Is Venezuela the new Thailand?

[ehw200]

I have spent the last 7 or 8.years in Panama

There have been many Venezuelans that have moved to.Panama or that

Other spanish speaking country ... Miami

One told.me that if you get a flat tire on the hiways

In the time it takes to change the tire there is a 50/50

Chance you will be robbed . Kidnapped or killed

Not for me

Also.many of the wealthy come.to Panama to shop

Not everything is available or cheap

[Saastrajaa]

I just read through the lengthy travel advisory on this country from German and Swiss foreign office.

Comparing criminality with Thailand?

Seems like a nightly walk to the Pattaya darkside is safer than traveling by car on a Venezuela motorway in the dark?

I remember the news of riots, empty shelfs in the supermarkets, hoarding.

No, thanks.

EXACTLY the issue I came here to comment on. Safety.

Can I walk down the streets of central Caracas at 3 am alone, very drunk, on my way back to my hotel, with the equivalent of, say, $200 USD in my pocket, along with a $500 USD-valued cellphone? Granted, I'm 2 meters tall and 90+ kg and pretty scary-looking, but I'm still guessing the answer is a resounding NO.

No large city anywhere on earth is going to come close to the relative safety of BKK at night anytime soon. One of the things that makes it so great.

[Seann]

You can't be serious. Bangkok, while not overly dangerous, is hardly the safest city on Earth or even close to it.

[oslooskar]

No large city anywhere on earth is going to come close to the relative safety of BKK at night anytime soon. One of the things that makes it so great.

My Son lives in Taipei and I never worry about him while he's there because it's truly one of the safest cities in the world.

[Berkshire]

You can't be serious. Bangkok, while not overly dangerous, is hardly the safest city on Earth or even close to it.

The guy said one of the safest "large city" in the world, and he's got a point. Tokyo is probably the safest large city I've been. But BKK is way safer than any large US city.

[Seann]

You can't be serious. Bangkok, while not overly dangerous, is hardly the safest city on Earth or even close to it.

The guy said one of the safest "large city" in the world, and he's got a point. Tokyo is probably the safest large city I've been. But BKK is way safer than any large US city.

Are you delusional? Here is what he wrote:

No large city anywhere on earth is going to come close to the relative safety of BKK at night anytime soon.

[SoiBiker]

No idea about Venezuela, but I'd agree that Bangkok is pretty safe as big cities go, unless you deliberately go rooting around the dodgy parts of town or hang out with dodgy people - and then you only have yourself to blame.

[bendejo]

Crime and food shortages, a place to avoid.

Edited October 21, 2015 by bendejo

[dirtycash]

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Venezuela

not cheap !!!

[ammagic]

Not true - Hong Kong , Singapore, Tokyo are FAR safer than Bangkok

[Bender]

Not true - Hong Kong , Singapore, Tokyo are FAR safer than Bangkok

You can add to this list Seoul, Beijing, Taipei, Pyongyang, Hanoi, Vientianne and a few others capitals city that a lot safer than Bkk...

and certainly several hundreds asian city that really a lot safer than pattaya or phuket!! (in fact any place in asia is safer than pattaya/phuket)

Edited October 23, 2015 by Bender

[spidermike007]

I don't agree. I love Cuban food.

The vast majority of Cubans complete lack the culinary gene. Though I have been to a few paladars in Havana that served good food, for the most part the food in Cuba is absolutely horrendous. Worse than in the Philippines, buy far. Atrocious. Horrific. Abominable.

[prestburypark]

I used to go to Caracas in the 70's and early eighties. Simply the most dangerous city I have ever been to. I stayed with quite wealthy friends, everyone was armed and the apartment blocks had armed guards.

Almost daily someone knew of a friend or acquaintance who had been murdered, robbed or hurt by violence. Caracas had favelas (barios) of about 3 million back then, no go areas. Army everywhere. Never been tempted to go back

The food was shit but yes, the senoritas were gorgeous, but so what. Scary place.

