McDonalds!

[April2412]

Ok so let me give you my reason first. I love to travel and I always make my boyfriend come with me. His main problem with foreign travel is that he is a man that LOVES his fast food, mainly McDonalds. He usually makes it his mission to find a McDonalds where ever we may be. Most places now have the usual McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC, and Starbucks, but sometimes it is still interesting to taste the difference or find the McDonald in some of the smaller places. Does anyone have any fun McDonalds stories?

[Philip217]

Definitely not.

[DDawson]

We just returned from a 4 week China trip (land based with a 3 night river cruise). About 1/2 way through the trip I got a craving for some western "junk food". I decided I needed to try McDonalds in China. Our friends agreed to go with me.

 

Let me first say that during this China trip we ate most everything. Street food, fried scoprions, restaurant meals, and even fast food. The ONLY thing that bothered me was the McDonalds. 5 of us ate, 4 of us got sick. Not real bad, but not good either.

 

My husband says it's because our bodies had been eating all this healthy food (fresh vegs, rice, not much meat) that it was a shock to our system to fill it with junk. It sure tasted good, but took about 16 hours to finally forget about it.

 

Maybe not what you were looking for, but a story none the less. We really enjoyed the food in China and had a wonderful trip.

[Spikesgirl]

That was funny, DDawson! Our friends had the same expereince in the Brtish Isles this summer. We were cruised together and , like you ate just about everything, including haggis, that came our way. Our friends, one of whom was a chef, didn't trust the local food to be safe. They only ate at fast food places (not Mickie D's though) on shore and got sick both times.

 

We've eaten at a McDonalds in Japan and Singapore and were absolutely amazed that the food tasted exactly the same.

 

April - what we found to be the most interesting about our Asian trip was the number of Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants. Our guide said that fast food is have a very bad effect on the younger population and for the first time, they are starting to struggle with childhood obesity. All I know is that you couldn't get inside one of those places at lunch time.

 

Charlie

[Joyce From Yardley]

Not a funny story but I thought that I would share this anyway. While in China and other parts of Asia, I loved finding a Mickey D's and any other American fast food restaurants. Not so much for the food but for the Western style bathrooms. It's gets old after awhile peeing in a hole all the time, handicapped stalls work when all else fails elsewhere. That's another reason I'll be going to American style restaurants in a foreign land.

 

 

Joyce

[greatam]

Not a funny story but I thought that I would share this anyway. While in China and other parts of Asia, I loved finding a Mickey D's and any other American fast food restaurants. Not so much for the food but for the Western style bathrooms. It's gets old after awhile peeing in a hole all the time, handicapped stalls work when all else fails elsewhere. That's another reason I'll be going to American style restaurants in a foreign land.

 

 

Joyce

 

 

Very true-they build Mickey D's almost EXACTLY the same, whether in Beijing, Moscow or Los Angeles. KFC, which is VERY prevalent in China as pointed out previously, are NOT built the same. Often they are just little "stalls", not much bigger than the "street food" restaurants. Tried 3 KFC's in Chongqing trying to find a decent bathroom-none had bathrooms.

 

In Japan, the hamburgers TASTE the same, but they sure are small. 1/4 pounder was kind of like the JR hamburgers sold in the states.

 

My favorite Mickey D's story-late 1978-had a trailer load of produce going into Montreal. I had gotten the permit to actually take my trailer into Montreal instead of having it shuttled from the border. BUT I had to go into downtown Montreal to some produce office to get them to stamp it before I could deliver.

 

So here I was, in downtown Montreal (where everything is in French) trying to figure out where this office is. Mind you, I had a 65 foot semi. I am lost and it is NOT good to get lost with a semi. I spot a Mickey D's. OK, I will get some help here. And I am hungry. BIG SURPRISE-the entire menu was in French. And VERY few spoke English (or pretended they didn't).

 

I stood there for 10 minutes trying to remember how the menu was in the US. FINALLY picked something that I thought was a 1/4 pounder with cheese and ice tea. Well, NO ICE TEA (I don't drink sodas) and what I ordered turned out to be a DOUBLE hamburger with NO cheese. Got a glass of water, split the hamburger in two (can't eat that much) and HOORAY!!! someone spoke English to tell me I needed to move my truck. What a blessing that Mickey D's was-got directions to the produce office and a kind of/sort of lunch.