After a brief half-day tour of Hanoi, Vietnam, a former French colony, it was finally time for the main event: my Europe leg! The first stop was France itself—a country with an undeniable connection to Vietnam (?!) and one of the nineteenth century’s imperialist bullies, wielding the power of life and death over other nations (throws pen! …throws mouse!). But while doing my research, I gradually pieced together a general consensus from reviews everywhere:“People who haven’t been to France fantasize about its romance and beauty; people who have been complain about its chaos and decay.”Sigh… This two-faced personality is unmistakably Gemini (as a Gemini myself, I bow deeply in apology)! Still, Grandpa’s glasses were dirty enough to mistake his wife for his mother,so you can’t judge what you haven’t seen, and you can’t generalize from prejudice.This Europe leg shattered many of my preconceived notions, and France was only the beginning. But just how different is your France from mine?
The first iconic images France brings to mind are inevitably the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre Pyramid, whose recognizability soared thanks to the film The Da Vinci Code. French travel brochures are also bound to feature vast, breathtaking lavender fields (if I pronounce “lavender” wrong, it’s definitely a misunderstanding), plus the snow-capped peaks of the Alps. France truly is an astonishingly alluring and charming country! But I have to say, Paris shines so brightly that it almost steals the spotlight from every other French city. This fashion capital combines romance, style, elegance, and sophistication, making Paris practically synonymous with France. It feels as though Paris alone is enough to send France’s sophistication and fashion index shooting upward like an elevator.
[ All You Can Paris, an impression of Paris created by Tokyo illustrator Sagaki Keita—even the Little Prince is in there, isn’t he? ]
France Isn’t What You Think 1. Is France Really That Romantic?
If we investigate how France became associated with the word “romance,” I’d say 70% of the blame lies with the term French Kiss! This legendary technique supposedly leaves people dizzy and weak-kneed, collapsing delicately into someone’s arms. Ever since, France has become the Number 1 fantasy city for Asian women seeking men to play wi—what are you thinking? I meant Number 1! Unfortunately, whether on this trip or in this lifetime, I’m far too unimpressive to unbox and rate whether French men’s French kissing is truly authentic (blushes) (sorry, everyone—I’ll go kneel on a keyboard). But judging by the French men I know, romance? That’s really just their casual, uninhibited nature! Just as the Pisces men I know generally aren’t romantic either (looks at my dad), and Virgos aren’t necessarily obsessive about cleanliness (even someone like me has been called a clean freak by a Virgo). So the conclusion here is that French romance isn’t found in their attitude toward everyday life. Instead, where I felt it most wasin the architectural styles and natural scenery.If you think landing a French man guarantees you a lifetime of romance… I strongly advise against trying it casually. Otherwise…you’ll lose your single status.。
[ The ancestor of France’s romantic image. Do this in France and it’s romantic; do it in Taiwan and, at best, your legs get broken—at worst, you get hunted down by a PTT sleuth. ]
[ China, however, operates on a rather different level… ]
Actually, in most European countries, you’ll see men and women (usually still paired as one man and one woman!) kissing openly and naturally on the metro or in the street. It’s exactly the kind of everyday scene you see in Western TV shows: when two people meet, they kiss first; before leaving home, or even halfway through a happy conversation, they kiss again. Can you picture it? Even I, merelycoldlywatching from the sidelines, could be moved by such an intensely sentimental, Romance in the Rain kind of scene～ And it’s on a completely different level from the steamy make-out battles most popular in Taiwanese libraries. In this culture,there is absolutely no need to worry about strange looks from others, because to them, this is a genuine way of expressing affection.In Taiwan, if you did this somewhere brightly lit, you’d immediately be charged by disapproving stares with attempted murder by public displays of affection—trying to blind theshrimpblind! (Is there a crab next to it making a “peace” sign…?) Grandma would call it scandalous and indecent, as though couples should be forced into dark places unfit for people or sunlight before they’re allowed to show affection. Otherwise, what you often see on the street is people imitating foreign behavior but putting far too much emotion into it. Sigh—that just becomes affected!Taiwanese people are conservative and reserved, often feeling that openly expressing love is “shameless.” In the end, love hidden so deeply that the other person can’t feel it really can make a relationship gradually fade.On the streets of France, meanwhile, kisses and hugs appear all the time. Even between people who aren’t couples, friends and relatives express affection with kisses and generous embraces. Isn’t it wonderful to be able to express your feelings so genuinely and directly?～
[ I was lucky enough to witness two girls acting out exactly such a scene on my first day in France, filling me with anticipation for the remaining 84 days of the trip. ]
France Isn’t What You Think 2. Is Getting Lost Romantic Too?