[spidermike007]

First of all, nearly all of those prices are false and ridiculous. An apartment for $13? I doubt it. And secondarily, did the OP take into account the security situation? Or the cost of a bodyguard? Most of Latin America has a murder rate that dwarfs that of Thailand. And Thai on fareng crime here is still relatively low. I just do not see the comparison. I would choose Colombia, Chile, and Nicaragua over Venezuela anytime. As for Costa Rica, I would describe it as boring and expensive. Kind of a white mans Hawaii.

[oslooskar]

food in Cuba is absolutely horrendous. Worse than in the Philippines, buy far. Atrocious. Horrific. Abominable.

In that case you had better avoid the British Isles.

[SoiBiker]

food in Cuba is absolutely horrendous. Worse than in the Philippines, buy far. Atrocious. Horrific. Abominable.

In that case you had better avoid the British Isles.

That's unfair. Plenty of good food in the UK.

Obviously none of it is British, though.

[gk10002000]

Any other things to consider? Crime, punishment, legal recourse, embassy standing. Venezuela has not made a lot of friends with many countries as they took over/nationalized oil operations.

[SoCal5252]

I think the OP needs to have is head examined.

[mantu]

I don't agree. I love Cuban food.

The vast majority of Cubans complete lack the culinary gene. Though I have been to a few paladars in Havana that served good food, for the most part the food in Cuba is absolutely horrendous. Worse than in the Philippines, buy far. Atrocious. Horrific. Abominable.

I have to agree....this other guy claiming to love it has obviously never been there....

[Jingthing]

I don't agree. I love Cuban food.

The vast majority of Cubans complete lack the culinary gene. Though I have been to a few paladars in Havana that served good food, for the most part the food in Cuba is absolutely horrendous. Worse than in the Philippines, buy far. Atrocious. Horrific. Abominable.

I have to agree....this other guy claiming to love it has obviously never been there....

I'm American, so no, I've not been there.

I have eaten Cuban food in Miami and at Cuban restaurants popular with Cuban Americans in other U.S. cities.

I have known Cuban people who migrated to the U.S. and attend parties hosted by them with their home cooked food.

Dudes, that is Cuban food, and it is often quite delicious and tasty.

Oddly, perhaps my favorite dish is rather simple, YUCCA CON MOJO, steamed yucca with the garlic spice sauce. I love yucca.

Cuban black beans cooked by an expert Cuban cook ... heavenly.

The Cubans I knew in the U.S. were certainly not culinary retards ... they were generally PASSIONATE about good food, and not only Cuban food.

I have also traveled in the Dominican Republican where I could tell has a similar food culture as Cuba.

I enjoyed some of the food there, but not as much as the best Cuban food I've had in the U.S.

There is no doubt that Cuba has suffered in recent decades for political/economic reasons so I presume that did impact on the food availability there, perhaps making the food culture degrade.

If the argument is that it's not food served in Cuba then it's not Cuban food, I reject that premise 100 percent.

If people are saying that the Cuban food served IN CUBA is awful, I'll really have to take your word for it.

But Anthony Bourdain recently did a show there, and he seemed to be able to find some wonderful Cuban food IN CUBA, so maybe those who say it all sucked just didn't care enough to FIND IT THERE.

As far as moving there to live, for the food or otherwise, that doesn't really interest me at all. I can see a visit to check out the scene and architecture before the Yankee invasion ruins it all.

Edited October 24, 2015 by Jingthing

[Lampang2]

I don't agree. I love Cuban food.

The vast majority of Cubans complete lack the culinary gene. Though I have been to a few paladars in Havana that served good food, for the most part the food in Cuba is absolutely horrendous. Worse than in the Philippines, buy far. Atrocious. Horrific. Abominable.

I have to agree....this other guy claiming to love it has obviously never been there....

I'm American, so no, I've not been there.

I have eaten Cuban food in Miami and at Cuban restaurants popular with Cuban Americans in other U.S. cities.

