harpoon
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Can't believe people are actually fighting over which city is "better" or more "hipster."
Let's be honest, almost all cities in South Asia are holes compared to cities in the west and indeed the rest of Asia. Offensive perhaps, but it is the truth. I guess you could compare cities within South Asia to each other but that would be like comparing one beggar to another.
I can only really speak for Sri Lanka, but what I can say is that the status quo can change with the right people at the helm (and of course after defeating a terror organisation that wants to plant random bombs to kill people). Colombo has really changed for the better over the last few years - ever since the current administration took over. It really is clean, it actually does not look like the dump it used to be, there are beautiful walkways, greenery and new places to go for recreation. Pavements have been reconstructed and to top it all off, it is actually being maintained well without going back to shambles within a few weeks (again, like what used to happen). It is still bloody hot, however but hey, it is in the tropics afterall.
Now as for night life, of course Muslim countries in general aren't going to have the best nightlife because alcohol is taboo. Whereas in Sri Lanka alcohol is freely available and no one wastes an opportunity to throw a party and there are plenty of bars and nightclubs. Even on SriLankan Airlines the airhostesses seem to ply the aisle trying to get people drunk. The second bit to nightlife is a thriving tourism industry, which Sri Lanka does have - monthly tourist arrivals have been increasing ever since the end of the war in 2009 - that's almost 5 straight years of back to back rising tourist numbers.
Hipster to me means artsy fartsy people who may smoke pot and sit around listening to and/or making music, doing yoga and being creative. Maybe that is a stereotype I have. That kind of culture is not as of yet that popular in Sri Lanka, in my opinion. So maybe Dhaka does have an edge over other cities in in the region in this regard.
Mean while in Kerala we are in the process of eliminating alcohol which will invariably affect the tourism industry Asked about the tourists one holier than thou politician said that tourists come to Kerala for enjoying natural beauty not drinking alcohol.