国外生活20年, 如何看待英国（文化冲击）
How I See The UK After 20 Years Abroad (CULTURE SHOCK)
Chinese Is Easy 2024年11月6日
I've been living abroad for 20 years. Here's how I now see the UK....
2024年11月6日 我在国外生活了20 年。以下是我现在对英国的看法....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv-rhfzIkME
观众评论
@teflerchina.2987 3 天前
我来自英国，自 2004 年以来一直在中国当老师，现在退休了。自从来中国后，除了在菲律宾度过两周假期外，我一次也没有出过国。我不想再回去了，因为我在这里很开心，而且经济状况比我还在英国时要好。我自 2007 年结婚以来，花了相当于 4 万英镑的价格买了一套属于自己的公寓。我当时有两份工作，永远也买不起房子。我的家乡哈德斯菲尔德已经衰落了，商店空荡荡的，街道肮脏不堪，坑坑洼洼，犯罪率居高不下。
@LubaWang 3天前
我过去两年在英国，我的孩子们在那里参加壁球比赛，现在这个国家和我25年前第一次来的时候完全不一样了。很多英国人都在挨饿，需要食物银行，晚上感觉不安全，我们在那里的时候几乎没有英国本地人为我们服务，我有时觉得自己可能在中东或东南亚的某个地方。
@colombard140 10小时前
作为一个铁杆的亲英派，看到那些无能的政客们连填补坑洼和帮助可怜的无家可归者的能力都没有，却有数十亿美元把军舰和航空母舰派往南海，我真的感到恶心。
@franzMong 3天前
明白你的意思了！鲍里斯·约翰逊和他之后的其他首相，甚至工党的斯塔默都继续向乌克兰提供资金，用于打这场荒谬的战争。英国脱欧后，英国经济正在迅速下滑。英国应该先照顾好自己的人民。
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主题
我于2004年离开英国，随后的20年里，我周游世界，在中国生活，在日本生活，还去过 25 多个不同的国家，所以今年是我离开英国的 20 周年，在这段视频中，我想与大家分享我在国外生活 20 年后对英国的看法，无论是好的、坏的还是丑陋的，但如果你刚来这里，我的名字是 Fred Barton，我曾经是英国驻北京大使馆的外交政策分析师和翻译，现在我制作有关中国、英国和学习中文的视频，我最近在英国待了 6 个月，看望我的家人，我刚从印度回来一个月，到达英国后，让我印象深刻的第一件事就是道路状况，坑坑洼洼，足以压塌你的轮胎和轮辋你的车轮，却没有人对它们进行任何处理，我在这些道路上开车，甚至来自印度，我在英国地区的一些道路与我在印度部分地区看到的一样，它们的维修状态非常糟糕，没有人对它们进行任何处理，在我在那里的 6 个月里，我看到某些路段的进展非常缓慢，但基本上道路和其他基础设施领域都被遗弃了，任其腐烂和衰败，我被告知这是因为政府没有花钱翻新它们，而是投资于维修，这是一个非常非常明显的影响，当我回到英国进行这次访问时，这是让我真正震惊的第一件事，即道路和许多一般基础设施的维修状态多么糟糕，看起来被忽视了，非常破旧，这是我注意到的关于英国的第二件事，也是我之前注意到的我回国时遇到的问题是，英国的服务通常非常糟糕，没有很强的服务文化。我在一家餐厅点了餐，一个年轻人接了我的订单，他是一个不错的人，但他衣冠不整，看起来不干净，脸上到处都是穿孔。我不是保守派，但他看起来很邋遢，手臂上有很多随机的纹身，都是脏兮兮的劣质纹身，当我们接订单时，他靠在桌子上，就像正对着我女朋友的脸，所以这很不专业。