Hello, welcome to Easy English.
So today, we’re out on the beach on a rainy day in Brighton.
And we wanna find out; what are peoples favourite countries, Let’s go.
What is your favourite country?
Er… my favourite country is France, it's where I grew up
and I love the countryside, the weather and the food.
I guess it's going to be Australia. – Oh really?
Yep, because I’ve been to a lot of countries around the world,
so there’s some really interested ones,
but Australia's the one what I’ve had the best time.
Okay and er… you went for a holiday or to visit someone or...
It was work and I've also been there on holiday.
Right okay… - I think if you haven't been to Sydney, - yeah.
Then… you know, you haven't seen one of the best cities in the world.
What is your favourite country? – Sri Lanka. - Sri Lanka. - Yes.
So, please tell me… describe to me why Sri Lanka?
I went there for my honeymoon and so,
that was already a really good start,
because it was just incredibly romantic; everything we were doing.
But, the people were incredible, the food was absolutely amazing.
I mean, we started off thinking, oh gosh,
who on earth has curry for breakfast.
And by the end of our honeymoon it was curry three times a day
and it was just fantastic.
Um… and then we went to lots of nature reserves as well and so...
just the wildlife that was there was fantastic.
The beaches were fantastic. Just everywhere, everywhere.
I couldn’t say a bad thing about it. - Wow.
What is your favourite country? - My favourite country.
Um… I probably have lots of favourite countries
and I tend to like er… mountainous countries so like, like Austria.
Austria's very… or the Alps, that’s sort of, lots of countries.
So you've got er… yeah, French Alps or Austrian Alps,
they’re really good. Er… I also like beach environments I love,
like in Brighton, we’ve got lots of beaches.
So again I like, hot, warm beaches, probably Spain;
Ibiza’s got amazing white sand. Erm… yeah, so that's yeah…
Okay. - Nice white sand beaches.
Carribean! Endless places to go.
Yeah, so broad. – Yeah. What is your favourite country?
So yeah, I guess I’d pick New Zealand ‘cos it has… it had everything,
that's true yeah. There was er… glaciers, there was mountains,
there was the jungle and you could turn around and see it all at once.
Okay and so, from… from that, I’m guessing you’re someone
who’s really into their nature and their wildlife maybe?
That's true yeah. – Yeah? – Yeah.
Er… and that is specifically why it is your favourite country?
Just for the… the nature? – Yes, oh my God yes,
I think… I think I just picked it because of that.
Just because of the outside, it's really, really nice.
What is your favourite country?
I'm going to say America, I lived there for a year,
I studied there and I also proposed to my wife there.
So there’s a lot of special memories.
Well it was a hard one to decide, but I'm gonna go with India.
Oh, nice. For what reason?
For the reason that erm… my parents were both born there
and met each other there. – Really?
And my sister who is five years older than me was born there
and then the family came to this country when my sister
was six months old. Erm… and my love for India didn't really start
until I was old enough to appreciate everything about it.
So as a child growing up I found it very, very strange. – Yeah.
As an adult, it was quite intriguing and we have been and visited as…
as much as we've been able to at this point.
Let’s get into it, what is your favourite country?
Argentina. – Argentina? Yes.
I thought you were going to tell me Germany? - No. – Curveball.
I just… people know lots of European countries and I think,
no… and I'm thinking I went travelling with my wife
and we spent quite a bit of time in South America and Argentina,
particularly Patagonia was stunning landscape,
right down at the bottom of South America on the point.
What is your favourite country? - To live in or visit? – Doesn’t matter.
Erm… - Even if you just like the look of the flag.
Well I… I lived in France for a long time and I really enjoyed that.
‘Cos it's got everything, it's got two sets of mountains,
amazing beaches, temperate and hot climates and bit of, sort of,
you know, more temperate towards the north, beautiful countryside.
Erm… some French people are nice.
But I’d have to say the place I've always wanted to visit
is Canada and the Rockies, in particular.
I like a mountainous expanse in a vista. – Okay.
So for example, I really love the highlands.
You know, where you can see for miles and miles and miles
and in uninterrupted views.