I have known Cuban people who migrated to the U.S. and attend parties hosted by them with their home cooked food.

Dudes, that is Cuban food, and it is often quite delicious and tasty.

Oddly, perhaps my favorite dish is rather simple, YUCCA CON MOJO, steamed yucca with the garlic spice sauce. I love yucca.

Cuban black beans cooked by an expert Cuban cook ... heavenly.

The Cubans I knew in the U.S. were certainly not culinary retards ... they were generally PASSIONATE about good food, and not only Cuban food.

I have also traveled in the Dominican Republican where I could tell has a similar food culture as Cuba.

I enjoyed some of the food there, but not as much as the best Cuban food I've had in the U.S.

There is no doubt that Cuba has suffered in recent decades for political/economic reasons so I presume that did impact on the food availability there, perhaps making the food culture degrade.

If the argument is that it's not food served in Cuba then it's not Cuban food, I reject that premise 100 percent.

If people are saying that the Cuban food served IN CUBA is awful, I'll really have to take your word for it.

But Anthony Bourdain recently did a show there, and he seemed to be able to find some wonderful Cuban food IN CUBA, so maybe those who say it all sucked just didn't care enough to FIND IT THERE.

As far as moving there to live, for the food or otherwise, that doesn't really interest me at all. I can see a visit to check out the scene and architecture before the Yankee invasion ruins it all.

Cuban food in Miami, like on la carreta can be said to be cuban food before the revolution sat in.

Very hard to get food that good in Cuba itself.

So what is cuban food then?

You could argue that true cuban food can only be found outside Cuba but that of course breach the very definition.

[Lampang2]

The architecture that Cubans them selves raise to the sky like the old hotels etc was built by Americans.

Also the icon cars, minus the russian ones.

Now most busses are Chinese.

If prosperity comes to Cuba and people can afford cars the traffic will make a mess of the island.

Infrastructure from the 50's

[zurgos]

I don't agree. I love Cuban food.

The vast majority of Cubans complete lack the culinary gene. Though I have been to a few paladars in Havana that served good food, for the most part the food in Cuba is absolutely horrendous. Worse than in the Philippines, buy far. Atrocious. Horrific. Abominable.

I have to agree....this other guy claiming to love it has obviously never been there....

I'm American, so no, I've not been there.

I have eaten Cuban food in Miami and at Cuban restaurants popular with Cuban Americans in other U.S. cities.

I have known Cuban people who migrated to the U.S. and attend parties hosted by them with their home cooked food.

Dudes, that is Cuban food, and it is often quite delicious and tasty.

Oddly, perhaps my favorite dish is rather simple, YUCCA CON MOJO, steamed yucca with the garlic spice sauce. I love yucca.

Cuban black beans cooked by an expert Cuban cook ... heavenly.

The Cubans I knew in the U.S. were certainly not culinary retards ... they were generally PASSIONATE about good food, and not only Cuban food.

I have also traveled in the Dominican Republican where I could tell has a similar food culture as Cuba.

I enjoyed some of the food there, but not as much as the best Cuban food I've had in the U.S.

There is no doubt that Cuba has suffered in recent decades for political/economic reasons so I presume that did impact on the food availability there, perhaps making the food culture degrade.

If the argument is that it's not food served in Cuba then it's not Cuban food, I reject that premise 100 percent.

If people are saying that the Cuban food served IN CUBA is awful, I'll really have to take your word for it.

But Anthony Bourdain recently did a show there, and he seemed to be able to find some wonderful Cuban food IN CUBA, so maybe those who say it all sucked just didn't care enough to FIND IT THERE.

As far as moving there to live, for the food or otherwise, that doesn't really interest me at all. I can see a visit to check out the scene and architecture before the Yankee invasion ruins it all.

