
Nicely done. Tits are always welcome on steemit.
On a more serious note: try Paris !
Technology wise there are incredible things coming from Paris lately:
Other than that tell me what is great in Paris :)... Never visited
CLUJ - Romania!! yes i said it!
Actually man, CLUJ looks really cool.
I have been having a thought, a thought of a designated city, much like the free state tribe has their designated state. CLUJ is interesting for this, as is this "Fort Galt." Steemians, who would be down to publish their location as GPS coordinates in a post, so that we can map that and get an idea of where we are. No, I don't consider GeoIP valid, at all....
Here's where I currently live. It's a place on the eastern side of Australia and is normally quite warm all year round (24C / 75.2F).
Here is #Expedias little video on our little area of the world
I've also lived in Israel: Started in Tel Aviv, then to Kfar Saba, then to Jerusalem, then found some friends of friends who had a house just about 25 mins out of Jerusalem called Had Adar.
You'll like Israel - as they are a happy go lucky people despite all of the problems around them. They are the most innovative people on the planet, since they created things like USB, voice mail and numerous other tech inventions, as well as lead the field in medical discoveries, and agriculture too.
They have also invented waze, a social posting GPS maps app, that just got bought out by google for billions of $$$
They have fast, cheap internet (especially mobile, it's like $20USD for 10GB data, but if you go over they slow it down, unlike AU where they charge you) and you also have USB slots on most buses, so you can charge your phone while taking a bus rise. The public transport is very cheap, as well as most food, the only issue may be accommodation, but I did find online you can get some pretty cheap places if you look at staying 3 months. Jerusalem would have to be the most expensive, but outside of that you can rest for quite cheap, and find public transport close by, or most of it is within walking distance.
If you need to know anything about these two, just message me on steemology.live (under the same name.
and I wish a good Friday for everyone with Gus Gus!