If I read one more time that a place X is a "place of contrasts" I am going to scream or start sending letters, depending on which side of the contrast spectrum I will find myself. Beijing has been called a "city of contrasts" by CNN, Los Angeles by PBS, St. Petersburg by The Mercury Sun, Genoa by The New York Times (Et tu, Brute?) The list goes on.

In fact, when you type in "city of contrasts" into Google, you get 113,000 hits. You get hundreds of pictures when you type in the same in Google Images. The funny thing is, most of those pictures show no contrast at all, even if the most trivial kind. Take the picture displayed. The description says: Kazan, Russia: City of Contrasts. And, where would the contrast be? The ugly houses versus the less ugly houses?

What I want to know: Is there a place on Earth that's NOT a place of contrasts? Contrasts are everywhere - the poor and the rich, the new and the old, the beautiful and the ugly. Contrast is a given. Even my kitchen is a place of contrasts, if you examine the unwashed dishes next to the hand-cut crystal glasses.

As places start looking more gentrified and similar, travel writers will really need to get more creative. That is one good thing globalization could accomplish.

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