Thread 2831081

Has there ever been a place that you have visited that made you have a sort of "opposite Paris syndrome".

I visited Boston, MA last year for a wedding and It was the biggest culture shock as someone from bumfuck Yucaipa California. I still want to go back someday, while also visiting other parts of east coast while at it.

>>2831081 (OP)
>pic
I also don't know how people aren't always talking about how dirty Paris is, the sheer amount of street harassment from undesirables directed at women, how many open scammers and pickpockets are everywhere with the cops totally unconcerned, and how much it stinks of piss almost everywhere
>Has there ever been a place that you have visited that made you have a sort of "opposite Paris syndrome"
>I visited Boston, MA last year for a wedding and It was the biggest culture shock as someone from bumfuck Yucaipa California. I still want to go back someday, while also visiting other parts of east coast while at it.
I don't think Boston has that bad of a reputation. I think 'reverse Paris syndrome' would be 'going to a place considered a shithole and loving it'. Something like going to Detroit or Baltimore I guess.

>>2831081 (OP)
>>2831085
every time i read something about paris online people talk about it like it was a mix of a mumbai slum and a venezuelan favela, then when i talk to people who went there they usually love it, like its dirty etc. but there is so much do to and see
but regarding OPs question for me its istanbul, its clean the people are nice food is great never felt unsafe public transport is great

>>2831098
>every time i read something about paris online people talk about it like it was a mix of a mumbai slum and a venezuelan favela, then when i talk to people who went there they usually love it, like its dirty etc. but there is so much do to and see
Both can be true. It's pretty easy to ignore the state of the city if you're doing a whistlestop tour at the big touristic landmarks and museums, which are by themselves fantastic and tend to have a much better degree of police presence for obvious reasons. Even so, you still have to step over gypsy scammers every few metres at the Eiffel Tower and other public landmarks.

>>2831100
i would argue there is less scammers in less known but still touristy parts of the town? but idk the last time i was in paris was 20 years ago
but if you are a real traveler and you cant handle paris how would you survive in peru or karachi

>>2831085
>I think 'reverse Paris syndrome' would be 'going to a place considered a shithole and loving it'.
I'm going off of common normie consensus of the phrase "Paris syndrome" where Paris fantasized as heaven and not the scammer/immigrant videos and pics online. Really any place you didn't expect much from that was more pleasant than expected.

>>2831085
I don't know why Paris get judged as something else other than an european city in 2025
it's one of the most visited place on earth, why would there not be any scammer and pickpocket ? i know, there shouldn't be in a perfect world
every big city in europe has blacks and gypsy today and it smells of piss, more so in Paris because it's top 3 most visited city in the world, you'd have to be ridiculous to come here and expect less

>I also don't know how people aren't always talking about how dirty Paris is
it's ALL people talk about online, so much so that there is the word "paris syndrome"
if anything i think people should talk more of how beautiful of a city it is

>>2831081 (OP)
i felt something like that in budapest in a way. it was too grand for life in budapest, like it deserved more. maybe vienna too, but i went there after a month in budapest so vienna was just budapest with different writing. still grand.

>>2831114
>>I don't know why Paris get judged as something else other than an european city in 2025
>it's one of the most visited place on earth, why would there not be any scammer and pickpocket ? i know, there shouldn't be in a perfect world
>every big city in europe has blacks and gypsy today and it smells of piss, more so in Paris because it's top 3 most visited city in the world, you'd have to be ridiculous to come here and expect less
I don't disagree frenchbro but personally I think Paris is worth visiting just for the big stuff and the museums rather than the 'cultural experience', if you see what I mean. I think smaller/less well known cities offer a lot more in that department

>>2831081 (OP)
i live in boston what's so great about it

>>2831081 (OP)
Among big tourist destinations, I guess I had something kind of like this when I went to Venice. I didn’t particularly want to go, but it happened to be the cheapest ticket from my then-home city on my way to a month-plus tour around Italy. Its beauty blew me away, and although it was obviously mobbed with tourists, I saw tons of less crowded spaces and signs of surviving local life just off most of the main squares. Really enjoyed it and would probably go back.

