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!

I had to poo (explosively and profusely) in the public toilet on Banana Island, near Luxor. Oh god, it was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. The walls were made of banana crates - you could see straight through them. The toilet was a hole in the ground, and the door was a sack hanging down.

My mum very kindly laughed at me for days and days, until the same bug hit her…..

If it makes you feel any better, went on a trip to North America and went hiking in California when I was younger. I needed to poo so thought I want in a private area only to be later told my friends saw the whole thing

At one time we used to go to France with Britanny Ferries holidays and tour round the Loire Valley etc. On one holiday, we stopped at a nice little local restaurant for dinner. Chef came to take our orders so trying my execrable French I asked for omelet aux chevreaux, thinking this meant prawns. In perfect English, Chef thoughtfully wondered whether Madam really wanted crevettes which were small prawns and not baby goats!

I remember having to do ‘wild wees’ as a kid, playing out on the hillside near our home. You had to be very careful, otherwise you could wee in your own wellies! 😂😂😂

I could easily write a book on wild pooing at famous and less famous venues 😂

Famous venues? What like? 😅

Rainforests, a famous archaeological site in Peru, various renowned golf courses, a Trump place 😂

Oh wow sounds like you’ve lived an eventful life! 🤣 what was the trump place?

I thought of the mumset toilet puritans when I used a toilet on French beach today, that was essentially a hole in the the ground inside a small wooden hut. The 33 degree heat did not really improve the experience.

Ha @Ginmonkeyagain that happened to us in Deauville. Playing on the beach with very happy DS who happens to be autistic and have sensory processing disorder (with a touch of OCD, we think) and he’s caught short after snarfing an entire baguette for lunch. Took him to the beach toilet and it was a shack with a dark hole in the floor, festering in the Summer heat, with no running water. I ended up in the nearest beach bar paying €30 each for a soft drink with some fruit in it just so DS would stop howling in distress at the appalling sanitary conditions. He decided that the bar’s (fragrant, marble) facilities - located almost adjacent to the public poo shack - were just the ticket. So flipping French!

I’d buy it!

This was the view from my favourite loo in Namibia. No door, just a rope to put across the path to indicate it was occupied. Wild animals all around.

This was mine fave loo. Hole with a wooden box over. I had the shits too, but the view was great.

Ha ha! Not my culture shock, but I am in Narbonne at the moment Not a city on the major American (or indeed English) tourist itineraries.

Yesterday I had to explain to some very exasperated and nervous Americans that cars would keep coming over the pedestrian crossing unless you indicate you are crossing, and in many cases won't actually stop unless you start walking over the crossing.

I had to do a demo for them to prove they would not get mown down.

They are used to waddling slowly across the front of Walmart with cars stopping for them automatically.

Now that would speed you up 😂

It's in Miami sshhh 😂 I might not be let back in .

Forgot this one. Wild camping with a group in a park in the Caprivi Strip with elephants wandering around. ( It was behind a bush).

@onehorserace TBF I think it is more that, IME anyway, the space between pedestrans and cars in America is very tighly delineated, so the idea of a more free wheeling shared space where drivers would voluntarily stop for people on foot, was an ananthema to them.

Jay walking is very much frowned upon in the States too so it may be that at play.

Sounds like I'm really going to have to learn how to use a squat toilet if I'm going to explore the world! I just don't really understand, do you have to actually remove your knickers? Pee doesn't go straight down it goes kinda forward so how do you do it right?

Thankfully my next holiday is Japan, think I can manage with their loos!

😀

Americans never believe I can’t drive, and that I’ve travelled around the US on Greyhound buses without being murdered.

Mind you, I was once crossing the Jersey Turnpike (not jaywalking) and a guy rolled down his window at shouted ‘WALK, WHITE TRASH!’ at me.

Japan has squat toilets. They aren’t that common but I’ve used a few. The squat toilets in Japan are usually very clean though.

Love how there is actually loo roll!

Pull them down to your knees. It’s safer if you are either in a short skirt or pull on shorts/cropped trousers that don’t have too much material. I’m not sure I could get down there and back up again now!

I’m hoping the poo troll isn’t lurking on this thread!