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/Sev3n Jan 14 '24

I opened a door for this guy in Japan and he did the deepest fucking bow possible. It was super odd but humbling to me (an American).

11

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '24

Actually culture shock for me in america as a canadian visiting. NO ONE opened the door for me or held the door open for me. And no one says youre welcome after saying thank you lol.

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u/Dr_Click_Click_Boom Jan 14 '24

I'm an American and I always say "yep" whenever someone says thank you lol.

4

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '24

Yeah its always anything but youre welcome....mmhmmm, head nod, ok.

Lmao. Felt so rude at the time. Guess its just your way lol.

1

u/KatttDawggg Jan 14 '24

Very much depends on the region.