Is there any country you would not go to even if you were paid to go there?

OMM 0000

cdeb wrote: »

Obligi "Spent a couple of weeks travelling across the country a few years back and it was brilliant" post

Russia's a great country.

I've spent months there. It's a great place.

Two things really stood out to me:

1. Wow, we've been fed a lot of anti-Russia propaganda. It's nothing like the movies.

2. The people there are SOFT. We are killers by comparison.

As you get older you realise the media is propaganda and we are being fed lies about everything. It's awful.

Esho

OMM 0000 wrote: »

I've spent months there. It's a great place.

Two things really stood out to me:

1. Wow, we've been fed a lot of anti-Russia propaganda. It's nothing like the movies.

2. The people there are SOFT. We are killers by comparison.

As you get older you realise the media is propaganda and we are being fed lies about everything. It's awful.

Couldn't hack the racism and sexism of the Russians I worked with here, likewise Serbs
Are these just the ones who travel,are they different at home?

OMM 0000

OMM 0000 wrote: »

2. The people there are SOFT. We are killers by comparison.
.

You've got to be joking. Russians are a hard outside shell, and a soft center. Pretty accurate portrayal in the movies. Dunno where or what Russians you've met, but the men tend to be very masculine, and the women very cynical/practical. These people are definitely not soft..

cdeb

OMM 0000 wrote: »

2. The people there are SOFT. We are killers by comparison.

Not sure I'd entirely agree with this; there is a very masculine streak in Russia afaik - look at the likes of the football hooligans, the army hazing, MMA aficionados and so on - but the extrovert part of it is probably a tiny portion of society. Most of them are just people at the end of the day; same as here. The only bad thing I'd say about Russians is that they're too friendly, and that usually means a lot of vodka!

OMM 0000 wrote: »

As you get older you realise the media is propaganda and we are being fed lies about everything. It's awful.

This is very true though, as some of the suggestions in this thread show. Turkey (because of a football incident 20 years ago). The Stans. Most of Africa. Iran. I'd be happy to go to any country where I won't have my head chopped off live on the internet tbh. The more off-the-beaten-track ones are often better. Off to North Macedonia in September and very much looking forward to it!

cdeb

cdeb wrote: »

Off to North Macedonia in September and very much looking forward to it!

Have you been before? I really enjoy it there

cdeb

Nope. Have been to Montenegro and Albania, but not North Macedonia. I imagine there's similarities, and Montenegro and particularly Albania was nice.

Barna77

jmreire wrote: »

Same goes for the Baltic states ( who also use the Cyrillic Alphabet )

They use Latin alphabet


I was in Ukraine a couple of years ago and yeah it was quite easy to pick up the letters

cdeb

Yep - maybe he meant the Balkan states? Some use Cyrillic letters there.

cdeb

cdeb wrote: »

Nope. Have been to Montenegro and Albania, but not North Macedonia. I imagine there's similarities, and Montenegro and particularly Albania was nice.

Yep, very similar. Skopje is some spot, lovely old town bazaar area, then the government went a bit mad putting statues all over the New town part, any 2 meter squared flat area got a statue thrown up on it, hilarious actually.
Can see a ballet or opera for a fiver.
Lake Ohrid is nice, like a cheaper Italian lake area.
Plenty of vineyards with nice cheap tours
There's a memorial to the Irish army in the Macedonia/Greece border.

cdeb

Heard that about Skopje alright. Ohrid is where I'm off to, but might get a day in Skopje at the end. Have heard Skopje's a nice city (from a Serb I know) apart from the mental statues.

Ah it really is! Well worth a couple of days, I've had some mad nights too!!!

Ohrid is really lovely, enjoy it, I'm jealous!

cdeb

Much and all as I love travelling around Ireland, it'll be great to get out of the country and to somewhere off the beaten track again!

