invisible

I know that this is potentially hot topic, but still interested - if you went to a foreign country as a tourist or for work related trip, where you felt the least safe and for what reasons?

Yes, I expect that US would be #1 in the list (because of guns) and whole African continent in #2 for bunch of reasons. But I am more interested in situations when you were not concerned before the trip but reality on ground was way different.

CKA1

Really, I've been more scared about Ottawa, Victoria and Edmonton than any foreign city. I've drank in Hell's Angels bars, walked home past drug dealers and stumbled back to the hotel while absolutely [drunk] and hadn't a clue where I was.

On the other hand, I felt very safe on Crescent street in Montreal.

Chuck

ediemac1

India (Mumbai, specifically)
The stares from men that felt malevolent were unnerving. I was there 5 years ago, but when the recent spate of rapes began occurring, I was not surprised.

Was there on a work trip. Work ended a few days early. On the way over a colleague (also female) and I had discussed a possibly trip to Agra if we did end early. We were both so unnerved that, when the free time actually occurred, we chose to go home early.

Never done that anywhere else.

jbjelloid

I found the lager louts in London unnerving.

cl.lurker

Rio de Janeiro

Gamecock

Iraq.

TOMFORD

I have only traveled to Asia (and a few hours in Frankfurt if that counts), and I live in the US. Of all the countries I have been to, I feel the least safe in the US.

gotofly

Out of 100 countries and 500 cities I have visited no one is
Tegucigalpa hondouras. Very unsafe. Even day time. At night after 8 pm even the locals are scared to go out alone.

My guide and driver was 29 years old and he was robbed 4 times.

Johnesburg South Africa . In certain streets in downtown the police even does not dare to go in day light. Some goons followed us and chased us with weapons but we were lucky to get out of there as out driver was very proficient.

gpia

Malé, Maldives.

Men blatantly lusting at the wife in the streets, plus it felt like there was some weird tension all over the place.

A day later the President's speedboat got blown up, and riots broke out again shortly thereafter. Didn't completely imagine something was in the air...

dvs7310

Saying the whole of Africa is going a bit far. Many countries have some serious safety issues but not all. Ethiopia is a good example of somewhere that's pretty safe. Malawi is pretty good as well. In a lot of East Africa people generally aren't going to mess with you, a small bribe by a police officer is the most "violent" activity most tourists would encounter.

Having said that I'm always on my toes in South Africa and get quite nervous driving off the highway at night time outside certain parts of Johannesburg. Another place I never felt very safe was Manila, too many reports of taxi drivers robbing customers at knife or gunpoint.

MSPeconomist

Mexico City. Warned not to take ordinary green VW taxis but to always get a taxi from a good hotel.

Moscow at times, when the body guards with machine guns drink at the bar while their employer has dinner.

Prague due to the large crowds in the streets, many of whom are drunks from Western Europe such as Brits doing cheap stag parties.

Bali due to the stray dog population and being aware that the island was in the middle of a rabies epidemic with over a hundred human deaths. The stray dogs in Taiwan and Moscow similarly scare me.

Naples....or crowds in northern Italian cities, including in train stations. In fact, Buenos Aires, Barcelona, and Kuala Lumper after hearing pickpocket stories.

Most USA cities.

Sopwith

I was there 20 years ago. Got to the Ramada Hotel near the airport about 11:00 pm. After waiting in line for half an hour, no room available despite having a confirmed reservation. They said the guest refused to check out, so they were going to send me to their "sister concern". Put me in a taxi and told the driver where to take me. As soon as we got around the corner he stopped and demanded 350 rupees. I told him to take me back to the Ramada and they straightened him out, so off we go again. We ended up about an hour out of the city in a dark, unlit, narrow, broken down road in the middle of the jungle, and I was thinking, "Holy crap! This guy is going to knife me and leave me here in the bushes." Eventually we got to the sister hotel, which turned out to be not too bad, but I can say that in all my travels to over 40 countries it's the only time I have been really scared, not knowing where I was, and alone at the mercy of a taxi driver who was PO'd at me before we even left. In retrospect I should have paid the 350 rupees, which would have been <$20.

Loren Pechtel

Uganda, 1982. Political troubles, it was go through or abandon the trip, there were no other routes.

BuildingMyBento

On the whole, US cities become terrible all too quickly. Many downtown areas mostly empty out around 5-5:30pm, and then what?

Come to think of it, cities in the Western Hemisphere in general are no great shakes for ambling. The only time I should have felt unsafe was in Santa Ana, El Salvador; two cops stopped me in my tracks, and took me back to my hotel. They said that wherever I was wandering was full of gangs.

That's just one aspect of "feeling unsafe," but in reality, I'll walk anywhere at anytime of the day.

txflyer77

Tenderloin in SF at ~2am after a night of drinking and Korean food with coworkers when we decided to walk back to our hotel at Union Square.

OTOH, if we include all safety issues, not just crime, then I've been on some minibus rides in Thailand that definitely top the list. Also, a boat ride from Koh Phagnan to Koh Samui in rough seas in a craft that probably wasn't quite seaworthy.