American tourists are even more
visible in
foreign countries, such as
China. Due to the difference in
language, they have immense difficulty
communicating to the
Chinese, who are
clueless about what they mean by their
wild gestures. It is quite
humorous seeing an
American lift his
arms into the
air in
frustration while the
Chinese person
smiles (in
Asian cultures,
smiling is a method of expressing
embarrasment). Here are a few things point out that the person is an
American tourist in
China:
- Wild gestures trying to convey their message across, usually in vain.
- Speaking English louder as if it would help them understand better.
- Asking for the nearest McDonald's, and when they are informed there are none, draw up in shock (McDonald's has only permeated the east coast of China)
- Look in the nearest KFC, which has more outlets than McDonald's (interestingly, they travel all the way to China and they gorge on fried chicken, quite strange)
- Flower shirts in the summer, regarded by the Chinese as funny-looking
- Lao Wai! (foreigner)
- Glaring at the useless maps, which do nothing to help navigate the maze that most Chinese cities are
- Gleefully buying fake antiques, then realizing later that they got ripped off
- Sporting T-shirts that pronounce "I climbed the Great Wall!"
- Expensive cameras that will get stolen in the blink of an eye
- Reading out of a phrase book with the Chinese translation, but pronouncing it all wrong and failing to get the message across anyways.
- A while ago, Americans visiting rural villages are likely to have their body hair pulled on by curious onlookers, who have never seen such a hairy creature before. Now it never happens, but it did in the past.
There are many more, but this is all I can think of. Also it isn't only the
Americans that do this, most
Westerners do. But the
Americans are the most visible that's all.