What do Asians think of Westerners?

Post by **Jamie_Lambo** » Fri May 22, 2015 4:10 pm

Samouth wrote:
phuketrichard wrote:
Samouth wrote:
I seriously doubt this
they might SHARE ur dish but they wont eat what you have left on ur plate after u have left. That is eating leftovers.

leftover food is OFTEN giving to the poor after parties in most asian countries! it gains merit.
Sometime, the food was a lot and i couldn't finish. so i just left them all over on the plate, my friend asked me if they can help finish it. That's why i felt so close with them than with my Cambodian friend. As i feel like they didn't discriminate me and found it disgusting. I guess some white people wouldn't do it and they would utterly find it disgusting. I think they are just arrogant i would say.
that is sharing, not left overs and 100% acceptable for westerns or those that eat Chinese food
Ok so the problem is my word choice.

not really, your choice of words was correct, yes as richard said you are sharing, but like you said, you are sharing your leftovers, what is left over is what you failed to eat, its surplus to your requirements, its your leftovers, to just plain share your food would be them eating from the same plate at the same time, but this is not the case, they are eating after you, what you didnt finish, your leftovers

Post by **Jamie_Lambo** » Fri May 22, 2015 4:14 pm

AE86 wrote:Well, I'm probably the wrong kind of Asian to comment being from a different country and being a different Asian, but I'll do it anyway.

In general, my friends and I wouldn't group white people as "Westerners", we'd distinguish who was from where (i.e. America, Europe, Australia, etc). In fact, because there are so many varieties of white people, we never tried to generalize because we found it complete useless in doing so. I even stopped trying to talk to customers in English because half of the time they were French or German anyway.

One thing I think that applies to Cambodia though in the same way it applied to Japan was that in general, a lot of foreigners were interested in the "native" women. While I know it's probably not true, I couldn't help but feeling that a lot of foreigners thought they were better than the "natives" and were some sort of prize that women would flock to, and when foreigners would try and flirt with my friends (the girls that is), I'd get upset at the arrogance I witnessed.

Sorry, not totally my place to comment.

see this all too much in cambodia, just because they have money, most are fat, ugly and women wouldnt go near them in their own country

Samouth · Post by **Samouth** » Fri May 22, 2015 4:43 pm

Jamie_Lambo wrote:
Samouth wrote:
phuketrichard wrote:
Samouth wrote:
I seriously doubt this
they might SHARE ur dish but they wont eat what you have left on ur plate after u have left. That is eating leftovers.

leftover food is OFTEN giving to the poor after parties in most asian countries! it gains merit.
Sometime, the food was a lot and i couldn't finish. so i just left them all over on the plate, my friend asked me if they can help finish it. That's why i felt so close with them than with my Cambodian friend. As i feel like they didn't discriminate me and found it disgusting. I guess some white people wouldn't do it and they would utterly find it disgusting. I think they are just arrogant i would say.
that is sharing, not left overs and 100% acceptable for westerns or those that eat Chinese food
Ok so the problem is my word choice.
not really, your choice of words was correct, yes as richard said you are sharing, but like you said, you are sharing your leftovers, what is left over is what you failed to eat, its surplus to your requirements, its your leftovers, to just plain share your food would be them eating from the same plate at the same time, but this is not the case, they are eating after you, what you didnt finish, your leftovers

+1 Great to have native speaker reference. I thought i was right too as we didn't eat together at the same time. They ate after i finished and this is definitely leftover food.

LTO · Post by **LTO** » Fri May 22, 2015 5:04 pm

Satiated Parrot wrote:
phuketrichard wrote:i'll answer for Thailand, Cambodia

They think we are rich an crazy
why else would someone from a rich country come live here?

They know we will NEVER stay but will return home one day

and to all you that really believe if u speak the language will be more accepted..
nice pipe dream
Yea its nice to converse with them but ......

and to those that try and assumulate into their culture by acting more like them, ( wearing sarongs, driving a samlor etc etc) their fucking laughing at you wondering what the fuck is wrong with you.

You are who you are, dont try an be someone else.
I think that's true. And I don't think there's anything wrong with not being accepted as a local. Most non-white immigrants to the west aren't really accepted as locals, even when they're born there. I think the real locals (in both situations) are more concerned about whether you accept and respect their ways and allow their ways to take precedence.