What is your favourite country?
Okay South Africa. - Wow, okay! Thisis great. Okay so,
describe to me why South Africa is your favourite country.
Okay er… we holidayed there for just under four weeks
but we travelled from just outside Joberg (Johannesburg),
all the way down to Durban and then the Garden Route,
flew back from Cape Town. Why do we want to go there?
We've never done a safari; wanted to see, love animals erm…
but also my father was in the second World War; flew the R.A.F.
Flew with the South African Air Force
before coming back to the UK and flying here.
But… so there was a pull there always to see it,
because he'd always talked before he… all through our childhood
and also before he died of his love for the African people,
the real African people.
So that was why we put the… what we did together.
We moved to France when I was about ten. – Okay.
Erm… but I grew up there.
so yeah, it's definitely my favourite country.
And where abouts in France did you say? – Er… South of Bordeaux.
Oh, okay. - So in the southwest. – Nice.
And what is it about France that makes it…
other than the fact that you are in many ways, sort of, French as well.
What makes it your favourite country?
Erm… I think it's just a combination of the sort of,
weather and the laid back culture and the food definitely as well.
What is it about Australia like, in particular?
Okay well, it's clean, they drive on the left, which helps.
The bars are fantastic, the food is great, the people by and large,
the people by and large are friendly.
Mind you, the first time I went there I witnessed the…
a drug dealer stabbing, so that was… that was a bit off-putting.
But I… I was assured that, that was a big exception,
it even made the national newspapers,
so that's how big an exception it was. – Wow.
And Darling Harbour, in Sydney; fantastic, safe, wonderful food,
it's just worth going.
I actually think the hospitality; everywhere we went,
we were just welcomed with kind of, open arms.
And all the people that we met, at every kind of,
stretch of the way they, were just so kind and just,
kind of, wanted to ask questions and know everything about us
and it was just… yeah, it felt like a very friendly country,
so we were very lucky, I think.
Okay. And you say this, almost like, England has…
not quite the same necessarily, it depends where you go doesn't it?
But, I think er… certainly where… where we were,
if you went out kind of, trekking or you…
you could strike up a conversation with anybody and you could smile
and everyone would just be quite receptive to that.
Whereas here perhaps, not quite the same at all times.
And in which country? – Erm… Proba… it might have to be the Caribbean,
might have to be a Caribbean island, probably Dominican Republic,
I think, yeah.
And you’ve been there a couple of times?
I've been there once. – Wow, for kitesurfing? Er… yes.
Right. – Yeah, actually, no actually, er… yes I did.
No I did, I was kitesurfing, I was sailing as well.
so yeah, it was good, really good.
Okay, but it’s a very specific answer for just one, sort of thing.
Or is it… is there other like, elements to the Caribbean that you’d…
or the Dominican Republic that you’d go for
other than just the great wind?
It's chilled out, the… well it's nice, chilled out sort of, atmosphere.
They like a drink, they like to eat, like to just, hang out.
So, like a bit of dancing; it’s all there, it’s got everything really.
Sort of relaxed, good relaxing holiday. So yeah, I'm going back.
How many times have you been to New Zealand? - Only once.
Really? - Was four weeks. – Okay.
But it didn't… I do like England a lot as well
because of the same reasons. – Yeah, yeah.
Countryside is beautiful, yeah. – And so erm…
would you be planning to go back again soon?
If I could, yeah, definitely.
Because of corona or because of the… the money…
of getting to New Zealand from here? – Well um… - it’s pretty expensive right?
It takes very long to get there,
so it has to be like a long plan kind of thing.
Is this enough to make it your favourite country?
Well I think that the thing about America is that it has everything,
it's one of the only countries in the world where you can wake up
and surf in the morning and then ski in the afternoon.
So you know, that it's got fantastic geography
and there's just a lot going for it I think.
Er… and would you recommend, as someone who had lived there,
would you also recommend someone lives there as well?
Yeah, I think… I think, like I say, there's… it's a really…
it's actually a really diverse country.
You know, any… any cuisine, even perhaps more so than… than London
although, perhaps a bit more specialist.