>>2831114
I’ve been to Paris many, many times over the course of decades (I am old, and spent the last few years living just a few hours away by train). I like it a lot, unironically, and find that it smells noticeably slightly less like piss than it did when I first visited. Still smells a little like piss, sure, but it used to be worse. People are less rude than they used to be, too.

>>2831081 (OP)
Couldn't you have posted this without the twitter screenshot?

>>2831085
I got it for Erie PA. I did an RV trip with my parents back in 2021 when I was in undergrad, going in with no expectations, and it was midwest kino. We went to Presque Isle and visited across the border into the Geauga County OH Amish. Listened to Lust For Life there on a friend's recommendation and I think it was the optimal place and time to have listened to that album quite honestly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuBU3pzy7is

>>2831081 (OP)
Yeah, after time in the barbarian parts of America it's a shock how civilized the coastal New England region is. Everything isn't four-lane boulevards lined with McDonalds and AutoZone back there.

>>2831240
Sell me on Erie? I want to ride Revine Flyer 2.

>>2831245
A third worlder typed this

I really enjoyed Paris. There are a few great neighborhoods. I did see parts of the city that were terrible. I knew what to expect going in and was pleasantly surprised. If you stay in the Marais and you have money to spend, Paris is a good time.

I had lower expectations for Rome. I had watched a lot of videos of the scammers and I expected it to be a madhouse. But it ended up being one of best cities I've ever been to. You can wander for hours in any direction in Rome and see amazing shit. I'd go back anytime.

>>2831193
It's hard to explain anon, if you go look at places online you'll see how shit places are talked about and how women are uggos and filled with niggers. Then you go there and not see it. It's kinda like reverse paris syndrome stuff. It's kinda weird to think about I'm not sure if we've coined a proper term for it in the normie society

I'm going to Japan this year and heard on some places it's filled to the brim with nogs and jeets so I hope it's another case of reverse paris syndrome.

>>2831081 (OP)
China as a whole. I expected a dystopian wasteland with some Soviet or North Korean style shit where I'd always have police lurking 50 feet behind me. But instead nobody gives a fuck about anything and it's not even 1% as strict as it's hyped up to be. I've visited several times over 10 years now, and while the first time was a bit gritty, it's clean everywhere in the country now. And even 10 years ago, it wasn't nearly as bad as (((the media))) claimed.

>>2831363
Long term resident of Japan here.

I've shown friends around town. They were in areas completely surrounded with flips, thais, and viets and still said "Wow, there are no foreigners here except me!" Most people aren't even aware of the foreigners. If you see a few nogs and jeets, and yes, there are loads of them today and they're increasing every single day, the actual number of foreigners is about 20x that.

10 years ago, I'd see a foreigner once a week. 2 years ago, I'd see one once or twice a day. Just a Chinese person here and there. Now I can't go to the supermarket 5 minutes away without seeing a few dozen Indians and at least 5 black families. And I'm nowhere near any sort of tourist area. That Christian PM did a number on the country. Now we have a Japanese Meloni who'll kick it up even more. It's all so tiresome.

>>2831368
japan has fallen

>>2831363
No, I mean why use a screenshot of a Twitter post instead of a nice picture of Boston, possibly from your trip?

>Turkish riviera.
Didn’t expect much. Later read Marc Anthony gifted it to Cleopatra. I understand why.
>Chiang Mai
ChiangCHADS already know. It’s been at the top of digital nomad lists for like 20 years. Again, didn’t expect much, thought it’d be overrun with tourists. Instead I found probably the best value place on earth with so many escapes. Just make sure you have a scooter and you’ll never get bored
>Yakushima island
The garden of Eden. Magical place.

