We don't "bise" only close friends... We'll "bise" anyone we know... At least, when we kno...

i always thought that everywhere in france they give 2 bises (づ￣ ³￣)づ haha i have that problem a lot cause in belgium it is or 1bise or 3 but there isn't really a rule so it can get awkward when you get ignored ╮(￣▽￣)╭

My culture is slightly different but we "bise" too and I am always left bobbing my head when someone moves away. So embarrassing.

In Philippines, we do "bise" too but it's a little different because we don't kiss other people's cheek. We just lightly touch our cheeks. We also call it "beso-beso" but not all people does it. （￣へ￣）

We don't really kiss the cheek in France, we just "bump" the other cheek with ours... But we do at the same time the sound of the kiss... So, in the end, we kiss the air xD
I've always thought that it was completly absurd... But it is even more when you explain it XD

I'm not sure about France, but in Austria and in many other European countries most people only touch the others cheeks and actually kiss the air haha

although in the philippines a "beso-beso" is practiced on some families while the "mano-po" is practiced mostly. We don't do it with people our age though, that would be embarrassing. (๑•ㅂ•)و✧ Do they do that in france? I mean, bise with friends?

It depends of the people.. I've never "bised" my friends, but some of the students in High-School or even before "bised" each-other the morning, when they arrived in the school... But I've always thought it was completly weird xD
But I think that my friends and I were the "weird one" by not kissing one another the morning... I mean, most of the other students kissed (or as we say "se faisaient la bise" "did the bise to each other")

Now, for example, I still not "bise" my friends. But when my mother come home from work, I "bise" her once. When her boyfriend come home however, I "bise" him twice, on each cheek. My sister doest the same.
... There is no proper rules... that makes it definitly strange x)

What is the "mano-po" ?

mano-po is not a bise though, some (very rare though) kiss the top hand of an elderly to show respect. But mostly, we just touch our forehead to the hand of a person who is older.

In Canada the only ppl who do the "Bise" are the French people. I'm from western Canada and if ppl were to do that to me, I'd get upset. (._.")

Well, when we don't know the person at all, we shakes hands ! I mean, at work for example, when you are introduced by a collegue or your boss to someone, you shake his/her hand, you don't "bise" him/her xD

OliverCrimson, that mean that you bow until you can touch the hand with your forehead ?

well in india we touch the feet of our elder ( can be anybody like parents , elder brother etc) to show them respect but also as a form of greeting. but in this age of globalization it's pretty much disappearing and now we only touch the feet of our grandparents and elderly.

In Portugal we also "bise" each other as a greeting (bump each others cheeks while kissing air, but yeah same thing xP ), but only if there is a girl involved or if it's 2 guys that are extremely close friends/siblings/father and son that hadn't seen each other in a while.
We do 2 kisses, one on each cheek (if it's between a guy and a girl or 2 girls or the exception I mentioned above) and it can be done between strangers or even best friends since it's the most common form of greeting for a girl ^.^

Yeah, I forgot to mention that 2 men rarely "bised" each other, they shake hand... Probably because it is more """"manly"""" u.u ... But they kiss if they're very close. Or, for example, when an adult has known a boy since his childhood, even when the boy become an adult, they still kissed as a form a greeting...
... I realized how complex it is in reality u.u

I didn't know that in Portugal, you do the same !

Rotten, in India, you have to bow veeeery low in order to touch their feet, don't ypu ?

Well I'm from Spain and we also "bisé" but, it's "dos besos" two kisses, and its the most common greeting between women, and women-men, but men usually shake hands and pat shoulders or hug. Men only do that when are close family, relatives or friends that grew together, or gay people. So if you are a girl and enter a room with 10 people you give two kises in turns to everyone!! (Mostly by seating order)

I do it so automatically that when foreigners come here, i still do it by reflex (and then always regret it ╥﹏╥ ) Even when I visited UK last year, i still did!! So, I understand that its difficult to other people to adapt to your customs, and i hope that when you people face some situation like this, just.. be patient!!

Same here in Spain! Uf, its recomfortable when customs just match!! XD Family reunions and big meetings are so damm tiring! I always end with cheeks pain, I'm a girl though.. Foreigners must have it rough when they visit us, more so the ones that even touching is embarrasing like japanese.

picture of "mano po" http://www.emeraldpinoyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/mano-po-lola.jpg

Oooh ! Thanks ! So you take their hand to you forehead, you don't bow to their hand !
... So how do they do it in India, if they have to touche their feet ?

We have that in Brazil too, girls "bise" each other like a greeting, between a girl and a boy, and even when we first meet strangers... I feel really uncomfortable doing this so I just shake hands +*+ (even tho I am a boy, so I don't do that(bise) to other boys lol)

Well I get your feelings. In big meetings sometimes I end up with headache, cuz when it comes to family or friends that we didn't see in long time we'll even bise 4 or 6 times or even more though I'm algerien. ..

yeah.for our hands to reach their feet we have to bow quite a bit.it is believed in india that the heavens resides in the feet of our elder and therefore we should respect them.
bise would be too much skinship in indian conservative society.my friend who belongs to a traditonal and conservative indian family is actually even afraid of making eye contact with her father when considered unnecessary.
even i don't the reason to be so strict ,my family is pretty open minded so sometimes to show our affection to each other we kiss each other's cheek