You know, there's lots of… I… I lived in California
and there's a… there's a very large Asian community
and then of course um… there's a large Hispanic community.
And I do… I love that… that type of food.
Um… I think with America it's just,
sometimes it's a shame about the people.
Um… - go on. – there’s… there’s the overly friendly
and then there's the complete opposite so.
That… that's a bit of a culture shock I think, sometimes.
Especially to a Londoner who's used to sitting in silence on the tube.
Do you have some sort of, cool… historical stories
as to why your parent were in India.
Or, is it like, a generational thing or they just emigrated?
Their parents were… I don't know if their parents were born there.
Erm… unfortunately my dad died when I was twelve
so I didn't find out an awful lot from his side of the family.
Although, his parents I believe were… were both born there.
Erm… my mother's parents, they were… they had a turf accountants
business over there, which was seen as quite an impressive thing
at the time when my mother was growing up.
And my mother's family were… were rich and erm… had servants
and led quite a bizarre lifestyle compared to… to what we know here.
Yeah, wow. I can imagine.
From what I get from this, you kind of enjoy it
because of the sort of, the broad nature of the whole place?
Yes I… I found that as I've grown older,
that nature is more important on a holiday then cities.
Yeah, I just… to see different from parts of the world
and different nature and rugged terrain.
Okay so, er… would you live there?
If you could find the right job and the internet was good enough,
you know, particularly… no, no, because we're now in a world
with so much remote working. – Yeah, true.
That as long as you could be awake at the hours
that the office hours wherever your base were, then it would be… yeah,
you could work there and live there and…
although it is very remote from family and friends.
It’s… pretty much as far as south as you can go in the world I think.
Is there more to than just the mountainous side
of France that you like or? - I like the gastronomy.
Yeah. – So, the food and wine and sort of,
how proud they are of each region and the provenance of their food
and their food culture, because I'm a real foodie.
So for that, I’d say I’m quite a Francophile,
but I’m half French anyway, so I do identify with that.
And er… do you have plans to go back?
That's an interesting one and I suppose the political side of America
has made it less desirable.
I lived there ten years ago and I proposed to my wife
there seven years ago. And so, I think, yes,
I'm sure I will go back but I might be perhaps choosy
about where I go back to. – Yeah. – Hmm…
So then apart from like, family history,
what is it about India that you just love so much?
Now that I’ve been and I say, it took us a long time
to decide to go there, everything about it really.
You see… you see so many different things with the Indian people,
but they all seem, even when they haven't got very much,
they seem happy, they seem to be looked after
if they’ve got disabilities or if they have no money.
Just what… from what we've seen going there.
We went to Varanasi, er… where people go to be cremated,
it's a huge place where people go when they’re dying.
People bathe in the Ganges to cleanse themselves in preparation
for dying and there’s twenty… I know at the moment in the news
it's been full of twenty-four hour cremations,
but this was going on long before COVID. – Yeah.
It was a very spiritual place erm… I don't know,
I can't really explain to you, but we both just felt a bit…
a really strong pull there. – Yeah, sound like a nice sense of community.
Yeah, they had a lot of beggars on the streets
and a lot of poverty but erm… they were looked after.
There were huge soup kitchen areas, where people were looked after
and they were given clothing.
And although they lived in some pretty dire circumstances,
somebody was looking out for them.
And I do feel that in this country, that doesn't happen and it should.
We went to KwaZulu-Natal, which was where where my father was er…
based and the people are living in mud huts, straw erm…
they're very proud if they’ve got numbers and writings on their houses,
because that says they got electricity, you know.
And so when you think of you know, Cape Town, when we arrived there,
it's like any major city in the world; spread out more,
but like any major… but when you think of the bulk of South Africa,
the real people of South Africa, it was phenomenal.
Thanks for watching this week's episode,
let us in the comments below about your favourite countries
and we’ll see you next week, bye.
I’ve honestly, never bee… - T. V. star… T. V. star.
Oh, my hair! – Oh yeah. - Stylist. – It’s looking good.
You think we could er… wrap it up because of the rain? – Yeah! I want to.