>>2831395
>ChiangCHADS already know. It’s been at the top of digital nomad lists for like 20 years.
Chiang Mai is literally only good if you're making 20/hr or less as a digital nomad and can't be assed to deal with BKK pricing. I'd rather just fuck off into indonesia where at least the trade winds keep the air fairly clean.

I wouldn't say exactly the opposite of Paris syndrome but every time I go to Switzerland I am amazed at just how perfect the country is(excluding its price).

Everything is clean, everything works, nothing bad ever seems to happen. The scenic beauty is absurdly amazing. It's a whole different level of living beyond any other place in Europe or the rest of the world that I've seen. I've not been to Singapore however, but I know they don't have a fraction of the natural beauty.

How can the mountain jew have it so perfect? Provided you have money I don't think there is a better place to live. What I'd give to be a Swiss mail carrier.

Several developing countries. People paint a lot of poorer countries as shit holes - and yes, obviously there are significant drawbacks to these places - but seeing people with a genuine sense of community supporting one another can be an overwhelming thing when you're used to the alienation of the contemporary west.

>>2831368
>3% of the population is foreign born
>NOOOOOOO NOT MY PRECIOUS NIHON
>most foreigners are on visas that will never be a pathway to permanent citizenship
>NOOOO
>most japanese will not marry a foreigner, let alone have children with them
>no??

>>2831436
Yeah, I was worried the first couple times I went to South American cities. But if you stay to the city centers/downtowns and tourist areas it safe, no aggressive pan handlers or people trying to sell you shit/tours. Everything is dirt cheap. Lots of dogs around and can be dirty but not horrible.

>>2831368
Grim but I know if they don’t bring in labor the decline will be even faster

>>2831437
Hello, retard. :)

One, those stats are old. :)

Two, people who take Japanese citizenship are no longer considered foreign. Indians, Viets, and Africans who have JP citizenship are considered full Japanese in the census. That lowers the percentage in those stats. The stats are inaccurate by design. :)

Three, those stats don't include the hordes of tourists, "trainees" that make up the bulk of foreign residents, and illegal immigrants. :)

Four, why are you so upset about your reality being shattered? You won't be special when you visit Japan. People will treat you like one of the other tens of millions of annoying foreigners. :)

>>2831529
Nice use of the seething emoticon.

>stats are old
Nope. As of December Japan had 3.76 million registered foreign residents, which is about 3% of the population.

>Indians, Viets, and Africans who have JP citizenship are considered full Japanese in the census
Yes. That is how a census works. Only a few thousand people are naturalised per year, a drop in the ocean. That includes whites and east Asians btw - or are you going to seethe about them too?

>stats don't include the hordes of tourists, "trainees" that make up the bulk of foreign residents, and illegal immigrants.
Tourists aren't residents you fucking retard, why would they be counted? And trainees ARE counted, they're listed as mid to long term residents. As for illegals, there's an estimated 60k overstayers out of a population of 124 million.

It doesn't shatter shit, you're the one having a meltdown because a temporary foreign student took your yen in a 7/11.

Gettysburg PA
Genuinely thought it would be just another shitty small PA town with a big field, but it's actually so nice and beautiful.
Guess the tourism money helps a lot.

Omaha was actually a really nice town with great food and a lot to do. My expectations were very low. I imagine it would get old living there though due to the isolation and the weather.

>>2831574
>great food
Stuffing your face with meat is the main leisure pastime allowed in the religious parts of America. Somehow they forget that gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins.

>>2831562
The point is that Japan has become homogenized with other countries in its development tier, with foreign slaves doing the work no Japanese want to do.

>>2831085
eh. I lived in Paris for 2 years and enjoyed it. But we lived by Aquaboulevard so basically no niggers by comparison to other parts of the city.

>>2831081 (OP)
boston is a soulless vapid pit

>>2831098
Paris is perhaps the most beautiful city in the world, but the nice areas are flooded with tourists, and the less nice areas are flooded with mamadous and muhammads. There isn't much in between. As someone who lived there for several years, the only nice neighborhood is the 8th.

