50 Best Cities

So I got my normal weekly email from Time Out magazine.

best-cities-in-the-world was the article. Of these;

I have been to 12 - NYC, London, LA, Melbourne, Singapore, Bangkok, Sydney, KL, Manila, Hanoi, San Francisco and Hong Kong.

I don't want to go to 21 of them - Cape Town, Madrid, Rome, Porto, Paris, Lisbon, Chicago, Manchester, Sao Paulo, Amsterdam, Lagos, Naples, Montreal, Glasgow, Barcelona, Abu Dhabi, Philadelphia, Austin, Accra, Marseille and Istanbul.

I do want to go to 17 of them - Berlin, Mexico City, Liverpool, Tokyo, Mumbai, Miami, Lima, Budapest, Beijing, Dubai, Buenos Aires, Seoul, New Orleans, Boston, Taipei, Osaka and Vancouver.

I think some cities have been missed off this list. My 50 Best Cities In The World would also include - Jakarta, Saigon, Shanghai and Las Vegas. 

What makes a great city? Well, there are a number of things:

The city needs character. Hong Kong has an incredible amount of character. East meets west in terms of its heritage British colonial buildings and layout. New meets old in terms of its towering skyscrapers and glitzy malls, but with dai pai dongs and street markets just around the corner. Urban meets wilderness in terms of it's super high-density city blocks, but with a spectacular harbour, beautiful mountains and bush parkland all within a stone's throw of each other. HK has an amazing vibe - it can be on the cutting edge of everything, what with it's world-class train network and digital economy. Yet the near-century old Star Ferry still happily plugs away across the harbour each day, an institution in itself, and a hark back to the days of empire and history. It's a super city, one of my favourite places on Earth, and somewhere I was lucky to call home for seven years as a child. 

The city needs history. Many of these cities do, but London has it in spades. Over 1,000 years old, with vestiges of its Roman past, plus iconic locations such as the Tower of London, this is an amazing city, for those interested in our past. One of the things that makes London so unique and fascinating is the glimpses of bygone eras that remain, amongst the relentless modernisation of the metropolis. Highgate Cemetary This is a post I did some time ago, about a trip I did to the UK in 2012. Visiting this cemetery was almost an other-worldly experience, and one I highly recommend. 

The city needs great food. Kuala Lumpur, hands down, for me. Yes, many places in the world have amazing cuisines, but not all of which tantalise my tastebuds all that much. KL though, has such a cosmopolitan flair, with it's cultural melting pot of races, religions, and nationalities. It has it all really. This includes a vibrant street food scene, a super fine-dining culture, great prices, and an unpretentious attitude. I love wandering the streets of KL looking for food, love the hawker stalls, and think the unique blend of everything that makes up Malaysian food - be it Malay, Malaysian Chinese, or locally-influenced Indian - provides simply the best taste one can find in the world today.

The city needs good facilities. Singapore is a walk-up start for this. Other cities do have amazing train systems, such as Hong Kong, but Singapore just has it all. So efficient, so modern, so clean, so reliable. So everything really. Some might say that causes it to lack character, but to me it just makes for an easy experience, and removes a number of factors that one normally has to spend time planning for in other places. Throw in the malls, the shopping precincts, the ubiquitous hawker centres, and the natural beauty, and you have a wonder travel experience, that is easy to enjoy, and just "wing it" in. That's Singapore.

The city needs plenty to do. Probably all of those I have already mentioned fit this bill. You could throw Vegas into that mix too. Don't shoot me, I know a lot of people find Vegas to be a den of iniquity, lacking soul, and with no culture at all. Yes, it can be that, but frankly so can most other cities too. Vegas doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is - a place for people to live on the edge, and indulge their vices. I loved the place, be it the wide variety of food on offer, the cool casinos and their kitsch architecture, the access to places like the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. Plus so much more. When I was a younger man, on my first visit to the place, I had a haircut by a lady in lingerie. These days the cancel crowd would probably put paid to such an establishment, and I certainly didn't go there with sleaze in mind. It was just a fun and quirky thing to do, and likely only to be found in Vegas.

Well, I could write 100,000 words on this topic, as I have been fortunate enough to have some great travel experiences in my life. This is a bit of a taste though, of what to me, makes for a great city.