他看起来不干净，不适合在餐厅工作，这不是英国许多餐厅和其他地方的孤立案例，我知道英国的服务文化并不强，我知道这些人的 PID 可能不是特别好，但与其他国家相比，商店和餐馆里的人通常都很好非常警觉和细心，而且在英国，你得到的印象是，这些人刚起床，另一家店里有一个人为我服务，看上去好像好几个星期没洗澡了，他并不想和我互动，因为我认为，英国的这些低薪工作让人们觉得，这有失身份，他们不想做，所以很明显，这会传达给客户，所以你的体验通常很差，没有强大的服务文化，我我明白这是由于经济状况造成的，我并不是想指责那些从事低薪工作的人，但作为客户或消费者，你只知道他们没有给予客户太多的关注或照顾，但一般来说，在我去过的英国以外的国家，客户服务要好得多，对客户的关注也更多，客户体验要好得多。我注意到的第三件事是，英国商业街的心脏被撕毁了，从我居住的市中心到我去看望父母的地方，那里的许多商店和餐馆现在都关门了，我知道这与新冠病毒和对经济的影响有关，但在城里走一走，它看起来就像一座鬼城，非常令人沮丧，那里没有了以前的活力，当你来自其他更繁荣的国家时，这给人一种非常沮丧的印象。活力 英国许多城镇的市中心和商业街看起来荒凉、破旧、空荡荡的 我对英国的第四个看法是，外出就餐通常价格过高，浪费金钱，而且服务也不好，但食物通常做得不是特别好，食材似乎也不是特别好吃，价格昂贵，最近我回英国旅行时，我出去吃饭的时候，对同行的人说，我们可以自己在家做一顿更好的饭，这样就不必忍受糟糕的服务、漫长的等待和糟糕的食物。有一次，我和家人出去庆祝周年纪念日，我妈妈开始抱怨等待，因为食物没有煮熟，这太麻烦了，在家做饭会容易得多，所以我认为英国的待客文化不是很好，食物做得不是很好，然后你就要花一大笔钱因此，在我居住和旅行过的英国以外的所有国家，外出就餐通常相对便宜，而且很美味，比在家做饭更好，外出是一种乐趣，而在英国，这有点像拔牙，事后你真的会感觉到钱包鼓了。第五件让我印象深刻的事情当然是英国的生活成本已经非常昂贵，我认为价格过高，而且与你在英国得到的东西相比性价比很低，但随着生活成本的上升，它已经变得完全无法控制，我可以选择长期居住，但我不可能留在英国，那次旅行后我直接去了台湾，回去探望我的家人，那里的性价比太低了，现在随着生活成本危机，情况更加糟糕，你可以在超市看到这种现象，FL 一个以前 60 美元的西兰花现在这么大，现在只有 13 美元了它只有网球那么大，所以在一个在很多方面已经非常昂贵的国家，东西变得更加昂贵，而你花的钱得到的却更少，所以基本上仅凭这一点，我永远不会选择住在英国。我从国外回到英国后真正注意到的 SI 事情是，东西通常维护得不好，而且很脏。英国人不好好照顾东西，我说的是，在我住的市中心，保龄球馆、电影院、麦当劳、星巴克这些地方都很脏，地毯真的很脏，玻璃上有油污，所有东西看起来都很脏。这不仅仅是与日本这样的地方相比，那里的东西维护得一尘不染，甚至与菲律宾和东南亚其他我住过的地方相比，那里的东西维护得要好得多，那里对卫生的关注度更高清洁度和建筑物、商店和餐馆通常似乎维护得更好，保持了更高的卫生标准，你可以看到，即使在体育中心，厕所里也充满尿液，人们在厕所里留下阴毛，诸如此类的事情，英国很多这样的场所的卫生或清洁水平都不是很好，这就引出了我在英国注意到的第七点，我以前从未考虑过，嗯，回到英国后，我发现英国的一般卫生标准实际上并不那么好，我从未认为自己是一个肮脏或不卫生的人，但在与来自不同国家的女性交往后，她们很惊讶我睡觉前不洗澡，或者我有其他她们认为非常不卫生的习惯，我想说，尤其是在东南亚，个人卫生水平极高，这显然与个人收入无关，人们经常洗澡我知道，这并不完全正确，我所在的越南有很多人现在，在其他地方，我看到人们的口腔卫生状况很差，但一般来说，尤其是女性，她们会更多地洗澡，东西也保持得更干净，而且，在亚洲生活了这么久之后，有一种习惯对我来说真的非常奇怪，那就是在家里穿着你在外面穿过的鞋子，你在肮脏的人行道上走来走去，人们会吐口水，狗会在上面撒尿，那里可能还有狗粪，你的脚底有很多细菌，然后你就穿着这些户外鞋走进你的家，把这些细菌蹭到地毯上，这看起来非常奇怪，韩国、日本、中国几乎东南亚国家几乎任何地方的人都认为这种做法非常奇怪，你为什么要用从外面带进来的所有这些细菌来玷污你自己的家，这对我来说完全合理，所以我总是把鞋子放在门外，穿着室内拖鞋，我知道人们会说你有在英国，人们不需要脱鞋，但我发现这是一种更普遍的做法，人们会说，哦，不，你不需要脱鞋，人们会穿着鞋在家里走来走去，而这在我去过的大多数国家都是不会发生的。在国外呆了这么久，我注意到的关于英国的第八件事是，牙科和医疗保健系统看起来基本上是坏的。我知道你仍然可以预约全科医生，你可以进入候补名单。如果需要，你可以等一年或两年才能做手术，但我不想这样做。我宁愿去东南亚或其他国家，在那里我可以快速轻松地支付优质标准的牙科和医疗保健费用。前几天，我在越南做了核磁共振检查，我现在在那里，我立即得到了预约，这个过程花费了大约 120 英镑。我和医生做了分析，一切都在几个小时内完成了，我不需要坐在等待名单