The strongly French Neoclassical buildings lining the streets are another unforgettable part of France for me. Great importance is placed on intricate decoration, and these French buildings all have little balconies. Add a row of vivid, 100%-saturation red flowers and they’re truly beautiful. All the historic sites are also preserved with tremendous care (meaning, of course, that the admission fees are expensive—clutches flattened wallet). They say all roads lead to Rome, but in France, all roads lead to getting lost. Who planned the streets of Paris?! Come out and face me! They perfectly embody the French people’s carefree disregard for minor details～ Although I am undeniably a bornhopelessly directionally challenged person (everyone needs a defining trait; mine just seems a little excessive), still—one roundabout with six exits—what kind of trick is that?!Every road has countless branching side streets, and every side street has countless branching alleys.There are so many, and they’re so tiny, that paper maps don’t even include them. Since Paris was my first stop and I was worried about safety, I also had to keep Master iPhone—my guide through the maze—hidden deep inside my bag. So one careless turn into the wrong alley or street, and I would plunge straight into the abyss of being lost…
And so, one day, I left my accommodation and walked south toward the opera house, supposedly about 20 minutes away. Half an hour later, I reappeared at the metro station beside my accommodation. The opera house had become an opera tragedy… My “Europe leg” really does live up to its name: it was all heaven’s will, all fate T^T
[ Little balconies come standard, often brightened by vivid flowers, while the warm yellow buildings remain unforgettable to me. ]
[ Life always finds a way out. With six exits, you can just roll a die to choose one… (written in Houli..) ]
France Isn’t What You Think 3. Is Traveling in France Crazy Expensive?
Since France was my first stop, I was inevitably worried about my budget, so whenever I saw anything, only my camera moved—nothing went into my shopping bag. But prices in France actually aren’t extremely high compared with other European countries. A baguette from the supermarket cost less than NT$30 and was delicious, fragrant, and crisp. Perhaps Australia had already given me an advanced pre-trip course in high prices, because French prices seemed positively sweet and friendly by comparison. And my travel dates—late June to early July—happened to coincide with sale season.Many products were marked down to ridiculously low prices. (European sales are genuinely sincere—not Taiwan’s style of raising prices before discounting them, or using sales to clear unpopular stock.) H&M in particular, which costs several times more in Taiwan because there’s no local distributor, was basically priced like Hang Ten socks in Europe: €3, €5, €7. With the exchange rate at 36–40, that was about NT$100–NT$300 per item. You could grab clothes at random! (Immediately returned to the hotel and threw out all the clothes in my suitcase.) Sadly, this was only my first stop. I restrained myself for ages before finally escaping unscathed (so I could justbuyeverything in the next country).
[ France’s biggest supermarket is our familiar Carrefour. City branches and full-scale hypermarkets have different prices; if you want cheap food and savings, go to the one with nothing appended to its name—that’s the hypermarket-level one, der～ ]
[ Just looook at that price! From this moment on, I swear never to buy H&M in Taiwan and let myself be fleeced～ ]
Bite-sized macarons and authentic French crêpes—which still aren’t as tasty as Taiwan’s—were all rare and lovely French encounters with food. Going abroad means tasting the foods you love and staging an international showdown while you’re at it. But a full French meal that takes three or four hours had no place in this budget-squeezing, time-crushing Europe leg.
[ Authentic French crêpes have a softer skin, unlike Taiwan’s crisp ones. But I just love that feeling when I take a bite and a piece of crust goes flying off to the side～ ]
France Isn’t What You Think 4. The French Don’tCare About People—or Adults Either?
Legend has it thatFrance suffers from three chronic ailments: poor public safety, dirty surroundings, and arrogant people.Who knew that before I had even left the airport—or seen as many as 50 French people—I would immediately witness a vivid, bloodcurdling case of “human arrogance”? Their specific behavior was so irresistible it made you want to shriek and pounce on thesetall, rich, handsometall, arrogant jerks—arrogant, unfriendly, and unwilling to speak English.
