Job Discussion Forums

[bnix]

Following is my list of favorite and least favorite cities.Please remember,these are only my OPINIONS.Obviously, also, I have not seen all of the wonderful spots(or the hellholes,either) in the world.

Favorite Cities:
1.Tie. Klaipeda,Lithuania and Plzen(Pilsen),The Czech Republic.

Klaipeda is a beautiful port city in western Lithuania. Plzen,in West Bohemia,is, in my opinion,nicer and less tourist infested than Prague, with many cultural events,beautiful architecture. Great beer.great food.Very beautiful women.

2.Vilnius,Lithuania.The capital.A vibrant and interesting city. An interesting section is Uzupis...sort of a Lithuanian netherworld...but do not walk around there too much after dark.Lithuanian food(zeppelini,etc.) is great.

3.Budapest.Another interesting city.Very friendly people.Lots of cultural events.Great food.
4.Nouakchott,Mauritania,West Africa. on the Atlantic Coast(and therefore not as hot as the interior).Great fish.Interesting culture.
5.Jeonju,Chollabukdo,South Korea A very nice city.Great food.Large enough but not crowded like Seoul. very friendly people

My Least Favorites:
1.Rosso, Mauritania.The infamous "Black Hole of Mauritania",on the Senegal River between Mauritania and Senegal.Dead carcasses of horses in the street ,flies all over the "meat" in the open market, a not so "secret" slave auction down by the river.Pollutiion.Malaria.No.NOT a nice place. Mauritania has been the locale for the filming of some of the infamous "snuff" movies in the past.

2.Warsaw.Dirty,dreary,dangerous Warsaw. Wroclaw,Krakow,Gdansk,Kielce,Krosno(or name ANY other city in Poland) are all nicer.
3.Any major city in the United States(with the exceptions of Seattle,Portland,San Francisco,and Minneapolis). Let's face it. Most US cities are not very appealing.Why do you think a lot of people move to the suburbs? I know,I know there are other reasons,but......
4.Amsterdam.Full of dopers,freaks,and backpacker scum "trying to find their heads".

5.Paris.Not awful in the sense of Rosso or Warsaw, Paris is grossly overrated in my opinion.Expensive.Rude people.

[Wolf]

Hmm. Not well travelled. Offerable opinions limited.

Favorite.

1. What's left of Kyoto. Kyoto is fast losing its charm. But what is left is, or was the last time I was there (Janurary) well worth the visit. Maybe it helps if you like castles, old temples, etc.

Least Favorite

Well, binx, you've already heard what I think of my hometown So we'll skip that and go on to:

1. Nanchang. Where is Nanchang? What is Nanchang? Exactly. Oh, it's a city, and it has some city stuff, but ... well my experience with it hasn't been exactly blissful. Bread without sugar, clothes that fit, a park without stares (not stairs - stares) - Nanchang offers none of these ammenities (plenty of Eummenides though.)

Neutral

1. Nagoya. My home of 3 years. Conservative, ugly, and not as cosmopolitan as Tokyo, but it was a comfortable place to live. Plenty of services, clubs, volunteer associations - if you did your homework (and spoke the language) you needn't be bored. It kind of grew on me, but I din't think much of it at first.

[Roger]

Dear bnix,
I share your choice of European cities although some of those you mentioned (in Poland and Lithuania) I do not know so well. My additions might be:
- Brno (Bruenn in German); hospitable, and pretty architecture;
- Budapest;
- St. Petersburg; Moscow, Irkoutsk (in this order);
- Tallinn (Estonia); wonderful old town, airy and spacious;
- Barcelona (I had my best tourist day there in all my life!);
- COrinth and Lesvos, Athens;
- Dijon, Metz in France; I also agree that Paris is overrated (it is a ville
de lumieres, but it also attracts too many people);
- London;

Africa:
- Cape Town, Pretoria; nice climate in both; I won't forget the jacaranda
trees of the Highveld;
- Arusha in Tanzania;
- Alexandria and Sharm-El Sheik in Egypt;
- Tamanrasset in Algeria;
- Ceuta (Spanish-Africa);
- Most horrible places: Lubumbashi (Congo/Zaire);
Port Sudan (I witnessed the slave trade there!);

- My dream destinations: Ethiopia and Mauritius;

Asia:
- Varanasi (India); Amritsar;
- Krabi (Thailand);
- NOrth of the Philippines: Spanish towns; Baguio;
- Mashad (Iran);
- Kyoto (Japan);
- Turpan and Tianchi in Xinjiang, Dali, Lijiang and Kunming in Yunnan,
Qufu in Shandong; An'kang in Shaanxi, China;
- Nepal;
- Xigatse, Tibet;
My most horrible places:
- Kabul, Afghanistan (even before the war);
- the border between India, Pakistan;
- the border between Hong Kong and Guangdong;
- My dream destination: Shangri-la (Zhongdian, Yunnan), Kashgar, Xinjiang; Kashmir, Darjeeling, India.

America:
- Quebec City, Halifax, Vancouver, Canada;
On my wishlist: New York, San Francisco, USA;
- Buenos Aires, Argentina;
- Havana;

[wix]

Although it would never make a list of the world's great cities I love Taipei. I think of it as my second home.

I just love the way it is so easy to get around by bus and MRT and there is just so much crammed into what is a relatively small city. I also love the fact that everything is open late seven days a week.

I also like the city where I am currently--Xiamen, China. It is not a huge city, but it has everything you need and a nice climate and is very clean compared to most places in China.

