再游亚洲

2019年11月和12月的两个月中，我去亚洲的几个城市旅游，包括日本，泰国和台湾。日本和泰国对我来说是陌生的，但此行是我第三次去台湾。与过去随旅行团旅游走不同，这次我们选择一些“自助游”。

During the months of November and December 2019, I took on a tour to quite a few cities in Asia. These cities are located in Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan. Japan and Thailand are new to me while it was my third visit to Taiwan. Unlike the previous visits with touring groups, we mixed in a dose of “self-directing” tour this time.

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在日本，我们走访了东京，名古屋和大阪。整个旅程中我们注意到，旅行中的午餐和晚餐用餐的地方都是中国人开的中餐。我们去了一个曾经是婚礼胜地，但现在每个房间均改为专门供一车车旅游者吃午餐的地方。还有一个地方，大楼的每一层都用作旅行团的就餐。他们所有的员工都是来自中国大陆的华人，只会讲普通话。这使我们当中有些人很难与他们交流。

Our touring group stops were Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka in Japan. Throughout this tour, we noticed that lunch and dinner arrangements were made with Chinese food operators. One day, we entered a one-time wedding resort now with each room operating as a lunch restaurant for visiting tourists arriving in Coaches. Another time, each floor of a building was serving as an eating area for touring groups. All of their staff were Chinese from Mainland and they spoke Pu Tong Hua only. This made it difficult for some of us to interact with them.

我们每天都被安排参观日本的庙宇和特色购物区。位于东京市中心的银座没有我们想象的那么好。那里有很多药店，专门向中国游客兜售药品和药膏。这一经历使我想起了几年前我去中国的旅游经历，当时整个旅游线路都是由一个集团“打包”控制的。

Temple visits were made daily, as with visits to specialty shopping areas. The Ginza area located in the heart of Tokyo was not what we expected. There were plenty of pharmacies staffed with Mainland Chinese to deal with Chinese tourists stocking up on medicines and ointments. The whole experience reminds me of my visit to China a few years ago when the entire tour is “packaged” and controlled by a syndicate.



在很多地方，我们看到用中文写的“不要吸烟”或“不要站在马桶座上”的提示。相信有很多华人游客行为不雅才使接待方打出这些提示来应对这个特定的游客群体。我们没有看到用其他语言类似提示，因此，这些中文提示是想办法阻止那些令人厌恶的的行为。

On many occasions, we saw Chinese signs requesting people “not to smoke” or “not to stand on the toilet seats”. There must be plenty of violations to cause these signs to go up and directed at this specific group of tourists. We did not find similar signs in other languages so these must be put up to discourage unwelcome behaviours.

日本旅游结束后的下一个目的地是泰国的曼谷和芭堤雅。曼谷是一个非常大的现代化城市，有许多摩天大楼。像日本一样，曼谷也有很多来自中国的游客。曼谷的旅游纪念品至今还留在我的记忆中，当然还有那些精美的寺庙和宫殿。曼谷的河道很脏，甚至有没有加盖的污水渠！水上市场提供大量商品和特色食品。如果能忍受吃那些用河水洗过的刀切的食物，你一定会滋润。手工艺品和纪念品均是当地产品，质量非常好。令人惊讶的是，许多泰国人可以用英语同你做买卖。

Our next destinations were Bangkok, and Pattaya, Thailand. Bangkok is a very large, modern city with many skyscrapers. Like Japan, there are plenty of tourists from China. Again, some items stayed in my memories along with the wonderful temples and palaces visited there. The waterways were filthy – there were even open sewers in the downtown area! The Floating Markets offered plenty of merchandise and specialty foods. If you can put up with the possibility of getting your food cut with knives washed in the river then you would enjoy them. The crafts and souvenirs were done up locally and in very good quality. Surprisingly, many Thai people can converse in English to get transactions done.



