Comments on: The Sunday Six: Ways To Offend The Locals in Asia https://www.escapeartistes.com/2011/06/19/the-sunday-six-ways-to-offend-the-locals-in-asia/ Postcards from the Edge Thu, 13 Sep 2012 23:41:24 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.3 By: Theodora https://www.escapeartistes.com/2011/06/19/the-sunday-six-ways-to-offend-the-locals-in-asia/#comment-14150 Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:46:07 +0000 http://travelswithanineyearold.com/?p=4491#comment-14150 In reply to Sarita.

Yes, the mobile phone photography thing takes a while to get used to. We weren’t that bothered by the spitting in China, weirdly. Probably because I’d expected it to be so much worse than it is — in the old days, apparently, the buses used to be a centimetre deep in mucus during the winter.

]]> By: Sarita https://www.escapeartistes.com/2011/06/19/the-sunday-six-ways-to-offend-the-locals-in-asia/#comment-14149 Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:32:32 +0000 http://travelswithanineyearold.com/?p=4491#comment-14149 I live in China for school and have certainly experienced most of these. I live in the western side of Shanghai, so the fact that I am non-Asian has been an… adventure. I’ve had my picture taken literally countless times and videos taken of me just talking on the subway. I’ve been asked to hold a woman’s baby while she filmed me, when I travelled up to Beijing.
And don’t get me started on the spitting. The sound of mucus hitting the pavement is every other sound in Shanghai.

]]> By: Theodora https://www.escapeartistes.com/2011/06/19/the-sunday-six-ways-to-offend-the-locals-in-asia/#comment-14148 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:48:03 +0000 http://travelswithanineyearold.com/?p=4491#comment-14148 In reply to Chris Booth.

OF COURSE! Thank you, Chris!

]]> By: Chris Booth https://www.escapeartistes.com/2011/06/19/the-sunday-six-ways-to-offend-the-locals-in-asia/#comment-14147 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:16:04 +0000 http://travelswithanineyearold.com/?p=4491#comment-14147 In Japan the tattoo thing goes even further. Because of the traditional tattooing of Yakuza members most public baths will deny entry to someone who’s been inked. That’s a real shame as you’d hate to miss out on some of the hot springs and relaxing bath houses.

]]> By: Theodora https://www.escapeartistes.com/2011/06/19/the-sunday-six-ways-to-offend-the-locals-in-asia/#comment-14146 Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:59:30 +0000 http://travelswithanineyearold.com/?p=4491#comment-14146 In reply to Rachel.

We were doing shopping talk in Chinese class earlier this week. And the expression “Is he as fat as you or less fat?” came up. And, no, you don’t use a euphemism. You are fat. Or not fat. It’s, umm, just a statement.

I actually quite like the directness, in some ways, compared to the passive-aggressive way we conduct such interrogations in British English. In other ways I don’t like it, because, of course, you cannot escape and hide behind politeness.

]]> By: Rachel https://www.escapeartistes.com/2011/06/19/the-sunday-six-ways-to-offend-the-locals-in-asia/#comment-14145 Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:41:15 +0000 http://travelswithanineyearold.com/?p=4491#comment-14145 I just moved to Japan as an English teacher and definitely ran into some of these issues! The first time I was becokened with the palm facing down I thought I was being told to go away! Also, I am asked on a regular basis why I am not married. I have even been told “you are 23, soon you will be like old Christmas cake and thrown out!”

]]> By: Theodora https://www.escapeartistes.com/2011/06/19/the-sunday-six-ways-to-offend-the-locals-in-asia/#comment-14144 Thu, 29 Sep 2011 08:25:57 +0000 http://travelswithanineyearold.com/?p=4491#comment-14144 In reply to Alesha.

Ummm… Are your three children going to be with you? Or are they grown up? Because being a mother (gasp!) away from three young children with a platonic male friend who is not their father is going to be pretty much incomprehensible. I’d just order the separate bedrooms and see what gives…

]]> By: Alesha https://www.escapeartistes.com/2011/06/19/the-sunday-six-ways-to-offend-the-locals-in-asia/#comment-14143 Thu, 29 Sep 2011 00:02:18 +0000 http://travelswithanineyearold.com/?p=4491#comment-14143 Well I guess I better start thinking of answers to these questions. I am heading to Thailand in 2 weeks 6 days (but whose counting) with a male friend of mine. So how do I tell them I am not married (now), his only a friend and I am fat because of my three children? And to remember all the do’s and do not’s is going to confuse this blonde Aussie (which isn’t hard). Just reading your description of slurpy noises and spitting is making me dry reach. I have no hope…

]]> By: Theodora https://www.escapeartistes.com/2011/06/19/the-sunday-six-ways-to-offend-the-locals-in-asia/#comment-14142 Wed, 29 Jun 2011 11:50:43 +0000 http://travelswithanineyearold.com/?p=4491#comment-14142 In reply to Snap.

I keep getting the INdonesian for pork and beef muddled up (sapi and babi). Which is fine in most contexts. Just not in a Halal restaurant…

And, yeah, the big old slurp, snot, spit thing grosses me out. Why it should gross me out more than someone blowing their nose loudly into a hanky, I know not. Because it’s the preceding slurp, not the actual spit on the floor, that really gets me about it.

]]> By: Snap https://www.escapeartistes.com/2011/06/19/the-sunday-six-ways-to-offend-the-locals-in-asia/#comment-14141 Sat, 25 Jun 2011 11:43:57 +0000 http://travelswithanineyearold.com/?p=4491#comment-14141 *nazal*…I’m sure you knew what I meant 😉

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