Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Moldy Rutabaga]

Before people get bent out of shape, it's just for fun. This is from my web site, http://keneckert.com. You can see this full article at http://keneckert.com/pictures/travel/worst/worst.html

It might also be fun if people add their own Worst Awards as I can only write about the places I've been to.

Ken:>

Ken's Worst Travel Awards

As usual, try to laugh before losing your temper-- I was inspired by a book I saw in Thailand about the 50 worst places to travel to, and decided to make my own list of places or accomplishments so sublimely wretched that they deserve their own web page, decorated with vomit orange wallpaper. Feel free to agree or violently disagree if your home is on this page, but again, it's only my very subjective findings. As usual, if you don't like my site-- take your money back!


1. Dirtiest Bathrooms: Hue, Vietnam
Ariel and I were hard pressed to find a restaurant open during the accursed Chinese New Year in Hue, Vietnam. We found a dingy diner for supper, and I went to what I believe is the dirtiest bathroom I have ever seen: crumbling, stained plaster falling on a rusting urinal falling off the wall in a dimly lit corner as a rat ran by. The kitchen was relatively clean, in case you're wondering; I sure wanted to know!

2. Scummiest Hotel: Down Town, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Just across the border from Singapore, Johor Bahru seemed a good stopover until we flew back to Thailand. This downtown hotel, with the imaginative name of Down Town, was next to traffic jams and horn-honking from the border crossing (God forbid a Singaporean wait), and a park where Indian dance music was screeched until late night. We tried to sleep while guarding our beds against the bugs on the floor. Perhaps we should have been warned when the only people we saw in the hotel were prostitutes.


3. Sleaziest City: Pattaya, Thailand

Speaking of prostitutes, I don't think I've ever seen a city whose economy was absolutely entirely devoted to them like Pattaya, a few hours southeast of Bangkok. (Later we stayed in Phuket and Phi Phi; does every major city in Thailand have a sexually suggestive name?) Patong's bad too, but at least there are other things to do as well; it's pretty obvious why anyone comes to Pattaya... the great museums? I stayed in Pattaya for a day to see the spectacle, but it was too much to see crowds of (admittedly) hot women hanging off fat, balding old Germans all evening. I reminded myself that not all of the women are women.


4. Most Corrupt Airport: Denpasar, Bali

Bali airport has recently initiated a 'visa charge' of about $25 US, and has justified it by replacing their old ink-stamp in your passport with a giant color hologram sticker that wastes a whole page. I just don't get the feeling that people on the street see much of that money; when leaving Bali, at first officials made a big deal about my work visa to re-enter Korea, fishing for a bribe. At the emigration counter, when I'd lost my departure slip, there was no fishing; the official asked me for ten dollars to 'find' another, although there was a pile on his desk. I gave him a thousand won-- worth one dollar-- and told him it was about equal.


5. Worst Food: England

Canada's local cuisine, if we have one, is pretty limited. Anyone for moose stew and poutine? But no one's traditional food is as bad as England's. Has anyone ever actually been to an English restaurant other than a pub, or eaten anything other than a few coasters after having too many pints? All England's best and famous dishes, moreover, come from somewhere else; is anyone in the Canterbury Tales eating curry or drinking tea? The edible food in England is unaffordable; what's left is boiled in a pot for eighteen hours and then served with tasteless salt, pepper that flies into the air as you apply it, and an unidentifiable pudding that you're best off not identifying. All this with a glass of warm beer. No wonder football fans riot.


6. Most Irritating Hawkers: Hanoi & Bali (Tie)

Damn, they're annoying. You can't stop to check a map or look at a beautiful building or site without someone hassling you to buy a plastic surfboard keychain, or have a massage, or take a taxi tour in these places. "Where you from, my friend? Cheap price! Special deal for you!" In Hanoi it never ends, anywhere. And as much as I love Bali, it's my number one complaint about Kuta Beach. Every time I went for a swim, I had to ignore or say no sixteen times to a gauntlet of people selling junk. And if you sit on the shady part of the beach, you're a sitting duck. If you've ever encouraged this industry by buying something non-food or drink from these people on the beach, please stop reading now and go take some poison. Yes, I know they're simple people just trying to earn a living. So are heroin traffickers.