18 个月牙科也一样，我可以打电话预约，差不多当天就可以得到一流的治疗，大约 40 英镑就可以得到牙科治疗，而在英国，这大约是这个费用的 10 倍，所以我宁愿在国外这些国家私下支付费用，在那里我可以得到快速、高质量的服务，只需进出和护理，而且服务质量非常好，我注意到的第九件事是，英国人普遍情绪低落，生活质量很低，我以前也见过这种情况，这对我来说并不是什么新鲜事，但自从离开这么久之后，这种情绪就更加明显了，而在西班牙、葡萄牙、意大利、南欧等国家，人们会一起吃饭，一起在外面喝酒，我知道这当然与气候有关，英格兰的很多问题都与气候有关，你不能出去，你不能身体放松，因为天气很冷，但英国看起来很沉闷、灰暗和沮丧，现在很多地方的酒吧都关门了，这似乎是人们唯一的选择实际上，享受生活的方式就是在家看电视、喝酒、吃超市或外卖店的食物，这似乎是一种非常糟糕的生活享受方式，即使在我居住过的贫穷国家，也有娱乐的方式，即使在日本这样的地方，你只要花几英镑就可以去澡堂，人们可以一起做一些有益健康的公共活动，而不必像在英国那样只围绕着喝酒或看足球，对于很多外国人来说，有很多可以负担得起的小东西，比如外出就餐、和朋友一起吃饭、出去按摩、去澡堂，这些小事都能给你带来一点生活的乐趣，而在英国，我们似乎并没有这样的乐趣，这是一个非常分散的社会，人们放松的主要方式似乎是在电视机前吃垃圾食品、看足球或喝酒，好吧，这些都是负面方面自从在国外呆了这么久，我注意到了英国，但我也看到了英国的积极一面，我非常喜欢英国的第一件事是，我所在城镇的健身房和休闲中心的会员资格价格实惠，每月约 30 美元，我可以使用一个非常好的健身房，它有一个 25 米长的游泳池，它有一个桑拿浴室和一个蒸汽浴室，它真的很棒，即使在像越南这样非常便宜的国家，我现在居住的健身房会员费仍然很高，我和一位最近从巴利来访的朋友谈过，他说那里的健身房会员费高得惊人，高达 300 美元是相当正常的事情，所以我真的很喜欢英国便宜实惠的休闲中心，我认为它们很棒，对我来说，我喜欢运动，我喜欢锻炼，这是我自我护理所需的日常练习，所以这对我来说有很大的不同，与此相关的是食物和饮食我已经想好了要吃好吃的
而且我一直都很喜欢英国的超市，我经常注意到，在国外生活多年后，我会回来参观，英国的食品购物总是最好的，虽然它受到了生活成本的严重影响，很多东西甚至都没有上架，当我最近去肥皂超市时，鸡蛋是定量供应的，其他东西实际上没有库存，但总的来说，这仍然可能是我在我居住或旅行过的任何国家遇到的最好的食品购物，除了越南，那里有令人惊叹的农产品，如果你想要健康食品，你可以买到羽衣甘蓝甜菜，它很便宜，我真的很喜欢这里的食品购物，但与台湾和日本等食物极其昂贵的地方相比，这里的选择有限，我真的很感激能够在超市买到优质产品和种类繁多的东西，还有健康食品，而且通常没有添加很多糖英国
在国外待了这么久之后，我欣赏的第三件事是英国的整体文化，就平面媒体电视广播喜剧而言，我在国外时真的很想念喜剧，我认为英国的喜剧是无与伦比的，呃，去过
很棒的脱口秀节目，无论你想去剧院听 Radio 4 上的节目，我确实认为英国在这些方面是无与伦比的，因为喜剧深深植根于我们的语言中，所以你真的很想念这一点