I personally would not place any credence on anything a food hack like Bourdain has to say, but what is interesting is the very strong opinions on Cuban food (mostly negative) if you google it....

eg. http://www.wbez.org/blog/achy-obejas/2011-07-22/what-anthony-bourdain-didnt-tell-you-about-cuban-food-89518

OTOH, who knows maybe opening the place up will inspire a gastro-revolution.....

I have actually never heard of any world class Caribbean cusine and in general most islands worldwide seem to be lacking in the gastro-department, with a few exceptions such as Sri Lanka, Singapore, Japan.....any outside Asia? Not sure!

Edited October 24, 2015 by zurgos

[Jingthing]

Is YUCCA available in Thailand?

http://icuban.com/food/yuca_con_ajo.html

[spidermike007]

The vast majority of Cubans complete lack the culinary gene. Though I have been to a few paladars in Havana that served good food, for the most part the food in Cuba is absolutely horrendous. Worse than in the Philippines, buy far. Atrocious. Horrific. Abominable.

I have to agree....this other guy claiming to love it has obviously never been there....

I'm American, so no, I've not been there.

I have eaten Cuban food in Miami and at Cuban restaurants popular with Cuban Americans in other U.S. cities.

I have known Cuban people who migrated to the U.S. and attend parties hosted by them with their home cooked food.

Dudes, that is Cuban food, and it is often quite delicious and tasty.

Oddly, perhaps my favorite dish is rather simple, YUCCA CON MOJO, steamed yucca with the garlic spice sauce. I love yucca.

Cuban black beans cooked by an expert Cuban cook ... heavenly.

The Cubans I knew in the U.S. were certainly not culinary retards ... they were generally PASSIONATE about good food, and not only Cuban food.

I have also traveled in the Dominican Republican where I could tell has a similar food culture as Cuba.

I enjoyed some of the food there, but not as much as the best Cuban food I've had in the U.S.

There is no doubt that Cuba has suffered in recent decades for political/economic reasons so I presume that did impact on the food availability there, perhaps making the food culture degrade.

If the argument is that it's not food served in Cuba then it's not Cuban food, I reject that premise 100 percent.

If people are saying that the Cuban food served IN CUBA is awful, I'll really have to take your word for it.

But Anthony Bourdain recently did a show there, and he seemed to be able to find some wonderful Cuban food IN CUBA, so maybe those who say it all sucked just didn't care enough to FIND IT THERE.

As far as moving there to live, for the food or otherwise, that doesn't really interest me at all. I can see a visit to check out the scene and architecture before the Yankee invasion ruins it all.

Cuban food in Miami, like on la carreta can be said to be cuban food before the revolution sat in.

Very hard to get food that good in Cuba itself.

So what is cuban food then?

You could argue that true cuban food can only be found outside Cuba but that of course breach the very definition.

When I used to stay in Havana, I would rent an apartment in Miramar. Women would come around selling bags of lobster tail, on ice. I once bought a few kilos of it. Sautéed a kilo of lobster, in a wok, with some peppers, onions, garlic, etc. It was spectacularly delicious, and super fresh. A heaping platter of lobster tail! I then cooked up a pot of beans and rice. And invited over several Cuban friends. Half said they loved lobster, and could not wait to have some. The other half said they hated lobster, and asked me if I had any white bread and mayonnaise. Believe it or not, white bread with mayonnaise is considered a sandwich in Cuba. That tells you how atrocious the food is. The choice of that over lobster tail, tells you something else entirely. I have stopped at roadside restaurants, in the countryside, where all they had to eat was white bread with mayonnaise, or french fries. That was all they had! Period. Nothing else!

[gk10002000]

white bread and mayo. yech. But, reminds me of one of my past trips to pattaya. Hanging with some brits and one ordered a "Chip buddy"? French fries on white bread. I guess it really is a chip butty.

[Lampang2]

The vast majority of Cubans complete lack the culinary gene. Though I have been to a few paladars in Havana that served good food, for the most part the food in Cuba is absolutely horrendous. Worse than in the Philippines, buy far. Atrocious. Horrific. Abominable.

