Sh*tholes of the World Thread

[Zeno]

SH*THOLES OF THE WORLD: LET’S COMPILE A LIST

Since I just finished a road trip and passed through many Sh*tholes, I thought about making this post and decided that EDF would be the best location to get a perspective and start a list on Sh*tholes of the world. It would be difficult to give a precise definition of a Sh*thole but in general they are located in remote or overcrowded areas, usually with foul and/or extremes in weather and a majority population of criminals, ruffians, parasites, political charlatans, and uncultured and ignorant plebeians that are best avoided and certainly not worth knowing, all ensconced in a area of industrial bleakness, mind-numbing sameness in housing and buildings and businesses, and trash and filth and grim, and vicious traffic, and miles of roads and freeways and concrete, encapsulated with air not fit to breath - You know, Los Angles.

Or, Sh*tholes may also just be some shabby hole-in- the-wall town that looks and feels like it needs to be burned to the ground or just left to blow away in the wind, which would soon happen anyway by the looks of the empty and dilapidated buildings, trailers, and people. Now a Sh*thole can also be a region (West Texas, the state of Sinaloa in Mexico) but as noted above they are often associated with a city or metropolitan area.

It is helpful to give examples to aid in the definition and certification of known Sh*tholes. Certified Sh*tholes of America that I can speak to from personal experience (unfortunately):

Pecos, Texas
Fort Stockton, Texas
Barstow, California
Stockton, California
Los Angles, California
Espanola, New Mexico
Pueblo, Colorado
Naturita, Colorado
Pahrump, Nevada

On the international front, certified sh*tholes I have known:

Mexico City, Mexico
Culiacan, Mexico
Keelung, Taiwan
Beijing, China
Bangkok, Thailand

A bit of qualification: there can be numerous gem spots or that golden oasis area within a swirling cesspool that can make life and visiting tolerable and indeed a pleasure, but this does erase the fact that the whole general area is a certified Sh*thole. It is just a tolerable sh*thole. Anyone that has been to the Los Angles basin and surrounding environs or trespassed through many of the areas in Beijing or Bangkok should be able to relate to this quickly and easily.

For purposes of a list, Sh*tholes should be confided to a general region or city or metropolitan area. It is certainly possible to, say, call the entire subcontinent (some people call it India) a sh*thole with some justification but limits need to be imposed to make a list workable and useful. After all, given my temperament; I usually consider the entire planet a sh*thole – mainly because of the bipedal hominid inhabitants that infest the place, but that is another matter and beside the point.

Anyway, I have gone on a bit long so simply invite others to add to the nascent list given above, with qualifiers as necessary. For example, it is best I think to list Sh*tholes in two catergories: those to avoid at all cost and those that are still worth a visit, or at least a quick peak to dirty the feet and nose and assult the eye.


One more thing, some areas can be Sh*tholes but lift themselves out of that category by a variety of methods. Beirut, Lebanon, a certified sh*thole and hell hole in the 80’s, may now be lifting itself out of that category, or not - Just something to keep in mind.

Calcutta (now called Kolkata for some insane reason. [I learned this from a recent article in The Economist]) is a certified Sh*thole, just in case someone thinks it isn’t. Stick that in your eye and put it on the list.

-Zeno: I don't live in a Sh*thole but there are plenty of them surrounding me. Ugh.

[burrito wolf]

brussels

[ActionJeff]

Little town in Utah I'll update this with the name of. I was pulled over going the speed limit on the interstate driving from MA, almost certainly because my passenger was black. I choose to barely speak to the officers at all and we were both entirely respectful. The car was illegally searched for hours without consent and with no reasoning given except that we "seemed suspicious". There was nothing in the car except <.1 grams of marijuana residue under a seat. We were both arrested and bail was set at $3000. I was forced to pee in a cup and because I had smoked weed in the last 30 days, I was charged with "driving with a measurable amount" and "possession". The car was impounded 30 miles away instead of in the town. Upon being released we were refused transportation and had to walk into town, at which point we were told there was no lodging and no cabs for 150 miles. My lawyer later explained
that the police wanted to pick us up and charge us again and it did it on purpose. Everyone stared at us everywhere and straight up pointed at my black friend. Eventually we found someone who
overheard us offering money for a ride and for $40 made it to the
impound. The man who offered us a ride claimed to be a UFC
fighter and showed us his gun. Then he showed us his bag of weed. The man
had a bag of salvia to explain the pipe if he was ever searched. He told us
that the arresting officer had been caught 6 months prior masturbating in his cruiser with two underage girls in the back seat while high and drunk. I tipped him generously and we made our way to Las Vegas. My lawyer would later
explain to me that this is routine procedure in parts of Utah and fighting the case in court would likely result in jail time. We settled with the possession
charge dropped and the charge of "driving with a measurable amount", which
does not exist in my home state of Massachusetts yet netted me 6 months
without a license back home.