8. Worst Weather: Winnipeg, Canada

I have relatives in Winnipeg, and it's great to see them, but otherwise I would never go to the city without compulsion. When I drive through the city I feel as though I'm in a KISS rock video; much of the city looks like a train yard, and nothing seems to have changed since the 70's. And then there's that-- coff-- bracing Canadian weather. It never seems to warm up in 'Winterpeg', and when it does it's windy anyway; nevertheless, the wind is a blessing anyway as it keeps down the bugs. How many cities get to be on CNN's disaster alert for mosquitos?


9. Most Uninteresting Place: Cape Breton (Nova Scotia, Canada)

Again, I write carefully; I stayed with really nice people in Cape Breton from my dormitory days. Cape Bretoners are fiercely independent and proud of their northern tip of the province. But overall, I'm sorry, it's a hole. Unemployment is over 30%; there's really nothing to see other than the hyped Cabot Trail; and much of the area is collapsing into abandoned coalshafts underneath the towns. And then there's those friendly, welcoming natives. Someone nearly blinded me in one eye when I was attacked while exiting a nightclub in Glace Bay. Perhaps he was bitter over not getting that Tim Horton's job; not everyone is bound for glory.


10. Worst International Food: Korea

Korean food tends to rely more on spice than taste, but it can be pretty good. The problem is if you don't like it or you're tired of it. Then you have two choices: a. Fly to the Philippines or b. Savor the horrors of half-arsed attempts to make foreign food. Maybe it's a conscious effort by Korean ubernationalists to make foreign food so inedible that people won't want to leave the country; maybe it's just not giving a damn about presenting other cultures authentically. But how people can find pizza with corn and potatoes delicious (Pizza Hut), or enjoy hamburgers with apple slices (Seoraksan restaurant), or pay four dollars for greasy, flat lemonade (Asan Spa, Cheonan) is beyond me. This is in the large cities; Korean town-dwellers don't get these fancy choices.


11. Most Overrated Country: Singapore

The Switzerland of Asia. Clean and orderly. My arse. Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I didn't really care for Singapore. It has all of the bad things it's famed for-- high prices, psycho-regulation, boring nightlife-- and the good things didn't seem to show up that weekend. The subway and bus system is confusing and poorly marked. We stayed in a dirty, sleazy, prostitute-filled suburb, Geyland. The taxis don't seem to run after 11 at night; thanks, guys. The mostly Chinese people were cold and impatient. Escalators run at double speed; is your time that important? Do you need to hold down your car horn at 5 AM at the border crossing for Malaysia? I guess I'd want to get out pretty bad too..


12. Most Dangerous City: Mexico City

Again, my personal bias colors my list, because I was attacked and robbed on the subway early one morning in Mexico City in '02. But the city is legendary for crime; I taught a doctor who estimated that his car was stolen at least once a year in 'el D.F.' More broadly, if social planners got together, they couldn't design less of a car wreck of a city than Mexico City. Surrounded by mountains which trap the pollution, Mexico City sits on soft, spongey land out of which the water is gradually being pumped. Thus if you aren't mugged, you can either asphyxiate or wait for the ground to crumble underneath you. Esta lugar es un infierno; como se va a Puerto Vallerta, AHORA?-- This place is a hellhole; how do I get to Puerto Vallerta, NOW?

http://keneckert.com

[weatherman]

Korea got in there twice.

I think he/she has it all wrong about korean cities, but that is only me.

[VanIslander]

The worst weather in the world???

Winnipeg is statistically the SUNNIEST city in the world (of all cities of more than a quarter million).

Too bad you've never lived there. My two years as a twentysomething was full of wonderful weather.

The weather is great in the summer. One is guarranteed plenty of sunshine as one heads out to the lake for swimming and r & r.

In winter you're assured to have great weather for outdoor ice skating, not to mention cross-country skiing.

Winnipeg has arguably great weather as long as you're man enough to handle the mosquitoes and cold (or smart enough to prep for them!).