When people criticize Paris, it's just a roundabout way to complain of the massive third world swathes of it without directly mentioning it so as to avoid being called racist.

>>2831437
You stupid nigger. Citizenship or not its still more undesirable people in Japan acting like monkeys. Does it matter if your wallet gets stolen by a legal or illegal migrant?
Does it change anything that the blacknigger doing monkey stuff in the subway is just visiting for two weeks. .

>>2831193
Hi Anon, welcome to 4channel.org. This is what we here call an image board, and the OP (original post) of a thread requires you to post an image, and the community appreciates it if the image is relevant to the topic (although there is plenty of humor to be found posting a lust-provoking image with an irrelevant question on some boards). Keep lurking and eventually you are sure to figure out the quaint metahumor of this little pocket of the internet, good luck and have fun!

>>2831081 (OP)
Tokyo. I never believed all the "propaganda" after my disapointments with Germany, France and the UK. When I went in 2016 for the first time I was very much at the end of my anime phase.
I had been watching anime since basically 6 years old all the way till 27 when I first visited. The charm of Japan long faded, the youthful teenage view of the world crushed with reality. Sure I wanted to visit Japan once in my life but all my childish fascinations with big cities in Europe were crushed by then. London a shithole, Paris a shithole, Milan a shithole, Germany as a whole seem to be a ghost of a time I never witnessed when trains were cool came on time and ran on time. I never felt safe, welcome and these cities never felt modern. I adored the ICE3 trains as a kid they looked fantastic. By the time I rode them they felt very dated and used from the inside. It felt like DB wasn't putting any effort into good looks or apprentices. It felt very utilitarian.

You'd expect such a mega city to honestly dystopian. Too many people, issues everywhere just outside the nice exterior, there gotta be some real damn shit happening. Look at them Homeless near the Arakawa river, Adachi, Katsushika. I've watched enough shows and anime to see a very ideal version of Tokyo. In the TV shows everyone lived either in the poor mans 1R in some downtrodden part of town or they were in some fantastic 1LDK up some tower mansion.

Jesus Christ when I arrived it was frightening. Everything works exactly as intended. All the small things I'm used to not working like reclining seats or the small button somewhere or train announcements not announcing in some trains. Everything fucking worked. Society was structured exactly like it was supposed to be and run. They had compared to Europeans an almost autistic attention to detail. How your fucking onigiri wrap opens, how your train door opens, every single vending machine out there in the world works and isn't robbed or stolen.

>>2831802
People now call me a massive weeb but the fact is that my ideas of living are the same as the Japanese.

On public transport be polite and shut up.
Don't eat in public, don't kiss, don't play music, don't preform dances and shit like a clown, don't skate, don't be a nuisance to others.
When I come to the store I expect the staff to be polite and have a procedure. I expect the store to be clean even if it's old and shit.
I want the functions of buses, trains, and all public transport to work. No broken ACs, no broken buttons, no missing announcements, no stuck seats, etc...
Vending machines work with digital stuff and never eat your money.
There cheap restaruants where you to go eat and fuck off, no talking, no sipping coffee for 3 hours no nothing. You come in buy a meal, eat, go away.
A lot of shops work 24h

The negative around Tokyo became nitpics. Oh why does everything open up at 10 and closes at 17 or at max 20. Oh no this part stinks a bit. Oh no this stores clerk was rude and so on.

Absolute jokes compared to the issues in my home country and city.

>>2831788
K. But why post a Twitter screenshot instead of a nice picture of Boston?

>>2831363
A big part of enjoying travel is blocking out awareness of the unpleasant aspects of a place. The existence of migrant laborers or foreign students doesn't affect your travel experience in any meaningful way. But if you were miserable during your trip for whatever reason, it's easy to fixate on the flaws of a place and blame them for your own failure to enjoy your life.
>>2831348
Third Worlders LOVE the shitty parts of America, because that's where the affordable housing and menial jobs are. Fort Morgan, Colorado for instance. Colorado is generally a great state, but god damn is that place a shithole full to the brim with mystery meat.
>>2831416
The flip side is the lower humidity during the dry season in northern Thailand. The climate turns almost desert-like for the first few months of the year. Indonesia OTOH is always muggy and prone to rain.

