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

Mimon

Montage of Feck wrote: »

Iran, as the successor of the Persian empire, has got three thousand years of history and culture going on, so don't rule it out completely.

They have a reputation as being the world's friendliest and hospitable people so would be strange to rule it out because of a ****ty government.

Mimon

Mister Vain wrote: »

I can't say I've ever heard anyone say that about them. I mean a lot of people would say the Hungarians are rude and unfriendly which I would tend to agree with, but the Dutch are sound, or least they were when I was there anyway.

Lived there for a couple of years and they are definitely more blunt and individualistic than Irish people but most people are friendly.

Maybe the poster happened to run into a few aholes when there?

jmreire

Mimon wrote: »

They have a reputation as being the world's friendliest and hospitable people so would be strange to rule it out because of a ****ty government.

True. I would go back there in a heartbeat. Cultured friendly people, and as you say, unfortunately ruled with an iron fist by hardline Islamists. To meet them in the privacy of their own homes, and see the transformation that takes place, especially with the women. Off with the hair covering, and street clothes, and full western gear on underneath is something else.Likewise to meet them outdoors at an open air restaurent, where everyone sits on beds ( bed frames, with a mesh base filled with pillows) They eat, drink ( yes there will be the odd bottle of illegal spirits in private circulation) and smoke shisha pipes.Simplest thing in the world to get into conversation with the adjoining "beds", they are so friendly.

I'd go pretty much anywhere except a warzone or place with a high likelihood of kidnap or terrorism if I was getting paid for it.

guy2231

Mimon wrote: »

They have a reputation as being the world's friendliest and hospitable people so would be strange to rule it out because of a ****ty government.

What is so bad about the government?

They don't get on with the USA is that it? Any arab government with a set of balls on them don't get on with the USA.

Signore Fancy Pants

Signore Fancy Pants wrote: »

I would have zero interest in any country in South America, at all, at all, at all.

Anywhere else, grand.

Really missing out.

Amazing natural beauty, ancient history like the Incas, beautiful colonial architecture in parts. Fantastic cultures.

Best place that I've ever travelled.

Colombia and Bolivia particularly.

Peru, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador also

Argentina a bit over-rated imo.

whisky_galore

Wanderer78 wrote: »

think all westerners should experience desperate poverty, puts life into perspective

The murderyness of the place would put life in perspective, or danger, as I'd rather call it.

Bojill

Israel

Gregor Samsa

Strumms wrote: »

I’d pay money never to set foot on Israeli soil..

Cool.I’ll send you my bank details, and you just don’t go. Deal?

An Ri rua

The past

Alfred123

Ireland

Mimon

guy2231 wrote: »

What is so bad about the government?

They don't get on with the USA is that it? Any arab government with a set of balls on them don't get on with the USA.

They are fairly repressive of their own people, they do back the likes of Hezzbollah etc.

Iranians are not Arabs btw.

Wanderer78

whisky_galore wrote: »

The murderyness of the place would put life in perspective, or danger, as I'd rather call it.

ive been in poor enough places alright, but not desperately poor, but i know people that have been, and had similar experiences, scary im sure, know people that had to be escorted about the place

Dr Turk Turkelton

Wanderer78 wrote: »

think all westerners should experience desperate poverty, puts life into perspective

Completely agree. Just last year I visited Dungannon,Co Tyrone.
The desperate poverty there really brought home the realities of the third world.

jmreire

guy2231 wrote: »

What is so bad about the government?

They don't get on with the USA is that it? Any arab government with a set of balls on them don't get on with the USA.

Talk to some Iranians, and they will tell you whats wrong with the Iranian Govt, but make damn sure you are not in Iran when having that conversation....But you are right about one thing, the Iranian people have balls, and in spades. The Nrs of them who have been killed by their own Govt when ever they have tried to overthrow the Ayatollahs runs into the thousands. For many, despite all all its flaws, life under the Shah of Iran was much better than what Iranians have now.When the Ayatollah Khomeini came to power, a war started with his neighbour Saddam Hussein ( Saddam started it ) that cost an estimated 500'000 Soldiers and 100'000 Civilian deaths. The present regime are direct political descendants of the Ayatollah.

whisky_galore

Wanderer78 wrote: »

ive been in poor enough places alright, but not desperately poor, but i know people that have been, and had similar experiences, scary im sure, know people that had to be escorted about the place

I'll leave that to the UN, not me on my hols thanks.

