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Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

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Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#921

Post by AYBABTME »

pc86 wrote: post #729
AYBABTME wrote: post #722

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how to reconcile your point about lack of public transport, supporting services and liveability downtown (seems like it's not liveable) and the parent's claim about Pittsburg being top rated city in the world for liveability.

It depends on your definition of liveability. If you require the ability to get an apartment downtown, do all your shopping downtown, and commute downtown without buying a vehicle, Pittsburgh is not liveable. But I would argue that outside of NYC and maybe {San Francisco,Chicago,DC}, no US city is liveable by that definition. I think it's very liveable if you're realistic about what liveable means in a mostly suburba…

I meant on the parent's point that it be top rated liveable city worldwide, which to me can't possibly rhyme with bad public transit and nothing reachable by foot. At least if you use a workdwide benchmark. But I've never been so maybe I just don't have a sense for it!

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#922

Post by virtualwhys »

ubercow13 wrote: post #895
virtualwhys wrote: post #858

Not sure about the thriving intellectual community, but Chiang Mai certainly has a sizable digital nomad population, and is absolutely dirt cheap. I rented a beautiful studio with a view of the Doi Suthep (mountain bordering the city) for $100 USD/month last winter. Since Buddhism reigns there are loads of monks, which means vegetarian fare is easy to come by, and is similarly cheap (anywhere from $1 to $5 for a meal…

What type of visa do all these digital nomads have?

60-day visa + one 30 day renewal within Thailand; after that, a border run (to Vietnam, Laos, etc.) to get another 60-day.

Rinse, repeat.

You can get a business visa or a social visa (volunteer work) to avoid the hassle of border runs, but most just go with a tourist visa and periodically leave/take a break from Thailand.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#923

Post by SwellJoe »

fipple wrote: post #720
SwellJoe wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But, then I'd have to be cold. What kind of crazy math is that? I really don't like being cold.

Yeah, that’s why the cold places are cheaper. The benefit is that a certain kind of person stays out of there. The best way to describe it is people who don’t have their shit together. In a place where not dressing for the weather can be a fatal mistake, there isn’t room for fuckups.

I guess I'm a fuckup, because I really like nice weather.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#924

Post by notSupplied »

mc32 wrote: post #908
pech0rin wrote: post #854

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why this user is being downvoted, what they say is true. I lived for 5+ years in the Triangle and there is a lot of racism/bigotry/misogyny present there. Its one of the main reasons I left, so it shouldn't be left out of the conversation.

It’s because they are casting a wide net on people and stereotyping them. What they say isn’t strictly false, but it’s also perpetuating a specific stereotype—the kind that if directed at others would be rightfully suppressed.

Saying that everyone there is racist would be casting a wide net. Saying that a large enough % of people are racist such that it would materially impact your quality of life if you are a PoC is a perfectly reasonable thing to say.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#925

Post by cirgue »

madeuptempacct wrote: post #782
marcminor wrote: post #730

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree about the triangle. We lived in NYC, SF, and Boston for a cumulative 15 years before choosing the triangle for exactly the reasons you mentioned. I work in tech and wanted greater intellectual and economic diversity. Durham-area coffee-shop chatter is great - in a single sitting recently I heard folks cover ground including christian theology and practice, the upcoming pride parade, backyard chickens ge…

Spending all our lives, living in a hipster paradise.

NC has always been like this. It’s not just hipsterism.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#926

Post by sonnyblarney »

raverbashing wrote: post #429
sonnyblarney wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It’s small compared to these tier 1 cities in Western Europe" Only London and Paris are much bigger. Mtl is about 4 million people, it's almost the same size as Madrid or Berlin or Barca. A little smaller than Amsterdam but really bigger than most else. But it's tier 2 size in North America, but a strong tier 2. It's really weird how people in NA don't know about Montreal. It kills most places for culture.

I agree with GP's assessment of Mtl, just wanting to make a point on the size. Montreal metro is 4 million. But Montreal has a special dynamic, by fact of being an island. It's not as well connected as Manhattam. So there are two "bumps", one north and one south (Montreal has its own definition of North/South, btw)

It's as well connected.

Also, the 'division' is not geographic, it's cultural. East Montreal is French, West is English and it's bizarre how little social crossing there is. I live among the French and they don't even know about major things happening in the West Side.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#927

Post by EugeneOZ »

alt_f4 wrote: post #916
EugeneOZ wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) Summer is less hot than in California; 2) Looks like you were here only as tourist - locals just avoid touristic restaurants, there's a plenty of good restaurants in Barcelona; 3) Barcelona has a lot of really exceptional architecture examples, not just "old church" buildings like in all other cities of Europe. "Really tight together in the center" - 4.75 meters sidewalk on the each side of the street, it's number…

> 5) Pure lie. Really, you want to say you measured air pollution levels? Or you can see transparent gases? I don't need a special device to tell me the air is bad whilst I'm suffocating :)

If you are suffocating near the sea, where do you live?

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#928

Post by EugeneOZ »

alt_f4 wrote: post #915
calgoo wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has lived in Barcelona for over 23 years now I agree with some of these points, but it also depends where you go in the city. 1) Climate - Yes the summers are warm, but not extremely hot, I have a lot worse time when i go visit the southern US for example. 2) Yes I totally agree we have way too much tourism in the city. However, the restaurants that try to rip you off etc are all in the touristy areas,…

> also there is tons of walking culture in this city Your biggest pedestrian street, La Rambla, is a 10m wide sidewalk with intense car traffic on both sides. You walk in the middle of traffic and inhale the diesel exhaust that makes you choke whilst strange looking people try to offer you counterfeit bags and shoes from the large blankets they've (probably illegally) put across the pavement. Not my idea of a good ti…

In every city sidewalks are near the car traffic. That's why you call them sidewalks, lol.

Next time use numbers for the air pollution level, maybe will sound less ridiculous.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#929

Post by stevenwoo »

hood_syntax wrote: post #843
Technetium wrote: post #816

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think you're going to have a good time living in the Carolinas, then I genuinely hope that you don't plan on being black or gay outside of a major city. There is a ton of bigotry and racism still present there, and the politicians in charge are happy to see it continue.

There is, but this recommendation is specific to the triangle area: the rural trends just don't apply.

Except the urban areas cannot make laws they want to improve conditions - the legislators from rural areas work together to override municipal specific laws in the state legislature and further enshrine the rural hold on the legislature by making the gerrymandering better for rural areas and they are working now to stack the state supreme court. A Democrat won the governship last time round and the GOP response was to remove powers from the executive branch before the governor took office. So even if a minority percentage of the people live in rural areas, they have an outsize effect on the running of certain people's day to day lives in North Carolina.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#930

Post by panorama »

the_clarence wrote: post #830
panorama wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you consider the English level of Bordeaux or Montpellier good though?

Definitely.

Thank you, I was initially dismayed because they have low English-levels on nomadlist [0][1] but I'll look further into them.

[0] https://nomadlist.com/bordeaux [1] https://nomadlist.com/montpellier

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