Whats the roughest place you have been to in the UK or US ?

[Rock_Flock_of_Five]

I’m back & forth to the Philippines on a regular basis, and I guess I’m probably somewhat immune by now to the various social problems out there.
Don’t know Manila that well, and I’ve always tended to stay in the Mall of Asia area when there.
However, know Davao (… and lots of Mindanao) pretty well, and I’ve always felt secure in that City, but you obviously need to keep your wits about you, and be sensitive to local customs…. (but you need to be cautious in the autonomous Muslim areas).

Davao is regarded as the safest city in the Philippines, due to the so-called “Death Squads” that operated there. Pretty criminals, drug dealers etc were supposedly given just one warning, “Stop or leave”. If the warning was ignored, summary “justice” was enforced, with an almost total lack of public outrage.
The City mayor most of this time was Duterte ….. altho’ there was no evidence to connect the police or Duterte with the killings.
He’s now the President.

I was told to avoid Mindanao due to the risk of kidnapping?

[MarcP]

I was told to avoid Mindanao due to the risk of kidnapping?

Mindanao is on the UK Govt’s FCO list of areas to avoid apart from non-essential international travel, so you have difficulty getting insurance cover, but Davao, Samal Island, GenSan, and CDO are ok. As you get further into the "hinterland" you need to be cautious. Am even thinking of living on Samal.

Wife’s family are from Midsayap & Cotabato City, and they are more worried than me when I visit, so you need to be aware of the general news / atmosphere. I’ve often had comments from people that I’m the only “foreigner” they’ve seen in ages.
However, Zamboanga is a big no-no.

[Rock_Flock_of_Five]

Mindanao is on the UK Govt’s FCO list of areas to avoid apart from non-essential international travel, so you have difficulty getting insurance cover, but Davao, Samal Island, GenSan, and CDO are ok. As you get further into the "hinterland" you need to be cautious. Am even thinking of living on Samal.

Wife’s family are from Midsayap & Cotabato City, and they are more worried than me when I visit, so you need to be aware of the general news / atmosphere. I’ve often had comments from people that I’m the only “foreigner” they’ve seen in ages.
However, Zamboanga is a big no-no.

Thanks for the heads-up on that. I had heard of some rather grisly stories of foreigners who were abducted in those regions.

Stay safe mate!

[Swbluebird]

Washington DC. On a motoring holiday up the east coast of the U.S. we booked into a motel in advance over the phone. It was on a road called New York Avenue East which sounded quite grand and therefore presumably safe. When we got the key to our room we found that the door had been jemmied at some time and there was a flimsy metal plate over the gap. Looking at the neighbouring rooms we found they were all the same so no point in asking for a different room. Thankfully the night passed without incident. The following morning we walked to the nearest underground station to travel into the city to do the sightseeing stuff. This was scary, like a scene from a film. There were small groups of lads sitting on the steps of practically every house watching us intently as we walked down their street. Clearly we were tourists with our backpacks. We were too nervous to go back that way after dark so we got a taxi - the driver could not believe that we had walked where we had walked, even in daylight!

I toured around some spots on the East Coast of the states with some pals and finished up in Washington DC, assumed it would be a nice spot but was very wrong, roughest place we visited by some distance. Place felt very unsafe whilst we were there. Was only there 1 night, walked back after an evening out and found out there had been a serious shooting about a mile from where we were staying:

https://time.com/5681928/washington-...ghts-shooting/

[az city]

I’ve been driving up NY Ave E most Monday’s for the last 11 years or so to get to a meeting in Maryland.
I used to hate a couple of intersections when the lights turned red.

It used to be very sketchy
Lots of that area has been gentrified
Still preferred it to driving on The Beltway.

Apart from NW DC, the rest of the City used to be bad. Now a lot of the bad parts like Anacostia and The U-St Corridor has been gentrified somewhat and packed full of Hipster/Yuppies.

Still dodgy AF in some areas, but not as bad as it was.

Much of Baltimore is way worse.
Stray a few blocks from Camden Yards or The Harbour and it gets very real very quickly.