[Sandgropers]

Some interesting selections posted here................so let us add ours;
FAVOURITES (notice with a U ..........the correct way! If we knew how to add a funny emoticon here we would!! How do you do that? )

PERTH ( Western Australia ); clean, beautiful and absolutely fabulous beaches which are uncrowded most of the time. Lovely blue skies and clean air. Maybe this appears a little biased but it is our home town.............so why do we leave it to go elsewhere? You may well ask!!

SYDNEY; must be one of the most beautiful settings for a city in the world with a natural harbour adorned with the magnificent Opera House and the world famous Harbour Bridge.

SINGAPORE; not only is it a clean city but very safe with a great range of eateries catering for multicultural tastebuds. An efficient, comfortable and safe MRT system.

PARIS; out of tourist season is divine. Its architectural grandeur oozes history and romanticism. Definitely helps if you speak French and make it clear that you are NOT from England!

LONDON; out of tourist season and providing the garbage collectors are not on strike, is an interesting city if you are interested in history and enjoy walking in some lovely parks and feeding the squirrels.


ISTANBUL; where East meets West, lots of history here with a mixture of architecture and very cosmopolitan.

MONTE CARLO; where we can stand and ogle at the yachts and the beautiful people and dream on.......................

Ah well...............back to reality and teaching in China.

Cheers
[/list]

[gerard]

The good---Saigon

The bad---Bangkok

The ugly---Seoul

[arioch36]

Why cities? Just outside Oxford is a beautiful nothing of a town called Croughton. If only I could get a job teaching English there. Kind of have to agree with you about American cities, they tend to be just places of business. Maybe New Orleans is an exception. Some cities are building interesting waterfronts.

What makes a city? You say what city, but why? Most Chinese cities have no culture, no feeling, maybe this is true of all former communist monolithic constructions? I was most impressed with German cities for having a great mix of city urban, tradition, modern technology, etc. *West Germany only

[Sigma]

Favourite:

Olomouc, Czech Republic - not much to look at, but I just love the city
Budapest, Hungary
Sarajevo - was a gorgeous city before the war and now they have done a good job fixing it up. I hope to return in a few years to see the changes.
Boston, USA
San Fransico, USA
Montreal, Canada
Ottawa, Canada


Least favourite:

Zurich, Amsterdam, Vienna, Paris and Bratislava

[lclaroche]

Best, worst... kinda pointless, ain't it? Doesn't it all come down to your experience there? I had an extremely interesting time in Detroit, quite possibly the most interesting and fascinating city in the world, IF you're into first-world urban decay and urban US culture, but most people see it as a wretched hole. BUT, here's my two-bits worth:

BEST:
Hue, Vietnam
Dunedin, NZ
Montreal, QC
Seattle, WA
San Fran, CA
Xiahe, China
Dali, China
Krakow, Poland
Montana

WORST

EL PASO, Texas

LATIN AMERICAN CAPITAL CITIES: The misery that surrounds and seeps through San Salvador, Guatemala City, Teguc... (I have to assume that Panama and Managua are just as bad. San Jose??? don't know...) Mexico City is too big to catagorize such a way, Havana is beautiful, but has it's drawbacks. I've heard plenty awful about the rest. Can someone claim otherwise?

ANY US suburb: no, the cities are horrible (see Detroit) its the suburbs that really... drive... you... insane. Disgusting, everyone of them. I have no qualms making that blanket statement, can anyone prove me wrong?

WESTern GERMANY: outside of Hamburg and the East, Germany is a pit. C'mon, you can't have a thread without slamming germany now, can we? Especial crapola is the Ruhgebiet

AUSTRIA: too much like a postcard, and the people are weird. Add Switzerland to that too (with bonus points for their paranoia)

TEXAS: they gave US alotta junk even before GW. Aside from Austin (which should be in the best list, but I haven't been there much), this state is a nightmare. Lynchings, segregation, arrogant superiority complex (it too me several visits before I realized the "don't mess with Texas" signs that dot the highways refer to LITTER and are not a statement of soveirgnty).

I'm sure I'll think of others, but this will suffice for now...

[fion]

Galway is quite a nice city. Also San Francisco, Nagasaki, and Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.

Worst places, well it's not really a city but avoid Fort William. Didn't like Naha on Okinawa either, too much traffic, no trains, ridiculously difficult to get around for such a small place.

[Steiner]

wix, I liked living in Taipei, too.
I disagree with sigma about Vienna, though. It's nice on a misty morning, between 5:30a.m. and about 9:00a.m., when it's still and cool and quiet and you can sit alone in the churches.
My favorite U.S. city right now is probably Burlington, VT.

The worst city I've been to is Shenzhen, hands down. All the parts I've been to are hideous. My students here tell me that it's a beautiful city of gardens, so maybe I just went to all the ugly and crimey places.

[Capergirl]

[Esterita]

Well, I've only ever lived in 3 cities so far, all of which have been nice:

York (UK) pretty, historic, friendly
Durham (UK) pretty, historic
Turku (Finland) well, for a Finnish city it's OK

[M.K.]

Cheers to:
London
Rome
San Juan Islands (off coast of Washington, USA)
Seattle
Santa Rosa Island (Gulf of Mexico)
Colorado Rocky Mountains


Jeers to:
Syracuse, New York
Dallas
Houston
Heck, all of Texas, save San Antonio
Raton, New Mexico
Ciampino

[xiaoyu]

lclaroche- good choice in montana though it is not a city and doesn't have a "city" large enough to often be considered a city! it is one of the most beautiful places on the earth..... i am biased a bit though!

can't forget dalian, china. a lovely place that was just grand! good food, people and so beautiful with the morning mist!

as for american cities, i know denver isn't that big yet but it is a nice place and still gives you a chance to get away if you need to!

thanks for the list though! it has added some to my list of places to go and has made me think twice about a few other places!

xiaoyu