Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bucheon bum]

[Louis VI]

[bucheon bum]

[Aelric]

Hey all, OP here. Just wanted to clear some things up.

I'm not looking for ladies in my travels, so that isn't a selling point for either country. If they are there, bonus, if not, they aren't the point of traveling. I guess Dave's talks about dating so much, we start to assume we're always talking about it.


I am an American, but I'm a Canadian where ever I go and sorta wish I were a Canadian anyway. America has a few decades of crapping up other peoples countries to hurt regular folks goodwill towards us and I'm not interested in getting into an American Pride argument about it. I'm traveling practically, and Canadians are beloved or at least better tolerated the world over. Besides, I already sewed the Canadian flag to my bag years ago.

I'm a 6 foot 6 inch skinny white boy. I'm gonna be a target wherever I go. I realize I may be scammed by cabbies and taken to tout towns and charged double to leave. Hell, I attracted no less than 5 high tea ceremony dudes in Beijing in 10 days over 2009 Lunar New Year (wasn't suckered, just approached.) It's a hazard of travel and I realize that. And yes, I find it incredibly annoying too, but that's the world. Shouldn't be a road block.

This choice s wedged between a few other destinations on a larger multi stop trip. I'll ending my contract late next month then doing Thailand for a month before hitting this Egypt or Mongolia thing. After this, it's Athens and the Greek isles and then onward to other European countries before going down to south America and hopefully ending the trip in Machu Picchu, Peru. The unspoken third option is to extend the time spent in the other stops by a few days each.


Egypt I chose to be a fast whistle stop due to the symmetry with this being a bit of accidental 'Ancient Wonders' tour. It's cheaper to get to, easier to access lodgings, and has the pyramids and other places I'd love to see.

If I go to Mongolia, it's more expensive to get there, more expensive to get out with nastier layovers. Access to everything will be more difficult and since I'm traveling alone, it's unlikely I'll be able to do any hardcore treks. With all that said, it's still Mongolia, a place with such incredible landscapes that it's actually got the stronger argument going for it right now. If I go, it'll be for more than a week and I'd do my best to be out of the population centers and in the hills and plains for as much time as I can.

Anyway, continue to throw pros and cons at me, I appreciate the feedback.

Oh, and yes, to answer you question, at the end of this tour, I'll be dirt poor again as I'm blowing two years savings on this. But, I won't be young twice and this is a young man's game, so that is why I'm comfy blowing so much when I'm hardly a man of means and technically still deep in college debt.

[AsiaESLbound]

I hear you OP. People do care where you are from, but really most do not hate us Americans, it's just a complex political topic. I'm sure it was a complex situation if you were a traveling English man 100 years ago during the days of empire. Asian countries tend to love the American thing, but I got very negative responses in Egypt and Europe so I learned to become Canadian soon into those trips. Wherever you go, if you are exhausted from having the same long, "Obama is great," and, "you are the richest and luckiest in the world," conversations over and over associated with being American, just say you are Canadian. This means they have less interest to talk to you longer since so many people don't know much more about Canada other than it being a great wilderness. In Burma, they love Americans and rarely see them in real life, but many acted so jealous believing I was the the richest man with the most freedom the world over. I found that telling them I'm American resulted in more begging, "you are so lucky, I no lucky, you are the richest in the world. Please sir. Help me," and ridiculously higher prices were quoted. I believe if you are an American in any market where prices are negotiable, you do pay more money for filling them in on your status as an American.

Well many places still have very outdated ideas while other countries have fictional ideas from watching our movies and shows. Not only the politics and empire status, the Hollywood movie industry makes the USA one interesting topic for billions of people around the world, but one that makes you look rich and even arrogant in their eyes. How many American globe trotters have Old Glory sewn to their backpack? It's not that we aren't proud to be American, it's the high profile image associated with the nationality. I'm not going to the length of sewing a maple leaf to my bag, but it's a neutral one just like having an Eiffel tower on your bag.