Spend a year in constantly cloudy and rainy Prince George, B.C. then get back to us about the weather.

[SarcasmKills]

Pak Beng, Laos is a village that would be better served being wiped off the face of the earth.. opiated zombies roam the streets among dilapitated buildings..

hate the place.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Pretty accurate, on the whole. I've been to six of the places mentioned, and half to say that at least my initial impression was very much the same.

I'd add: highest concentration of the slobiest foreign slobs: Banglampu, Bankok.

[inspector gadget]

Van Islander has it right about Winnipeg, Sunshine capital of the world it is, lived there while working for the feds for 3 years. No doubt it is cold in winter hoever give me the sunshine even in cold temps I say. The summers there are also very nice and yes it does get hot there.

[Tiger Beer]

Nice.. Moldy.. and my list..

I'll call it 'Tiger's Worst Travel Awards'..

1. Dirtiest Bathrooms: China
Just everywhere.. can't recall specifically. Many of them are just open.. so when you are taking a dump.. everyone else in the bathroom can watch you take your dump.. and those are strangely the more cleanly ones.. you should see the dirty ones.

2. Scummiest Hotel: (that beach just above Gangneung, Korea)

Actually it was a min-bak.. but it was just off the kitchen.. same floor - the ground floor.. along a row of restaurants in the area. I slept on a floor.. and saw so many cockroaches, creatures, and everything else on that floor.. bedbugs and unwashed blankets, sheets, pillows, etc. Really had to drink A LOT beforehand to go to bed that night.. and couldn't even good a decent rest even then.


3. Sleaziest City: Pattaya, Thailand

never been.. but can imagine. Thailand has a lot.. and Pattaya seems to blow everywhere else away there in the kingdom

4. Most Corrupt Airport: Caracas, Venezuela

Caracas was the worst for me. Even after being beat up and robbed, as well as heard and saw every other story down there.. finally thought I was getting away from it all in Venezuela.. only to have an 'official' guy try to charge me a departure tax and lead me to the elevators where real officials saw him and he ran away quickly! Then checking in my bags.. some guy behind the counter grabbed my carry-ons and starting running to where my 'waiting area' would be.. then told me to give him a tip! I hate that airport!

5. Worst Food: Austria

I'm sure its good.. but heavy food like that doesn't taste that good.. I love all kinds of asian food.. but quickly realized that eastern europe food just doesn't do it for me.. I suppose a personal taste type thing.

6. Most Irritating Hawkers: Hanoi

Yeah, I'd say Hanoi annoyed me the worst.. and I've been annoyed in many many cities around the world by those kind of guys. What makes Hanoi and Vietnam in general more irritating is anyone and everyone with a bike becomes a taxi.. so they just patrol and hound you relentlessly day and night.. even when you are going into establishments they are harrassing you to take you elsewhere.


7. Worst Architecture: China

China gets this for me.. really really gray and drab and cement-like.. and just blocks and blocks and blocks of never-ending blocks of it.

8. Worst Weather: Great Lakes, US/Canada

Just because so damn cold in the winter.. and when the summer hits.. its too damn humid! I'm thinking of my hometown of Michigan.. but I'm sure Ontario is just the same. And when I lived in Minneapolis it was even worse.. so the Canadian side I'm sure is the same.

9. Most Uninteresting Place:

mm.. can't think of one for this category.


10. Worst International Food: Nepal

Nepal was horrible. I had pizza there.. it was yak cheese on crackers.. ordered a hamburger and it was some burnt something on two slices of bread..

11. Most Overrated Country: the UK

I'm sure there are British on here.. but coming from North America where we kind of have romantic images of the place.. then suddenly realize once there that every Brit you ever met was right that the weather is incredibly drab.. in addition the cities aren't that attractive either.. kind of industrial and drab..

12. Most Dangerous City: Detroit

miles and miles and miles and miles of empty homes with smashed windows, graffiti, bars on the windows, and boarded up windows.. with the occassional liquor store scattered among them with the same graffiti and barred up windows as well.

[Homer]

1. Dirtiest Bathrooms: Turkey

My god..let us forget....