在国外，英国的幽默感非常独特，只有当你回到英国时，你才能真正满足这种渴望，我想说的第三件事是，自从离开以来，我欣赏英国的工匠的素质，例如，现在是越南的雨季，晚上下了大雨，窗户漏水，我叫来了一个工匠，他用布擦了擦窗户，因为雨已经停了，他说没有问题，现在没事了，我解释说，如果今天下午和晚上又开始下雨，窗户会漏水，但他不想做任何事情，他基本上说风已经修好了，基本上就是用干抹布擦拭窗户，等着它稍后再次被水淹没，但英国工匠的素质非常好，我住过很多不同的公寓，住过世界各地和许多不同国家的公寓，如果出了问题，如果你的公寓天花板漏水，或者你住在国外时，你的房子有其他问题，你经常会让一个人进来，他只是没有技能，他不知道他得到的报酬非常非常少，他会抽着烟进来，看着这个东西几个小时，然后说，是的，我认为没关系，我在它上面贴了一些胶带你知道，英国的房屋维修和保养工作做得并不好，所以我很欣赏英国的工匠们。第四件我非常欣赏英国的地方是乡村，我从小在乡村长大，所以我认为乡村是理所当然的。但是，我在北京、德里、东京等人口密集的地区待过很长时间，然后回到英国，在乡村度过一段时间。特别是如果天气好转，英国有一些独特之处。这是一种无与伦比的自然美景。我真的很欣赏英国的很多自然美景，无论是康沃尔的海岸线，还是苏格兰的高地，这些都是我小时候无法真正看到的东西，因为我已经习惯了。但去年我又回来了，短暂地参观了这些地方，看到这些地方，你确实会惊讶于英国很多地方的自然美景。最后一件事在国外生活了这么久之后，我学会了真正欣赏英国，因为英国人在国外生活了这么多年，我回国时所拥有的那种调侃水平是我怀念的，显然是因为你们有共同的语言和文化，所以你们可以以一种比与其他人更友好、更亲密的方式互动，尽管我在国外能说得很好，很多国外的人也非常友好，你可以和他们开玩笑，英国人有一些独特之处，我过去认为他们非常冷漠，但随着年龄的增长，我意识到那是一种自我防御机制，英国人看起来很内向，很冷漠，但如果你在邮局或超市排队时和某人聊天，他们会露出微笑，你知道防御性严肃的面具通常会摘下来，他们会开始和你聊天，他们很健谈，很友好，除了美国人极其亲社会，我认为英国他们是我知道的最健谈的人，我真的很喜欢那种玩笑，这也是我有时在国外生活时会想念的事情之一，所以，这就是我在英国生活的优点和缺点，总的来说，我无意搬回那里，对我来说，缺点多于优点，但如果你想了解更多关于我在中国和国外生活的经历，以及我对这些国家的看法，那么请在这里查看我的视频
How I See The UK After 20 Years Abroad (CULTURE SHOCK)
Chinese Is Easy 2024年11月6日
I've been living abroad for 20 years. Here's how I now see the UK....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv-rhfzIkME
Viewers Commnets
@teflerchina.2987 3天前
I am from England and have been in China since 2004 as a teacher and now as a retiree. Not been out of the country once since arriving apart from a two week vacation in the Philippines. Not interested in returning as I am happy here and financially well off compared to what I would be if I was still in England. I have been married since 2007 and bought our own apartment for the equivalent of 40 thousand quid. I would never have been able to buy a home with the two jobs I had. My home town of Huddersfield has gone downhill with empty shops, dirty streets, potholes and a high crime rate.
