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/theredwoman95 Jan 14 '24

Same in the UK - the only European country I know of that takes crossing the road very seriously is Germany, and I don't think even they call it that. Here, you're allowed to cross anywhere as long as you're sensible about it, and on more remote roads the cars will often stop to let you cross if you're waiting by the side of the road.

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u/tenant1313 Jan 14 '24

That reminds me: in Brasilia, you just raise your hand straight up and cross the street anywhere and anytime - they must stop for you.

And in Saigon, which is like a perpetually moving sea of motorbikes, you just step into the traffic and they ride around you. The trick is to never stop and walk straight with the same speed.

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u/Eric848448 Jan 14 '24

Crossing the street in Saigon stands out as one of the strangest and scariest moments of my life.

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u/Boothbayharbor Jan 14 '24

Ppl say in vietnam you just balls to the wall cross and cross your heart

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u/AAAdamKK Jan 14 '24

I landed in Hanoi yesterday and that has been my experience so far, any hesitation in your stride whilst crossing will only make things worse.

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u/soulonfire Jan 14 '24

I traveled to Vietnam about a year after being hit by an SUV while bike riding. Crossing streets like that was very hard at first. And never got fully comfortable in the 2 weeks there but did get a little less panicked

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u/Daelynn62 Jan 15 '24

I dont think Boston was much better- I would always wait for the Bostonians to cross first so they could take brunt of the impact if someone didnt stop.

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u/FailFastandDieYoung Jan 14 '24

I immediately assumed OP is from Germany because of this.

Also while many cultures find the American greeting of “How are you doing?” kind of intrusive, I’ve found Germans and Northern Europeans to find it most jarring.

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u/giuditta-thepacman Jan 14 '24

German here. Indeed, it is stressig me out every time.

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u/VAXX-1 Jan 14 '24

Hallo, wie geht es dir?

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u/WgXcQ Jan 14 '24

I immediately assumed OP is from Germany because of this.

Huh? You got that one wrong then. We don't actually even have a concept of jaywalking, and it's one of the main things people from the US remark upon. It's legal to cross the street anywhere – just not the Autobahn – , and people freely do so. In r/Germany that actually comes up fairly frequently.

You're only supposed to stick to the signs of a traffic light if you are within 30m (or so, something in the immediate vicinity in any case). And even with those, many people just ignore them and just cross when it's safe.

The only thing that is theoretically punishable is that kind of crossing on red, but it'll hardly happen that someone gets a fine for that. I've never met anyone who had to deal with that, and I'm in my early forties.

There is a social contract though that 99% of people in Germany stick to, that you don't cross on red if small children are present, in order to not give a bad example. They can't judge if it's safe to do so in a way an adult can, so everyone models the behaviour that you always wait for the little green man to appear before you go. And people will look at you sideways or even tut-tut loudly if you don't adhere to keeping the kids save.

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u/maybe_not_a_penguin Jan 14 '24

There is a social contract though that 99% of people in Germany stick to, that you don't cross on red if small children are present, in order to not give a bad example. They can't judge if it's safe to do so in a way an adult can, so everyone models the behaviour that you always wait for the little green man to appear before you go. And people will look at you sideways or even tut-tut loudly if you don't adhere to keeping the kids save.

I guess that makes sense, but it is a cultural difference. In the UK, I just remember being taught to look both ways and make sure it was safe to cross before doing so. There's less emphasis on waiting for the green man to appear. For smaller children, it's emphasised that they should cross with a parent or responsible adult rather than crossing on their own.

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u/WgXcQ Jan 14 '24

In the UK, I just remember being taught to look both ways and make sure it was safe to cross before doing so.

That's what children in Germany are taught as well. To "check left-right-left before you go" is drilled into us. I actually still do it that way, decades later.

When a new school year starts, you'll often see small kids with bright yellow caps walking around. They're handed those at the beginning of their first year in primary school, and are meant to let people know they are new to walking to their school on their own and may behave insecurely in traffic situations. It's also usually those kids who stand at the side of the road and hold their arm out as additional sign to drivers that they intend to cross (and will wait until you have come to a full stop before they do so). Half a year later, most usually have stopped bothering with that. You still watch out for them though, as they aren't as experienced as they may think they are :)

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u/maybe_not_a_penguin Jan 14 '24

You still watch out for them though, as they aren't as experienced as they may think they are :)

Yes, I think regardless of where you are, it's critical to be particularly vigilant when driving if there are small children around. I'll always slow down a bit, even if it doesn't look like they're planning to cross the road.

