Sounds like that sadness, empitness, and general despair might be running through you, not Las Vegas. I’ve been there twice as an adult - once for someone else’s bachelor party and once for my wedding - and had a blast both times. And my total gambling balance is about + $30.
Ditto, except that my total gambling balance is more along the lines of about $.75. I got married there and it was tremendous fun.
Omelas.
Of course.
Here is what Paul Theroux, in his latest travel book “Ghost Train to the Eastern Star”, says about East St. Louis.
“I have never seen any community in India so hopeless or, in its way, so hermetic in its poverty, so blatant in its look of menace, so sad and unwelcoming, as East St. Louis, Illinois, the decaying town that lies across the Mississippi River from flourishing St. Louis, Missouri. Yet I can imagine that many people from St. Louis proper would weep at the sight of Indian poverty. They dare not cross their own river to see the complacent decrepitude and misery on the other bank.”
And Mr. Theroux, if any of you have read his books, is a real expert in these things. So I guess we can put ESL right up there with anyplace on Earth.
That all sounds more fascinating then Shenzhen let me tell you,
Like I said, way fun in small doses. But it is a grim town at its heart, with far more than its share of sad stories of not only the visitors, but the people who come there to live. My sister lived there for years, I spent a lot of non-vacation time there. It’s miserable.
The KC airport was certainly designed for a different world (security-wise) than we live in today. I can personally attest that pre-September 11, having the security check at the gate was no big deal, and getting in and out of the gate area was quite painless. I seem to remember the KC airport had to do quite a bit of rearranging to deal with all the post-September 11 security requirements. For what it’s worth, they now have bathrooms and little snack kiosks past security in all the gate areas. It’s a good airport for people who live in the area but I wouldn’t want to spend much layover time as the food and shop options are very limited.
Anyway, back to the topic. I’m not sure it qualifies as “loathsome,” but I’m not beating cheeks to get back to Amarillo, Texas any time soon.
What’s the deal with Cairo (Egypt- I’ve been to the one in Georgia)? It’s been mentioned by at least a couple of posters and I’ve never been to that part of the world.
(I do remember reading about the combination of poverty and housing prices there leading many people to live in boats and cemeteries.)
Can’t deny it has some great architecture, though, especially if you like 19th Century Rococo with copper roofs.
Outside of the cities, Montana’s worst poverty and worst places to end up are on the reservations. Browning is pretty bad, and I’m happy not knowing too many of the details. The rest of the worst in this state is deeply rural poverty that doesn’t make it onto the maps.
I feel as though I only know half the story of bad cities, as I have not been to East St Louis, or anywhere in India, but I have been to all-stars like Johannesburg, Nairobi, Cairo (though I disagree with this as being among the worst), Tijuana, Mitrovica, Belfast, Newark, Fort Worth, and a number of others. Color me an optimist, but there is almost always some charm I can wrest away from the rainbow of suckiness that permeates most places.
Except for one.
Bangkok. Just an awful, awful place. It is a city built on exploitation, traffic, pollution, overpopulation, foul canals, and poverty. True, that places it in league with a number of other places listed already. But what angers me to no end is that people buy into the bizarre notion that it is somehow worth it.
To me, it is like saying that Tijuana is a fabulous and mystical destination, a city of dreams, a Parthenon of mystery, around any corner one might find some of the greatest, fleeting wonders to those travelers who dare visit that land of enchantment.
Bullshit. Bangkok sucks.
The thing about Canberra is that it is really a great place to live, but should be placed waaaaaay down on the list of Australian cities to visit.
Outsiders see the politics and bureaucrats, but the locals tend to just ignore that bit.
It’s sort of the anti-Sydney. Sydney is one of my favourite places to visit, far above the alleged tropical paradises in stinking hot and humid North Queensland, but I’ll be buggered if I’m going to live there.
I’ve been to East St. Louis, Gary, Flint, Detroit, and I still say Jefferson City, MO is the most loathsome. Those other cities may be full of poverty and violence, but Jeff City is just so bland, dreary, boring, ugly, depressing and confusing, it makes me want to kill puppies whenever I’m there.
I’ve only just skimmed the thread so my apologies if this has been mentioned but I’ve been living just outside Chennai (Madras), India for the past year and I’m throwing my vote in for that. What was new and exciting at first has given way to despair and depression towards the poor people who are trapped here. In terms of poverty I can good and guarantee it tops any place anywhere in the States. Crime rate is hard to determine because a good portion of the police force is corrupt so much goes unreported but I’d make an educated estimate that in violent offenses, it’s has to at least compete with, if not exceed places like East St. Louis and L.A. Put that on top of the fact that you’ve got around 4.5 million people crammed into an area roughly a third the size of New York City and you’ve got one hell of a place to try to exist. I’m sure it doesn’t compete with parts of Africa and war-torn areas like Iraq or Israel but the overall quality of life here has to be considered among lowest in the world.
The amazing part is that my experience with the locals (with a few exceptions) has been nothing short of delightful. Even in the most desolate of conditions, I have found the people to be more kind and generous than many I meet in more ‘civilized’ countries.
In my limited experience of the rest of this India, I’ve found Delhi to be actually pretty decent (by India standards, anyway), though Mumbai is every bit the dilapidated shithole portrayed in Slumdog Millionaire. If I spent more time there, I can see it beating out Chennai.
At least the food is pretty good… once your digestive system gets used to it. 
Missed the edit window. Just to reiterate my point, Chennai had a population of 4.5 mil in 2001. Recent estimations have it up in the 8 million range now, with a projected 11 mil by 2011 in the city alone. Total metropolitan population is well above even that. The population density in 2001 was around 64,000 people per square mile (among the highest in the world) and is likely much greater now. And you thought rush hour in L.A. was bad…
I’ve never been there, and I don’t think it started out loathsome or despicable, exactly.
I believe it may now be described as rotten, however.
or perhaps all of this:
To those of you who say why? I have the answers!
-Central Falls is small (less than 1 square mile; however, it once rivalled Hong Kng, for highest population density. It is a depressing old mill town, which happens to be the drug distribution capital of southern New England. The city is broke, the police department’s cars are always broken down, and the streets are full of potholes. The dropout rate from the citie’s schools is over 50%, and most girls are pregnant by age 17. In an effort to attract new industries and jobs, the city came up with two options: a privately-run prison, and a toxic waste incinerator!
Depressing little dump, but at least yo can get away from it easily.
Linndale, OH. I’m sure it’s not the only town that does this, but its entire existence is predicated on patrolling a tiny stretch of I-71 near Cleveland and operating a speed trap underneath an overpass.
Marysville, CA, USA. Near the Yuba River around the Sacramento area. A third world city in the USA.
Hey! Since I have lived here, I have had more friends and relatives gladly visit me than anywhere else I have ever lived…and they keep coming back. BTW, I LOVE Las Vegas!
I have to admit, in the USA, East St. Louis and Gary, Indiana (having been born and raised in Illinois) were two places I never, ever wanted to even drive through twice, let alone go there for any other reason. Compton ain’t pretty in California either.
I believe Buckminster Fuller called East St. Louis the Calcutta of America. He had a grand scheme of covering it with one of his geodesic domes and turning it into a paradise…obviously never happened.
BTW, that is pronounced Kay-Ro in Illinois. Not far from my alma mater, SIU.
We also have Marseilles, Illinois (pronounced Mar-Sales).