[ France really should have a showgirl greet arriving passengers. One spread of the legs and she’d instantly outclass Southeast Asia’s flower-garland welcomes and Hawaii’s hula dancers～ ]
It began when a group of Taiwanese girls and I met while transferring onto the same Vietnam Airlines flight. After arriving at the French airport, we were chatting so happily that we completely missed the screens showing the baggage-carousel assignments. Only when we reached the baggage-claim area did we discover there were no other information screens there. But enormous Charles de Gaulle Airport has more than 40 carousels! Checking them one by one would definitely take over half an hour～
So our group could only clutch our boarding-pass stubs and find someone to ask. My sharp eyes immediately spotted a Flight Information counter. Surely a mere information desk at France’s largest international airport could communicate in English without any trouble! I stood at the counter holding my flight number. After several people who appeared to be French locals cut in front of me two or three times, it was finally my turn to speak. Behind the counter was a Black woman with beautiful short curls…
Me: Excuse me, which baggage carousel is mine? (in English)
Staff member: “Tuan-tuan.”
Me: (But I’m Yuan-yuan, ma’am.) Sorry?
Staff member, again: “Tuan-tuan.”
Inside, I was screaming: Please,could you speak Chinese?Could somebody translate this?! (meltdown…)
What was her deal?She understood my question in English but couldn’t say a number in English?!After ten minutes, all I had deduced was that it seemed to be a repeated digit. I gave up and guessed it was 22. Fortunately, another companion who had gone to ask separately was smarter and had the ground staff write the number down. The answer was revealed: “tuan-tuan” meant 33. I nearly blurted out, “Well, three… thir… thirty-three took long enough!” (Ahem, must preserve my dignity.)
[ There’s basically nothing wrong with this photo—except that my luggage strap had somehow fastened itself around the suitcases belonging to that group of Taiwanese girls… remarkably neatly, too. ]
But do you think I’m about to say, “There’s the proof! French people really are arrogant jerks!”? Wrong. Becauseonce prejudice already exists in our minds, we magnify anything that appears to confirm it.It’s just like reading horoscope descriptions:you immediately think, “So true! That’s exactly what France is like.”But if you think carefully, was it really that serious? Other ground staff still solved our problem. A beautiful Parisian woman with excellent English (not the leg-spreading kind above) even kindly showed us the way to the restroom. Later, whenever I stood on a Paris street clutching a map and unable to find my way—or struggled up metro staircases one step at a time with my luggage—kind French people also came forward on their own to help.Actually, French people simply don’t smile much. At most, the corners of their mouthstwitchinto a faint smile. Unless they’ve been drinking or something is genuinely funny, they rarely laugh out loud, so they often seem very serious. But they still have kind hearts and want to help foreigners. Their cultural reluctance to reveal that their English isn’t great can make them a little nervous, though. So beginning with Bonjour or Bonsoir before asking anything really does help them lower their guard.
Then you discover that French people aren’t actually so cold—but they aren’t quite so romantic either (you can only call them uninhibited). France hasn’t disappointed us. The problem is that we approach reality with biased expectations, then refuse to accept what we see; that gap creates the imbalance in our minds.When traveling abroad, try setting aside the stereotypes handed to us by popular culture. Make your mind a blank sheet of paper and experience the people, events, and things you genuinely encounter for yourself!
France Isn’t What You Think 5. FamilyMart Is Your Home, and the Street Is Your Toilet?
So even though everyone says France is filthy and reeks of urine, consider the cultural context. In more developed Asian countries, you rarely smell urine on the street. But in Australia and Europe, where I’ve spent time, people are more uninhibited, and losing control after getting drunk often means urinating by the roadside. France isn’t the only place with urine-smelling corners. The Paris Metro receives the most criticism, but think about it: it began operating in 1900 and is now more than a century old.A metro built in an era without air-conditioning or public toilets obviously can’t compete with the Taipei Metro, which was also built by French people—but a hundred years later～What’s more, France’s modern express trains are newer, cleaner, and more advanced with every generation. French streets aren’t dirty either. They may not be the spotless, completely litter-free fantasy people imagine, but honestly, the main reason places like Australia keep their streets so clean isn’t that nobody litters (perhaps they litter even more than we do). It’s because cleaning crews are constantly tidying them up～
[ French public-awareness advertisement—even the alpaca gets a role. ]
France Isn’t What You Think 6. Beautiful Outside, Rotten Within—but Can I Just Make It Out in One Piece?
