3 ms·

"Seriously, it's like any other city in the world. If you walk around a dodgy area talking on an iPhone, by yourself, especially late at night, then you're aski

by rsync 11y ago

"Seriously, it's like any other city in the world. If you walk around a dodgy area talking on an iPhone, by yourself, especially late at night, then you're asking for trouble. Be sensible and cautious, and Rio is a lovely place to go on holiday." I generally espouse this view ... that being sensible and street smart are the important parts to visiting different cities and that, in general, they are all fairly safe. However, I also would describe Rio and Sao Paulo as a little further along the danger/risk meter. You know all those warnings and rules of thumb that people pass on about pickpocketing and scams and tricksters and so on ? And they never really pan out or materialize ? In Rio, they do. I would feel more safe (than Rio) in Shanghai or Shenzhen, less safe (than Rio) in Tijuana.

tluyben2 11y ago
Shanghai feels incredibly safe and i've walked around in a lot of places where my colleagues thought it was dodgy (it wasn't; just poorer). I have not one time felt unsafe in Shanghai and I go there a lot. That's quite different from say, Fort Lauderdale, which was the first time in many years I really felt threatened when we stupidly went to a very dodgy gas station. Actually that was second time in that same business trip when actually on the Orlando Disney area in one of the Disney hotels two crackheads got in the lift with us, pretended not to know eachother and followed us to our room. Never had anything remotely look like violence, robbery or even weirdos like that in Shanghai/Suzhou. The time before this US thing (where nothing happened but it made the hairs on my neck stand up and we did realize we were close to getting robbed) was about 10 years ago when I got robbed at knife point in a small town under Barcelona. While feeling completely fine walking through weird neighborhoods in Belize. So you never know... When I was around 8 my teacher in school said 'if you go to Amsterdam, you die; this city is so dangerous that when you go there, you will most surely get robbed, raped and murdered'. Apparently in a certain part of the Netherlands this idea was prevalent as when, 10 odd years later, I went to the university of Amsterdam my grandparents had something like 'Ok, this is it, this is the last time we saw him. He dead.'. Then I lived there and I actually lived in the neighborhood which was 'known' to 'everyone' that you will die there; de Bijlmer. Ofcourse, it was great; all these murderers and thieves offered me beer and food before going to uni in the morning; they invited me to the bars under the flats at night. I walked through that place (and other 'you'll die' places) in the middle of night and never felt anything resembling fear. I want to go to Brazil and I will because of a client soon, but he, born and raised in Sao Paulo, says even he doesn't like it because of the crime. And he knows this city well. I'm not sure what to believe but we'll see... Not bringing any iPhone that's for sure.
- toyg 11y ago
  > two crackheads got in the lift with us, pretended not to know eachother and followed us to our room. Wow, what did you do? Keep walking? back in circle? If they get to your room it's game over...
  - tluyben2 11y ago
    I was with my wife; we looked at eachother and ran to your room as soon as the elevator opened (they were much slower); called the desk and looked through the peephole. They didn't see which room we went in (it was one of those huge Disney things with many hallways) and saw them walk by. We didn't see them after that but it was really scary; I have seen flaky people before but these were completely out of place. And definitely out to do something with the 'rich tourists'. Then again; you never are sure; maybe they wouldn't have done anything and it was all a coincidence but we both felt the same and the fact they had rotten teeth, bad gums, holes in their faces and yet pretended to not know eachother ('what floor are you?' ; both clicked another floor than ours and yet walked out with us which was when we bolted).
    - ZoeZoeBee 11y ago
      It's Central Florida they could have been in town for the Meth conference down the block
- blowski 11y ago
  In my experience, a lot of Brazilians talk about crime in the same way that the British talk about the weather. There are more dodgy areas in Sao Paulo than there are in London, and what happens in those dodgy areas is dodgier than what happens in the dodgy areas of London. But the safe areas still dominate the city, and it's worth going to see them. Stay out of the dodgy areas, don't walk the streets by yourself at night, and avoid standing out. I was there last month, I got buses, had lunch in a typical Brazilian cafe, went to the coach station. No problems.
  - tluyben2 11y ago

by rsync 11y ago

tluyben2 11y ago

Shanghai feels incredibly safe and i've walked around in a lot of places where my colleagues thought it was dodgy (it wasn't; just poorer). I have not one time felt unsafe in Shanghai and I go there a lot. That's quite different from say, Fort Lauderdale, which was the first time in many years I really felt threatened when we stupidly went to a very dodgy gas station. Actually that was second time in that same business trip when actually on the Orlando Disney area in one of the Disney hotels two crackheads got in the lift with us, pretended not to know eachother and followed us to our room. Never had anything remotely look like violence, robbery or even weirdos like that in Shanghai/Suzhou. The time before this US thing (where nothing happened but it made the hairs on my neck stand up and we did realize we were close to getting robbed) was about 10 years ago when I got robbed at knife point in a small town under Barcelona. While feeling completely fine walking through weird neighborhoods in Belize. So you never know... When I was around 8 my teacher in school said 'if you go to Amsterdam, you die; this city is so dangerous that when you go there, you will most surely get robbed, raped and murdered'. Apparently in a certain part of the Netherlands this idea was prevalent as when, 10 odd years later, I went to the university of Amsterdam my grandparents had something like 'Ok, this is it, this is the last time we saw him. He dead.'. Then I lived there and I actually lived in the neighborhood which was 'known' to 'everyone' that you will die there; de Bijlmer. Ofcourse, it was great; all these murderers and thieves offered me beer and food before going to uni in the morning; they invited me to the bars under the flats at night. I walked through that place (and other 'you'll die' places) in the middle of night and never felt anything resembling fear. I want to go to Brazil and I will because of a client soon, but he, born and raised in Sao Paulo, says even he doesn't like it because of the crime. And he knows this city well. I'm not sure what to believe but we'll see... Not bringing any iPhone that's for sure.

toyg 11y ago
> two crackheads got in the lift with us, pretended not to know eachother and followed us to our room. Wow, what did you do? Keep walking? back in circle? If they get to your room it's game over...
- tluyben2 11y ago
  I was with my wife; we looked at eachother and ran to your room as soon as the elevator opened (they were much slower); called the desk and looked through the peephole. They didn't see which room we went in (it was one of those huge Disney things with many hallways) and saw them walk by. We didn't see them after that but it was really scary; I have seen flaky people before but these were completely out of place. And definitely out to do something with the 'rich tourists'. Then again; you never are sure; maybe they wouldn't have done anything and it was all a coincidence but we both felt the same and the fact they had rotten teeth, bad gums, holes in their faces and yet pretended to not know eachother ('what floor are you?' ; both clicked another floor than ours and yet walked out with us which was when we bolted).
  - ZoeZoeBee 11y ago
    It's Central Florida they could have been in town for the Meth conference down the block
blowski 11y ago
In my experience, a lot of Brazilians talk about crime in the same way that the British talk about the weather. There are more dodgy areas in Sao Paulo than there are in London, and what happens in those dodgy areas is dodgier than what happens in the dodgy areas of London. But the safe areas still dominate the city, and it's worth going to see them. Stay out of the dodgy areas, don't walk the streets by yourself at night, and avoid standing out. I was there last month, I got buses, had lunch in a typical Brazilian cafe, went to the coach station. No problems.
- tluyben2 11y ago