Thursday 5 April 2012

The World's Rudest Nations for Travelers

Quasimodo and Esmeralda posing by the famous Notre Dame in Paris....I just love Esmeralda's red jeans!! Don't you???

This article was taken from FORBES Magazine!!...read on….

Do you agree?? MY COMMENTS IS AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE….

 

 http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/the-world-s-rudest-nations-for-travelers.html

Congratulations, my fellow Americans! We’re not the rudest nation on the planet. We’re not even in the top five. USA! USA!

The travel search site Skyscanner.com surveyed its users about where the locals never smile and people are particularly unfriendly, and the nation with the most votes for rudest locals was…

Wait for it…

France (félicitations, mes amis!), followed by Russia. The survey received over 1,200 responses, 65 percent from the UK and Ireland, plus elsewhere in Europe, North America and Australia.

The World's Rudest Nations for Travelers

1. France
2. Russian
3. British
4. German
5. Other

Rounding out the top five rudest countries were the U.K., Germany and “Other” (those Others are the worst, don’t you think?). The U.S. placed 7th, behind China.

Some of the perceived rudeness may be attributable to cultural differences rather than anything intentional. For example, says Tatiana Danilova, Skyscanner’s Russian Market Manager, “the Russian language is not as polite as English, so when Russians translate directly from Russian to English, it can sound rude to an English speaker even if they don’t mean it to.”

“We were surprised to see Russians come in second place,” says Skyscanner’s Travel Editor, Sam Baldwin. He attributes this in part to the “familiarity breeds contempt” phenomenon. Although Russia doesn’t compare with the Mediterranean as a tourist destination, as visa regulations have relaxed, Russian holidaymakers are increasingly flocking to the Mediterranean and coming into contact with people from other countries.

The same principle may apply to the French: “As our closest neighbors, there has long been a familiar rivalry between the U.K. and France,” Baldwin says, and the preponderance of responses from the British Isles may have contributed to this result. Still, Baldwin says, “Even the French acknowledge that the way they are perceived is not entirely without basis.” (In France’s defense, I’ve always found Parisians to be just as rude to each other as they are to foreigners. Outside of Paris – and even within the city – people can be as gracious as anywhere.)

The British, for their part, voted themselves “world’s worst tourists” in a previous Skyscanner survey.

The countries rated as having the least rude locals were Brazil, the Caribbean and the Philippines.

Skyscanner claims to be Europe’s leading travel search site, operating in over 25 languages with more than 25 million visits and over 11 million unique visitors per month. It has offices in Edinburgh, Scotland and Singapore.

Here’s the complete list of responses:
Nationality       Percentage of votes

French                   19.29
Russian                  16.56
British                    10.43
German                 9.93
Other                    6.37
Chinese                4.30
American               3.39
Spanish                 3.15
Italian                    2.24
Polish                    2.24
Turkish                  2.15
Indian                  1.90
Swiss                    1.90
Greek                    1.74
Croatian                1.57
Austrian                 1.41
Cypriot                  1.24
Egyptian                1.24
Korean                 1.24
Norwegian             0.99
Australian              0.91
Dutch                   0.83
Irish                       0.83
Swedish                 0.83
Japanese             0.66
Danish                   0.50
Canadian               0.41
New Zealander       0.41
Indonesian           0.41
Portuguese           0.33
Thai                      0.25
Filipino                  0.17
Caribbean              0.08
Brazilian                0.08




Comment from WanLanun of Travel Slippers:

Do you agree?? What baloney!!!

Just don’t believe everything you read…as I said before…bad media reporting is as bad as media terrorism!!

Survey was conducted by The travel search site Skyscanner.com surveyed its users about where the locals never smile and people are particularly unfriendly, and the nation with the most votes for rudest locals was… Have you heard of this Skyscanner.com??? Not me…

I believe only those with bad experience and have the time to complain are getting their frustrations highlighted here….may not be true at all..unfortunately…

Even Forbes is doing this sort of cheap journalism…

I’ve highlighted the countries from Asia in red… It says CHINESE are the 6th rudest???? CHINESE??? From which country? Such a loose cannon….Can this be Hong Kong? Singapore? Malaysia? Same goes to Indian…and what is OTHER???

My opinion is :When someone from a host nation is rude, it is usually when the guest is ignorant of cultures and taboo, rude themselves, expect that their money is King….. People of the world are in majority very pleasant…

Where and when do tourist get the rude treatment? This is mostly relevant in Asia…just as example..

  1. Wearing a thin blouse/T-shirt/ singlet without a bra in a Muslim country is rude…. So is wearing shorts that’s just too short
  2. Swimming in a bikini/topless on a public beach is rude in most public beaches of Asia (Public beaches used by locals)
  3. No behaving sensibly aka slightly tipsy, loud, drinking alchohol in public areas
  4. Do not respect culture and taboo…aka shoes off indoors, cover your head in holy places of worship, touching someone’s head
  5. Instead of speaking slowly in their own mother tongue, they also speak LOUD and slowly…this is rude and condescending.
This is really rude..."If common sense is so common, why are there millions of idiots in this world??"

The funny thing is that this survey result shows that the Europeans are saying they themselves are rude to fellow Europeans !! Well, that may be very true….when I was lost in Paris and wanted to ask for some directions, I asked in Malay and Japanese….asking in English will only get you a cold shoulder treatment!! Glad to be an Asian!!  

