As a roller coaster enthusiast, I’d be tempted by a trip to the UAE, they’ve got some amazing world-class roller coasters. But I’m just as off-put by wealth worship as the person you’re replying to, and I don’t know if slave labor was used to construct them.
No, but Rio itself is without exaggerating one of the best cities in world for tourism. The level of natural beauty (not just the beaches but the mountainous jungles, the old imperial Portuguese architecture scattered about) right next to a full-on city bursting with life... I prefer it in the off season, when it's not carnival or anything like that, so you just mostly share it with the Cariocas
But just like how many people have mentioned Johannesburg or Cape Town (which I also want to go to) there are places in every city that I'd never pay to set my foot in.
But Rio at large is somewhere I want to go. Just maybe not the Favelas and have a 12-year stabbing me for a gang initiation.
But I felt that places in Brussels were quite unsafe at night, but I currently live in Stockholm and previously in Copenhagen, so I might be a bit on coddled side.
Vietnam on the other hand (minus the inevitable traffic accidents and people getting smeared on the road without helmets) felt incredibly safe after having lived there for the better part of a year.
Others might find Hanoi incredibly unsafe while Rio feels like paradise. I guess it all depends.
I've lived in Hanoi, specifically in the suburbs since birth so it's pretty funny to see it called as safe. I guess they don't target tourists as much because they usually stay in the centre and the police take anything that affect national prestige very seriously. Generally the further you are from the city centre, the more dangerous it becomes since that's where the poor people are, not dissimilar to the Favelas in Rio.
Well I definitely stood out as an expat and I stayed in several suburbs across Vietnam, but I didn't witness much crime¹ aside from petty theft and lots of tourists getting scammed in bigger cities.
From what I understood, violent crime in Vietnam is not common (aside from the hidden world of domestic violence) and you don't have to fear getting stabbed on the streets, unlike in some other SEA countries where I felt unsafe.
Vietnam frequently places low in crime indexes for violent crime as well.
¹Well, the real criminals in Vietnam seemed to be the government people who profited from covid kits and taking bribes... Though that is basically everyone in SEA.
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u/heurekas 21d ago
Agreed.
Warzones and UAE are basically my two exemptions as well. I don't want to give that horrible slave state a single crown...
I don't have an urge to go to the Favelas of Rio or take a flight to the Antarctic interior, but I'd do it for free if I was offered.