Posts by Hees
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Cinq semaines en bus en Colombie
Nous avons été en Colombie et avons adoré. Par contre nous n'avons jamais fait le Brésil. Auriez-vous des road-book sur vos voyages au Brésil. Nous avons déjà beaucoup voyagé mais ni le Brésil et ni l'Argentine. D'avance un tout grand merci.
No, I Won’t Be Going Back to China
Hello,
I just read your post about China.
I couldn’t resist writing to you.
We went solo four years ago for three weeks in Yunnan. Unfortunately, a health issue forced us to return after just 48 hours. But in those 48 hours, we managed to see everything you mentioned.
1. The food—wow. I’ve never seen people eat so messily. They throw all their trash on the ground. It’s unbelievable.
2. English? We’ve traveled solo all over the world and always managed with English (even in South America, we made ourselves understood). Forget about it in China—they don’t speak a word of English. If you want to take a taxi, brace yourself—none will stop because they’ve spotted you as a foreigner, and since they don’t speak English, they just keep driving. We met some Belgians who waited nearly two hours for a taxi. They finally got one with the help of other foreigners. We took a bus. The receptionist had written everything in Chinese for us to show the driver or someone on the bus. No one bothered to look at our paper, just turned away with their masks over their mouths.
3. They don’t know how to talk. It’s a competition to see who can speak the loudest. They yell nonstop. It’s exhausting. They’re disrespectful, always in a rush. Even during our layover in Frankfurt, we were stunned by the noise the Chinese travelers made. A young German woman warned us: *You haven’t seen or heard anything yet...*
4. It’s true—they cut in line constantly. It happened at the airport. And we could tell you so many more stories...
In short, after 48 hours, we formed the exact same opinion of the Chinese as you did. We had to cut our trip short, but we don’t regret it, and I’ll never go back to China.
Hello forum,
Did you, like us, experience the same things in China?
We spent a good twenty days there in August. I won’t be going back. Part of the trip was solo around Chengdu, then we joined a guided tour for 12 days (Beijing, Pingyao, Xi’an, Guilin, Xingping, Yangshuo, Shanghai, Wuzhen) and extended our stay by 4 extra days to visit Zhangjiajie.
The landscapes were stunning, and we have unforgettable memories... but we were really disappointed by the following:
- The food: way too spicy. No flavors, little taste. I’m speaking generally because we did try some good steamed dumplings, smoked pork, and dumplings... But overall, we were blown away by Thailand, Cambodia, and India—Chinese cuisine didn’t impress us at all.
- The behavior of the Chinese: disrespectful, rushed, aggressive. You have to fight constantly—we were pushed, crowded... At the entrance to the Terracotta Army (or other sites), it’s a human tidal wave... and I mean that literally. We were carried by the crowd without our feet touching the ground. It was like a situation where you have one bowl of rice and 20,000 starving people diving for it...
You’re at a ticket counter, and they cut in front of you. You’re in line for boarding, your suitcase ready to go on the conveyor belt, and someone shows up out of nowhere to put *their* suitcase down... even though they have a plane ticket with *their* seat number and won’t be leaving before you!!! You’re getting on the bus, and someone else shoves past you so they don’t end up behind you.
It’s like these people only think about themselves. I didn’t see a single one let someone else go first or even ask politely—as if manners and respect were completely foreign to them.
It’s honestly draining, exhausting...
- Communication: In every country we’ve visited, in Asia or Europe, we’ve always managed with English, a few words of Italian, French, or Spanish. In China, I’ll be blunt—if you don’t speak Chinese, you’re screwed. And yet, a pair of kids around ten or twelve years old asked us in English where we were from :)
- Understanding: Here’s the rule. Even if your interlocutor speaks a few words of English and says they understand you... make sure they *really* do, because 9 times out of 10, they don’t. Out of pride or cluelessness, they’ll give you a big smile and nod, but in reality, they didn’t understand a word of what you said.
Several times with our group, in the evening at a restaurant, if we hadn’t been helped by someone at another table who spoke a little English, we’d still be there. The classic example: the waiter brings one menu (for 10 people at the table), and we’re all trying to explain that we want 4 or more menus. Five minutes later, he’s still staring at us with that same blank smile...
In 3- or 4-star hotels, you go to them for a hot water or air conditioning issue. Three or four of them stand there beaming at you. You try to explain with photos or a translator, but in the end, you leave because your problem isn’t fixed.
They don’t know how to talk—they just yell... on the bus, at the hotel...
We were also surprised to find that self-service laundromats were almost nonexistent. We got scammed once at a hotel with an astronomical bill!