我们在曼谷最高建筑（76楼）的自助餐厅再一次目睹了那些哄抢食物的大陆游客。虽然芭堤雅酒店的早餐区要排队，但插队的华人司空见惯。那天，一群中国大陆游客带着行李，无视正在排队等电梯的我们而抢先冲入电梯。但他们因没有带房卡而不得不退出电梯（没有房卡电梯不动）。他们愤怒地出了电梯，而我们上了电梯后却大笑不止。

Once again, we witnessed Chinese food hoarders at the buffet table in the restaurant located on the tallest building in Bangkok (76th floor). There were queue jumpers at the breakfast line in the Hotel in Pattaya. Finally, a group of mainland Chinese tourists rushed into an elevator with their luggage ignoring our queue and had to exit when they did not get it running (because they did not realize they need to use their room cards). They angrily exited and we went upstairs laughing.

离开芭堤雅之后，我们没有跟旅游团，而是坐火车北上去清迈（Chiangmai）和清莱（Chiangrai）。在那里，我们雇了一个司机和一部​​面包车去参观更多的寺庙。当地的夜市是个不错的景点，我们一边看，一边买，一边吃。来泰国就是购物和吃！如果再次回泰国，我们将带上额外的行李箱来购买价廉物美的物品。

After Pattaya we left the touring group and took a train north to Chiangmai and Chiangrai. There, we hired a driver and a van to visit more temples. Night markets were nice attractions with many things to see, buy, and eat. Thailand is all about shopping and food! If we visit again, we will bring extra luggage boxes to carry all of the cheap goods.



我们此行的最后一站是台湾。我们正赶上台湾选举年，选举日期是2020年1月11日。由于政治原因，台湾今年不允许大陆游客来台。我们看到很多来自其他国家的游客，尤其是韩国和日本的游客。因此，各景点不那么拥挤，游览有条不紊。

Finally, we arrived in Taiwan. This is an election year and their election date is January 11, 2020. There were no Mainland visitors in Taiwan this year as no visitations to Taiwan is allowed for political reasons. We saw plenty of tourists from other nations, particularly Korea and Japan. For this reason, attractions are less crowded and tours were conducted in an orderly fashion.

与过去访台不同，此行我们没有加入任何旅行团。我们雇了一个司机和​​一部面包车进了山区。在那里，我们看到了云端上最美的日落。我们还参观了当地的小城镇和村庄，品尝了食物，并与居民交谈。

Unlike the previous visit, we did not join any touring group. We hired a driver and van to took us into the mountain ranges. There, we saw the most wonderful sunset above the clouds. We visited small towns and villages, sampled the local foods and talked to the residents.

自上次旅游台湾以来，当地的夜市发生了很大变化。现在，更多的摊位改成了游戏（投掷飞镖，射气球）。许多食品摊位成了“连锁”经营，沿途有好多个。食物的质量仍然很好，不享受一下口服实在是对不起自己。

The Night Markets have changed a lot since my last visit. Now, there are more gaming stalls (dart throwing, shooting of balloons) than before. Many of the food stalls are “franchised” stalls and there are multiple number of them along the route. Nevertheless, the quality of food was still good and visitation is mandatory.



这次台湾旅行的亮点是我们光顾台北101大楼并在鼎泰丰餐厅用餐。虽然排队花了一个小时，但值得。我们点了皮最薄的小笼包。我去过世界各地很多“鼎泰丰”餐厅，这家是最好的。

The highlight of the trip was to visit the Taipei 101 building and dine at the Ding Tai Fung 鼎泰丰restaurant. The wait was an hour but it is well worth it. We ordered the “Soup dumplings” 小笼包 with the thinnest dumpling skin one can find. I have visited many “Ding Tai Fung” restaurants around the world and this one is the best.

“自助游”能让自己仔细欣赏各个景点并结识更多的人。当然，你逛的景点也会减少。自助游对重游故地特别适用。

“Self-directing” tour offers the best way to see attractions in details and meet more people but it takes more time to visit less number of attractions. It is best used for repeat visits!