Chiang Mai is a locus for a certain type of eccentric, self-important foreigners who could talk for hours about their experiments with psychedelics or their perspectives on Eastern versus Abrahamic religions. I'd rather go to one of the other northern provinces where hotel prices are lower and English is non-existent.
>>2831436
It depends on the neighborhood. Slums full of migrants from elsewhere in the country have an anarchic, competitive mentality. Nobody is accountable to anyone else; they only fear the consequences of being caught committing a crime. Regions where every family owns their own home and has lived with the same neighbors all their life have a much more cooperative mentality, and the strong family structures help ensure that everyone behaves properly. Sometimes they can be unfriendly toward outsiders...
>>2831470
Nigga, the centros and tourist areas are the only places in South America you'll find people trying to sell you tours and drugs and begging for cash. Bogota's Candelaria is famous for its rampant petty crime and street insecurity, as one example.

Flagstaff
Single comfiest place I've ever been
The whole town looks like it's 1960 in the best way possible
Kitschmaxxing
Don't come. You'll ruin it

ITT poor fags who visit paris and do poor people things. stay poor, fags

>>2831562
Japan's current population is 121 million, which shows all your info is old since you can't get that simple point right. :)

You've never been to Japan. Quit talking like a plebbit nerd with irrelevant and wrong Wikipedia info. :)

>>2831081 (OP)
Great topic, I'm going to give Reverse Paris Syndrome to a place I don't see mentioned a lot here but think is one of the more underrated places in the USA, Columbus, OH.

Columbus won't overwhelm you at first glance but all I can say is that after working there six months, it really grows on you.

Short North Arts District near Ohio State is the quintessential college area, but without the usual stuffiness, and hell, Ohio State has a lot of great looking women, can't discredit that, but didn't expect it coming in.

Everything in Columbus is kind of like that, just a little more lively than you would expect. German Village is one of the rare real neighborhoods that still keeps it character despite the tourism.

Little Grand market in downtown also packs a great punch for its size, and what you might have in terms of low expectations.

One of the most affordable cities in America. The skyline view on the Scioto River, where you will find a lot of excellent parks is also highly underrated. I miss Columbus, a lot.

Barcelona, San Francisco, Paris, Venice, Amsterdam, Las Vegas. I really liked them all despite the bad reputation these cities have gotten.

Cities I genuinely hated where the reputation was well deserved, Portland, Philadelphia, Austin Texas.

>>2831813
I was mostly sober (except for a few beers) in Chiang Mai. I spent my time in the gym, kickboxing, swimming and exploring on the scooter. Meals were a few bucks and the scenery was unreal. The Mai Hong Son loop is something I'll never forget. It's a shame many scratch it off their list because of a few stoners converge around it and Pai. Their easy enough to ignore.

Mallorca for me. It has a reputation here (UK) as young persons first holiday destination. Cheap, cheerful and tacky place for 18 years to go and get drunk and fuck. I went to the Northern part and it was nothing like that. Had great beaches and nature reserves, picturesque mountain towns with (surely overpriced but still nice) stores selling boutique type stuff, good restaurants.

>>2831081 (OP)
It was Tokyo for me. I didn't intend to go there, but flights got shut down temporarily while I was on a layover, so I just stayed for like a week. Wasn't really a weeb/didn't really distinguish Japan from other Asian countries at the time. I was a big fan of Squaresoft games as a kid, and Gundam but didn't even really associate them with Japan.

