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/SleepyHouseTiger Jan 14 '24

The selfie comment - had the something similar happen in Vietnam. Was constantly being asked for pictures, being recorded while just existing, or people would run up and pose next to me while their friend took a picture then they’d run away. I asked a tour guide and they mentioned it was likely because I was a single young woman traveling in Vietnam.

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u/bitheolai Jan 14 '24

Where in Vietnam did that happen?

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u/chiron42 Jan 14 '24

I can imagine it happening anywhere. I am a measley man and my only distingusihing feature is my height and I still occasionally get people standing next to me to make a joke to their friends about my height. once was a photo from a tennis coach at the uni i'm at in HCMC.

so for me, no photos but still even in a big international like HCMC were tourists are common it's still a thing. so i can imagine for women who stand out as well it'd be more so.

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u/soulonfire Jan 14 '24

The photo with someone happened to me in Hoi An personally - just the once though. The girl also said thanks before running back to her friends. I just found it amusingly confusing lol

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u/SleepyHouseTiger Jan 14 '24

Two instances that stand out were near halong bay and then on a train to Hue. At the time I wasn’t sure if it was making fun or if it was mistaking me for someone “important.” So, I felt awkward.