Recently had travel in Asia - Japan, Taiwan, Korea.

Loved some parts of it: hot springs and bathhouses in Japan. Korean fried chicken - I hate to say but I like it better than any fried chicken I’ve ever had stateside. Major league baseball game in Japan - great fun, lots of friendly spirit and nobody gets too serious. Also, the girls walking around with backpack kegs were so cute and friendly. They must get quite the workout each game. Loved the jazz bars in Japan although a bit expensive. Not much to say about Taiwan.

Hated some parts of it: uncertainty whether or not my credit card would work. The Chinese tourists in Korea and Japan - universally loud, rude, dirty and ill-mannered - yes every culture has them. Americans used to be the butt of these jokes. But honestly seems hit or miss and mostly not bad, especially in areas where some decorum is appropriate. But if there are any Chinese around, you certainly know it. There are even signs everywhere in Chinese that asks for quiet. Of course they are ignored. To be fair, the signs are in English and Japanese as well but Chinese characters are in much larger font sizes. The contrast is noticeable between Korean, Japanese and Chinese groups (of two or more people). Stairs - traveling in Asian cities using public transit involves lots and lots of stairs - not good if you have knee or feet issues. Korea seems perpetually hazy now with all the dust / smog from China being blown over. Koreans really don’t seems to like it. I wouldn’t either.

All in all, great travels but there is no place like home. And being with my wife.

Oh man, Chinese tourists are the WORST! Me and a couple buddies were at the Louvre. One of my buddies was waiting his turn to see the Mona Lisa. He said this Chinese lady behind him kept bumping him trying to nudge him forward though there was nowhere for him to go as there were people in front of him. He said he finally had to through a elbow back.

While at the Rome airport my other buddy got his foot run over 4 different times by oblivious Chinese tourists and their roller bags.

from my experience, credit card purchases ended up with very good to the best conversion rates compared to changing money on arrival.

Yep. The average Chinese tourist is pretty much the most loathed tourist globally these days.

Even the stereotypical “ugly American” tourist has a hard time outdoing the Chinese hoards. Fortunately, in my experience, they tend to move on from wherever they are rather quickly, so if you wait a few minutes to let them pass, you’ll have a bit of a break. Until the next coach full pulls up.

-Rob

I experienced the Chinese tourists when I was in Japan, the noise and chaos that surrounds them reminded me of an out of control elementary school class field trip.

I've spent a lot of time in China and Taiwan - and have a Taiwanese partner in our Shenzhen factory. The Taiwanese, close relatives genetically but light years distant culturally, also are disappointed/irritated at Chinese tourists and residents alike.

I love my time in Taiwan, but every single one of the 77 trips I've made to PRC has been incredibly frustrating.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: aileron,

Of the places in Asia I have been, Singapore is by far the cleanest and the easiest to get around for Americans. I found China - and I have been to Beijing, Tanjin, Boha Bay, and Shanghai to be the most polluted place I’ve ever seen. The air quality there is awful. In Beijing you can’t see down the street most mornings. Worse than Russia was in the early 90s. I wouldn’t eat anything that came out of the water in or near China. A few years back we moved 140+ drilling rigs out of China via the ports in Shanghai and Tanjin. Shanghai can be fun.

There is a term in dealing in business with the Chinese called getting “grin fucked”. That’s when you explain to them what you need and they all look right at you and shake their head yes with a smile while having zero understanding of what you just asked for.

+

Yup, so far as the Chinese, that’s been our experience as well..

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backpack kegs

?

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Originally posted by egregore:

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backpack kegs

?

Beer vendors?

The chinese are raping the world, from Afghanistan to Africa; they have their fingers in south america, and just about everywhere else, and they're not shy about what they think is their new status.

Most of the infrastructure going up in Africa is chinese. They're doing what we used to do as a country, and others are correct: they're the new international "ugly americans." We don't tend to see the US citizen behavior abroad that we once did, but we do see it from other nationalities.