@LubaWang 3天前
I have been in UK last 2 years as my children playing squash tournaments there, it's a completely different country from when I first visit 25 years ago. So many English are starving, needing food bank, felt unsafe at night, hardly any local English people were service us while we were there, I felt sometimes I might be in middle east or somewhere in SE Asia.
@colombard140 10小时前
As an iverterate diehard anglophile, it really makes me sick to see how the incompetent politicians are not capable of filling up the potholes and helping the poor miserable homeless and yet have billions of dollars to send warships and aircraft carriers to the South China Sea.
@franzMong 3天前
Understand what you said! Still Boris Johnson and other prime ministers after him, even the Labor party's Starmer continued sending money to Ukraine for fighting the ridiculous war. After Brexit, UK's economy is declining fast. UK should take care her own people first.
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Main Topic
I left the UK in 2004 and spent the next
20 years traveling the world living in
China living in Japan and over 25
different countries so this year marks
the 20th anniversary of me leaving the
UK and in this video I want to share
with you The Good the Bad and the Ugly
of how I now see the UK after these 20
years abroad but if you're new here my
name is Fred Barton and I used to be a
foreign policy analyst and interpreter
at the British Embassy in Beijing and I
now make videos about China the UK and
learning Chinese I recently spent 6
months back in the UK on a visit there
to see my family and I was coming from a
month in India and the first thing that
struck me when arriving in the UK was
the state of the roads the potholes were
insane they were enough to cave in your
tires and cave in the rims of your
wheels and nothing was being done about
them I was driving around on these roads
and this was even coming from India and
some of the roads in my area in the UK
were equivalent to the roads I was
seeing in part of India they were in a
terrible state of repair and nobody was
doing anything about them in the 6
months that I was there I saw some very
slow progress on certain stretches of
road but basically the roads and other
areas of infrastructure were being left
to rot and Decay and I was told that it
was because there wasn't government
spending to refurbish them to invest in
repairs and it was a very very
noticeable impact when I moved back to
the UK for this visit it was one of the
first things that really really struck
me of just what a bad state of repair
the roads and lots of the general
infrastructure was in things looked
neglected and very rundown the second
thing I noticed about the UK and which
i' noticed before on other trips back
home is that the service is generally
very bad in the UK there isn't a strong
service culture I ordered a meal in a
restaurant the young guy taking my order
he was a nice enough guy but he was
unkempt he didn't look clean he had
piercings all over his face I'm not some
old fart conserv ative but he just
looked messy for the job he had a lot of
random tattoos just dirty poor quality
tattoos all over his arms and he was
leaning on the table like right into my
girlfriend's face when we were taking
the order so it was just unprofessional
he didn't look clean to be working in a
restaurant and this is not an isolated
case across many restaurants and other
places in the UK I know that there is
not a strong service culture and I know
these guys are probably not PID
particularly well but in comparison to
other countries people in shops and
restaurants they're generally well
presented they are usually pretty alert
and attentive and often times in the UK
the impression that you get is that
these people have just rolled out of bed
there was one guy in another shop who
was serving me looked like he hadn't
washed for weeks didn't really want to
interact with me because I think these
low paid jobs in the UK people feel that
it's beneath them they don't want to do
them so obviously that then comes across
to the customer so your experience
generally is very poor there is not a
strong service culture I understand it's
due to to economic conditions and I'm
not trying to slam the people in these
poorly paid jobs but as a customer or
consumer you just know that there isn't
a lot of attention or care given to the
customer but just generally in the
countries that I've been in outside of
England customer service is much better
and there's just more attention to the
customer and the customer experience is
much better the third thing that I
noticed about the UK is that the heart
has been ripped out of the British High
Street out of the Town Center where I
lived where I went to visit my parents
so many of the shops that were and
restaurants that were there had now been
boarded up and I know this is to do with
