Dangerous Cities

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According to MSN, these are among the ten most dangerous cities, and should not be visited alone.

1. Oakland Well, I lived in Oakland twice in my younger days, both in the Lake Merritt area. I never had any trouble, walking, riding my bicycle, or with my car. Parts of Oakland are nice, parts are downright dangerous. But its reputation precedes itself in the eyes of many, including tourists.

2. Lima, Peru Staying on the beach, overlooking the Pacific Ocean is hardly dangerous. We stayed there on our way to Machu, and on our way back from the Amazon. Lima has quite a food scene, and walking around seemed quite safe. But on the taxi ride between the airport and the hotel was another adventure. We passed many barrios and crime ridden areas.

3. Memphis I thought downtown Memphis was very safe. I walked from my hotel down to Beale Street, about 6 to 8 blocks away, almost every day and evening. Many tourists and music fans out at all hours of the night, must have made me feel quite safe.

4. Mexico City I had two full days in Mexico City before Mike arrived. The first day, I was in the Centro Historico, where most guide books tell you to stay away. The second day, I went on a 4 hour bicycle tour through several older neighborhoods. Never did I feel I was in danger!! Our Mexico City friends thought we were crazy to walk around the old La Merced market in the old part of town. People were just working too hard to care about two crazy Americanos walking around their market, the largest in all of Latin America.

5. St. Louis Like most older, big cities, good and bad often reside near each other. The Italian part of the city, "The Hill" is quite safe, as are the Central West End, Union Station, and Westport. But the ghetto looms on almost any exit off the inner city freeways. I once went to a barbecue joint, where the help locked themselves into a "vault" to keep the hoodlums out of the kitchen!!!!

6. Detroit I heeded the advice of many, and chose Ann Arbor to complete my visit to all fifty states. I cannot imagine a more depressing and dangerous place than downtown Detroit. Hard to believe the Niners won their first Super Bowl there!

My additions:

1. South Central Los Angeles Otherwise known as Watts, I often played baseball here during my college days. We never were in danger, though some of the diners and motels looked rather dicey. Since we traveled as a team, we had anywhere from 20 to 25 guys, perhaps affording us an extra degree of safety.

2. West Fresno Anything west of Highway 99 is a red flag in my book. Even the downtown areas at night can be a little crazy. The downtown ballpark where the Fresno Grizzlies play, sits at the south end of old downtown. No problems going there at night, so far.

3. Bangkok Yes, boys and girls, the red light district is dangerous, for many reasons. Not just the transvestites, but the drugs and gangs. Tell Mr. Mike to stay away!!! 4. Berkeley The flatlands are notorious for crime of all kinds. It can be as dangerous as parts of west and east Oakland. But they do have some pretty good barbecue joints there. 5. Johannesburg, South Africa Our friend, Barry the V from Cape Town, told us to avoid J'burg at all costs. We did, since we camped out at his home for 2 weeks!!! 6. A few others: Vallejo, Compton (home of the Williams tennis sisters), San Pablo, Richmond, Marin City, south Chicago, east St. Louis, and the District of Columbia. So, should San Bernardino, and Orlando be added?
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