So, we've just been to three new countries... China, Hong Kong, and Japan, and here is the answer to that question regarding these countries...
China was pretty interesting in a lot of ways. We enjoyed our visit there, and we will likely return to see more parts of the country.
China has a lot of great scenery.
But could we live there? Nope!
Despite the fact that we really enjoyed our time there, we think a three week visit is about the maximum. I think for us, it's mostly related to the food. It was challenging, especially with Ruth's gluten intolerance.
But we have answered "yes" a couple of other times. Turkiye was a yes. Spain was a yes. Peru was a yes. Guatemala, yes. Romania would have been a yes, except that they have winters that are not much different than Canada. And the same with Czech Republic. Albania was a yes.
And then of course there's the old saying "it's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there". Quite a few of the places we have been fit into this category.
Hong Kong is one of those places. We would go back to Hong Kong as a stopover if we were going somewhere else and it was along the way. But not in the summer! The best time of year to visit Hong Kong is in the winter... December through February.
Hong Kong... not a place we could live.
And then there was Japan. With only a one week visit, and only in one area, we didn't really give Japan much of a chance. We will have to return there. Having said that, the answer to our question based on that one week would be no... we could not live there.
The criteria we use to answer the question are...
- Reasonable prices
- Good weather, year round
- Friendly people
- Good food
- Scenery and hiking opportunities
- Mountains
- Different culture
Japan actually ticks a lot of those boxes, however the "reasonable prices" would be the deal breaker. Also, too hot in summer, although there are specific locations that are better than the one we chose for our one week stay.
We're really interested in the answer to that question regarding the next six new countries we will be visiting this coming winter... Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.
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And in Canada...
I will bet that Costa rica will be a YES!
ReplyDeleteI actually doubt that because I've read that Costa Rica is relatively expensive.
DeleteNicaragua is not expensive but Costa Rica is.. We will be in El Salvador for a month in November. More about our travels there, later.
ReplyDeleteWe are thinking that Nicaragua will be a country that we will like as well. We are actually looking forward to spending time exploring there with Igor. We look forward to hearing what your thoughts are about El Salvador.
DeleteI will be super interested in your travels to Belize. Belize is a lot more expensive, from what I read and hear, than when we lived there. And along the coast where we lived, the sargassum has become a real problem. If you're in the inland mountain areas, you'll love the rainforest hiking, beautiful birds, and stunning scenery, but Belize gets very hot for a lot of the year, and the less developed areas are lacking in infrastructure, so I'm willing to bet it will be a "nice place to visit, wouldn't want to live there" place for you. But we shall see!
ReplyDeleteWe are expecting that Belize will not meet our critera, as you said it is more expensive than smost of the other countries and will be too hot for us but we are looking forward to exploring some of the country. I think that we may end up spending more time inland in the mountain areas beause as you know we are not beach people. We are actaully good with the less developed areas lacking the infrastructure providing that Igor can make his way there.
DeleteWe are pretty sure that you would win this bet!