Embarrassing travel culture shocks

[WildBalonz]

Since it’s summer and holiday season I thought it might be fun to share some silly or funny or embarrassing cultural shocks we’ve all had when travelling!

I’ll start with an incident that is both funny and embarrassing depending how you look at it. A few years ago me, my brother, his wife and her brother (my brother and sister in law) went on a trip all through China. We were on a tour bus traveling through some rural areas outside Guangzhou. We had a pit stop to stretch our legs and use the toilet etc and our driver proudly told us that the public loos we had stopped at had western toilets which were very uncommon in these areas. Great we all thought, however what he didn’t mention is that instead of individual cubicals they had very small almost like shower screens separating each toilet. Not much privacy at all! It made for a very embarrassing poo for me my sister in law and two other ladies on our tour 😂. I laugh at it now but at the time it was probably the most awkward and embarrassing experience our lives. Luckily she’s a good sport and we joke about it these days!

How often is the bucket cleaned. That doesn’t seem sanitary to me.

Indeed! Just a higher squat. With the floor toilets you just do a full Hindi squat.

🤣🤣🤣

I have weak legs and would probably take too long hovering, definitely envy you though xD

I too came to the UK when I was 19.
my culture shock was how lovely everyone was. I didn’t speak much English but I really wanted to learn it. People were kind, helpful and friendly.
I don’t deal with politics. I focus on the people. I have a positive outlook. Yes, of course not everyone is nice and kind. There are all kinds of people out there. But it’s my choice whether I let them affect me and how I respond to them. I firmly believe that a happy person is a kind person and if someone is unkind then they are not happy. I wish them well but I move on and don’t let them ruin my day.
It sounds like you’re not happy here. Maybe try to think back why you chose to come here in the first place. I’m grateful for all the opportunities this country has given me and for all the lovely, kind and amazing people I’ve met and made friends with. I’ve always worked, never taken anything for granted and I love going to volunteer to give something back to the country and to the people.
Sure, it’s not perfect, but is anything perfect? Everything is what we make it to be!

Honestly, that was me a few years ago!!
If you want your legs to get stronger, I recommend doings squats! Just do 5/day every day for a week, then increase it by 5 every week until you can do 4-5 sets of 10. Consistency is key but you’ll soon see a difference and it’ll really help with your hips, and muscle strength in your quads, hamstrings, glutes and abs too! Xx

Aw thank you for the kind advice! I would like to get a bit stronger definitely. If anyone asks it’s to train so that I can hover when doing a poo 🤣

Yes, that’s the same in my country too!

That made me Lol 😂
You’ll definitely get there! Just do a bit every day.
It’s hilarious that we are chatting about pooping techniques at 1am 😆🤣🤣🤣

🤣 to be honest I’ve had wackier convos before 😂 I sometimes worry if I’m an over-sharer. I’ve had to do the full on squat poo before outside

I had no choice . Just left school my father made our choices and we came to the uk . We were also left with little choice , when a family we were friends with got bludgeoned to death because Mugabes men wanted the farm . I too worked all my life till disability and ill health took it away from me . However never really had many friends and after 2 failed marriages of which I was forced to leave for my own sanity and what was left of my health . I am still on sort of friendly terms with my ex and 3 kids I am still in contact with , my eldest has chosen his in-laws over his family and walked away long story. So find myself single in my 60s existing on benefits and can't really afford to socialise as it costs money I don't have.

What do little kids do, fall in. This sounds horrifying. I just don’t get it.how do you teach a 4 year old to do that.

In China? They have a split in their pants and get held over a gutter by their parent / grand parent etc.

Or less than a metre away from my foot in a public park!

I do squats while I brush my teeth, makes both activities slightly more interesting.

I agree that they have their benefits.
It seemed to be folk from the USA who were most shocked, being as they're more used to over-filled basins of water under them. 😬

These shelf-toilets still exist in Germany, Austria, Slovenia and some other Central European countries. The toilet style that is common in the UK did not really start to appear in these places until the 1970s, so many houses, apartments and public buildings built before about 1990 had the shelf-style installed, and this style can still be bought in builders' merchants and the local equivalents of B&Q if anyone wants them (which presumably some people do, otherwise they would not still be produced).

The purpose of the shelf was indeed so that you could have a good look before flushing - looking for signs of parasites and blood etc that might indicate health problems, which was important before the days of better storage and processing of meat and before the post-war improvements in human and animal medicine.

As for public toilets - the cubicles in German motorway service stations are a modern wonder with automatic cleaning and disinfection after every user, including a rotating seat that gets washed, disinfected and dried when you press the "flush" button.

We had a child take a dump right outside a restaurant a metre away from where we were eating dinner.

If it's any consolation there has been a huge drive to improve sanitary standards in India with Swatch Bharat including piped water and proper toilets. I'm watching an update now on one of the desi TV channels in a partnership with Dettol.

The squat ability is a useful thing to have. When my dad 1st came to the UK with the navy he ended up in lodgings in Liverpool in the 1950s. The only thing he'd mention about his time there was that the toilets 🚽 were so dirty that he'd actually stand on the seat then squat 😱

My local GP practice has very stern notice in the toilet telling people not to stand and squat on the toilet seat or the sink, along with diagrams.

I don't agree with hereditary lords but I quite like having a big team of experts looking at proposed legislation before it becomes law. People who are top of their game and have vast experience in the matter under scrutiny, unlike many of the MPs holding government portfolios.

I wouldn't say my legs were weak, but I still hate hovering! Always reminds me of being much younger and being concerned about my "aim"!

Did you ever miss? 😅

Rightfully so!!!!!

Love that!!! I’m stealing that!! Genius idea! Xx