covid and the impact on the economy but
just walking around town it looked like
a ghost town it's very depressing the
none of the vibrancy was there that
there was before and it just gives a
very depressing impression when you've
come from other countries where there is
more prosperity and vibrancy the town
center and the High Street in a lot of
UK towns looks deserted and rundown and
empty my fourth view on the UK is that
eating out is generally overpriced and a
waste of money this is also combined
with a lack of good service but the food
is normally not cooked particularly well
the ingredients don't seem to be
particularly amazing it costs a fortune
and the times that I went out to eat on
my recent trip back to England I said to
the people that I was with that we could
have just cooked a better meal ourselves
at home and we wouldn't have had to go
through the poor service the long wait
the poor food there was one occasion
when I went out with my family it was an
anniversary and then my mom kicked off
at the waiting stuff because the food
was uncooked and it just created too
much hassle it would have just been much
easier to cook at home so I don't think
England does the hospitality culture
very well it doesn't do food very well
and then you're charged a fortune for it
so in all the countries basically
outside of the UK that I've lived in and
traveled to eating out is usually
relatively cheap it's delicious it's
better than you could cook at home it's
a joy to go out whereas in England it's
kind of like pulling teeth and you
really feel it in your wallet afterwards
the fifth thing that struck me of course
was the cost of living England was
already very expensive and I think
overpriced and poor value for money for
what you got in England but with the
cost of living it had become completely
unmanageable I had the option of staying
long but there was no way I would have
stayed in England I moved on to Taiwan
directly after that trip back to visit
my family and it's just such poor value
for money and now with the cost of
living crisis it's even worse and you
see this in the supermarkets the shrink
FL a head of broccoli that was 60 before
would be this big and now it's like13
and it's barely the size of a tennis
ball so in a country that was already
prohibitively expensive in a lot of ways
things have got even more expensive and
you get even less for your money so
basically based on that alone I would
never really choose to live in England
the SI thing I really noticed coming
back to the UK from abroad is that
things are generally not wellmaintained
and they are dirty British people do not
look after stuff very well and I'm
talking about in the Town Center where I
live the bowling alley the cinema the
McDonald's the Starbucks these places
were all Filthy the carpets were really
dirty there were greasy smears on the
glass everything just seemed very dirty
and this is not just in comparison to
places like Japan where things are
immaculately maintained even compared to
places like the Philippines and other
places in Southeast Asia where I've
lived things are maintained much better
there's there's a much greater focus on
hygiene and cleanliness and buildings
and shops and restaurants generally seem
to be maintained much better and kept to
a higher hygienic standard you see it
even in sports centers where the toilets
wreak of urine and they leave pubic
hairs in the toilets and this kind of
thing there just isn't a very good level
of hygiene or cleanliness in a lot of
these establishments in the UK and this
leads on to the seventh point which I
noticed in the UK which I never
considered before um after coming back
to the UK I see that the the general
standard of hygiene is not actually that
good in the UK I never considered myself
a dirty or unhygienic person but having
been in relationships with women from
various different countries they were
surprised that I didn't shower before
going to bed or that I had other
practices that they thought were quite
unhygienic I would say especially in
Southeast Asia the level of personal
hygiene is extremely high and this is
obviously not related to personal income
people do often shower a lot more and I
know this is not true across the board a
lot of people in Vietnam where I am now
and in other places I've seen have poor
oral hygiene but generally the women
especially they will shower a lot more
things are just kept a lot cleaner and
one habit that really seemed completely
alien and strange to me after living in
Asia for so long is the practice of
wearing shoes inside the house that
you've worn outside you've been walking
around dirty Pavements which people have
spat on there's chewing gum on there
dogs have peed on there potentially
there's dog mess there lots of germs on
the sole of your feet and then you just
walk into your house with these outdoor
shoes on and rub those germs into the
