Re: Food in Greece

In article <1181506108.952524.296200@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
oneofcold@xxxxxxxxx says...

I'm surprised you would consider travel in India easy going and
relaxed! ?

Yes, India is an exception.

Or the chaos of most larger Asian cities.

Not a problem (except for Indian cities).

Or bus, water, or
train transport, all of which are often slow and unpleasant in most of
the poorer Asian countries. I really enjoy travel in Asia for many
reasons, but rarely find it relaxing!

I do. But I tend to cover larger distances by plane - very cheap in
Asia.

By contrast, I think Europe is very easy to travel in. Crime other
than pickpocketing is a complete non-issue,

Crime in Asia is even less of a problem than in Europe. You don't even
have to worry about pickpocketing, while you have to be careful while
travelling in Europe.

you don't have to worry
about what you eat or drink,

I never worry about that in Asia. But I have spent one year in Malaysia
in 1999-2000, so it's posssible that I got adapted to the local set of
bacteria. I never have intestinal upsets.

it's very easy to get around,

Also in Asia.

tourist
sights are set up to receive large numbers of visitors, and a lot of
English is spoken and even when it isn't you can still read the signs.

Also in Asia a lot of English is spoken, or at least enough not to
matter. For what concerns China you are right, but I have some basic
fluency in Chinese.

There are a lot of cultural differences within Asia (and Europe). I
found China very interesting, but the people certainly were not easy
going and the few who spoke English were not particularly interested
in talking to Westerners.

Chinese (who speak some English) are particularly keen to practice their
English.
My wife complained that people in Greece are not particularly friendly.
I noticed that too, when ordering a toast at the airport in Athens. The
first came out burnt (guy forgot it inside the toaster), with the second
the guy was careless and managed to throw it around, finally the third
toast was halfway ok, but the guy just threw it at me with an angry
face.

Well, in Europe if you are on a very low budget it does take some
planning, but it's not hard to find hostels or cheap hotels, and
inexpensive restaurants.

Hostels are not an option if you travel with your family (unless perhaos
in some Scandinavian countries, which have family rooms). Cheap hotels
are unavailable in some places, or of such low standards that you would
not want to spend the night with your family there. That was for
instance the case in Athens.

Most East and Southeast Asian countries have lots of temples and other
historic and religious sights. Some of the larger cities like Bangkok
and Beijing are full of things to see, and places like Angkor Wat
could keep you occupied for several days. Some countries in Southeast
Asia, like Indonesia and the Philippines, don't have much in the way
of visible remnants of history, but do have lots of natural beauty.

There are unfortunately not so many sites like Angkor in Asia.

Try counting the number of UNESCO World Heritage sites in Asian and
European countries. Italy has something like 60-70 sites IIRC, and other
European countries also in that range. Then count the number sites in
Asian countries. With the exception of huge countries such as China or
India it's usually just a handful of sites in each (Asian) country.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Working your way to Europe?
    ... There is high unemployment in many European countries, ... Asia do a few months of English teaching in cities like Tokyo or Seoul ... I'm not sure if the same demand for English teachers exists in Europe, ... The University of Michigan has a good web site about work abroad ...
    (rec.travel.europe)
  • Re: Pronunciation of Saturday
    ... "In many countries, including, most of Europe, Asia, and South ... America, Monday is held to be the first day of the week. ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: UK and USA are #1 & 2
    ... Europeans visit their neighboring countries quite a bit - after all, ... German, Russian, oh yeah, four if you count Latin) but the fact is that ... I studied throughout Western Europe to get my MA and all of our work ... in jnear perfect English by the native instructors. ...
    (rec.music.beatles)
  • Re: Poor treatment of foreigners in Star Wars NG
    ... > That is because countries in Europe have long since realised that the ... world does not revolve around tham and they better speak English to do ... Do you think the major reliance on English is because Great Britian is such ...
    (alt.fan.starwars)
  • Re: People who do and dont understand (was: "Both lanes of the ...")
    ... A young Japanese colleague, who speaks reasonable English, likes to ... was only when he got into the French countryside that he discovered ... that people in Europe would speak some English. ... way in most European countries by application of English, Latin, ...
    (alt.usage.english)
Loading