Many years ago I decided to do (mainly) the east coast and Canada by Greyhound. After a really long overnight journey from Chicago I arrived at DC bus station. I visited the restroom but couldn't figure out why the guys in there were exchanging pairs playing cards wrapped in silver foil. I wandered outside to find a phone booth and noticed a store called "The Plain Brown Wrapper: Purveyors of Fine Smu" (no mistake the 't' had fallen off) as I called my friend who was at Georgetown. I told my friend where I was and she shouted "Stay inside the Phone booth! I'm coming straight there." Apparently it was a bit rough. I still laugh to this day about the name of the sex shop. The friend then poisoned me but that's another story.

[Wash DC Blue]

Many years ago I decided to do (mainly) the east coast and Canada by Greyhound. After a really long overnight journey from Chicago I arrived at DC bus station. I visited the restroom but couldn't figure out why the guys in there were exchanging pairs playing cards wrapped in silver foil. I wandered outside to find a phone booth and noticed a store called "The Plain Brown Wrapper: Purveyors of Fine Smu" (no mistake the 't' had fallen off) as I called my friend who was at Georgetown. I told my friend where I was and she shouted "Stay inside the Phone booth! I'm coming straight there." Apparently it was a bit rough. I still laugh to this day about the name of the sex shop. The friend then poisoned me but that's another story.

Sounds fun 😀.
Did you stay in Georgetown?
It’s really nice around there.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Many years ago I decided to do (mainly) the east coast and Canada by Greyhound. After a really long overnight journey from Chicago I arrived at DC bus station. I visited the restroom but couldn't figure out why the guys in there were exchanging pairs playing cards wrapped in silver foil. I wandered outside to find a phone booth and noticed a store called "The Plain Brown Wrapper: Purveyors of Fine Smu" (no mistake the 't' had fallen off) as I called my friend who was at Georgetown. I told my friend where I was and she shouted "Stay inside the Phone booth! I'm coming straight there." Apparently it was a bit rough. I still laugh to this day about the name of the sex shop. The friend then poisoned me but that's another story.

Oh, come on, do tell!

[az city]

One night in Georgetown, three in a local hospital with poisoning. Don't remember area much.

[xsnaggle]

Edmonton in North London is not a pleasant place, I have a friend who lived there and I visited his mother once. A lot of people on the street were looking and she laughed and said, "We don't get many visitors around here"

Almost all of Belfast in the 70s.

Marseilles

When I wrote this I should have mentioned most places in the N East north of Middlesbrough, but a special mention for Birtley. Looks ever so nice if you drive through during the day but its a hell hole.
This is the place where a man shot an off duty cop dead with a sawn off shot gun because he was associating with a woman who had thrown the gunman out over a year previously.
And the locals feted him like a local hero because he killed a cop, without anyone commenting on the way he treated the woman and her young daughter before she elbowed him. That didn't matter.
And Gazza took him a curry or a Chinese or something while he was holed up with the shotgun in the woods and everyone thought it was wonderful

[blue matt]

When I wrote this I should have mentioned most places in the N East north of Middlesbrough, but a special mention for Birtley. Looks ever so nice if you drive through during the day but its a hell hole.
This is the place where a man shot an off duty cop dead with a sawn off shot gun because he was associating with a woman who had thrown the gunman out over a year previously.
And the locals feted him like a local hero because he killed a cop, without anyone commenting on the way he treated the woman and her young daughter before she elbowed him. That didn't matter.
And Gazza took him a curry or a Chinese or something while he was holed up with the shotgun in the woods and everyone thought it was wonderful

raoul moat saw a program on the hunt during lockdown

Gazza took a cooked chicken and his fishing rods down

[xsnaggle]

raoul moat saw a program on the hunt during lockdown

Gazza took a cooked chicken and his fishing rods down

Yeah, it was funny, but it wasn't really. He shot an off-duty policeman who didn't even know him and he is treated like a hero. That is pretty much what the place is like.

[blue matt]

Yeah, it was funny, but it wasn't really. He shot an off-duty policeman who didn't even know him and he is treated like a hero. That is pretty much what the place is like.

The guy was evil and set out to shoot other police offers aswell :(

But Gazza turning up is mental, of course he has issues, a cooked chicken and fishing rods, Gazza was also in his dressing gown by all accounts

[Gofer Blue]

I’ve been driving up NY Ave E most Monday’s for the last 11 years or so to get to a meeting in Maryland.
I used to hate a couple of intersections when the lights turned red.