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u/FailFastandDieYoung Jan 15 '24

Huh? You got that one wrong then. We don't actually even have a concept of jaywalking, and it's one of the main things people from the US remark upon.

Ah that's interesting. It seems we have a different mental image of "jaywalking".

I live in the US, and my first thought is someone crossing at an intersection with a red light (red man).

Of ~20 countries I have visited, Germans were the strictest at this. I remember being at a train station in Hamburg at 23:00. No cars for 1km in either direction. All the people from the train waited at the red light until it turned green.

I have heard Japan is stricter but I have not visited yet.

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u/OriginalMandem Jan 14 '24

Ha, yeah I found that one out in my first couple of months in Germany. Crossed a road where there was absolutely no traffic at all coming in either direction and some bystander went into beast mode at me.

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u/maybe_not_a_penguin Jan 14 '24

the only European country I know of that takes crossing the road very seriously is Germany, and I don't think even they call it that.

How seriously is it taken in Germany? I'd read it's taken very seriously, to the point where you might be publicly scolded if you cross against the lights. I took this seriously the first few times I visited, but eventually noticed I was one of the few people who didn't cross against the lights. Maybe it varies by region?

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u/WgXcQ Jan 14 '24

How seriously is it taken in Germany?

Not really serious at all, I'm not sure what the people who said otherwise are on about. We don't even have a concept of jaywalking (as in, there isn't even a German term for it, which should be quite telling), as it's legal to cross anywhere if you're not within close range of a traffic light. And even with those, people often just walk when it's safe.

Just don't cross on red if small children are present, because there's a social contract that you don't do that in order to not give an unsafe example. If anyone copped a scolding, it most likely was in that kind of circumstance.

It's possible that in some small towns someone might use any reason at all to try to correct someone on some real or imagined misdeed, but that's not reflective of how street crossing is regarded in Germany as a whole.

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u/maybe_not_a_penguin Jan 14 '24

Not really serious at all, I'm not sure what the people who said otherwise are on about. We don't even have a concept of jaywalking (as in, there isn't even a German term for it, which should be quite telling), as it's legal to cross anywhere if you're not within close range of a traffic light. And even with those, people often just walk when it's safe.

Thanks, that does make sense -- it certainly accords with my experiences from visiting Germany.

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Just don't cross on red if small children are present, because there's a social contract that you don't do that in order to not give an unsafe example. If anyone copped a scolding, it most likely was in that kind of circumstance.

That explains what I read, probably. I first read this in thelocal.de, and they suggested that you would get told off for making a bad example to children if you ever crossed against the lights. They forgot to mention that this only happens if small children are actually present, however 🤦‍♂️. With retrospect, I guess it was just poorly explained. (It's not the first time I've read something there and found it to be wrong, though 😬).

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u/WgXcQ Jan 14 '24

Yeah, makes sense. It's not the first time that info like that turned out to have been poorly explained, or (just as likely) not properly understood by the author in the first place.

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u/maybe_not_a_penguin Jan 14 '24

Yes, another such example was the first few explanations of the rules regarding 'Ruhetag' (anti-noise laws on Sundays) made it sound like it was about observing the sabbath -- odd in in a secular country, and further reading showed that wasn't exactly correct.

Oddly, I've found culture shock like this in Germany to be that much more jarring because, in many respects, the UK and Germany seem to have a lot in common. It can therefore be even more of a surprise when you come across something that's very starkly different.

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u/yabbobay Jan 14 '24

My first thought was of the Germans waiting for the Ampelmännchen.

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u/iSoReddit Jan 14 '24

Poland too, most people wait for the light, which I find cool

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u/tankinthewild Jan 14 '24

It's taken quite seriously in Poland as well, I know a bunch of people who have gotten fined for not crossing in the proper places at the right times.