Anyway yeah, Toyko felt like magic and it turned me into a big fan of the country. This was in 2016 so it was a bit before the normalfag hordes had started to shit the place up. I don't really know if I want to go there now that every turboNPC goes there and acts loud and retarded. I'd rather maybe go to China or Thailand or something idk.

>>2831804
>People now call me a massive weeb
I don't think you're a weeb, just autistic

>>2831085
>undesirables
shitskins

>>2831081 (OP)
Paris is basically a 3rd world city with 1st world architecture

>>2832153
I had a similar better-than-expected experience in Málaga. I didn’t spend much time in the city itself (was just a cheap ticket to start off a drive around other parts of Andalusia), but it was, handful of gross British pubs notwithstanding, much less tacky than I’d expected. Had surprisingly good Korean food.

>pic not technically quite related but only an hour or so away

Paris. It was pretty nice and turns out it isn't actually sharia controlled or whatever.

>>2832825
Malaga has a bad reputation. I remember Rick Steves said some negative things about it in an episode. He said it was too touristy. I went for 3 nights on a 2 weeks trip in 2023 and had a blast. The nightlife is amazing. The girls are flawless. There are lots of great restaurants to sit outside and eat and drink. I had the best steak of my life in Malaga. The cathedral is amazing. We climbed up to the castle. There are some good brothels in town. The Picasso Museum was rad. The weather is amazing.

The main beach is super annoying though. You will get endlessly harassed by peddlers. You have to go down the road to the smaller beaches to get peace and quiet. It's also a lot more expensive than the rest of Spain. It can get pretty crowded too. But you can definitely have a good time in Malaga.

>>2831081 (OP)
I felt this way about the South in the 90s but liberals reached & ruined those places with multiculturalism.

I spent 10 days in Paris doing mostly tourist shit, as an American who’s been pretty much everywhere in the lower 48 Paris isn’t half as bad as most US cities like a St Louis or Atlanta. It’s like a much more beautiful NYC - dirty, full of foreigners, but safe, and things to do

The sheer volume of scammers and peddlers might be a surprise for americans but you just ignore these people and they ignore you. Lots of graffiti though, and a lot of africans smell bad, if you’re gonna take the trains. But overall the good in Paris outweighs the bad. I could spend a week in the Louvre, and the Musee de Cluny, St. Chapelle, small bookstores, and other things make it definitely worthwile.

>>2831288
Sorry you probably won't see this, but it's pretty much like what I said. Presque Isle is nice, Lake Erie is underrated, I really enjoyed the Erie Maritime Museum, and the surrounding area within a mile or two is nice. In my opinion Pennsylvania people are all really nice regardless of where you go, even in the hood they're surprisingly kind

I knew nothing about Budapest other than Orban bad but I just came back from there and I fell in love with the city. The architecture is great and I could live off goulash until I die

>>2831804
You are severely autistic, much like the japs.

>>2833007
The south was always full of black people.

Been to Szczecin and had a blast. Wouldn't go back as I pretty much did everything I could think of doing there.
Still don't get why the poles were so adamant that I was a loss of time and I'd hate it. Good enough for 1-2 days.

>>2831081 (OP)
Yeah Germany. Poland on the other hand was absolute trash infected shithole with absolute rude fucks

>>2831802
some neighbourhoods of tokyo can be soul-crushingly depressing, and unlike Canadian cities there are rats on the streets

Barcelona for me. I was there in September so the quieter tourist season helped but it was easy and worth while to escape the overly tourist areas. People were friendly, sights were great, city was clean, food was cheap, beer was cheap, felt safe. I will be back for sure

>>2831528
The decline is over sensationalized. They just want cheap labor

>>2836352
There are rats around openly in Toronto too, but that’s mostly around Dufferin and Queen because homeless people dump their scraps in the bushes so they become swarming with rats the size of pigeons.

>>2831802
I was never into Japan but I've heard similar things and it's made me very interested in. America used to be more like this.

>>2836350
are you black or Asian by chance?

>>2831368
what so you like to do on your trips to China? What's your traveler style there?