Cordell

bradolf pittler wrote: »

I visited Bangalore India a few years ago and though i had some idea of what to expect nothing prepared me for what it was like there.
The poverty,the crowds,noise,smells.....everything was an attack on the senses.
Horribly disabled and disfigured beggers outside high end shopping malls and Ferrari dealerships that were built beside shanty shacks.Truely a country of haves and have nots. I dont think i'd ever willingly go back even though the people were lovely and we were mostly shielded from the madness in the city.
We had a driver who looked after us for the 2 weeks,At the end of the trip we pooled whatever cash we had leftover for him(gonna guess around 100 euro in Rupees) and the poor guy broke down crying in the street.He still messages me on my birthday on Facebook

Same.
It was funny how we were eased in into it though The airport is alright, I've seen worse. Then the airport carpark where we got into the pre-booked cab was a bit hectic. Then it was a nice motorway section with palm trees on the sides. Then tolling booths that looked 100 years old with a lick of paint thrown in. Then before we knew it it was chaos, rubbish, 7 lanes merging into one with no rules, cars beeping constantly, no traffic rules, bamboo scaffolding on high rises, slums with huts made of cardboard and construction waste, sewage smell. I have seen pictures, but nothing prepared me for it.
And Bangalore is a developed city.

cdeb

I remember getting a taxi from Bangalore airport to the far side of the city in dark. Took about two hours. It was utterly exhilarating. At one stage there were speed humps in the road to indicate a junction, but nothing to indicate the speed humps. Also had a motorbike with three people on it cut in front of the taxi and behind a small lorry, which braked, and the bike was inches away from going under the lorry.

I've no idea how more people don't die on Indian roads - and the death toll is high enough as it is.

OMM 0000

Deleted User wrote: »

You've got to be joking. Russians are a hard outside shell, and a soft center. Pretty accurate portrayal in the movies. Dunno where or what Russians you've met, but the men tend to be very masculine, and the women very cynical/practical. These people are definitely not soft..

Fake hard shell, incredibly soft inside.

Much softer than Irish people.

OMM 0000

cdeb wrote: »

Most of them are just people at the end of the day; same as here. The only bad thing I'd say about Russians is that they're too friendly, and that usually means a lot of vodka!

I've spent a lot of time working and traveling in communist and former communist countries, and the people are softer. I don't know what it is. Maybe they were coddled by their government before? I don't know.

murpho999

whisky_galore wrote: »

No matter. Zero interest in visiting such a fake place.

Maybe you should as it's definitely a real place.

Also, there's old parts of Dubai that are well worth a visit.

OMM 0000

OMM 0000 wrote: »

Fake hard shell, incredibly soft inside.

Much softer than Irish people.

Definitely not my experience. I'd consider Russians, on average, to be much harder and cynical/practical than Irish people. They have to be. Their own culture and national situation requires as much.

Russians present an image of being open and friendly (boisterous), but any serious effort to make friends with them, will quickly meet a reserve that needs to be satisfied before any kind of real trust or friendship occurs. Both the men and the women are much harder than Irish people, or westerners (in general).

cdeb

I'd also have thought we're pretty soft here. Easily turned by an aul sob story.

But I think that's a bit of a digression.

65535

Car99 wrote: »

The Republic of Cork, very condescending county with a chip on its shoulder about being second best.

Thank you for upgrading us to Country Status !

jmreire

OMM 0000 wrote: »

I've spent a lot of time working and traveling in communist and former communist countries, and the people are softer. I don't know what it is. Maybe they were coddled by their government before? I don't know.

Russians ( or any of the former communist countrys) will have had a hard time. They were not coddled...quite the opposite, oppressed more like. Thats the illusion of softness.The arrival of anyone wearing a uniform will quickly quieten any crowd causing trouble. The power of the ordinary "on the beat policeman" is extraordinary. The ghost of the KGb is alive and well. ( even if its successor the FSB is more "presentable" ) They learned to trust no one they did not grow up or work with, and were ecouraged to spy and report on any wrongdoing by their neighbours or workmates. And in the Republics, ethnic Russians are not popular, even when they have lived in the same place for years, or even generations. Even today, trust does not come easy to them. Once they get to know you, they are the finest. But since the collapse of communism, and the arrival of western commercialism, they have changed and become more open. But when push comes to shove, they can be as hard as nails.

dxhound2005

Russia, Finland and Norway meet on the map, as do Russia, China and North Korea. Big expanse in between, and I would be suspect of anyone who thinks they know the character of "the Russian people".

There are probably places where life under the Tsars, Communism and nowadays has changed very little.

nuckeythompson

Israel, spent time there but couldn't warm to the place or the people. A xenophobic lot and place
Incredibly difficult to do business there
I have seen some mention Iran as a bad place, not so at all and fantastic food. Admittedly not a place for a woman

whisky_galore

murpho999 wrote: »

Maybe you should as it's definitely a real place.

Also, there's old parts of Dubai that are well worth a visit.

