Backlash

[rajagainstthemachine]

Sourpuss galore here. All you guys with spacial awareness (or rather social awareness) issues should be put together in JR Yamanote Line in Tokyo and circle the whole day. Or Shanghai Line 2 from People's Square to Century Avenue during rush hour is also a nice one. You have difficulties to breath let alone turning around. You'll wish yourself back to Singapore...

[JR8]

you aren't going to believe this, but one fine evening after I had a few fine beers at Clarke Quay I staggered to the streets to hail a cab and there was quite a crowd at the taxi stand.
I pretended to hang around and then walked to the street a good 300 meters ahead and crossed over to the other side.
I was the only guy in the middle of the street trying to flag down a cab within 10 minutes of standing there, 6 drunks decide to form a queue behind me patiently waiting their turn for a cab in the middle of the road forming an imaginary taxi queue.Then when another drunk sees our lil imaginary line he walks ahead of our queue when the 6 drunks throw a lil fit over this perceived injustice and start swearing at him.
thats when a cab arrived I waved he stopped and I buggered off shaking my head in absolute bemusement and disbelief.

'You aren't going to believe this either'... I just recounted this to my wife, expecting her to laugh, but she thinks it's normal!?


p.s. Lol w/SMS!
ZZM - it's not unique to China. Tokyo has 'train-stuffers' on the subway too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pusher_(ra ... attendant)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7kor5nHtZQ

[Brah]

ZZM - it's not unique to China. Tokyo has 'train-stuffers' on the subway too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pusher_(ra ... attendant)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7kor5nHtZQ

Like a lot of things (bullet trains) China copied this from Japan.

Having been on a train or two that required the help of the Men In White Gloves, I can attest it's not something one would want to do very often. I remember being so packed my chest hurt. The tough thing is to be stuck behind a woman facing away from you and if she's attractive, trying no to show your appreciation.

[JR8]

[zzm9980]

Interesting! i never noticed in Japan, but I've only been there for a few days at a time. I did use the Yamanote a lot during rush hour between Shibuya/Shinjuku too.

[colio]

Got a bit annoyed tonight whilst walking around Ion & Wisma.. was pushing my 3 year old in the stroller.. amazing that people think a stroller is as nimble as a person, they just walk right at you or cross your path giving you only a split second to try to move away.. after this happened a few times, I gave up & decided I wouldn't move away when people did this, & bumped into quite a few people.. always "apologetically" of course

A stroller can give quite a nasty little "bump" to a person's ankle & have to admit more than one person walked away with a bit of a limp..

Like one of my expat friends said here.. it's about "educating" people, one person at a time...

[morenangpinay]

it might not be backlash but its not a good experience during church. When i went to church last sunday, I sat next to an auntie who is chinese. when i sat down, she gave me alot of hate filled side glances and a lot of rough movement of her shaw obviously to display her displeasure of my presence. I didn't budge from my seat and even turned to her to say "peace be with you" lol. she left immediately after communion.

[nakatago]

it might not be backlash but its not a good experience during church. When i went to church last sunday, I sat next to an auntie who is chinese. when i sat down, she gave me alot of hate filled side glances and a lot of rough movement of her shaw obviously to display her displeasure of my presence. I didn't budge from my seat and even turned to her to say "peace be with you" lol. she left immediately after communion.

Yet another hypocrite then.

So much for the message of love and tolerance.

[Brah]

it might not be backlash but its not a good experience during church. When i went to church last sunday, I sat next to an auntie who is chinese. when i sat down, she gave me alot of hate filled side glances and a lot of rough movement of her shaw obviously to display her displeasure of my presence. I didn't budge from my seat and even turned to her to say "peace be with you" lol. she left immediately after communion.

Yet another hypocrite then.

So much for the message of love and tolerance.

I've witnessed something similar, though not quite as blatant.

I was going to respond to the baby stroller comment, which is not a backlash thing as I've seen Western women do this here as well as locals, and I started this thread to be just an index of accounts of locals lashing out against non-locals, in response to the daily and weekly anti-foreigner articles.

There is another, less-tangible thing - what one feels but it's not quite clear, such as in the office, on the streets, etc. The danger there is people seeing things that aren't there.

