Honestly, thats one thing that in a way I love about french people. Rude or not they will go out their way to stick to their principles

However I've been to france many many times and I found so long as you attempt to speak some french to them and be polite they are more than gracious in their response. Most of them try to help me with my own french and are more than happy to use english once my albeit limited french vocab is exhausted

As for bad experiences, here is our fabulously british viewpoint on them...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlBiLNN1NhQ

Exactly.

And the real point of the story (in case it somehow wasn't clear) is that as a big friend and admirer of both sides in that little encounter I watched it as a neutral observer, and completely got and sympathised with both contradictory points of view.

Sometimes we just have to accept different ways of doing things - and that's the fun and whole point of travel. Vive la difference!

(If I had something as highfalutin as a "principle" on the subject, vive la difference would be it...)

Cheers - C

If it helps, when I was in London a few years back- local people would ask if I was South African due to the weird kiwi accent... I hear people from SA and Downunder have a reputation for drinking up there

The French didnt know where I came from.. I always got the puzzled look. Americans thought I was Australian.. which I guess is a bit of a compliment if you look at it from a certain aspect. I actually learnt the difference between a Canadian & American accent then too

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No-o-o-o-o: really?


My London English accent roams between Hugh Grant and Michael Caine, depending what mood I'm in. In New York and Boston (which, let's be real, are amongst the more internationally minded parts of that country) I've had people scrunch up their faces like they're trying really hard to understand what they're hearing - and finally ask me if I'm French. Or German. And they're not joking. I used be surprised at that.

Elsewhere in the States people have just asked me frankly whether I speak English. I should carry my own subtitles, I guess.

Then again. I really have needed to watch episodes of The Wire with the subtitles switched on. "Two nations divided by a single language..."

Cheers - C

When I moved from england to canada I was frequently asked where in australia I was from.

Oh no! I had a guy that worked for me from New Zealand. We were at the lake one summer and he had a noticeable scar on his abdomen from surgery. While standing on a dock, a local from here, back woods kind of person, walked up to him and asked, 'What kind of accident do you got?? "Accident?", he thought looking at his scar. "Ya, your accident?" they asked again. "Oh, you mean my accent?" be inquired. "Oh, I am from New Zealand," he explained. The person looked at him seriously and asked, "What part in Australia is that in?"

As you can imaging, he was furious! He came to me and told the whole incident. Then he went on to say, "Next time I ask one of you yanks what State your from and will follow up with, What part of Canada is that in?!!!!"

Speaking of bad travel experiences, I have had many over the years, laced among the interesting, fantastic, and amazing. Food is always interesting, especially in places in Asia. I have been held at knife point on the train in Czech, gun point in Kosova, chased at night by the mafia in Bucharest, Romania. Attacked by Gypies in Constanta, Romania, ripped off by a hotel clerk in Holland, booted out of the airport at 2am in Bombay after missing my flight, and that 3 days after those terrorist attacks there, so no hotels to go to nearby, harassed by police in Albania who wanted money, a pen, a shirt or anything. Funny thing is, I still love all those places! Generally the people in every culture, if you willing to be one with them, eat with them, and treat them kindly, they will do anything for you to "try" to make to happy.

The one place I did not enjoy traveling was China, but then I was with a national, riding non-tourist "all night" buses with a back pack, video camera, going to places many Western people do not go, sleeping in strange people's homes; took a river boat way up into the mainland, got lost at night in a strange city and then later stranded at 1 am in Shanghai with nowhere to go, trying to meet some people we did not know. How do you describe the person who is meeting you? Go figure! The people treated me, most of the time wonderfully and as a novelty. But the food, sleeping, government really was....ummmmmm.... so much for my ramblings (no pun intended!)

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OK, I apologise deeply to those who think none of this belongs on a thread on the Strat Forum. But too bad: it is too much fun!


Hee-hee! Geographical ignorance: I spent a few months in Hong Kong in the '90s and my girlfriend in those days came out to visit over Christmas. She got all excited about the stuff I was telling her she'd see when she arrived - the Chinese food, Chinese stuff to buy, Chinese cultural things. Finally she asked: "Is it a long flight out? Where in Europe is Hong Kong?" She never permitted me to tell that story - while she still knew me...


