Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Seoulio]

[jvalmer]

[Dev]

Here's my take on Canada's major cities

Vancouver: Beautiful city. Much of it is walkable. People are mellow - low stress, pleasant. However, if you're from a larger city, you may find it to be somewhat quiet. The biggest deterrent to settling down there is the cost of rent.

Calgary: Clean city with a decent assortment of restaurants and bars. Lake Louise & Banff are a beautiful short drive away. However, I've heard that the city planners are developing the city the wrong way by building suburban sprawls instead of taller condos like Vancouver. Because of the recent oil boom in 2008, housing is overvalued. Don't move there until housing prices return to normal.

Toronto: Very good & very bad. This city has the best variety of entertainment in Canada. Almost all major artists make a Toronto stop while touring the U.S., but not necessarily the other cities in Canada. Has some excellent summer festivals and The Toronto International Film Festival, rather #2 in North America behind L.A. Bad points include lack of green space and cold stressed out people. Difficult to make friends here.

Montreal: Famous for good food, rowdy dance clubs, seedy strip bars on every 3rd block of the main street, and a good variety of summer festivals. Cost of living is a bargain compared to other major cities in Canada. Bad points include: a lousy infrastructure. The subway breaks down regularly. Pot holes on the streets every spring. Quebec has some of the highest taxes in Canada. You must have an interest in learning French because in many cases English signs are non-existent. Seoul has more English signs than Montreal.

Ottawa: Used to be a sleepy government town but in recent years has grown to include more venues for concerts. Now many artists make an Ottawa stop between doing Toronto & Montreal dates. I've heard that there are enough parks and public transportation is pretty efficient. Easy access to Toronto and Montreal because it's between them. Not too many downsides except that again, if you're hometown is a bigger city, you might find Ottawa to be dull.

[D.D.]

Other than Vancouver other canadian cities = 6 months of friggin cold winter. I lived in Perth before and that was like 10 months of spring and summer.

[Harpeau]

[travel zen]

[mises]

The best cities list somewhat reflects my tastes. Asian cities are not fairly judged. Singaporeans have a very high standard of living. Zero crime, affordable homes, low taxes, excellent schools and an excellent medical system. I can't imagine that the middle class in Vancouver or Ottawa lives better than the middle class in Singapore. Similar for Tokyo (and other major Japanese cities), Taipei, Seoul and others.

My preference is for a city that has reasonable taxes, excellent schools, safe streets, walkable streets/neighborhoods and very low crime. The suburban model is vile, imo. I will never do the 30km daily commute to work. Those European cities that were placed high on the list all have very high standards by global comparison but are extremely boring when compared to Tokyo or Shanghai.

If Calgary is on the list I see little reason why Denver, Austin, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Miami Beach, Long Beach, Dallas, Kansas City and others aren't. Maybe the issue is public schools?

[Caffeinated]

[samd]

[DM24]

New York City!

[TpaK]

Someone tell me how Washington DC is on the list. I live here and I can't think of one good reason why this is a good place to live.

[DrugstoreCowgirl]

[bucheon bum]

[metalhead]

[bucheon bum]