Visiting a different country can be great fun, and the experience is even more rewarding when meeting a culture that is different that the one you are accustomed.
Most tourist guides advise visitors to get accustomed to laws and even unspoken rules of the country they are about to visit. After all, culture clash can happen to both tourists and hosts alike, and it is best not to offend the residents of the country you are visiting just because you were uninformed.
It is also wise to know how do the uniforms of the law enforcement officers of the country you are about to visit look, so you do not risk getting scammed by fraudsters, or getting arrested because of a misunderstanding.
In the case of a family of Chinese tourists, they nearly suffered the latter because they did not understand what was happening when a police cruiser turned its lights and sirens on and pulled over next to them.
For some reason, the driver of the Honda CR-V rented by the Chinese family stopped in the middle of the highway, then started up again in spite of the fact that a marked police cruiser had halted next to it. Once the Honda SUV begun driving again, police officers commenced a pursuit, and the whole scene was filmed.
It all happened on Interstate 8, in Mission Valley, California, as the Chinese family had chosen to visit the San Diego area. After a few miles of driving with police cars that had flashing lights and activated sirens, the driver of the Honda CR-V pulled over, and the officers then followed procedures and held the adult passengers at gunpoint until they were convinced that the occupants did not pose a threat.
According to CBC 24 News, the Chinese tourists did not speak English, and were confused about the entire event. Apparently, police cars do not pull over drivers like they do in the USA, and the family was left to continue their journey after checking their identities.
As a report from EuroNews showed, this week was not great for Chinese tourists, especially those that do not speak the native language of the country they visit or something else besides Chinese.
A tourist from China that had lost his wallet went to report the event to what he presumed was the police station in Germany. Instead, he went to the city hall, and filed an application for asylum, which led to a short stay in a refugee home.
Everything got cleared up with the inspired use of a translation app, but this goes to show that it can always be worse.
Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland. Full profile
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