In Hong Kong, the skyscrapers reach for the heavens, while the ancient traditions anchor its soul to the earth. Xu Xi
I read The Hungry Travellers post this morning about Hong Kong and it reminded me of an odd experience I had while there, years ago. I went to meet up with theTravelsketcher who was there on business, and my mom who just happened to be there too, on vacation. One day, while theTravelsketcher was working, my mom and I were sightseeing. It was a hot and humid day, so we stopped to rest on a park bench for a few minutes. An elderly Chinese lady came up to us, and with her face very close to ours, gave us a very severe scolding in Chinese, which continued for several minutes. When she finished berating us, she looked quite pleased with herself, and slowly, confidently, strolled away. Mom and I were quite shocked, but also relieved we couldn’t understand her.
We had several other experiences while there which made us feel not very welcome. However, maybe we’ll visit again someday and give it another try. After reading the above mentioned post, and Leighton Travels! recent post about Yangshou, it sounds quite interesting.
I’m sharing this today since we’re leaving in a few weeks for an extended vacation in Europe, including stops in Finland, Estonia, Czechia, Montenegro and bien sûr, France. Because of the current political situation, and the extreme problems the current “administration” has caused around the globe, we’re a little concerned about the type of reception we’ll receive.
Have you experienced situations like this while traveling? As always, I would be interested to hear about them, so leave a message if you’d like.
Tricia
Travels Through My Lens 
I was once chased out of a clothes shop in Japan…think they thought I was too big for any of their garments!
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Oh my; that’s quite extreme for Japan! They’re usually so polite. Thanks for sharing!
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That’s a very strange encounter you had; I’ve been told that Hong Kong locals aren’t always the friendliest, and I guess your situation confirmed that. Even of you spoke Cantonese/understood what she was saying, I don’t know if that’d make a difference, since you’re not from HK. All the same, it’s these strange moments in travel which make stories to tell later on!
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That’s interesting you’ve heard that too, about the residents of Hong Kong. You’re right that these experiences make good stories. Eventually my mom and I could laugh about it. Thanks, Rebecca, for commenting!
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To be completely straight, I didn’t care much for HK. I visited 20 years ago and commented to the Hungry Travellers that I found the food mostly disappointing but as a non-Asian person I additionally felt uncomfortable there, too. Nothing specific occurred but there seemed to be something of an “attitude” which my travel companion noted also. I decided not to return. Your encounter with the elderly lady was quite something! I’ll be looking forward to reading about your European visit. Cheers.
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That’s interesting, Lynette. We also had the same experience with the food. My mom commented that a friend she had traveled with in China ate mostly peanuts and drank beer; and not much of anything else! Thanks for sharing your experience.
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