When Americans traveling abroad want something familiar, they visit McDonald's*.
When Korean presidents traveling abroad want something familiar,
they visit Hyundai factories.
I'm hoping to see South Korean companies get more involved with India, a country that has the same potential as China in terms of providing a reasonably well-educated, disciplined, and affordable labor source, but with the added benefit of not being
wholly evil (the government, that is; not the people, except some of the netizens... and
the ground troops).
* This isn't true for every American, but it's true for a lot of them. I think the travel industry must have made a deal with McDonald's to get them to set up their chain throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin America, because without the Golden Arches to fall back on, there'd be hella many Americans who would just stay home.
You do remember that YOU are American, don't you? Or are you just choosing to ignore your passport so you can remind your readers how fat and lazy Americans are?
ReplyDeleteI am indeed an American. I guess I tend to speak of others in the third person, even others who would be my cohorts.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, I wouldn't say that "fat and lazy" is what I was going for here. One can be a frequenter of McDonald's without being fat. I love me my Egg McMuffins, but I only weigh 150 pounds.
And people who truck themselves off to a foreign country wouldn't necessarily be lazy, either. The sluggish tend to stay where they are.
I think I was going more for a sense of comfort and familiarity versus adventurousness. McDonald's is a safe place to visit when you need a break from the local cuisine and/or the attempt to make yourself understood in another language.
I've traveled around Asia and Europe with my parents, and our routine often included McDonald's or hotel offerings in the morning so we could brace ourselves for more adventurous restaurant encounters for lunch and dinner.