Seoul: 3rd most hated city in the world?

Last month the Lonely Planet put out a list of the 9 cities that people hate the most, and I was sad to see that Seoul came in at number three.

Check out what they said in the full list, reproduced below....

1. Detroit, USA – Crime, pollution and crumbling infrastructure don’t appeal to you.
2. Accra, Ghana – Ugly, chaotic, sprawling and completely indifferent to its waterfront location.
3. Seoul, South Korea – According to one comment, ‘It’s an appallingly repetitive sprawl of freeways and Soviet-style concrete apartment buildings, horribly polluted, with no heart or spirit to it. So oppressively bland that the populace is driven to alcoholism.’
4. Los Angeles, USA – A highly contentious pick, placed here because of its ‘uncontrolled sprawl, pollution, appalling traffic and ugly freeways.’
5. Wolverhampton, England – So bad that we don’t even have it on this site! Check out post 35 on this thread.
6. San Salvador, El Salvador – Widely acknowledged as the grubbiest of the Central American capitals.
7. Chennai, India – We describe it as lacking Mumbai’s prosperity, Delhi’s history or Bengaluru’s buzz. Even the movie stars are ‘not that hot.’ You think we’re being generous.
8. Arusha, Tanzania – A gateway to natural wonder that has more than its share of rust. Get out as quickly as you can.
9. Chetumal, Mexico – Combining the worst of mass tourism and outlying decay, Chetumal just doesn’t charm you.

No heart or spirit to it...? So oppressively bland that the populace is driven to alcoholism...? Ouch.

I have to say that I disagree wholeheartedly. While I recognize that I may be a little biased, my own experience of Seoul has been more like that described here: a city of spirit and energy, with many layers and flavors.

Though the article that I linked to just above is a little (okay, a lot) effusive in its praise, there are still gems of truth hidden in there. I particularly like the following excerpts...

"Seoul is the grinning devil on your shoulder that whispers 'play'. Its teeming night markets, 24-hour barbecues and surging clubs all beg the question: 'Why sleep?' But turn onto a side street, away from the shimmer of skyscrapers against buzzing neons, and you're met with the hushed, gentle tones of the past...

"...[Seoul is a] modern city endlessly renewing and reinventing itself - Seoul will be whatever its myriad denizens make it. There's a constant, transformative energy here, one that takes into account what has been lost but also gained. It's in the team of early-bird hikers getting ready to meet the dawn from a Bukhan mountain shrine. It's in the merry Seoulites joining a foreign melange for beers in Itaewon. And it's in the elderly man warbling into a karaoke microphone at Jongmyo Plaza Park, swaying to the rhythm, sweetheart in his arms...

"...As your taxi whisks you through a blur of light and humanity, you may find yourself reflecting quietly upon the tiny wooden teahouse you just visited, or the first cherry blossoms of spring glowing in the moonlight along the Han River. Congratulations - you've begun to embrace the raucous alongside the genteel. Just the first peel of the disarming, enticing layers of Seoul."

Maybe in forming an opinion of Seoul-- or any other city for that matter-- it all depends on whether or not you allow yourself to look beyond the freeways, pollution and concrete to discover the spirit of the people who live there.