I have to agree....this other guy claiming to love it has obviously never been there....

I'm American, so no, I've not been there.

I have eaten Cuban food in Miami and at Cuban restaurants popular with Cuban Americans in other U.S. cities.

I have known Cuban people who migrated to the U.S. and attend parties hosted by them with their home cooked food.

Dudes, that is Cuban food, and it is often quite delicious and tasty.

Oddly, perhaps my favorite dish is rather simple, YUCCA CON MOJO, steamed yucca with the garlic spice sauce. I love yucca.

Cuban black beans cooked by an expert Cuban cook ... heavenly.

The Cubans I knew in the U.S. were certainly not culinary retards ... they were generally PASSIONATE about good food, and not only Cuban food.

I have also traveled in the Dominican Republican where I could tell has a similar food culture as Cuba.

I enjoyed some of the food there, but not as much as the best Cuban food I've had in the U.S.

There is no doubt that Cuba has suffered in recent decades for political/economic reasons so I presume that did impact on the food availability there, perhaps making the food culture degrade.

If the argument is that it's not food served in Cuba then it's not Cuban food, I reject that premise 100 percent.

If people are saying that the Cuban food served IN CUBA is awful, I'll really have to take your word for it.

But Anthony Bourdain recently did a show there, and he seemed to be able to find some wonderful Cuban food IN CUBA, so maybe those who say it all sucked just didn't care enough to FIND IT THERE.

As far as moving there to live, for the food or otherwise, that doesn't really interest me at all. I can see a visit to check out the scene and architecture before the Yankee invasion ruins it all.

Cuban food in Miami, like on la carreta can be said to be cuban food before the revolution sat in.

Very hard to get food that good in Cuba itself.

So what is cuban food then?

You could argue that true cuban food can only be found outside Cuba but that of course breach the very definition.

When I used to stay in Havana, I would rent an apartment in Miramar. Women would come around selling bags of lobster tail, on ice. I once bought a few kilos of it. Sautéed a kilo of lobster, in a wok, with some peppers, onions, garlic, etc. It was spectacularly delicious, and super fresh. A heaping platter of lobster tail! I then cooked up a pot of beans and rice. And invited over several Cuban friends. Half said they loved lobster, and could not wait to have some. The other half said they hated lobster, and asked me if I had any white bread and mayonnaise. Believe it or not, white bread with mayonnaise is considered a sandwich in Cuba. That tells you how atrocious the food is. The choice of that over lobster tail, tells you something else entirely. I have stopped at roadside restaurants, in the countryside, where all they had to eat was white bread with mayonnaise, or french fries. That was all they had! Period. Nothing else!

Bread alone was hard to get by.

Edible that is.

I went every morning to la panadería with the libreta, you would not exactly call it quality bread, 555

[Jingthing]

I think my theory that the food culture in Cuba has been severely degraded due to economic deprivation is probably true. I'm sure "Cambodian food" during the Pol Pot years was really bad too.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/02/AR2007070201103.html

Edited October 25, 2015 by Jingthing

[anotheruser]

Thought I could help this thread out....

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/865515-cuban-food/

Please continue the Cuban food discussion there.

Now can we get back to discussing Venezuela? I am also very doubtful of the prices from the article. the 'luxury' apartment looks like a real dump. Going on restaurant sites and 5 star hotel sites will show you that it is very unlikely to stay in 5 star hotels and eat at 5 of the best restaurants in town for 100 Euros.

[blomarel]

I think my theory that the food culture in Cuba has been severely degraded due to economic deprivation is probably true. I'm sure "Cambodian food" during the Pol Pot years was really bad too.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/02/AR2007070201103.html

this is a total cop out from the "I love Cuban food post you made"....you either love it or you don't...now you are saying you only like it if cooked in one very small geographic area in the US or maybe you don't really like it due to economic reasons....very wishy washy! take a stand and stick by it! do you actually even know what Cuban food is?