In cities in the coastal southeast there are a lot of neighbourhoods that are "urban villages" where workers, especially from the southwest, go to live. Older apartment buildings, no air conditioning, no elevators, narrow alleys, tiny factories on the first floor, cheap restaurants with dubious sanitation, sleazy hotels (with "massage" business cards littering the streets outside), massage shops with tinted windows, tiny KTVs.
HOWever, these places are not that bad, considering. I've never felt unsafe walking through any, as an obviously foreign person. They are fairly normal working-class areas. Crime rate is higher than in middle-class areas but still lower than the average neighbourhood in most western countries. Wages are low but living costs are also low. They are walkable, inhabitants don't need a vehicle to get necessities or go to work (though most still use scooters or ebikes), and there is always a hus line or even mass transit nearby. Compare to the worse parts of major cities in other asian countries, or latin american countries, or most of the world outside northwest europe/canada/AU/NZ, and these "slums" are fairly livealbe places.
In cities in the coastal southeast there are a lot of neighbourhoods that are "urban villages" where workers, especially from the southwest, go to live. Older apartment buildings, no air conditioning, no elevators, narrow alleys, tiny factories on the first floor, cheap restaurants with dubious sanitation, sleazy hotels (with "massage" business cards littering the streets outside), massage shops with tinted windows, tiny KTVs.
HOWever, these places are not that bad, considering. I've never felt unsafe walking through any, as an obviously foreign person. They are fairly normal working-class areas. Crime rate is higher than in middle-class areas but still lower than the average neighbourhood in most western countries. Wages are low but living costs are also low. They are walkable, inhabitants don't need a vehicle to get necessities or go to work (though most still use scooters or ebikes), and there is always a hus line or even mass transit nearby. Compare to the worse parts of major cities in other asian countries, or latin american countries, or most of the world outside northwest europe/canada/AU/NZ, and these "slums" are fairly livealbe places.