carpet seemed extremely strange and
people in Korea Japan China almost
Southeast Asian countries almost
anywhere see this practice as completely
bizarre of why would you desecrate your
own home with all these germs that
you're dragging in from the outside and
it's made complete sense to me so I've
always left my shoes outside the door
and had inside slippers and I know
people would say you have slippers in
the UK but I've seen it as a much more
common practice where people are like oh
no you don't need to take your shoes off
and people do walk around in their shoes
in the house which would never happen in
most countries that I've been in abroad
the eigh thing that I've noticed about
the UK since being abroad for so long is
that the dentistry and the Health Care
system looks basically broken I know
that you can still get an appointment
with a GP you can get on a waiting list
you can wait a year or two years for an
operation if you need to but I don't
want to do that I'd much rather be in
Southeast Asia or other countries where
I can just pay quickly and easily for
excellent standard dentistry and healthc
care I went for an MRI the other day in
in Vietnam where I am now I got an
appointment immediately the process cost
me about £120 I had an analysis with the doctor
everything was done within a few hours I
wasn't made to sit on a waiting list for
18 months same with Dentistry I can call
up get an appointment more or less on
the same day get first class treatment
and for about £40 I got dental treatment
that would cost about 10 times that in
the UK so I would far rather pay
privately in these countries abroad
where I can get rapid very high quality
service just be in and out and the care
and the quality of the service is
excellent the ninth thing that I noticed
about the UK is that people are
generally depressed there's very little
quality of life and I've seen this
before this is nothing new to me but
it's really emphasized since being away
for so long whereas in countries like
Spain Portugal Italy southern Europe
they eat together they will drink
outside together and I know this is
related to the climate of course a lot
of the problems in England are related
to The Climate you can't go out you
can't physically relax cuz it's cold but
the UK just looks very dull and gray and
depressed and now that the pubs have
been closed in many places it looks like
the only option for people to actually
enjoy themselves is to watch TV and
drink at home and eat food from the
supermarket or takeaways and that just
seems like a very poor way to enjoy your
life even in poorer countries where I've
lived abroad there are ways of having
fun and even in places like Japan you
can go to a bath house for just a few
pounds and there's like wholesome
communal activities that people can do
together it doesn't just have to revolve
around drinking or watching football
like it does in the UK there are little
things little treats that are affordable
for a lot of people abroad whether it is
eating out going for a meal with friends
out going for a massage going to as I
say the bath house these small things
just give you that bit of joy of Life
which in the UK we don't really seem to
have it's a very atomized Society the
main way people seem to relax is by
eating crap in front of the TV or
watching foot or drinking alcohol okay
so those are the negative aspects that
I've noticed about the UK since being
abroad for so long but there are
positive things that I've seen about the
UK as well and the first thing which I
absolutely love about the UK is
Affordable memberships to gyms and
Leisure centers in my local town for
about 30 a month I get access to a very
good gym it has a 25 meter swimming pool
it has a sauna a steam room and it
really is excellent even in countries
which are very cheap like Vietnam where
I'm living right now now gym memberships
are still high I spoke to a friend who
recently visited from barley he said gym
memberships are astronomical over there
up to like $300 as a fairly normal thing
so I do really love the cheap affordable
Leisure centers in the UK I think
they're excellent and for me I love
sports I love working out it's a daily
practice that I need for my self-care so
that makes a massive difference to me
related to this is food and diet once
I've worked out I want to get good food
and I've always loved the super markets
in the UK what I always noticed after
years abroad I would come back for a
visit and the shopping the food shopping
in UK was always the best and although
it has been impacted massively by the
cost of living and a lot of things were
not even available on the shelves when I
went to my soap supermarkets recently
there were a ration on eggs and other
things were actually not in stock I
would say overall it is still probably
the best food shopping that I've
encountered anywhere in any of the
countries that I've lived in or traveled
