I though NYC was fine.
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I’m up at my local cafe enjoying a relaxing time. I’ve known the owner since she was a young lass. Her husband was a student of mine. I knew them both before they met each other. You can make friendships here just needs to meet the right people.
Same in any country.
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Actually Taiwan is more difficult than some because people are very shy here, can be extremely competitive and also very low diversity, but of course you can make friends in any country, there’s nothing revalatory in that. Its also very helpful if one has family here.
I had trouble making friends when I was younger here with guys because they saw me as competition for the ladies. Talk about insecure. Now they probably saw me as waiguo uncle and all the hot stuff now is Korean and Japanese.
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And also a BIG ONE is the tiny apartments and no parking. Can’t just invite a few people over with the kids doing the sleepover
Manhattan isn’t bad at all. I’ve always felt safe there and have nearly walked the entire length.
If you want to feel unsafe go to Rio, even in the richest neighborhoods it’s sketchy. Even more so there. Can’t walk on the beach at night, don’t wear a watch, headphones, pull out your phone. I’ve seen people robbed right in front of me.
Sao Paulo is supposedly just as bad but I’ve felt ok on the main strip, Avenida Paulista.
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I’ve never had any problems with that, I just share the bed 
Tangier takes the top spot for me, followed by Marrakesh. There are different kinds of feeling unsafe, but in this case, it was constant, aggressive, hands-on panhandling, in-your-face getting shouted at, having pet monkeys literally thrown on to you then being demanded payment for the privilege, being followed around, and being subtly or not-so-subtly threatened (“You’d better be careful, man. Would be a shame if you were to get robbed.”) when you try to refuse a scam.
After being panhandled like that all day long, it’s then pretty natural to feel even more paranoid and vigilant at night. Quite stressful.
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I suppose it depends on circumstances. I was expected to lead my in-laws around, to the Statue of Liberty and Wall Street because New York and I know every inch of it. 
It was the peak of assaults on Asians in 2022, and I was very concerned that someone who knock out the wrong one. 
You should write fortune cookies.
Developing countries could definitely be worse, but France and Belgium are first world countries so their capital cities are supposed to be safe, except they are not.
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I’m interested in hearing about your experiences here. Why do you say so?
My last visit to Paris was a couple of years ago, and my wife got robbed (thankfully, non-violently) in broad daylight because of not paying enough attention (as in, constant second-to-second vigilance) to her bag. There was also some scam at a touristy vantage point where one person would rush up to you and thrust a clipboard with “interview questions” in your face, while their accomplice would then rob you while you were distracted. Fortunately, the cops stationed at that spot saw the hustlers, recognized the hustle, and pulled them away from us for questioning.
In spite of that, I didn’t feel more unsafe in Paris than in other large cities. I tend to feel more unsafe in the USA, maybe just because I know the culture better and I can sense that someone is scoping me out from 100 meters away.
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True , Paris is an shole. It’s an unpleasant place to be. I had a nice time in other areas of France , but Paris…
Scoping you with a rifle ?
No, I just mean following me with their stare, as a possible victim to approach, or in preparation for making a move as I walk past.
As an example, I was in London some years back and was walking at night, recording on my smartphone while I was walking so I could show the video to my wife later when I got back home. About 100 meters ahead of me, approaching from the other direction, I saw two large guys walking towards me. Instinctively I veered slightly off-center to put more space between their path and mine. Though my eyes were directed at my smartphone my attention was on them. I saw one of the guys grinning and nudging his partner, as if to say, “hey man, watch this.” I knew he was going to make a move as we passed each other. And sure enough, he did. As we passed, he bent towards me to put his face close to mine and screamed “boo!”. Because I fully expected it, I exhibited no reaction whatsoever, which surely disappointed him. But I’m also sure equally sure that he said to his buddy, “did you see his face, man? Ha ha!”
Anyway, that’s what I’m talking about, having that feeling of someone scoping you out. But living away from such constant-vigilance areas for a while does cause one’s own guard to lower over time.
I haven’t been to the really dangerous countries like Brazil or Mexico or South Africa so these scenarios are really bad to me already. I was never robbed myself in Paris but I witnessed more than one robberies there (with cops chasing after the thief … how fun), and I elected to never wear a backpack there as that’s just inviting pickpockets to steal from you. I was also invited to a housewarming party at a terrible neighbourhood (Aubervilliers) because the rent was obviously lower there, and that place was not great.
I find this completely unacceptable in a first world country but French people don’t seem too bothered by it.
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I was mostly in Manhattan so I felt quite safe all around.
I was scammed at JFK though. Now that was a wonderful experience. What an absolute shitshow of an airport.
Yeah and even the Ubers do that In Turkey
Despite you agreeing to a fare
Something like the Uber price isn’t real because doesn’t contain blah blah toll or some shit
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I didn’t take a cab there. I took the ride arranged by the hotel which is what people advise tourists to do.
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Mexico isn’t as bad as people make out. I’ve been there once. The tourists spots are safe. Other areas are kind of ok and the Cartels generally have no interest in anyone who isn’t in their business. Mexico is way safer than Brazil in my opinion.
Now, my experience is quite a while ago, but in Istanbul, I was traveling with a local person who arranged a kind of “shared taxi” for us, where say 6 parties all board the same minivan. I just looked it up now and it seems that this is called a “dolmuş” – a shared taxi that drives a pre-determined route but without pre-defined stops, so you can get off anywhere on the route.
https://www.istanbultrails.com/2009/07/how-and-where-to-take-a-dolmus-or-shared-taxi-in-istanbul/
You pay once the taxi is full and departs. A mildly interesting cultural thing is that, because there are so many people in the van, you can’t physically reach the driver to pay your fare. So you pass your money to someone else, who passes it to someone else, who passes it to the driver, who then makes change, which is then passed through a number of people to get back to you. It seems a little weird to me to have the money for your transaction literally passing through so many other peoples’ hands, but that’s the way they do it.
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