Having said that, people not living here are already hearing about this anti-foreigner sentiment, colleagues overseas who never lived here and who some never been here seem to be aware of it.

[Brah]

recent experiences, anyone?

[Hannieroo]

I don't know about people refusing to give way when they are in a group and I am walking alone. It could be because I am white or female or have a dog. Or it could just be young male rudeness. I was thinking about this this morning, my preferred walk has people and cars but is not busy. I normally walk on one side that borders open ground and never have problems but if I cross over for a change of scene then it usually happens. The other side of the street is entirely apt blocks

Two taxis have refused to take me and pulled up 10 meters away for another fare and a kitchen fitter the agent brought round for a quote was quite happily measuring until I walked in the room and then he walked out of the house saying he didn't care for the job.

[Brah]

I don't know about people refusing to give way when they are in a group and I am walking alone. It could be because I am white or female or have a dog. Or it could just be young male rudeness. I was thinking about this this morning, my preferred walk has people and cars but is not busy. I normally walk on one side that borders open ground and never have problems but if I cross over for a change of scene then it usually happens. The other side of the street is entirely apt blocks

Two taxis have refused to take me and pulled up 10 meters away for another fare and a kitchen fitter the agent brought round for a quote was quite happily measuring until I walked in the room and then he walked out of the house saying he didn't care for the job.

Ok these are interesting.

The give-way thing has been discussed on this forum, and others, for years, and is still topical.

Question - do you walk on the right or left? For an American like me I had to train myself to walk on the left, as we usually walk on the right, as we drive.

After years here I came to the conclusion long ago that walking on the same side as driving only applies some of the time, nevertheless I try to respect what I think is local protocol and stay left, but people here walk aimlessly more often than not.

That would be ok if they gave way, but not having a protocol, not a written one, just a common-sense one, means these problems will only continue, and they have been highlighted by locals as well as well-intentioned foreigners trying to do the right thing.

One thing I've noticed with some dog owners is that they walk the dog on the side of the walkway with the grass, regardless of this very loose protocol.

So, no easy answer as no one seems to want to answer it and so we're left to the vagueness of how to respect each other walking down the street. I can tell you that we don't have this problem in major American cities - people walk on the right AND politely give way when there's no clear indication, and without drama.

Sheesh, this is such small stuff....

The taxi thing is a more difficult one to speculate on - it could be that they passed you over because they thought the other person would give them a longer fare / ride. Of if you had your dog with you they may not want it in the car.

[Hannieroo]

I walk on the left. The routes I take all have grass on the left and I put my dog on the grass when passing people because I can't expect a human to give way to me single file if I do not do the same. For bikes I put him on the grass and stand still as I can see they get nervous.

I don't think I'd attempt to take the dog in a taxi. We have a car and if not my vet does pick ups, I wouldn't expect a British taxi to take me either. Not without calling the cab office and asking.

One cab looked at me then slowed he was at snail pace and I approached thinking he was stopping, I went to the door and he shouted at me and then pulled in properly further up. If I want to be kind I could think he had forgotten to put his busy or on call light on and the other person was his pre booked fare.

Same as the neighbours on the left ignoring us with filthy side glances. Could be because we are foreign or because they fell out with our LL or because they are rude. Who knows?

[offshoreoildude]

The filthy glance thing can be a for a few ressons;

Envy- these descendants of coolies hate someone with a bit more than them.

Blurness / blankness - to be 'blur' a local expression meaning absentmindedness - their faces can be so blank or scowling as a result.

Cultural mistranslations - facial expressions are not universal.

They are waiting for you to smile first!

"Staring" here is a common cause of fights amoungst youth - I can't even explain the idiocy behind it but the idea is that someone takes offense and is provoked by another person looking at them for more than the socially acceptable time period. Perhaps people are attempting to provoke you?

[x9200]

I don't think there is any protocol for walking. It is more about the path of most convenience and least resistance between the points of interests (POI) or just something random. IMO they tend to stick to the side of the sidewalk they entered and once they do it they try to maintain it (till the next POI) regardless the common sens and social norms. It shows well in all sorts of corridor like pathways. You may be carrying a kid in your arms plus 5 loaded shopping bags and many locals on the collision course will try to pass you from the wall side (so this would be you to move towards the middle).