I really feel about it the same way I feel about new york. I love riding here, but it would take a hell of a lot to get me to live here. I thought I wouldn't want to see this place either, but it really is much cooler than I thought.

It is worth checking out if you can afford the airfare. Hotels are cheap. The one I stayed in had AC and a private bath for $15 a night. And if you like upper middle class kids pretending to be backpackers, you'll have lots of people to talk to. "Backpacker" here seems to have taken on the meaning of "one who carries a very large backpack" and has little or nothing to do with how they actually travel or wheather or not they really need the backpack. I think a lot of them would really be better off with one of those rolling suitcase things. But then they'd get laughed out of the guesthouse.