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Well well, it's a smallworld is'nt it Andreapercheron, I was born in Horsham West Sussex, and it was recently placed in the top five of the best places to live in England.
Well well, it's a smallworld is'nt it Andreapercheron, I was born in Horsham West Sussex, and it was recently placed in the top five of the best places to live in England.
It certainly is a a small world, Albion! Who would have thought across the deep blue see there would be another Horsham and a great place to live!
I was born and raised in Toronto, Canada.
The GTA (Greater Toronto Area) is home to about 6 million residents and is by far the largest city in Canada - fifth in North America (Mexico City, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto). It is the economic engine of Canada. It's located on the shores of Lake Ontario. Toronto has a 4 subway lines and a rapid transit line and thousands of buses. Also servicing the GTA is GO Transit. It's home to the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs, NBA's Toronto Raptors, MLB's Toronto Blue Jays, CFL's Toronto Argonauts and pro soccers Toronto FC. The CN Tower is located in Toronto and was the largest man made object on earth for over 30 years until 2009 when Burj Dubai opened. Toronto has the worlds longest street (Yonge St.) and worlds longest highway (the 401).
Toronto is the most multicultural city in the world. There is several neighbourhoods for certain mass represented countries. It hosts major events/parades every year, a couple (the pride parade and caribana) are among the largest in north america.
Last edited by frostyb007; 05-06-2009 at 11:36 PM..
The CN Tower is located in Toronto and was the largest man made object on earth for over 30 years until 2009 when Burj Dubai opened. Toronto has the worlds longest street (Yonge St.) and worlds longest highway (the 401).
While all Canadians are aware that Toronto is the center of the universe, I think you'll find that the CN tower was acknowledged as the world's tallest free-standing structure; the largest man-made object on the planet is the Great Wall of China.
As for the 401, it neither belongs to Toronto, nor, at 500 miles, is it even close to being the world's longest highway.
Toronto may well be the world leader in feeling self-important, however.
Kuantan, Malaysia, is on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It is the capital of Pahang state, one of the 11 on the peninsula. Two other states are on the north coast of the island of Borneo (Sarawak and Sabah). Although Malaysia sits between two well-known locations, the city-state of Singapore and Thailand, it is not that well known outside of the former British empire. It is, in fact, perhaps a better place to retire than either Singapore (too expensive) or Thailand (unable to own real estate in own name) and, thus, future retirees should consider it as an option.
Although Malaysia sits just north of the equator, and has a tropical climate, it never gets that hot, with temps usually in the 27-34C range. I have found that it is the night-time temperatures that really make a difference. In the rainy season, the night-time lows are down to 22-23C which makes for great sleeping even without aircon. In the musim kemarau ("dry" season, but not that dry), the night-time lows are up around 27C, which is quite unpleasant at night without aircon. I lived for 8 years without aircon, but do remember some uncomfortable nights during the "dry" season when I had to sleep downstairs, near the window with the ceiling fan on #5.
Peninsular Malaysia is split west/east by a mountain range running down the middle of the country- well, actually it is closer to the west coast, maybe 1/3 of the way in from the west coast, and 2/3 from the east coast. The bulk of the population lives in the western 1/3 of the country, with two world-class cities: Kuala Lumpur and Penang, claiming the largest accumulations.
When you first fly in to Malaysia, you are struck with how green it is. When you leave the airport, a wall of humidity hits you. At first I did not think that I would be able to adapt to the humidity, but I found that after about two months, it felt like my pores opened up more and began to sweat less and look less clammy (you know, red-faced, puffy, etc.). Before coming here, I had a persistent cough deep down in my chest and felt that it was due to the cold and dry climate where I lived before. Since coming to Malaysia, the cough has stopped, and I feel better. The hot, humid climate induces one to eat less and drink more water, both healthy actions.
The east coast is special in that it is both a centre of Malay culture and also a centre for tourism with miles of clean sandy beaches. Kuantan has world-class tourism facilities to the north (Cherating Beach), south (Tioman Island), and west (Taman Negara, ancient rain forest reserve). There is even good diving to the east, about 20 km off the coast where a British naval ship was sunk by the Japanese during WW2.
I live in a city in the Heart of the Midwest of the United States called Omaha after the Indian tribe who lived in the area. The metropolitan area has about 840,000 people and the city about 432,000. The Downtown area is thriving and so is our economy. Crime is relatively low but is rising a bit which is why it is one of the most important topics in the upcoming city election. We are home to 3 large national research hospitals, Warren Buffett, the second richest man in the world and his famous company, Berkshire Hathaway. We have one of the best Zoos in the world which is under going a lot of expansion right now and will be larger when a nearby Stadium is torn down. That stadium is currently home to the College World Series, that championship for College Baseball for the country. The College world Series will be moved to a new Stadium downtown in 2011 in a quickly developing area called North Downtown or NoDo. The Schools are some of the best in the country and we have 3 large universities in the area. We are home to the Original Boys Town started in the Early 20th century. We are the Smallest city in the country to have a Mexican Consulate. Omaha Annexes vigorously to keep funds in the city and keep it healthy. When going east to west, we have the tallest building between Chicago and Denver, and North to south, the tallest between Minneapolis and Tulsa. I love this city!