Edit: I want to explain this a bit further. Richard's sarong point was spot on. They don't understand why a westerner would adopt their ways if we didn't need to or want to. For example, they wouldn't like it if you called their food 'disgusting' but would find you weird if you ate at cheap street stalls every night.

Agreed with both. Though I think there is a way to become a 'local' of sorts. Acceptable roles are pretty well defined in SEA. The role of the 'local foreigner' is to learn and adapt to the local environment and ways the best you can, but to be yourself, the foreigner that you are. A westerner can 'assimilate' in a fashion - as a westerner who thinks and behaves as a westerner (and local expectations of how a westerner should act), but understands and is accommodating to (the best of) local custom, which, as richard notes, does not mean pretending to be Khmer, or worse, a poor Khmer. And I think this role in society here has a fairly long and rich history in Cambodia.

juansweetpotato · Post by **juansweetpotato** » Fri May 22, 2015 11:58 pm

phuketrichard wrote:Juan;

I guess u have never been poor,Never heard of Dumpster diving?

I traveled an lived in India & Mexico/and saw it often>,

Yea, my point was that no one anywhere else had eaten the leftovers off my plate before Cambodia ( or since). I don't see anything wrong with it and welcome them if they are hungry. Apart from the fact that they are hungry kids of course : angry:
I was just wondering why. I would have thought I would have seen it in India. Interesting that Samouth has had it happen before,although it now seems he may just have been referring to sharing his leftovers with a greedy pig westerner lol. Won't find me doing it unless he is really a close friend, even then ... a bit disgusting. So they don't do it to Khmers then? Has anyone had that experience in Thailand? never saw it in Vietnam/ Sri lanka, so I doubt if it's to do with Buddhism as such.

juansweetpotato · Post by **juansweetpotato** » Sat May 23, 2015 12:17 am

AE86 wrote:Well, I'm probably the wrong kind of Asian to comment being from a different country and being a different Asian, but I'll do it anyway.

In general, my friends and I wouldn't group white people as "Westerners", we'd distinguish who was from where (i.e. America, Europe, Australia, etc). In fact, because there are so many varieties of white people, we never tried to generalize because we found it complete useless in doing so. I even stopped trying to talk to customers in English because half of the time they were French or German anyway.

One thing I think that applies to Cambodia though in the same way it applied to Japan was that in general, a lot of foreigners were interested in the "native" women. While I know it's probably not true, I couldn't help but feeling that a lot of foreigners thought they were better than the "natives" and were some sort of prize that women would flock to, and when foreigners would try and flirt with my friends (the girls that is), I'd get upset at the arrogance I witnessed.

Sorry, not totally my place to comment.

Absolutely nothing wrong with the truth. Great post.
Backs up what a Thai guy told me once.
I think your right that a lot of westerners come over and think they are a good catch. Apart from the ego of the self, I think they generally equate having money as a good thing in being able to catch a woman. Especially in poor countries, where they become generally richer if they have money from an external economy (pension etc) or just sold their house in the UK for 750,000 and have invested in micro loans. They also often feel extremely superior because of their schooling/ upbringing and collected world history of dominance over ?? hundreds years. Basically they think like anyone from any country?, but rightly or wrongly they believe they have more to back themselves up. I guess the majority of people in most countries do?

frank lee bent · Post by **frank lee bent** » Fri Jan 12, 2018 6:19 pm

interesting thread from the past.
some of the posters here are prolific contributors here now under new handles.

pczz · Post by **pczz** » Fri Jan 12, 2018 6:24 pm

I guess its more cultural than geographic. Buddhist based Asians have a different world view than western Christians, and then you have muslim and Hindu and probably a few others. Religion and family are still very important in Asia and poverty is still a major problem so their view on what is and is not important is very different to ours. I am still amazed when I see a house in the village with a dish on top and a big flatscreen tv inside, but not a toilet in sight

tightenupvolume1 · Post by **tightenupvolume1** » Fri Jan 12, 2018 6:44 pm

charlie

frank lee bent · Post by **frank lee bent** » Fri Jan 12, 2018 6:47 pm

i was just doing a bit of casual research on the Mormons.
very surprising the many cognates with buddhist doctrine. worth a casual look.
i have an occasional interest in myth and dogma and it's expression in our current time.

What do Asians think of Westerners?

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