It used to be very sketchy
Lots of that area has been gentrified
Still preferred it to driving on The Beltway.

Apart from NW DC, the rest of the City used to be bad. Now a lot of the bad parts like Anacostia and The U-St Corridor has been gentrified somewhat and packed full of Hipster/Yuppies.

Still dodgy AF in some areas, but not as bad as it was.

Much of Baltimore is way worse.
Stray a few blocks from Camden Yards or The Harbour and it gets very real very quickly.

Our trip was about 30 years ago - late 1980's. It was probably rougher back then? We nearly went into Baltimore to visit a long lost relative but for some reason she cried off at the last minute which was a shame because we were literally passing the city on the way North. We found out later from another cousin in Pennsylvania that she lived in a very rough part of Baltimore and was frightened on our behalf, hence put us off visiting!

[Wash DC Blue]

Our trip was about 30 years ago - late 1980's. It was probably rougher back then?

Most Definitely!
It was amongst the worst cities in the US.
The NBA team had to change their name from The Washington Bullets.

[Gofer Blue]

I toured around some spots on the East Coast of the states with some pals and finished up in Washington DC, assumed it would be a nice spot but was very wrong, roughest place we visited by some distance. Place felt very unsafe whilst we were there. Was only there 1 night, walked back after an evening out and found out there had been a serious shooting about a mile from where we were staying:

https://time.com/5681928/washington-...ghts-shooting/

On the same trip we got lost driving into Miami from the airport in a hire car. Apparently this was a very dodgy thing to do at the time because cars with Hertz Rental stickers in the back window were a dead giveaway for muggers. Anyway we eventually found the motel we had booked. In the middle of the night we were awakened by the sound of people shouting outside our window. There was a police car with red/blue lights flashing and a policeman standing near another car shouting "get out with your hands up" or words to that effect. Wow, what a start to the holiday we thought! Our kids thought it was a great adventure of course.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

The guy was evil and set out to shoot other police offers aswell :(

But Gazza turning up is mental, of course he has issues, a cooked chicken and fishing rods, Gazza was also in his dressing gown by all accounts

Gazza didn't get anywhere near him thank feck , the old bill called the mental health team for him

[xsnaggle]

Gazza didn't get anywhere near him thank feck , the old bill called the mental health team for him

I seem to remember reports that gazza gave him the food and sat and had a chat with him

[xsnaggle]

I seem to remember reports that gazza gave him the food and sat and had a chat with him

Just checked. Orthopedic shoes!!!

[J R Hartley]

I walked from Times Square to Union Square when I was in NY in 2005. There was an area just north of Union Square where it got really heavy for a few blocks. Very shady. Thankfully the traffic lights / pedestrian crossings worked in our favour but it was definitely a brown trousers moment.

[blue matt]

we were in NY 2 years ago

stayed in a decentish hotel ( the New yorker )

the walk from times sq / Broadway wasnt great at times, the amount of homeless who were a little too " in your face ", they preyed on families , made me feel very uneasy

[splott parker]

we were in NY 2 years ago

stayed in a decentish hotel ( the New yorker )

the walk from times sq / Broadway wasnt great at times, the amount of homeless who were a little too " in your face ", they prayed on families , made me feel very uneasy

It would have been three Hail Marys from me

[blue matt]

It would have been three Hail Marys from me

Ive edited it now but i'll leave your quote

[NYCBlue]

I walked from Times Square to Union Square when I was in NY in 2005. There was an area just north of Union Square where it got really heavy for a few blocks. Very shady. Thankfully the traffic lights / pedestrian crossings worked in our favour but it was definitely a brown trousers moment.

Are you sure you didn't get lost? There is nowhere between 42nd Street and 17th Street that isn't safe.

[Fatty Thornton]

I lived in Townhill for a year in 1991

I went jogging in a Cardiff top - I felt like Rex Kramer 'Danger seeker' (NB I did go very early)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwk6r8TJD2U

Rex Kramer... haven't heard that name in years

[Fatty Thornton]

Most mentioned already, northern Paris around Saint Denis very rough. Parts of north Dublin are very very rough also, as well as Tallaght where they stole a digger and demolished a Lidl during the snow a couple of years ago.