By the way...I have never been rude to anyone...ever.....I just wasn't taught to politely pretend to be nice to people I can't stand...that's all...

So....wanna be treated badly at one of the most romantic and beautiful city on earth?? Let's Jom!! Paris...

Tuesday 3 April 2012

Best Nasi Kandar in Penang …. And the winner is…

For any Malaysian…Food is Life…We Eat To Live….not Live to Eat…

Some food was thought to be good for you especially your libido until recently,  scientists have recently discovered a particular food that diminishes sex drive by 95% - it's called Wedding Cake…

This trip to Penang, we wanted to be healthy, we promised ourselves that we should also exercise every day here… with this battle of Nasi Kandar going on, I’ve devised a daily workout regime…it’s a 15 minute upper body workout and it’s pretty easy:

Arm down, pick up food, arm up, put food in mouth, arm down..work those jaw muscles!!! pick-up food….....

After months of surfing the net, googling and trying to narrow down the best nasi kandar in Penang, we finally came to the conclusion that the 2 best on the island is either Nasi Kandar Line Clear or Nasi Kandar Beratur.

OK, did my survey, ate the same standard Nasi Kandar from both places. Nasi Kandar + Bendi + Ayam Goreng + Sotong + Kuah Campur ..... 3 Panel judges, me, my lovely wife and my brother BEAR who happens to be an ex-Chef from Le Meridien and Ritz Carlton both in Dubai.

Nasi Kandar Line Clear is located at the meeting point of Lebuh Chulia and Penang Road. Started way back in 1947, Line Clear Nasi Kandar is one of the oldest nasi kandar outlet in Penang. Its not actually a shop but just under a makeshift roof by an alley that was used to be known as 'Lorong Taik' !!! Yucks!! It is open 24 hours and is busy 24 hours.

They have a large variety of dishes. But alamak!! they sure look really tempting. They have all sorts of curry dishes, a few variety of vegetable including something-you-find-in-all-nasi-kandar-shops bendi (lady's finger aka Okra), friend chicken (which looks delicioso scrumptious), sotong (squid aka Calamari) , omelette, and lots of others. What kuah (gravy) to put on the rice at the end of it? Of course campur (mix) lah! Make sure they banjir (flood) it…”Mamak!!! Kasi Banjir!!!”....these days its not Banjir!! ...."Mamak!! Kasi Tsunami!!!"



Have you heard this before… “If you see a long waiting line or a crowded eatery, you can be assured of the best food.” Well….seeing is believing

Nasi Kandar Beratur is located right next to the famous Masjid Kapitan Kling. Beratur means 'To Queue'. The main business starts at 10pm and according to 'hardcore' fans, the best is only if you eat after 2am!!! Bloody hell!! Nasi Kandar after 2am!!! Apa gila orang Penang nih!! 

BEAR is the fella in front of the guy in the Boria outfit aka red top and white jeans, this was around 0130 hrs!!
Day...empty, you can't miss it...see the dome? That's Masjid Kapitan Kling

Whilst queing up, BEAR heard this lady asking her husband…” "Does this dress make me look fat?" "No-lah” he said….”The fat makes you look fat." Girl said "I'm not fat, I'm big boned" Errmmmm OK…If I was there my response would be "Since when do bones jiggle?"…Muhahahaaa What does she expect? Q’ing up at 2am for Nasi Kandar!!


And after piling ourselves with a gazillion calories and shorten our lives by about 48 months, we have unanimously picked a winner.......& the winner is  



.............. LINE CLEAR !!!!
 

p.s. 1 advice... if you think you can't stand eating at a 'not so clean' place.... I have 1 word for you... TAPAU!!!!

Lama tak pekena Nasi Kandaq???

Let’s Jom !!!

Monday 2 April 2012

What is a Terrorist.... USMan kills 7, wounds 3 at small Christian college


OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) April 3rd 2012— A 43-year-old former student of a small Christian university in California opened fire at the school, killing at least seven people and setting off an intense, chaotic manhunt that ended with his capture at a nearby shopping center

I read this news article and would like to highlight these words......

Christian, opened fire, killing, intense, chaotic, manhunt capture, shooting, wounded, weapon rampage, motive, gunfire fatalities, died wounded victims tragedy shocking senseless, armed swarmed gunman, point-blank, shooting randomly, bloodied victims ambulances. U.S. Army, God protects me. I'm not afraid of him, acting suspiciously; He didn't look like he had a sign of relief on him. He didn't look like he had much of any emotion on his face……

Somehow the word TERRORIST was not mentioned, not even once....he was terrorizing people don't you think? 
Maybe its because of the first word highlighted? 
Just imagine if the crazy dude was a Muslim? 
that differentiates between a normal criminal and a Terrorist? 
I have no problems with any religion...but I do have a problem with the misrepresentation and double standard of the of the world's media...
The worst killer of the tourism industry is actually bad media reporting...its 100 times easier to kill a destination than to build up the reputation of a destination through reporting.
And before somebody make any comments about religion....this is not about religion...its about the crooked media!!! 
 Let's Jom use our brain and don't judge or label others!!!  
http://news.yahoo.com/cops-id-college-shooting-suspect-one-goh-43-012337396.html