I already said no, you're hardly going to change my mind with your little quip.

bradolf pittler

cdeb wrote: »

I remember getting a taxi from Bangalore airport to the far side of the city in dark. Took about two hours. It was utterly exhilarating. At one stage there were speed humps in the road to indicate a junction, but nothing to indicate the speed humps. Also had a motorbike with three people on it cut in front of the taxi and behind a small lorry, which braked, and the bike was inches away from going under the lorry.

I've no idea how more people don't die on Indian roads - and the death toll is high enough as it is.

We came back from a restaurant in a taxi and missed the turn off to our hotel.
The driver just slammed on the breaks and reversed into the oncoming motorway traffic till we got back to the off ramp. Was like a scene from fast & furious...terrifying!!!
The tuk tuk mafia outside the hotels were something else too,All smiles and handshakes when we used them for the 1st day or so to get our bearings but when we got our driver they litterally spat at our car and rammed us as we leaving the hotel.

Donegal Overlanding

jmreire wrote: »

The power of the ordinary "on the beat policeman" is extraordinary. The ghost of the KGb is alive and well. ( even if its successor the FSB is more "presentable" )

You should watch some episodes from the YouTube channel "Stop Xam" (Stop A Douchebag for the English translated edits) and you would be shocked at just how utterly useless and almost zero respect Muscovites have for Police. Having watched every single video they have ever uploaded, I can say I have been in a constant state of disbelief at how useless the Police are in almost every situation.

jmreire

Donegal Overlanding wrote: »

You should watch some episodes from the YouTube channel "Stop Xam" (Stop A Douchebag for the English translated edits) and you would be shocked at just how utterly useless and almost zero respect Muscovites have for Police. Having watched every single video they have ever uploaded, I can say I have been in a constant state of disbelief at how useless the Police are in almost every situation.

Policing in Russia is "different". I lived there for several years ( Inc. Moscow) And I understand very well why Muscovites dislike their Police.... there's thousands of "Stupid Policeman " jokes around. But you wont see anyone laughing in the Police station, if you have the misfortune to be "invited" in !!! LOL:) Or if you get stopped by them, either driving or just walking along the footpath, minding your own business. They don't need "probable cause". And God help you if your documents ( or anything else ...the book of offences covered by Russian Law is massive ) are not in order....this will entail some very intensive and expensive investigative work. Instead of the "Stop Xam" videos, have a look at some of the videos showing how they handle protestors. Sure in the Stop Xam videos, the drivers are back -answering and swearing at the police, but they do what they are told.....they know well the limit.

realdanbreen

cagefactor wrote: »

Spent some time in Ivory Coast, never again.

How come?

Ash.J.Williams

jmreire wrote: »

Russians ( or any of the former communist countrys) will have had a hard time. They were not coddled...quite the opposite, oppressed more like. Thats the illusion of softness.The arrival of anyone wearing a uniform will quickly quieten any crowd causing trouble. The power of the ordinary "on the beat policeman" is extraordinary. The ghost of the KGb is alive and well. ( even if its successor the FSB is more "presentable" ) They learned to trust no one they did not grow up or work with, and were ecouraged to spy and report on any wrongdoing by their neighbours or workmates. And in the Republics, ethnic Russians are not popular, even when they have lived in the same place for years, or even generations. Even today, trust does not come easy to them. Once they get to know you, they are the finest. But since the collapse of communism, and the arrival of western commercialism, they have changed and become more open. But when push comes to shove, they can be as hard as nails.

interesting story!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgZxQIzoFdI

Muahahaha

nuckeythompson wrote: »

Israel, spent time there but couldn't warm to the place or the people. A xenophobic lot and place
Incredibly difficult to do business there
I have seen some mention Iran as a bad place, not so at all and fantastic food. Admittedly not a place for a woman

I spent about an hour in Israel a few years back to get from Jordan to Egypt and I wouldnt be in a hurry to go back. Had to endure about a 30 minute interrogation at the border post by a member of the Israell Defence Forces, they wanted every address I ever lived it, my email address, the works. Made me wait around two hours at the border before finally giving me permission to enter, Ive no doubt they used that time to snoop around my email and run me through databases as a security check.

I had a Syrian visa in my passport as well and they were less than impressed at that, I faced loads of questions about why I was in Syria as if it was crime of the century. His hatred of Syria was written all over his face. He was in a huff for me being Irish as well and made that clear too and he was in another huff that I would dare enter Israel and use it to transit the 30kms or so to Egypt without spending any time there. So yeah you couldnt pay me to go back to Israel after that experience.