Genre..

Israel - a belligerent lot

India - toilet bowl

Montage of Feck

Montage of Feck wrote: »

Iran, as the successor of the Persian empire, has got three thousand years of history and culture going on, so don't rule it out completely.

And the only times they've been at war in the last 200 years were to protect itself.

jmreire

Deleted User wrote: »

I'd go pretty much anywhere except a warzone or place with a high likelihood of kidnap or terrorism if I was getting paid for it.

That would rule out a fair few places in todays world, which would otherwise be well worth a visit.:rolleyes:

Mad_maxx

Tzardine wrote: »

I have lived and worked in a lot of the Middle East, but predominantly Kuwait and Iraq. The stereotype of Gulf countries is unfortunately false. They are full of culture, welcoming people, and truly beautiful landscapes. Obviously however there are issues which cannot be overlooked, chiefly the (mis)treatment of women and the LGBT community, but I do recommend people to visit and experience them. You just have to be mindful of the cultural differences and abide by them so long as you are there.

The one country I will never go back to is Italy. Outside of the countryside which is undoubtedly beautiful, the cities are sh1tholes, full of people trying to scam you at every opportunity.

muslims are known to be very hospitable people in terms of their culture , the chauvanistic attitudes are well founded though ,Pre covid , we did Air B +B and had a Saudi man and his three daughters ( aged circa three to eight ) stay for one night , he spoke incredibly casually about obvious sexism as if it was normal and this man was a good guest and had been living in Dubai for ten years so not like he never left Saudi

Funnily enough , less than a week later we had an israeli couple stay and her mother ( they were working in tech in dublin ) , very nice folk

Wanderer78

whisky_galore wrote: »

I'll leave that to the UN, not me on my hols thanks.

id be interested in visiting, but id have to be protected, it just wouldnt be safe heading into such situations, then again, i could be heading to an erupting volcano soon, so you d have to wonder, which type of death would be acceptable

An Ri rua

Mad_maxx wrote: »

muslims are known to be very hospitable people in terms of their culture , the chauvanistic attitudes are well founded though ,Pre covid , we did Air B +B and had a Saudi man and his three daughters ( aged circa three to eight ) stay for one night , he spoke incredibly casually about obvious sexism as if it was normal and this man was a good guest and had been living in Dubai for ten years so not like he never left Saudi

Funnily enough , less than a week later we had an israeli couple stay and her mother ( they were working in tech in dublin ) , very nice folk

If they were there in the same week, it'd be like the Continental Hotel. Plastic cutlery for the guests dear...

Mad_maxx

breezy1985 wrote: »

Cornwall is pretty poor looking by Irish standards when it comes to countryside and the towns are the usual grim UK dumps and full of the worst type of bulldog and spitfire Brits who moved down to get away from all the black people.

In general England outside London is somewhere I would never go again. I have no problem with places that are poor or rundown if there is a bit of life and culture but UK towns are black holes in that sense

villages in rural England make our nice ones look like slums

our villages are mostly ugly in appearance , i accept that England has plenty of towns that are dumps in the likes of the Midlands but the likes of the Lake district , the Home counties and the South West have beautiful villages

Timberrrrrrrr

jmreire wrote: »

Talk to some Iranians, and they will tell you whats wrong with the Iranian Govt, but make damn sure you are not in Iran when having that conversation....But you are right about one thing, the Iranian people have balls, and in spades. The Nrs of them who have been killed by their own Govt when ever they have tried to overthrow the Ayatollahs runs into the thousands. For many, despite all all its flaws, life under the Shah of Iran was much better than what Iranians have now.When the Ayatollah Khomeini came to power, he started a war with his neighbour Saddam Hussein that cost an estimated 500'000 Soldiers and 100'000 Civilian deaths. The present regime are direct political descendants of the Ayatollah.

