How to do the Asian Squat?

Asian squat

  Between Two Journeys

Dear English-speaking readers, this page is an automatic translation of an article originally written in French. I apologise for any strange sentences and funny mistakes that may have resulted. If you read French, click on the French flag below to access the original, correct text: 


Are you one of those Westerners who know how to squat Asian style? Those who have been to Asia know what I mean... Most foreigners can't sit on their heels without losing their balance!

Video: How to do the Asian Squat

I just rediscovered this video: How to do the Asian Squat. A funny little parody movie that compares the two ways to crouch.

The video is signed by an American author of Asian origin, Daniel Hsia. Some of you may already know it, because it has been running for a long time: it dates from 2002! I found it again, while cleaning my bookmarks.

A comfortable position

In Asia, people like to squat. Sometimes just to have a snack, to chat or to watch the street show. People sit on their heels, without putting their buttocks on the ground, firmly planted on their feet.

It's comfortable and stable, not tiring to hold, unlike the position most Westerners take, who perch on their toes.

Under a gray sky, the guys from the neighboring village watch me with a smile wedge draw my iPhone for a souvenir photo. Today it's muck-dive under their pontoon. (Sali Islands, Halmahera, Indonesia, July 2018)
Halmahera (Indonesia). Under a gray sky, the guys from the village next to my resort are watching me with a smirk as I pull out my iPhone from the dive boat moored at the dock for a souvenir photo. The one on the right has his heels off the ground, like a squat We can see that it is much less stable than the position asian squat adopted by the middle two. (July 2018)
Nice, the mini-boat with rockers. ! (Alor, Indonesia, July 2018)
Alor (Indonesia). In this mini outrigger boat, perched on a mini bench across the hull, this fisherman too has adopted theasian squat to paddle! (July 2018)

Below, some scenes from everyday life, brought back from my trip to Vietnam in 2001.

Little anecdote

For my part, I master theasian squat. It is a posture that I adopt easily and naturally, not only when I am in Asia, in the local fashion, but also in my daily life in France...

One day, in Rennes, while I was crouching like this, chatting outside in the street with colleagues on break, an old lady suddenly stood in front of me on the sidewalk. Without saying hello or anything, a little aggressive, she asks me if I have Vietnamese origins. I answer her that I don't, but she insists, saying that I am like the Vietnamese and that I must have lived in Vietnam.

In Angkor, Cambodia, February 2011.
In Angkor, Cambodia (February 2011).

Not really, I said. I've been to Vietnam several times, but just on vacation. I've made many trips to Southeast Asia and I just got into the habit there. She then begins to tell me about her life. She used to live in Saigon, a long time ago. Then she starts to tell me things that I find unpleasant, "backward" and colonialist. Annoyed, I put an end to the conversation...

I don't know what memory I awakened that day in this old lady, who obviously remained in her head at the time of Indochina and the French colonization... As for me, I remain an unconditional supporter of theasian squat !

????

Cockfight in the Amed region, Bali. Indonesia, July 2008.
Bali (Indonesia). Cockfight in the region of Amed (July 2008)
Pemuteran's children proudly show me the shells they picked up on the beach. (Bali, Indonesia, July 2008.)
The children of Pemuteran proudly show me the shells they collected on the beach (Bali, Indonesia, July 2008)
At Culik Market, near Amed, Bali. Indonesia, July 2008.
Culik market, near Amed, Bali (Indonesia, July 2008)

  Between Two Journeys

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  1. Excellente cette vidéo. En revanche je suis moyennement d’accord avec lui sur le caractère sexy de la position sur le trône !
    C’est sur que tu dois dénoter à fumer des clopes en position asian squat sur les trottoirs français !

  2. Je ne sais pas si tu as vu tes google ads, mais le contextuel est parfois surprenant. Voici la pub qui s’affiche en ce moment sur ton blog :

    Beautiful Asian women
    Rencontrez des Femmes Asiatiques à la recherche de L’Âme Soeur
    eurochallenges.com

    fun!

  3. @ Marie-Net:

    Oui, pas si sexy, l’asian squat!!! Je vais peut-être éviter, désormais, sur les trottoirs français…
    😆

    You're right, I have to turn them, these Google Ads contextual stupid [voilà c’est fait]. Malgré les filtres, il y a toujours des annonces bizarres qui surgissent. J’ai voulu tester, pour un sujet que je préparais sur la monétisation chez les blogueurs. Là je me penche aussi depuis quelques jours sur le cas de Blogbang, mais je ne suis vraiment pas convaincue par ces trucs.
    😕

  4. Merci pour cette vidéo que je ne connaissais pas!!En ce qui me concerne , l’asian squat n’est pas ma position préférée….c’est que….j’ai les tendons un peu courts….
    Kisses!

  5. Ah, l’Asian Squatt… so true !!!

    “Faites-vous partie des Occidentaux qui savent s’accroupir à l’asiatique?”

    Et non, malheureusement… je crois que c’est mort pour moi, pourtant c’est pas faute d’avoir essayé et de voir des gens le faire autour de moi… 😉

  6. J’ai essayé … Ça marche … 😈
    Je reconnais, il faut être souple mais justement c’est good for the body ❗

  7. Way to go, Yves!!! 🙂

    Pour ma part, je suis tellement accoutumée à cette position, que je la trouve vraiment confortable. Je “squatte” à l’asiatique sans même y penser.

    😉

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