Struggling to Find A Holiday Destination?

[Groundhog]

Journey off the beaten track a little...

Top 10 Hells on Earth
(as according to askmen.com)

Port Moresby, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Type of hell: Disease

With over 115 new HIV and AIDS cases diagnosed every month, the capital of Papua New Guinea is in trouble. With the population expanding at an uncontrollable rate, unemployment levels have rocketed, income levels plummeted and gang members, known as raskols, have been known to carry out bank robberies with M16 machine guns and hijack cars wielding machetes.



Linfen, CHINA
Type of hell: Darkness
Linfen, China, is sooty and dark, located in a 12-mile industrial belt, and affected by the 50 million tons of coal mined each year in the nearby hills of Shanxi. There's no escaping the smog.



Bujumbura, REPUBLIC OF BURUNDI
Type of hell: Corruption
With the lowest GDP per capita in the world, Burundi is the poorest country on the planet and is scarred by a history of genocide, mass killing and assassinated political leaders. Not only that, but a pool of 178 countries found that Burundi's people had the poorest satisfaction of life in the world.



Pyongyang, NORTH KOREA
Type of hell: Oppression
While its modern-day facade may look like any other Western city, underneath it's entirely autocratic. Radios and TVs have only one channel which broadcasts special programs controlled by the government, bicycles are banned as part of a political regime to restrict movement and interaction.



Oklahoma City, US
Type of hell: Natural disasters
Located in the direct path of "Tornado Alley," the worst time to visit would be from March to August. Scenes of devastation is pretty much expected. The severe weather season makes Dorothy's Kansas look positively calm, with Oklahoma City being the city worst affected by tornadoes in the United States.



Chernobyl, UKRAINE
Type of hell: Radiation
Famed for a nuclear explosion that tore through the city in 1986 and contaminated most of its living organisms, Chernobyl is certainly not the kind of place you'd like to holiday in. Everything is still largely abandoned and remains as it was 20 years ago, with hundreds of miles of uninhabitable space, deserted buildings and poisoned lakes and rivers.



Mogadishu, SOMALIA
Type of hell: Lawlessness
With the collapse of central government in 1991, Mogadishu is largely lawless, with no structure of real peacekeeping present, despite a failed effort in 1992 by the US marines. Indeed, Mogadishu certainly won't be found in any glossy holiday brochure anytime soon.


Yakutsk, RUSSIA
Type of hell: Environmental extreme
Officially the coldest place on earth, temperatures here often drop to a hypothermia-inducing -58°F, and if it drops below this (which it often does), children get the day off school. Another hellish aspect of Yakutsk is its isolation – a whole six time zones away from Moscow.



Dhaka, BANGLADESH
Type of hell: Pollution
Despite enduring political instability, military suppression and devastation from war and natural disaster, the capital of Bangladesh faces a new crisis over critically high pollution levels. Rapid industrial development has filled the city with so much smog it is causing environmental damage, with 9.7 million tons of waste dumped in the river by the city each year.



Baghdad, IRAQ
Type of hell: Conflict
The city has been irreversibly damaged by the Gulf War and years of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, bringing the once vibrant city to its knees. Lootings, robberies, kidnappings, and sexual assaults have been rife, but it is the daily slaughter of troops, journalists and civilians that terrify the most.

Afghanistan is probably a little unlucky to not get a shout out... I know I'd rather spend the entire period of March through August in Oklahoma City than a single afternoon in Afghanistan.

[Lathum]

Yeah, the OK City one is pretty stupid.

Anywhere in the United States is better then 100 other places you can think of.

[wade moore]

Ignoring the content of the article - there are some incredible pieces of photography in that piece.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by wade moore

Ignoring the content of the article - there are some incredible pieces of photography in that piece.

Agree.

I'm a big fan of the African photos both in this article and elsewhere with the same subject matter. For some reason (maybe it's all the sympathetic movies dealing with this region) they affect me much more than any pictures I see coming out of the Middle East.