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1. Philippines
2. Vietnam
3. Malaysia
4. Thailand
5. China (people have bad manners, but they are very friendly because I can speak chinese)
6. Japan (they are extremely nice, but too shy to be considered "friendly")
7. Cambodia
8. South Korea
I've never had a difficult time travelling in Asia, with the exception of South Korea. Customer service is lousy, people ignore you, and they have attitude.
South koreans don't ignore you. They fume internally plotting to kill you in a wild fantasy of rage because you are a filthy subhuman foreigner who dares enter their holy country of consumerism and narcissism.
For me (been to many asian countries, haven't been to Bhutan, Tibet, Cambodia, Laos and Bangladesh, so those are excluded from my statement, just a short stay in the Philippines, so can't say much about it).
Most friendly: Korea
Least friendly: China
BUT its very difficult to tell without agreeing on a definition of friendlyness.
For me, a huge amount of friendlyness is "public honesty", meaning that people dont try to get money out of you as a "White ATM", making you overpay for hotel, taxi, food, clothes, whatever. Especially in Southern Asian countries I do not like the attidude, that I have to negotiate, complain and argue all the time not to be ripped off. ..taxi driver here, strange "tour operators" there, people trying to get you in a restaurant there. Even though people may be "friendly" on the first view, for me cheating is ALWAYS unfriendly.
Of course the staff in some hotel in poor countries is "friendly", cause they want to earn tips. I don't think thats bad, but its not real "friendlyness", its just a facade.
Another thing is politeness... I made the experience that in China, you always have to be careful, taxidrivers shouting and yelling at you and people spitting on the floor, people pushing you in the metro train instead of letting you exit. WTF? People shout and spit and smoke everywhere. I understand that its kind of way to survive as an individual in a 1.3 billion people country, but overall its absolutely not my thing. Hongkong is much better though.
I am a bit surprised about so many negative comments on Korean. It really depends on where you come from. I heared that towards southern Asian, some often are a bit strange and xenophobic. From my experience, Koreans are very polite and you are never ripped off by anyone. They are hard working and just not interested in cheating on anyone. Nobody wants tips, and still service is excellent and friendly. Crime is extra-ordinary low in South Korea, you can often see people just leave their laptop or tablet in a cafe and then go to lunch outside. If you lose something or forget something somewhere, nobody would EVER even think of taking it and keeping it, they would rather run behind you to give it back to you. Koreans are ofte a bit shy to talk in english, but once you broke the ice, its a very good country to live in as a foreigner. Not even mentioning the supercute girls.
This reads like a fake propaganda comment to help Korea's well earned infamy. Middle aged Koreans are absolutely on the level of active klansmen or Nazis. They openly and regularly spit near me intentionally, one walked over to be near me to pass gas, two drunk guys outside eating ice cream approached me starting to talk **** until I walked the other way towards the door of the ice cream store. Total absence of basic humanity.
Any costumer politeness veils their hatred and envy for people with double eyelids. Toxic, super evil place.
I'm flying through Incheon and have a 1.5 hour layover in a few weeks. Was thinking I'd try to score some bulgogi but maybe they will try to kill me. Guess I'll just sit on the plane.
South koreans don't ignore you. They fume internally plotting to kill you in a wild fantasy of rage because you are a filthy subhuman foreigner who dares enter their holy country of consumerism and narcissism.
I'll tell those Koreans I'm from Japan - they will believe me and like me.
I'm flying through Incheon and have a 1.5 hour layover in a few weeks. Was thinking I'd try to score some bulgogi but maybe they will try to kill me. Guess I'll just sit on the plane.
Quote explained the reason why people in Singapore, Macau, HK, Beijing ,Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen don't seem to be very friendly to foreigners. Most are not looking for a way out or a lover or financial support from other countries.
Also, smiles are less common and people may speak bluntly in some Asian countries because of cultural and education differences, not actually being unfriendly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by green papaya
and the most unfriendly asians seem to be the ones that dont want anything from you except for your business, they are not trying to be your best friend, they only want to do business with you, not looking for a way out or for a green card or financial assistance or sponsorship to help them immigrate, etc.
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