Stoke and Ust Barguzin
Yet another vote for Stoke.
What a massive shithole that place is. I spent three long and miserable years there while at Uni. Just thinking about it makes me feel a bit sick, and I've vowed I will never return there for any reason whatsoever.

That said, the crap town crown has got to go Ust Barguzin, Russia. Some friends and I stopped off there for a few days during a Trans Siberian trip last year. The place is a sort of post-apocalyptic shanty town on the edge of Lake Baikal, where the only pastime is drinking vodka. The only thing to see/do/visit is a small local shop that sells mainly bread and vodka and as there is no plumbing throughout the town you are forced to shit in a pit wherever you go.
Also, the only way to reach this wonderful place is to take an 8 hour ride in a cramped taxi, surrounded by grumpy, drunk Russians on a "road" that would be considered too dangerous to drive on in any other part of the world.
Also, after we left we heard that a Japanese couple once went there and were so horrified by it they actually hired a chopper to get them out of there! "Get to the chooo-paaah"

If you're struggling to imagine what a ridiculous place this might be, I invite you to check out their coat of arms;
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ust-Barguzin

Says it all really.
(thejuicydangler, Fri 30 Oct 2009, 15:31, 2 replies)

Ha
That is a very funny 'coat of arms'.

Squirrel happily eats grass.
TIGER ATTACK!
(stubbledchin, Fri 30 Oct 2009, 15:54, closed)

The description "urban-type settlement"
both amuses and troubles me.
So it's a place with a somewhat vague developmental status - like a village with some large concrete buildings as an afterthought..?
(Connor Lingus is running this monkey farm now, Mon 2 Nov 2009, 11:37, closed)