# Dangerous cities, yet cool cities.



## ReddAlert (Nov 4, 2004)

*What are some cities you can think of that are pretty dangerous/mysterious, yet very interesting and you would like to visit?*

One I can think of is New Orleans. The city just seems so incredible and intresting, yet crime infested. 
I believe the city has the highest murder rate in the United States. It also is filled with beggars, panhandlers, con artists, theives, pickpockets..etc from what I hear. I also hear that if you walk certain blocks out of the French Quarter...that your have a pretty nice chance of losing something of value, perhaps your life. New Orleans is also famous for its above ground cemetaries. When I visit there, I was planning on going by myself and touring the infamous cemetaries (cities of the dead as they call them)...which is a bad idea from what I read. Theives and muggers actually hide inside the cemetary, inbetween the above ground crypts waiting to strike.



voodoo 
markings on a famous grave

There are also people who go to these cemeteries to practice voodoo or pay respects to dead priestesses. The city is also has a history of hauntings...mainly due to it being very old, the site of historic battles, and the slaves with their voodoo rituals. Oh yeah, there is also a history of pirates in the city. 
"Pirates Alley"


if anyone else knows any weird or creepy things about N.O., please post. Thanks.


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## birminghamculture (Nov 1, 2002)

Birmingham - well to the UK, because knowone bloody visits here, plus its UK's main gangland area and only makes the national press when theres shootings or something else negative. But if people decided to get of thier ass and visit the city, people would soon change thier minds because its absolutely beautitful and you discover something new everyday.


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## Ionizer (Jun 8, 2005)

Mexico City, plenty of historic places, attractions, museums, theatres, parks, etc... you must come someday.


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## Küsel (Sep 16, 2004)

New Orleans, Rio and Jo'burgh are interesting though dangerous...


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## rufi (Nov 24, 2004)

Detroit- highest murder rate in the US, a city that is fading away


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## ssiguy2 (Feb 19, 2005)

Rio and Bogota.


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## ReddAlert (Nov 4, 2004)

yeah, I personally feel Rio is like a much larger New Orleans. People will flock there...but really dont realize how bad most of the city is. Copacabana beach is beautiful...but how about the favelas and run down drug houses? Its the same with Mexico City..beautiful and festive, yet very poor on the fringes. 

I doubt Birmingham is as bad as either of these cities...but its probally the least loved large city in England. Its kind of like a Great Lakes city...industrial, run down in parts, crime pockets...but overall a pretty cool place. Would me comparing it to a Cleveland, Milwaukee, Buffalo be a fair comparison?


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## Zaqattaq (Nov 17, 2004)

I would add Washington D.C. to the list


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## ReddAlert (Nov 4, 2004)

what about Bangkok? I dont know to much about it....but ive heard its pretty sleazy and dangerous outside the tourist zone.


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## hudkina (Oct 28, 2003)

rufi said:


> Detroit- highest murder rate in the US, a city that is fading away


Detroit doesn't have the highest murder rate!

New Orleans, Washington, Baltimore, Gary and several other cities have murder rates higher than Detroit.


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## UnitedPakistan (Jun 12, 2004)

I would like to visit Skardu 

But thanks to the India vs Pakistan conflict the US embassy urges that i do not go thier!

BTW its funny how the ambassador to Pakistan just recently went up thier with almost no security and they are telling me not to go? Crazy!!!!!

Anyways, i plan to ignore the warning and venture into Kashmir this time.


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## VansTripp (Sep 29, 2004)

Compton


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## i_am_hydrogen (Dec 9, 2004)

ReddAlert -

I think you're overstating the gravity of the situation in New Orleans. You're appealing to myths and misperceptions about the place. Is there crime? Yes, and some of the neighborhoods are very rough, but it isn't some crime-infested pit where you must constantly be looking around in every direction trying to anticipate an assault on your person or property. I've been there a lot, and have never feared for my safety or been overly concerned about being robbed outside of the bad areas--and you know them when you see them. I've walked through every street of the French Quarter and downtown without any problems. There are definitely people out there trying to hustle, and as with any big city you have to be smart, but I don't think New Orleans is as bad as you believe.


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## Latin l0cO (Nov 8, 2004)

ReddAlert said:


> yeah, I personally feel Rio is like a much larger New Orleans. People will flock there...but really dont realize how bad *most* of the city is. Copacabana beach is beautiful...but how about the favelas and run down drug houses? Its the same with Mexico City..beautiful and festive, yet very poor on the fringes.
> 
> I doubt Birmingham is as bad as either of these cities...but its probally the least loved large city in England. Its kind of like a Great Lakes city...industrial, run down in parts, crime pockets...but overall a pretty cool place. Would me comparing it to a Cleveland, Milwaukee, Buffalo be a fair comparison?


I wouldn't say the city is entirely bad. Yes there is some bad parts like all cities but its normal for a typical resident of Rio. Its not like the whole city is infested with crime and poverty.


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## DrJekyll (Sep 23, 2004)

For me these cities are *Mexico* , *Cairo* , *Sao Paulo* and *Tirana*, in Albania.


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## Melb99 (Dec 3, 2004)

Adelaide, Apart from the pedophiles, bikies and violent aboriginals it's a nice kind of a place. The beaches are great too!


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## Küsel (Sep 16, 2004)

I thought the higest murder rate has St. Louis, not Detroit or Washington anymore. I also know someone who went there to work and he said it's hell... 

Sao Paulo: it has a high crime rate, theoretically higher than Rio but not as high as Vitoria and Belo Horizonte but it concentrates much more on specific areas that you as a traveller or foreigner anyway never would hit even by chance because they are far off the "interesting" places. So it's a much safer place for a tourist than Rio where you can't escape the beggars and always have to watch yourself that you are not cheated by the street sellers. The problem is that Rio is much more of a socially mixed place geographically and has a huge division of rich and poor while Sao Paulo is poor in the south and east, very rich between the center and the pinheiros river and a huge middle class city in the west and north. In Rio you have four streets of Copacabana and then already the Favelas. The other point is: the Cariocas know they are a tourist attraction and can suck out all the money from the visitors even if they come from other Brazilian places and prices explode as well as robbery and theft.


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## sdtj (Sep 11, 2003)

Baghdad, Beirut, Jerusalem? I'm very intrigued by these cities but I'm a little afraid to visit..


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## nikko (Jul 23, 2004)

New Orleans, Sao Paulo, Mexico City


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## urbanpakistan (Jun 4, 2005)

Very Dangerous but not cool city is MUMBAI, INDIA.......Peope here are out of this world.


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