Last edited by Cornerguy1; 05-08-2009 at 07:17 PM..
Reason: copyrighted material removed
I live in Seattle, Washington State, USA. It is a city of about 600,000 in the city, about 1.5 million in the metro area. Geographically, it is located at the Northwestern most state.
Seattle is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world and is also nicknamed "The Emerald City". The city is built on seven hills and has unbeatable summers, whereas the rest of the year it is very cloudy and rainy. For a city so far north, it has mild winters due to the Pacific Ocean's current and the Olympic Mountains creating a shield around the city.
Historically, the city was long a backwater town focusing on logging. The Klondike Gold Rush transformed the city into a major shipping point which it remains to this day (one of four major shipping points - Vancouver, BC, Canada, Los Angeles, and Portland being the others).
There are many natural wonders in the area. There are two nearby mountain ranges, the Cascades and the Olympic mountains. The Olympic Peninsula nearby has the world's northernmost rainforest, the Hoh rainforest. Hoh Rainforest is also a part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Mt St. Helens is also nearby, downstate.
Culturally, Seattle is home to many different ethnicities and many European cultures who settled here cling to tradition. Major European descendants include German (9%), Irish (8%), English, French, and Norwegian. Japanese and Chinese immigrants have formed the largest minority group, and the area is infused with Asian culture, besides the two mentioned, Thai and Vietnamese. Multiple Muslim cultures are represented here as well. Numerically, 74% of the city is white, non Hispanic, 14% Asian, 10% black, and the rest composed of native Americans and other cultures.
Musically, the area is known for bringing Jimi Hendrix to fame. More recently, grunge music was born here, bringing to fame such bands as Pearl Jam and Nirvana.
The people of Seattle - Seattleites - are among the most educated in the US. More than 50% of the local population to have at least a Bachelor's degree. The region's industry is to thank for that - Microsoft, Amazon.com, Boeing, and Starbucks came to fame here. Other notable companies include Washington Mutual (infamous in that case, now part of Chase), Eddie Bauer, RealNetworks, McCaw Cellular (now part of AT&T Mobility), VoiceStream (now T-Mobile USA), and biomedical corporations such as HeartStream (later purchased by Philips), Heart Technologies (later purchased by Boston Scientific), Physio-Control (later purchased by Medtronic), ZymoGenetics, ICOS (later purchased by Eli Lilly and Company) and Immunex (later purchased by Amgen), Nordstrom and Nintendo of America.
Seattle also boasts one of the lowest crime rates in the USA for a major metropolitan area.
Seattle is also a major tourist hub for visitors going to Canada. Seattle is a mere 3.5 hour drive from Vancouver, BC, Canada, and a short hop from there to the ski resorts north of there. To the south is Portland, another major cultural and industrial hub, and further south is California.
I live in Hong Kong, which in 1997 became a Special Administrative Region of China. Hong Kong sits at the mouth of the Pearl River delta on the South-Eastern coast of the Chinese mainland. I live in the 'New Territories' which is named so because it was ceded to the British later than the rest of HK. I'll just give you some fun facts about life in Hong Kong:
*Almost everybody, except the privileged, live in high-rise apartments. The concept of free-standing houses is almost non-existent. A large portion of the population live in government housing, built over the last few decades in order to house a rapidly increasing population and avoid the growth of urban slums.
*Likewise, only about 5% of the population own a car. You don't really need one here as subways, trains, trams, ferries, buses and taxis cover almost every corner of Hong Kong. Anyhow cars are ridiculously expensive to run with gas about 4x the price in the US.
*Huge tracts of Hong Kong is covered in national park. There are two extremes here - the concrete jungle and then the mountains and the countryside. Much of the land is uninhabitable due to the terrain, hence the vertical city. There is almost no flat land in Hong Kong.
*The population in Mong Kok, Kowloon is the densest on earth. There is nothing like walking down the street on a balmy night among hundreds of thousands of people. It can get a little frustrating sometimes but for the most part I love it.
*There is almost zero violent crime here...no idea why. It's got the be the safest city I've ever been to.
*There are lots of hiking trails, beaches, parks, bike trails, villages, etc. People who stopover and stay in the city think all of HK is concrete but there is a lot of natural beauty.
*There are more than a quarter of a million foreign domestic helpers here, mostly from the Philippines, living in HK. Many middle-class and wealthy families employ live-in domestic workers, often more than one at a time. It's pretty standard for larger private apartments to come with maid's quarters.
*Where I live I can get on the train and be in Kowloon or China in 30 mins. If you are a HK resident you get an open entry visa so I often go over for the day. Likewise Macau is only an hour away by fast ferry.
*A majority of the population pays no tax. There is no sales tax and income tax only applies to the richest 5-10% of the population. The government makes most of it's money through property and business taxes.
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