SEL - Seoul, Korea. I dislike this city more than any other place I've been to. The people can be very rude, traffic is hellish, pollution has gotta be one of the worst in the world, VERY crowded, rather dirty, koreans lack driving skills.. it's been said that you are about 30% more likely to die on korean highways compared to the USA.

If you get tired of Detroit, take a short trip to visit Flint or even Toledo.

not really hate, but will not go back if i do not have to: Jakarta

ffhound and others,

I guess my objection is that you are determining a cities culture by it's majority or what you read in a tourist book. Again, cities are quite diverse especially these days. There are many cultures in a city which is why they are more tolerant of strange behavior than rural areas.

Now if I visit a particular religious venue, of course I respect that culture. But if I'm walking down Silom Road in BKK, I don't think there is a mandatory culture. The whole world is there. The same is true for many streets in Paris, London, Singapore, Buenos Aires, etc. Those cities used to have distinct cultures, but no longer. Cosmopolitan is the watch word.

America is regarded as the most open country in the world and many people say it has little culture in comparison to older countries. That's not true. America just has the MOST cultures and since the cultures are all packed together, people don't often see them. So American's at home generally do not respect all the cultures of their home town's or cities. Consequently most American's abroad do not respect other cultures at all.

While I actually do respect other cultures when travelling, I do not often dress the part. As soon as I open my mouth or perhaps show my face, they realize I'm a foreigner and do not expect me to follow their customs.

What is more important than dress (to me) is language. I do speak the basic tourist phrases in about 20 languages. Saying good morning in the local language brings about a smile quicker than a nice pair of pants. And sometimes is quite necessary to speak the local lingo when using a taxi.

Stimpy

What I had in mind in the original post was not which city one hated so much as liked the least. I don't find Sydney interesting but I don't actually hate it.

As for people I didn't have them in mind as most places you go people are friendly. I was thinking more of the general atmosphere of a city. For example I like Auckland because it's sunny, clean and has lots of fresh air. It's in a pretty locations also. I like Hong Kong because it is one of the most interesting cities you can ever visit. It has interesting attractions to visit, good, quick tailors, nice islands etc

You will note that I limited my original post to cities people have actually visited
rather than their perceptions of cities. This was so that people could actually give an informed opinion on a given place.

cheers Peter

Stimpy,

What does this mean?

"America is regarded as the most open country in the world..."

Dorian

24 Hour WalMarts?

Anybody ever been to Tegucigalpa, Honduras? No hotels or restaurants worth a **** and the airport is one of the most dangerous in the world with a nice cliff on the edge of the runway.

Don't worry about offending people in LA about hating LA. Apparently a lot of people hate LA. I hear it all of the time. It does not bother me.

I just can't understand why so many people keep moving here.

I can think of many places I would like to live in for a couple of years but I don't think I would want to live any where else but LA.

As for the Orange County thing. I think of it as part of the general LA area but don't say that to the people of Orange County. They don't like LA either (well most don't).

LOL! You're not kidding, wingless4. LA's the only place I've been to where it's considered "cool" to not like your own city.

Least favorite city: Cairo, Illinois. Time magazine had a story on them when they did the Mississippi River feature a few weeks ago. When the liquor stores have closed up for lack of business, and population has crashed from 20k to 5k in recent years.

I've been through some rough parts of Detroit, Chicago, and Washington D.C., but this place had the absolute creepiest vibes of any of them. Maybe it's the giant floodwall that serves to keep the city seperated from the rest of the universe, or the dead looks in the faces of people there.

If you've even in the area (closest commercial apt is probably Padycah, KY) check it out.

Best City in China: Xiamen
Best City in Asia: Love Kuala Lumpur!
Best City in Australia: Perth
Best City in Canada: Hogtown, Toronto (although there a lot of wooden moose around)
Best City in USA: San Diego
Best City in the Americas: Quito
Best City in N.Z.: Christchurch
Best City in India: Bangalore
Best City in Europe: Oslo

Dave Stevenson

Personally, I'd much prefer living in LA to Orange Cty!

I'd not want to live out past Long Beach and when I was being "wooed" a few years ago to a possible position in Orange Cty, that's where I looked at homes!

But, hey, I'm a New Yawker, as boomer would note!

Taipei probably hates RKG, too.

Remember, there is good and bad in every city. As there is in people.

So I don't have the WORST city because one person's WORST is the favorite of someone else. And you are Insulting the people who live in that city/town by saying "You live in the worst place in the world."

And I liked Sydney (the bridge and the opera house -- very special memories.) I enjoyed Melbourne better and found Cairns to be my favorite place in Australia.

As for culture, let people be. Except if they are bigoted or just plain stupid "like tourists in vegas saying 'Oooh, who needs to waste money to go to Europe -- the woman though Egypt was in Europe! when it's all here."

I simply shook my head at them as I got off the bus.

The absolute WORST place in the world is to be alone and without friends. Wherever you are.