Jeff, you definitely have me beat with that list. But if we're doing show-and-tell I've had a few myself too. Had everything stolen on an Indian railway station and had to carry on for another six weeks with nothing but what I had in my pockets. Been held up at knife point twice in different countries - fought them off successfully both times as it happens, which is exactly what you are not meant to do. Came this close [indicates a very small distance] to drowning in South Africa. Stoned by kids in Palestine. Stoned by adults in Egypt during the first Gulf War. "You're on our side!" I yelled. "We don't care!" they yelled back. Had a tank point its gun at the windshield of our car at about six feet range in Lebanon. Dysentery (the real thing) in Bangkok. Bitten by a snake in St Lucia. Menaced by a skunk in Arizona (the scariest one of all).

And here's a corker - which is absolutely true, and also quite funny in view of previous discussions we've had on this Forum. I was arrested and thrown in a prison cell not once but twice in India - for spying! I promise that's real! As soon as it was over I found it highly amusing and worked it up into a very long and detailed story to tell over a beer. It wasn't funny at the time though: I was 23 and frankly scared when my passport was taken away by a guy swishing a riding whip back and forth in my face. Anyone seen Midnight Express?

I hope it doesn't need saying I am not and never have been any kind of a spy. That is so, so far from my day job...


Good on ya! Me too!

Cheers - C

I noted, girlfriend "past tense..."


Ok Mr. C. We understand. All "good" spys give out that line. Yes, I remember a previous thread where you were involved with very covert guitar operations in various countries outside various embassies. Dress in black with a black turtleneck, and BLACK sunglasses......Ummmm.... I will have to think about that one. Man, seriously, I have never be in prison (except on purpose) or in jail overseas. Only detained several time in customs. Greece was them most terrible detention situation. Spent like 6 hrs there, yelled at as they tore my Volvo apart. I was coming from Macedonia. We headed back to Bulgaria where we were treated "kindly."

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Ah-ha! You called it "Macedonia" - that's where you went wrong. The Greeks don't much like that: you were in for a hard time from that moment on...

Cheers - C

We never called it anything! They told us to get out of the car and GO SIT DOWN..... We never got to say anything....and when we did they told us to SHUT UP...... But I think I know what the problem was, looking back at it. Well, ya.... When we were in Albania (yes we drove there and that was in 1992) someone broke into out car by forcibly pulling the window down. While in Macedonia, I decided to fix it while we ate some wonderful cheese and torpedo bread (there was almost no food in Albania at that time so we were straving. We found the first open market after leaving the country and got FOOD!) I had the door panel off and was re-bending the window risers—all this was about 5 miles from the boarder. Sooo, I am thinking someone drove by and saw us and told the boarder guards. Maybe they thought we were shoving heroin in there from Romania??? Got me...... very unpleasant experience.

But, unlike the police in Romania, when they pull me over, on that same trip, at 2 am in Brasov, Romania and accused us of being part a of a car smuggling ring, a few chocolate bars and packs of gum cleared up everything! As we drove off the head officer yelled, "Viva la Romania!"

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www.xhefriguitars.com

Haha - I love that corrupt police make things easier!

An Italian guy was once explaining to me all the different types of police they have there. He said the Carabinieri are a big nuisance because they are 50 percent corrupt. "The corruption is a bad problem, huh?" I asked. "No, no," he replied: "the problem is you don't know if you're dealing with a bribe-able Carabiniero or not. With the Polizia it is so much simpler - they're all corrupt. You know where you are!"

- C

This topic is just getting more and more interesting.

So tell us about odd food in Brazil or a crazy travel experience. Then you might even find out when Fender will be shipping more guitars!

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Okay, food here in Brazil is just great! Our barbacue is not hot dogs and hamburgers, whe do real meat ! Mignon!



About that, my wife called the girls for a barbacue last weekend... okay you must see my pool view that day. I love living in Brazil, only downside the musicians hardware prices and we got no guitarcenter or musiciansfriend.

Your barbeque looks delicious.




The steak doesn't look bad either

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'78 Fender Stratocaster
Epi USA Texan '64 RI signed by Paul McCartney
'73 Fender Mustang
Gibson LP Deluxe RI '69
Fender Active Jazz Bass
Guild GADm20e Acoustic Guitar
Epi Casino RI
Gretsch Pro Jet w/Bigsby
And My Frankenstein-O-Caster