Let 'em burn

[ActionJeff]

OP, I had a similar feeling as you about L.A. my first go around. In fact I wrote a post very idealogically comparable to yours

[eviljeff]

San Jose, Costa Rica

damn this is the dirtiest city I've ever been to. it's the complete opposite of charming. the guide books basically advise you to spend as little time here as possible and we agree.

we hit three museums (Museo de Oro, Museo de Jade, and Museo Nacional de Costa Rica) and they were all pretty small and pathetic. there were a couple interesting artifacts, but nothing really worth going for.

going out at night is at-your-own-risk. the streets are full of prostitutes, thugs, and shady cab drivers.

the University of Costa Rica is probably the most worthwhile area to visit. the campus is kinda random and not very well developed, but it beats walking around the city. there's a street leading up to the Uni (kinda like Telegraph) that's pretty cool - some chill restaurants and bars.

tomorrow we're waking up early to get the hell out of here. next update should be a lot more interesting.

[Zeno]

Need to add - Lyon, France: I spent a week there one day. Famous for its rows of industrial apartment buildings, and filth, but the dirt and grim are standard for all French Cities.


-Zeno

[JLBorloo]

that would be Lyon's suburbs then, or not the center, cause it's definitely a nice Hausmannian city, and is a bit of a little Paris.

European ****holes :
Any French suburb
Marseille, France (biggest ****hole ever, and the whole city this time)
Lille/Calais/Dunkerque, France, full of inbreds fat alcoholic people tuning their cars
Parma, Italy
Any city on the Spanish Costa Brava (Benidorm)
Hannover, Germany
Wolfsburg, Germany
Bochum, Germany
Linz, Austria
Ostrava, Czech Republik
Bratislava, Slovakia (went there for three days, hoped back to Vienna after 1 night cause it was too boring)
Pskov, Russia

[1a2a3a]

agree completely about beijing

adding:
pyongyang, north korea

[La Ultima Cerveca]

Saskatoon is big ****hole too.

[lucid75]

From my experiences:

Greeley, CO
Springfield, IL
East Chicago. IN
East St. Louis, MO
Memphis, TN
Tunica, MS

[DoTheMath]

Originally Posted by La Ultima Cerveca

Saskatoon is big ****hole too.

I'm guessing you haven't been to any of the other places named ITT.

[Parallax]

Originally Posted by JLBorloo

that would be Lyon's suburbs then, or not the center, cause it's definitely a nice Hausmannian city, and is a bit of a little Paris.

European ****holes :
Any French suburb
Marseille, France (biggest ****hole ever, and the whole city this time)
Lille/Calais/Dunkerque, France, full of inbreds fat alcoholic people tuning their cars
Parma, Italy
Any city on the Spanish Costa Brava (Benidorm)
Hannover, Germany
Wolfsburg, Germany
Bochum, Germany
Linz, Austria
Ostrava, Czech Republik
Bratislava, Slovakia (went there for three days, hoped back to Vienna after 1 night cause it was too boring)
Pskov, Russia

100% true, my brother was doing study abroad in Paris and we thought, oh cool we will go down to the French coast for a weekend...holy sht Marseille is awful.

Btw, I could have guessed most of these places were awful without ever having been there. I mean if I've never heard of Pskov, Russia before I'm guessing it's not the next London.

[mouthtoilet]

anywhere in india

[calmasahinducow]

Elyria/Lorain, OH

90% of U.S. cities with a military base in them

[Sedeete]

Originally Posted by burrito wolf

brussels

This, and I'm belgian.

Never found any other city as awful, dirty and unsafe as brussels.