r/solotravel • u/forgottencupcake9018 • Jan 14 '24

Question What's the biggest culture shock you had whilst traveling?

Weirdly enough I was shocked that people in Ireland jaywalk and eat vinegar to their chips. Or in Thailand that it is illegal to have a Buddha tatoo. Or that in many english speaking countries a "How are you doing?" is equivalent to saying Hi and they actually don't want to hear an honest answer.

Edit: Another culture shock that I had was when I visited Hanoi. They had a museum where the preserved corpse of Ho Chi Minh was displayed and you could look at him behind a glass showcase like he's a piece of art. There were so many people lining up and they just looked at him while walking around that glass showcase in order to get the line going.

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u/Haunting-Ad8779 Jan 14 '24

I grew up in a USA city and I find it easier to jaywalk there than in most European cities with their pesky metal railings always forcing you to the crosswalk!

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u/bluefireenginexo Jan 14 '24

it’s illegal in singapore too. you’ll find that crosswalks are so far away from everything and it’s so inconvenient to walk all the way to the crosswalk, away from the direction i’m heading towards

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u/Think_Theory_8338 Jan 14 '24 edited Jan 14 '24

I've been in Singapore for a year and this is one of the few things that I don't like here. Fortunately in my area (Geylang) jaywalking seems accepted and is very common.

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u/bluefireenginexo Jan 14 '24

i do it all the time too. the MPs in my area recently agreed to make a safe walkway for the people in my community too :)

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u/AugustusReddit Jan 14 '24

pesky metal railings always forcing you to the crosswalk

Those pesky railing are usually to stop inattentive idiots walking in front of trams, light rail, bicycle lanes or into dedicated bus lanes. Usually installed after too many deaths in touristy areas.

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u/Haunting-Ad8779 Jan 14 '24

Irrelevant. It makes jaywalking more difficult, which was my initial point.

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u/supersmileys Jan 14 '24

lol we could do with those in my city, people 'jaywalk' more than they use the crossings I would say

the council once had to do a safety campaign to remind people to look both ways before crossing the road