Travelers Share Their Most Jolting Culture Shock Moments
One of the best things about traveling abroad is that you get to learn a bit more about other countries and cultures, and sometimes the differences from our normal lives can send us into a state of shock.
Travelers came together to share the moments they experienced their most jarring culture shock.
The Roadrunner Would Love This Many Beep Beeps!
"When I went to Vietnam 10 years ago, I thought there must have been a traffic jam on the way out of the airport. Motorbike and car horns kept beeping.
Then I realized it was the norm everywhere in Vietnam."
Snow? Sounds Fake, But Okay
"I visited a school in a tiny Thai village. One child asked what the weather was like in my country—I said it was snowing. There was a murmur, then the teacher said, 'The children would like you to elaborate on this 'snow.'
They had no concept of ice from the sky!"
Pints > A Glass Of Water
"I didn't realize how much people drink beer in the Czech Republic. You cannot get a nonalcoholic drink cheaper than a beer."
"I looked it up and lo and behold, the Czechs have the highest beer consumption in the whole world...so I moved there!"
A City That Really Never Sleeps
"The first night I landed in Japan and was taking the metro at 1 a.m."
"The platform was loaded with exhausted people in suits and other formal clothing almost falling asleep on each other's laps—just an ordinary day for Tokyo locals."
A Mutual Culture Shock
"When I was in Thailand, a little kid had never seen a white person as pale as I was and he put his little hand on my knee to see if it was real."
This is pretty fair if all you know is what's in your bubble.
North American 7-Elevens, Take Notes!
"The sheer awesomeness of Japanese convenience stores! My local 7-Eleven has sticky floors and doubtful looking packaged sandwiches."
"The 7-Elevens there are clean, well-lit, have a great selection of lunch/dinner prepackaged meals, and also have a special heated unit for hot drinks."
Honesty Isn't Always The Best Policy
"Strangers just sit next to you on the train/bus in Indonesia and ask personal questions immediately."
"They want to know why you don't have kids or a husband, and why you're fat. Then they say that you should get a haircut because your hair is ugly."
Denmark Is Full Of Straight Hotties
"Everyone in Denmark was good looking—they all had good fashion and sense of style. It got to a point where I tried to spot an 'ugly'/dressed-down person."
"I couldn't find anyone while in the heart of downtown Copenhagen."
How Valuable A Few Hundred Dollars Really Is
"In Guatemala, a man was telling me about how, with his $3 a day salary, he saved up and bought a bunch of baby chicks, raised them, kept half the hens, and sold the rest. Used that money to buy more chicks, etc. With his profits, he bought a baby cow. He raised it to adulthood and sold it, using the money to buy two more baby calves."
"When one of the cows got sick and died, it set him back years—something worth only a few hundred dollars."
Guess You Just Shouldn't Breathe
"The air pollution in major Chinese cities is so bad that your eyes water the second you step out of the airport."
"It's so bad that I experienced a sort of acclimation sickness within the first couple of weeks."
Seriously, A Big Mac?
"When I traveled to Taiwan, I was expecting chopsticks to be the norm in restaurants, but I was still floored when I saw a guy eat a Big Mac using chopsticks."
I can't even imagine how you'd balance a Big Mac on a chopstick.
Talking To Strangers In Public? Ick.
"I had lived in the UK all of my life before moving to Connecticut."
"The first time I walked my dog in my new neighborhood, a stranger engaged me in full-on conversation. Scary."
It's Sad To See, Honestly.
"When I went to the Philippines, a group of homeless children took control of a bridge and demanded payment for people crossing it on the trip from the airport to the hotel."
"People actually paid, too."
Maybe I Should Visit China
"I was shocked by rural people's fascination with Westerners in China. Within an hour of landing in a small city, I was invited to a random couple's wedding."
"They sat my friend and me at a front and center dinner table and gave us a shout out from the DJ."
I Can't Believe You Have To Pay To Pee
"On my trip across Europe, I was shocked by how many public washrooms require people to pay in order to use them."
"The prices can be pretty steep; I had to pay the equivalent of $3 USD to use one."
Crazy How Safety Rules So Much
"I visited the US when I was about 10 years old and my brother was 5, it was required by law that children under a certain needed to sit in a child car seat."
"That wasn't a thing back at home in Pakistan."
History Meets Modernity In China
When traveling in China, I was shocked to see that, since it's such an old country, that ancient temples and monuments, some thousands of years old, were right next to hyper-modern eight-story shopping centers.
It's pretty crazy how much history has changed things.
Goodbye McDonald's Ads!
"I'm from the U.S. and when I went to France and Belgium, I was shocked at the lack of highway advertising."
"There were no billboards or anything on the side of the road."
I Mean, People Have Been Stared At For Worse Reasons
"When I was in Budapest, I visited a couple of public baths."
"My boyfriend noticed a lot of people staring at me, and, after a while, I realized I was the only one with tattoos."
Small Town To Big City Shock Is Real
"I live in a small town with less than 800 people in northern Canada, so the first time I went to California was a massive culture shock. Big cities, eight lanes of freeway traffic, skyscrapers, and well...everything."
"I think what got to me most was the lack of trees."
New Zealand Is Home To Hobbits, I Guess
"I was so shocked to see barefoot people everywhere in New Zealand."
"In Starbucks, in the mall, on public transit, walking down the street—people would choose not to wear shoes and rock their bare feet instead."
The Bathrooms Will Get You
"I was shocked by American toilet stalls having the doors end about two feet above the ground?"
"Every time I went to the washroom, I was half-expecting to see someone poke their head under because of how much space there was."
Really Puts Things Into Perspective
"I was chatting to a tuk-tuk driver in Cambodia. We asked him what he did in your free time, but he didn't seem to understand the question. We clarified that we wanted to know what he did when he wasn't driving his tuk-tuk, and he said, "What you mean? I sleep!"
The fact that the concept of any free time at all was so alien to him made me seriously realize how privileged I really am.
Where Do They Charge Them Though?
"When I traveled to Honduras, I met countless locals who didn't have any running water or electricity available in their homes, but most of them still owned cellphones and laptops."
It's pretty crazy how accessible cell phones have gotten.
Who's Up For A Travel Romance?
"The women in the Caribbean were much more flirtatious and forward than back home. It made me super nervous."
"One woman approach me in a Wendy's of all places and asked if my friend and I would like to join her and some friends at the beach."
Please Do Not Speak To Me!
"In Norway (where I'm from), social anxiety is integrated into our culture. We don't talk to strangers unless necessary and people working in stores won't talk to you unless you ask for it/look lost."
"When I came to New York and the people working in stores asked me how I was, I was floored. Not only did they talk to me the second I came in the door, they actually asked me how I felt; I got so freaked out I avoided stores altogether for days."
Apparently Kids In Other Countries Don't Do This
"When I was six-years-old, we moved to America for a year."
"Every morning at school, we had to do the Pledge of Allegiance, but because I was from Germany, I had no idea what it was—I just acted like I knew what I was doing."
That Just Sounds So Wrong
"I probably was most shocked when pizza was served with ketchup or other sauces at restaurants in various Eastern European countries."
"I was not mentally prepared for that at all."
I Never Thought Someone Would Be Amazed By Ohio
"I went from living in Australia, a very dry country, to Ohio and found that everything is green here."
"If you need water, you can just dig a hole in the ground."
Not Like North American Weddings At All
"I just went to a Thai wedding."
"At one point, a very drunk middle-aged woman was thrusting a wooden phallus in my face, while walking the groom down a highway holding an umbrella to keep the sun off of him."