2. Scummiest Hotel: (A small hotel I stayed at in Colombia back in 1996)

The bugs were huge, rats roamed the hallway and there were stains on that wall that I did not care to identify.

3. Sleaziest City: Pattaya, Thailand

Ditto and been there once...before I knew the reputation.

4. Most Corrupt Airport: No real choice

5. Worst Food: UK!



6. Most Irritating Hawkers: Hanoi

Agreed.


7. Worst Architecture: China

Agreed.

8. Worst Weather: Great Lakes, US/Canada

Just because so damn cold in the winter.. and when the summer hits.. its too damn humid! I'm thinking of my hometown of Michigan.. but I'm sure Ontario is just the same. And when I lived in Minneapolis it was even worse.. so the Canadian side I'm sure is the same.

[fatpat]

I have to stick up for the UK here. Tiger beer, we have some of the most wonderful architecture and scenery in the world. Having travelled to many countires now, I can really appreciate how beautiful the UK is. I especially love Yorkshire and the Lake District, but most people tend not to venture much further than London (which has amazing architecture anyway). Now the weather, that is a different story as it is total sh*t most of the time. As for the food, many think our traditional food is boring or whatever, but I and most fellow Englishmen I know would so much rather have roast beef with yorkshire puddings or fish and chips over dog soup and kimchi or a dirty mcdonalds hamburger. There are many restaurants that serve some really delicious traditional foods but there are also more restaurants that serve all kinds of international foods, the choice of food in my city, Leeds is phenominal. I think you and many who go on about how rubbish the food from UK is, havn't been to the right places.

[fatpat]

Also how could I forget the sandwich! we invented it (the French may disagree, but they would) so I guess that is one of our traditional foods that is eaten worldwide on a daily basis by millions. Mmmmmmm sandwiches.

[Moldy Rutabaga]

[jinju]

[lawyertood]

Sleaziest City

I think Angeles City could give Pattaya a run for its money. Although it is smaller, it is truly a city with only one thing going on. At least you get families travelling in Pattaya and there is more to do there than the usual bargirl thing. Granted, plenty of that in Pattaya and more "girls."

[Pyongshin Sangja]

1. Dirtiest Bathrooms: Sa Li Tur, Beijing, China.

An unlit concrete shack with a one-legged man begging at the door. Piss against the orangish wall and run.

2. Scummiest Hotel: The Beacon, Pigeon Park, Vancouver, B.C.

Well, er, why was I there you ask? I'd tell you but I'd have to kill you.

3. Sleaziest City: Sabang Beach, Puerto Galera, Mindoro, Philippines.

Haven for East End gangsters on the run and Dutch perverts. And me, occasionally.

4. Most Corrupt Airport: Manila.

Security checks every ten metres because everyone wants a kickback. Takes 2 hours to board a plane and everyone is packing heat.

5. Worst Food: The Reichstag Cafeteria, East Berlin, DDR.

May have changed since 1991 but was a true Soviet chrome monstrosity with enormous babushkas serving even larger cabbage rolls that swam in a sea of pork grease and cabbage water.

6. Most Irritating Hawkers: Itaewon.

That dude with the American and Canadian flags on his headband selling the flashing bracelets must die. And how about crazy man that lives in the subway station next to the ATM? You know the one.

And why does Gecko's Garden charge 50 bucks for a steak and then let the flower lady in to annoy me? She's my date, not a prosititute.

7. Worst Architecture: Edmonton, Alberta.

If only I could live in the basement of a bungalow, just like Grandma.

8. Worst Weather: Jeonju, SK.

Wind storms there are unreal. Fenceposts and billboards fly down the street. Cars blow off roads. Get indoors as soon as you can and stay there.

[Panic Button]

11. Most Overrated Country: the UK

I'm sure there are British on here.. but coming from North America where we kind of have romantic images of the place.. then suddenly realize once there that every Brit you ever met was right that the weather is incredibly drab.. in addition the cities aren't that attractive either.. kind of industrial and drab..


Cities in the UK industrial and drab? Some of them, yeah, but the UK also has some of the best architecture around! Where in the UK did you go exactly?