In many parts of the world, the most common response you get is, "Canada is very beautiful," except Egyptians like saying this annoying, "Canada Dry till' I die." I found a general lack of respect for foreigners in Egypt, but a very high level of respect in Asia. Just try it and you'll see what I mean. Egypt is a great adventure, but in my opinion, most are not friendly there. You go there for the sites; not the people.

Have a great adventure out there OP.

[Aelric]

And I hear you, ESLbound. Even in places where they like Americans, I still don't like the spot it puts you in. Even on my first visit to Thailand, a place I hope to retire to some day because of it's wonderful people, I got reactions to my country that were mostly positive but definitely uncomfortable at times. As I moved up into the Chiang Mai area, I quickly decided to become Canadian simply because it offered more anonymity. Thanks for the well wishes. Million things could go wrong, but that is part of the fun.


Still, please, folks, keep weighing in, I'm still indecisive about this because it's whim vs. practicality in my head.

[ThingsComeAround]

Yes, in response to the dude that said something about there being a "3000 strong force" to keep the womenz to themselves, I remember seeing several swastikas in Mongolia, and an article in a magazine trying to explain that the swastika is originally a Mongolian symbol which was perverted by Hitler. Wish I could remember that idiotic magazine...

Anyway, food was dirt cheap and clothing was too. The skies are clear, many many foreigners travel there for months at a time to trek/hike/bike/parachute across the country so don't worry about some Anti-foreign hater chasing you down. So long as you aren't claiming to be Russian (Stalin has a bad history of abusing his colonies) the locals will leave you alone for the most part. I'd still exercise caution as a group of four tried to rob me, and I saw three kids sucker punch a Mongol adjosshi- probably because he was in a shiny suit.

[greenshirt]

[runthegauntlet]

Wow. I've heard stories of moron Americans claiming to be Canadians when they travel but I've never actually heard a first hand account.

How utterly pathetic.

Massive FAILs.

[runthegauntlet]

[bucheon bum]

[AsiaESLbound]

Greenshirt. While I definitely wouldn't call it one of the most safest countries to visit, it's very different if you aren't a tourist. It's unfortunate Egypt has low quality under skilled people who are often confrontational working in tourism who don't represent what the majority of Egyptians are really like. They have a serious case of tourist burnout going on. Your every day Egyptian probably doesn't realize how badly tourists, their only foreign income, are treated. I wish they'd clean it up in their own interest of reputation and the fact tourist revenue is very important to Egypt. When you take the Cairo subway and go other places, it's very chill and normal with no one acting rude and pestering you to no end. They could use some underarm deodorant, but they seemed friendly enough outside tourist areas. No one acted hostile and aggressive on the subway, near the university, and other places like they did at the pyramids, markets, and in Luxor. Those working tourism acted so cynical and pessimistic saying things like, "What? You don't wanna visit my perfume shop?" They really are morally beat down since 2008 with the economic downturn. When you attended university there, I'm sure people began recognizing you as not being a tourist so you gained more respect that way. I wasn't the first tourist to complain, because I seen many arguments taking place every day I was there in tourist areas, but I realized most Egyptian people are actually quite friendly and nothing like the con men drawn to tourism. They really act terrible to tourists, but they know they can away with it in attempt to scam the gullible, because tourists find it very important to go for the incredible historic sights found nowhere else. Many tourists doing the middle East country circuit did mention to me that neighboring countries are much friendlier to tourists.

I met one American English teacher from Texas who had been there 3 months and he said living there is nothing like being a tourist until he steps into a touristy area. He enjoyed teaching there, but hated how he was treated when he wanted to see the sights on the weekends.

Did you attend the American University? It's got the English book store.

[greenshirt]

Yeah. Went to AUC.
Stay away from hotels in tourist areas and your vacation will be much better.

[ThingsComeAround]

[tukmax]