Sunset over Seoul, South Korea

OK, so lonely Planet website publishes a list of its readers - or at least the readers of the blog - at least in your favorite cities.

And yes, Seoul was the third place.

Detroit - all the picturesque charm of security and good government in Grozny, without dramatic backstory! - Won first place, which reinforces my suspicion that the inclusion of the New York Times about the city in its list of places to visit in 2008 was a clever ploy to increase the IQ of their audience through attrition. Other cities on the list are third world shit Accra, San Salvador and Los Angeles.

I do not know how it got there Arusha, however. This is a lovely city, and much better than Tanzania's capital Dodoma. I've also heard Accra is not so bad, either.

Back in Seoul. The poster quoted commentator on a preliminary list of least favorite cities, who wrote:

This is a shocking sprawl and highways repeated and the Soviet-style concrete apartment buildings, terribly polluted, without heart or spirit in it. Bland so overwhelming that the population is driven to alcoholism.

There is no heart or mind to it, huh? Obviously, the speaker in question was never in Washington, DC.

I'm not sure how this list was made and how it is configured to order. I would like something was a bit 'ironic, although I fear Seoul tourism authorities can not see it that way.

Seoul has a lot of heart and mind to it - Of course, some of the most chronically bitter expatriates may not realize - and while no one can deny that the city has an excessive concentration of concrete buildings, there are a lot of charm and beauty hidden under there. Just put the bottle of beer in Itaewon and look around. Maybe buy my book.