However, France’s poor public safety and frequent thefts and robberies really are undeniable! I was extremely lucky to make it safely through my nine days in France, but the influx of Black immigrants and Roma, along with undocumented people living off the official radar, has contributed to worsening public safety. Reading one “case report” after another on Backpackers.com.tw truly had me breaking out in a cold sweat. During my travels across Europe, I met many people and heard plenty of terrible stories—and nine times out of ten, they happened in France! To deal with the problem, learning from others’ misfortunes really matters. Read enough examples to recognize the usual tactics, and you can take some precautions:
Case A.A German friend—a full-grown man—was riding a bus in Paris. The instant he stood up, the wallet in his trouser pocket disappeared. He only noticed when he reached the bus door to get off. When he went back to check his seat, it was nowhere to be found, while a Roma girl sitting in the row behind looked as though nothing had happened. This sleight of hand was even more impressive than YIF’s (no wonder he’s French!!!! Sudden realization).
Case B.The group of girls from our connecting flight—the ones nobody would help—went their separate way afterward, but we stayed in contact. They told me they saw a woman on the metro scream as her shoulder bag was snatched at the exact moment the doors were closing. Soonce you board the metro, always move toward the middle. Never stand by the doors!
Case C.Even in a group, you can’t let your guard down. A group of Taiwanese girls I met in Spain had visited Paris together. One day, they were resting at a round table outside a café, with everyone’s belongings on the table—including one person’s 5D camera. Suddenly, someone approached and said, “I accidentally dropped my money under your table. Please help me look for it.” While everyone looked down to help, the camera on the table vanished.Be wary of anything designed to divert or block your view.Roma women in particular often wear loose clothing, making it easy to cover a bag with their clothes and steal from it. Someone may also hold up a map to ask for directions while stealing with their other hand.
Case D. Then there’s the lucky-bracelet scam, which I personally encountered on the unavoidable approach to Sacré-Cœur! A Black man will come over, grab your hand, and tie a “free” lucky bracelet around your wrist, then force you to pay an exorbitant blessing fee. Luckily, I had done my homework and was fully prepared. While walking along that stretch, I kept both hands tucked against my chest. Even so, one man deliberately tried to grab my wrist, and I immediately knocked him away hard with my elbow (I’ve never been that powerful even when playing ball). He then snapped, “You’re not happy!” Well, obviously! I can see you running scams here—did you expect me to cheerfully say, “Yo～What’s up”?
[ Actually, they just came to France to do a little work. ]
For this trip, I tried to choose safer destinations (although Paris itself is not exactly safe). I skipped Marseille entirely because of its reputation for chaos. I also tried to stay in safer parts of Paris, which is divided into 20 arrondissements. Still, I was very naughty on several nights: determined to see the Eiffel Tower after dark, I went out alone as a woman and rode metro carriages that were less than half full. The moment I left the station, I gripped my pepper spray and sprinted the 100 metres to my destination. My “Europe leg” really did live up to its name… Looking back, passersby probably thought I was the most suspicious person there…
Even if you’ve never visited France, French-related news and products are everywhere in daily life. Especially on this little island of Taiwan (fill in the blank yourself), phrases such asoverused“Parisian style,” “French exclusive,” and “Parisian romance” appear everywhere. Whether in shops or online marketplaces, on household goods, clothing, or even pre-sale housing, they invade your life as relentlessly as “made in China”(Taobao really is dangerously easy to shop on～)and there’s no escape. It doesn’t matter whether the products are actually French, or even whether the owner has ever visited France. Apparently, adding these words provides a little disguise, making the products seem more valuable so they can be priced higher… As if attaching the words France or Paris automatically represents fashion, taste, or a romantic atmosphere.France and Paris are both innocent terms that society has simultaneously stereotyped and commodified.。
So France really is a place people both love and worry about～ Although I can’t help fearing that it may gradually become a country beautiful on the outside but rotten within, after visiting, I still found that France’s virtues far outweighed its flaws. Petty criminals and thieves can be guarded against with extra vigilance, but a thousand years of atmosphere and culture cannot be created overnight. You could say France’s history and traditions support what it is today, yet the country still keeps striving to improve, especially through continual progress in art and creativity. So perhaps my concern is unnecessary. This strong and beautiful country remains somewhere I’ll return to explore in greater depth. See you next time for France’s beautiful sights! (Goodbye～goodbye～)
