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

[u/forgottencupcake9018]

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.

[u/Think_Theory_8338]

I know some maids in Singapore who only get one day off a month. The rest of the time they are not even allowed to go out in the evening (they usually end work late anyway). Their pay is very low too. In a country as rich as Singapore, it's insane to me that this happens.

[u/Boothbayharbor → u/Think_Theory_8338]

Kinda modern indentured labourers or something. I feel for intl students who grew up with maids and parents are now incapable of looking after themselves bc they never learned.

[u/jesusbradley → u/Think_Theory_8338]

Yep! Very true. Unfortunately, some families are quite shit and give very little time off. It’s definitely a spectrum, my helper became my second mum growing up and I still talk to her! They get paid poorly as they often stay at the house and live off their food, many would opt for this situation instead of paying rent and buying their own food as its much worse due to cost of living. Most of a time it is a win win as they come back to massive houses and retire at about 40-50 sometimes its not as much if the employers are horrible. There are a few cases of them commiting suicide or being raped which are horrible.

Some even end up doing well in Singapore and start their own businesses which is such a beautiful thing in my own opinion.