to apart from possibly Vietnam which has
amazing produce if you want healthy food
you can get kale beetro it's affordable
I really love the food shopping here but
in comparison to places like Taiwan and
Japan where the the food is extremely
expensive there's limited range I really
appreciate it being able to get good
quality produce and a massive range of
stuff and also healthy stuff and often
stuff that didn't have a lot of added
sugar in the supermarkets in the UK
after so long abroad the third thing
that I appreciate about the UK is its
overall culture and in terms of print
media television radio comedy I really
miss the comedy when I'm abroad I think
the UK comedy is unparalleled uh been to
Great standup shows whether you want to
go to theater listening to programs on
Radio 4 I do think the UK is
unparalleled in those areas and because
comedy is so deeply ingrained in our
language and so on you really miss that
being abroad the UK sense of humor is
very unique and you can only really
scratch that itch when you come back to
the UK and the third thing I would say
about the UK that I appreciate since
being away is the quality of Trades
people so for example it's the rainy
season here in Vietnam there was Heavy
downpours in the night the windows were
leaking water I called in a Tradesman
and he basically rubbed the windows down
with a cloth to dry them and because the
rain had stopped he then said there's no
problem now it's okay and I explained
that if the rain starts to pour again
which is going to do this afternoon and
evening there is going to be more
leakage from the windows but he didn't
want to do anything about it he
basically said the wind it's fixed for
now which basically involved him rubbing
a dry rag over the windows and waiting
for it to flood again later but the
quality of Tradesmen in the UK is very
good and having lived in a lot of
different condos a lot of different
apartments throughout the world and
through many different countries is a
consistent thing if anything goes wrong
if you've got a leak in the ceiling in
your apartment or another problem with
your house when you're living abroad
often you will get some guy to come in
and he just isn't skilled he doesn't
have a clue he's getting paid very very
little money and he'll come in smoking a
cigarette look at the thing for a few
hours and be like yeah I think it's okay
I put some gaffa tape over the hole you
know it's so things don't get done well
in terms of repair and maintenance on
your houses so I do appreciate the
trades people in the UK the fourth thing
that I really appreciate about the UK is
the countryside and having grown up in
the countryside I took it for granted
but having spent a lot of time in very
builtup areas like Beijing in Delhi
Tokyo then coming back to the UK and
spending time in the countryside
especially if the weather is good for a
change there is something unique about
that it has it is kind of a type of
unparalleled natural beauty and I do
actually really appreciate a lot of the
natural beauty there is in the UK
whether it's the coastline in Cornwall
the highlands in Scotland this is
something that I couldn't really see
because I was so used to it growing up
as a child but moving been back for a
quick visit last year and seeing these
places it does strike you how naturally
beautiful a lot of the UK is and the
final thing that I've learned to really
appreciate about the UK after so much
time abroad is the British people having
lived abroad for so many years the level
of banter that I have when I come back
home is something that I miss and
obviously because you have a shared
language and a culture you can interact
in a much friendly more intimate way
than you can with other people even
though I speak some languages quite well
abroad and a lot of people abroad are
also very friendly and you can have
banter with them there is something
unique about the British people and I
used to think that they were very
standoffish and cold but as I've got
older I've realized that that's kind of
a self-defense mechanism British people
appear very reserved and quite cold but
if you open them in conversation when
you chat to someone in the line at the
post office or the supermarket they
crack that smile you know the defensive
serious mask comes off usually and they
start chatting to you they're very
chatty very friendly and apart from
Americans who are are extremely
pro-social I think the English are some
of the chattiest people that I know and
I just really enjoy that banter and that
is one of the things that I do miss
sometimes when I am living abroad so
there you go those are my good and bad
points about living in the UK overall I
have no intention to move back there the
negatives outweigh the positives for me
but if you want to know more about my
experiences living in China and living
abroad and my views on those countries
then check out my videos here