It was actually Hussain that started the Iran/Iraq war.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/topics/middle-east/iran-iraq-war

Started by Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein in September 1980, the war was marked by indiscriminate ballistic-missile attacks, extensive use of chemical weapons and attacks on third-country oil tankers in the Persian Gulf. 

When Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq, quite deliberately started the war, he miscalculated on two counts

4Ad

4Ad wrote: »

I really enjoyed my brief backpacking spell in Mexico, never scared..people were great, food was ok, great people.
Never went to Australia, never want to go to Australia.
Flew over it to NZ...That was enough.
Solely based on the Australians I have met on my travels !!

Nobody is missing out on not going to Australia.

Australia can be summarised as a place with a one or two ok cities (albeit completely lacking in any history and over-populated with bogan muppets on one-hand and insufferable hipster gobshytes on the other-hand) and the rest of the place is made of absolute nothingness, beaches and sh1thole towns that look like they were built for a fiver from plywood. beaches get boring after about 20 minutes unless you're doing some sort of activity. and besides it's too hot to go to a beach a lot of the time. The couple of other things worth seeing are about 3,000 miles apart.

I only went there for a couple of work project trips and a short "holiday" tint as part of a longer travel trip. Should have skipped it on the holiday but tbh.

Can understand people going there to work maybe as it's attractive economically but it's certainly not worth a holiday.

So so many better places in the world to visit.

It's also possibly one of the worst value for money places in the world.

Mad_maxx

Mimon wrote: »

They have a reputation as being the world's friendliest and hospitable people so would be strange to rule it out because of a ****ty government.

the Yanks back the Saudis over the Iranians , the Iranians are like swedes relative to those Wahabi espousing barbarians in Riyadh

what does that say about America ?

jmreire

jmreire wrote: »

True. I would go back there in a heartbeat. Cultured friendly people, and as you say, unfortunately ruled with an iron fist by hardline Islamists. To meet them in the privacy of their own homes, and see the transformation that takes place, especially with the women. Off with the hair covering, and street clothes, and full western gear on underneath is something else.Likewise to meet them outdoors at an open air restaurent, where everyone sits on beds ( bed frames, with a mesh base filled with pillows) They eat, drink ( yes there will be the odd bottle of illegal spirits in private circulation) and smoke shisha pipes.Simplest thing in the world to get into conversation with the adjoining "beds", they are so friendly.

How easy/hard is it to get a tourist visa?

Signore Fancy Pants

glasso wrote: »

Really missing out.

Amazing natural beauty, ancient history like the Incas, beautiful colonial architecture in parts. Fantastic cultures.

Best place that I've ever travelled.

Colombia and Bolivia particularly.

Peru, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador also

Argentina a bit over-rated imo.

Nah, you are only missing out if its somewhere you want to go, but don't.

In that case, everyone here is "missing out".

glasso

glasso wrote: »

Nobody is missing out on not going to Australia.

Australia can be summarised as a place with a one or two ok cities (albeit completely lacking in any history and over-populated with bogan muppets on one-hand and insufferable hipster gobshytes on the other-hand) and the rest of the place is made of absolute nothingness, beaches and sh1thole towns that look like they were built for a fiver from plywood. beaches get boring after about 20 minutes unless you're doing some sort of activity. and besides it's too hot to go to a beach a lot of the time. The couple of other things worth seeing are about 3,000 miles apart.

I only went there for a couple of work project trips and a short "holiday" tint as part of a longer travel trip. Should have skipped it on the holiday but tbh.

Can understand people going there to work maybe as it's attractive economically but it's certainly not worth a holiday.

So so many better places in the world to visit.

It's also possibly one of the worst value for money places in the world.

A neighbour of mine has a daughter in Australia and he went to visit her for three weeks a while back.

He pulled back into the driveway 8 days later.

Signore Fancy Pants

Signore Fancy Pants wrote: »

Nah, you are only missing out if its somewhere you want to go, but don't.

In that case, everyone here is "missing out".

so what is behind your desire to avoid South America.

interested to hear about it as it's genuinely the most fascinating continent that I've ever travelled.