The chinese have been in afghanistan for a very long time now, raping the country of minerals and metals, something the public doesn't seem to grasp. We're paying the security in blood and dollars, they're getting the revenue stream, Afghanistan gets nothing in return.

Chinese own or have their fingers in a great deal of what's found throughout asia, the pacific, and australia, and are not well loved for it.

My chinese-tolerance is not high.

That said, one of my favorite cities is Hong Kong.

The Chinese tourists that I encountered in the Vatican were loud, rude, and pushy. I don't mean verbally pushy, I mean attempting to use their body to move you out of the way.

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That said, one of my favorite cities is Hong Kong.

I used to like Hong Kong **a lot** pre '97, but every year the Chinese fuck it up a little more.

I also miss the 747 checkerboard arrivals into Kai Tak.

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Originally posted by V-Tail:

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Originally posted by egregore:

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backpack kegs

?

Beer vendors?

Yep.

The local casino tried that several years back. Called them JET packs. Great for a Frat party. Cocktail waitreses raised hell and it did not create efficiency. The casino followed that with bottled beer on the floor. Big mistake, two nights later someone got hit over the head with a bottle.

quote:

Originally posted by aileron:
I've spent a lot of time in China and Taiwan - and have a Taiwanese partner in our Shenzhen factory. The Taiwanese, close relatives genetically but light years distant culturally, also are disappointed/irritated at both Chinese tourists and residents.

I love my time in Taiwan, but every single one of the 77 trips I've made to PRC has been incredibly frustrating.

So true.
Visiting friends and family of friends in Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau, they all derided the mainland Chinese flooding in without any social skills. There was a definite difference between the mainlanders and the locals when it came to waiting in-line, walking on the streets and speaking to one another. Traveling through Europe, they've taken the mantle of most obnoxious and clueless tourists from the Russians.

The anti-gov protests in Hong Kong are getting bigger and bigger, it's gonna come to a head at some point, hope those folks can hold-out. I really enjoyed my time there.

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Visiting friends and family of friends in Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau, they all derided the mainland Chinese flooding in without any social skills

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
We have enough without social skills here in America, they visit Walmart.

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Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

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Visiting friends and family of friends in Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau, they all derided the mainland Chinese flooding in without any social skills

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
We have enough without social skills here in America, they visit Walmart.

Chinese tourists - seems like a universal experience....

Couple of things to add - just on the side. I was able to watch some 8K TV. Amazing detail but I think I was seeing some of the visual artifacts that were present in early LCD TVs where fast motion seemed to blur. But for semi-still scenes, the picture quality and color depth was amazingly lifelike.

I also went to a Costco in Japan. After the initial confusion with how to get in (and later, how to exit given it's a multi-story store), it was pretty cool. They have some of the usual stuff like you see in the states. And I had to keep discipline to not buy a hot dog although the urge was strong. But they also had a lot of cool, local stuff. Food, household goods, etc. And many of the snacks were localized too. I went because it was convenient at one point and I wanted to buy a swimsuit ($10) whereas most stores were selling them for $50-$100. The only thing - it's hard to find my size in clothes over there. I also had to buy a suit (unlined because of the heat and humidity) and had to go to several stores before finding something in my size. But I found something on sale, hemmed and out the door in 2 hours. The crotch and thighs are a little tight but overall the suit was great in the humidity.

quote:

Originally posted by aileron:

I used to like Hong Kong **a lot** pre '97, but every year the Chinese fuck it up a little more.

I also miss the 747 checkerboard arrivals into Kai Tak.

I don't miss that, and the new airport is a big improvement. Put the weather and the windshear in Hong Kong, and a straight shot on the ILS is a much better bet. Even so, the engine-out procedure, especially with weather (Hong Kong about half the year) still routes around and between the hills and islands.

I've made a lot of arrivals in the 747 in Hong Kong, including in a typhoon, and long runways with straight in approaches are far, far better.

Love the food.