Wednesday, October 05, 2005

31/3 Fluey and Seoul is The Worst City - or is it?

No time to say much except I feel feverish and thick headed, and tired. Feel tired standing in class, then when I sit down I still feel a sort've shortness of breath. Sharon is also sick. Saw her lying on her arms in the teacher's room. Not sure if I am going to swim tonight, even though I packed a bag and have it with me.

The Asia-Pacific region boasts some of the world's most liveable cities but also a number of the most wretched capitals on earth, according to survey results issued.

Vancouver in western Canada topped the global list compiled by research firm the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Melbourne came in second and three other Australian cities -- Perth, Adelaide and Sydney -- were in the top 10, with Brisbane at 11th place.

Also among the 10 best cities were Vienna, Geneva, Zurich, Toronto and Calgary -- making Canada and Australia the most liveable countries based on their representation in the top tier of the list.

Tokyo was ranked 16th and Auckland 20th along with Osaka, Kobe and Wellington. Hong Kong was ranked 41st while Seoul and Singapore tied for 54th place.


I don't agree. I thought Singapore was awesome, and although I only flew over Hong Kong, Hong Kong didn't really impress me much. Singapore did.
I wouldn't put Singapore and Seoul next to each other in a million years. Seoul's major drawback is that it is a major culture shock to Westerners (far more than Singapore), and of course, very high levels of pollution.

On the plus side, as large as Seoul is, it maintains a large village atmosphere, which is quite unique. And crime is virtually non existent. This would put Seoul above Johannesburg in my book. What Seoul needs to work on is utilising exciting design and doing something with the Han River waterfront.
The massive apartment blocks under construction could do with a little imagination too.

Having dinner at Corneli tonight. Fortunately I was given off my last class. I usually teach an extra 30 minutes on Wednesdays, but that was because Abraham Lincoln had to go home early (to his wife). Since he's been replaced, I'm back to finishing at 7pm. I certainly needed that today ;-)

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