As for flights, we went with Air China and returned with Austrian Airlines—no comparison. No service and *inedible* food with Air China. With Austrian, multiple services, a decent meal, and smiling flight attendants.
I don’t know if you’ve had the same experience with this country, but I’m not at all eager to go back. Whereas if someone offered me India, Thailand, or Vietnam tomorrow, I’d go in a heartbeat!!!
2. English? We’ve traveled solo all over the world and always managed with English (even in South America, we made ourselves understood). Forget about it in China—they don’t speak a word of English. If you want to take a taxi, brace yourself—none will stop because they’ve spotted you as a foreigner, and since they don’t speak English, they just keep driving. We met some Belgians who waited nearly two hours for a taxi. They finally got one with the help of other foreigners. We took a bus. The receptionist had written everything in Chinese for us to show the driver or someone on the bus. No one bothered to look at our paper, just turned away with their masks over their mouths.
3. They don’t know how to talk. It’s a competition to see who can speak the loudest. They yell nonstop. It’s exhausting. They’re disrespectful, always in a rush. Even during our layover in Frankfurt, we were stunned by the noise the Chinese travelers made. A young German woman warned us: *You haven’t seen or heard anything yet...*
4. It’s true—they cut in line constantly. It happened at the airport. And we could tell you so many more stories...
In short, after 48 hours, we formed the exact same opinion of the Chinese as you did. We had to cut our trip short, but we don’t regret it, and I’ll never go back to China.
Hello forum,
Did you, like us, experience the same things in China?
We spent a good twenty days there in August. I won’t be going back. Part of the trip was solo around Chengdu, then we joined a guided tour for 12 days (Beijing, Pingyao, Xi’an, Guilin, Xingping, Yangshuo, Shanghai, Wuzhen) and extended our stay by 4 extra days to visit Zhangjiajie.
The landscapes were stunning, and we have unforgettable memories... but we were really disappointed by the following:
- The food: way too spicy. No flavors, little taste. I’m speaking generally because we did try some good steamed dumplings, smoked pork, and dumplings... But overall, we were blown away by Thailand, Cambodia, and India—Chinese cuisine didn’t impress us at all.
- The behavior of the Chinese: disrespectful, rushed, aggressive. You have to fight constantly—we were pushed, crowded... At the entrance to the Terracotta Army (or other sites), it’s a human tidal wave... and I mean that literally. We were carried by the crowd without our feet touching the ground. It was like a situation where you have one bowl of rice and 20,000 starving people diving for it...
You’re at a ticket counter, and they cut in front of you. You’re in line for boarding, your suitcase ready to go on the conveyor belt, and someone shows up out of nowhere to put *their* suitcase down... even though they have a plane ticket with *their* seat number and won’t be leaving before you!!! You’re getting on the bus, and someone else shoves past you so they don’t end up behind you.
It’s like these people only think about themselves. I didn’t see a single one let someone else go first or even ask politely—as if manners and respect were completely foreign to them.
It’s honestly draining, exhausting...
- Communication: In every country we’ve visited, in Asia or Europe, we’ve always managed with English, a few words of Italian, French, or Spanish. In China, I’ll be blunt—if you don’t speak Chinese, you’re screwed. And yet, a pair of kids around ten or twelve years old asked us in English where we were from :)
- Understanding: Here’s the rule. Even if your interlocutor speaks a few words of English and says they understand you... make sure they *really* do, because 9 times out of 10, they don’t. Out of pride or cluelessness, they’ll give you a big smile and nod, but in reality, they didn’t understand a word of what you said.
Several times with our group, in the evening at a restaurant, if we hadn’t been helped by someone at another table who spoke a little English, we’d still be there. The classic example: the waiter brings one menu (for 10 people at the table), and we’re all trying to explain that we want 4 or more menus. Five minutes later, he’s still staring at us with that same blank smile...
In 3- or 4-star hotels, you go to them for a hot water or air conditioning issue. Three or four of them stand there beaming at you. You try to explain with photos or a translator, but in the end, you leave because your problem isn’t fixed.
They don’t know how to talk—they just yell... on the bus, at the hotel...
We were also surprised to find that self-service laundromats were almost nonexistent. We got scammed once at a hotel with an astronomical bill!
As for flights, we went with Air China and returned with Austrian Airlines—no comparison. No service and *inedible* food with Air China. With Austrian, multiple services, a decent meal, and smiling flight attendants.
I don’t know if you’ve had the same experience with this country, but I’m not at all eager to go back. Whereas if someone offered me India, Thailand, or Vietnam tomorrow, I’d go in a heartbeat!!!