Biggest cultural shock you have come across?

[hibbledobble]

What have you encountered while travelling that was your biggest cultural shock?

I'll go first: in Poland I saw families/extended families living 10+ in a 2 bedroom home. The concept of having a bedroom or even a bed to oneself is seemingly unheard of. Everyone sleeps in different beds each night, and beds are often shared. Having visitors in this set up is no problem either: everyone just rearranges. Water also came from Wells, lots of homes had no bathrooms. Ovens were these metal beasts that were plugged into the mains.

That Ireland didn't have a cervical screening programme when I visited 11 years ago with Jo's Trust.

That's odd.

I work in this area. Ireland certainly had a cervical cancer screening programme when I worked there in 2001-2002 (national registry, call up for screenings, etc.) The only difference I noticed between there and here is that it was far easier to get an appointment there.

I don't think I ever came across a screening programme when I worked in the US though. With the introduction of ObamaCare, insurers were required to cover recommended preventive services such as mammograms, Pap smear. However, ObamaCare now look like becoming a thing of the past with the vote to dismantle ObamaCare last week.

A lighter hearted one, when we were in California travelling around on Greyhound buses, I was amazed and amused that some men wore stetsons, and not ironically. I mean, it is sensible headwear in the heat, but I hadn't expected to see grown men in 'cowboy hats'.

I find the armed police in most countries culturally shocking - it always makes me nervous when police officers have visible weapons,

The northern parts of Florida. It's proper deep South, very republican, small quite insular communities and a roadside church every half a mile. All I knew of Florida until then was Orlando and Disney!

Just everything about Detroit. It's like the rest of the USA has decided it's had its day and just left it to rot quietly.

Thanks @user1471523870

The 'filthy' was a 'self depreciating Brits' culture thing .

I think it bidets and bidet towels were the norm in the UK, they would generate some cracking 'tradesperson arriving at the home of a MNer and immediately going to take a dump' threads - AIBU to not want to wash by builder's shitty bidet towel sort of thing.

by = my

Two for me:

I was sitting with a South African colleague when my BBC news alert flashed up that Oscar pistorius had shot his girlfriend in the night. He immediately said he bet he thought she was an intruder. The conversation carried on and he said that's why he left - he didn't want to raise his daughter with a gun beneath his pillow every night. I'd heard a lot about crime in South Africa, but that brought it home to me.

And similar to a previous poster. We were walking along a beach in Sri Lanka and came across a dead body, someone who'd clearly drowned and been washed ashore. DH went to the nearest bar and asked them what to do, whilst I stood guard and warned western families with children to stay away. The response from the bar was that they didn't speak English. We eventually walked back to our hotel and told them, so they could inform authorities etc. Their response? I'm sorry you had to see that, have a free bottle of wine to take your mind off it, and I hope it hasn't ruined your holiday.

Seeing a stall selling knives and other weapons in a shopping mall in an untouristy area on the outskirts of Orlando last year.

Interestingly Detroit airport is one of the finest I have ever seen!

My father is from that part of Florida Hamster (Pensacola) and it really is as proper Deep South as it is possible to get. When my cousins were in high school (secondary school) they used to be able to check their rifles at the door 'cause they were goin' huntin' in their pickups (having been licensed to drive at 15) later.

Most of my cousins on that side of the family were married before they were 20. I have one cousin who is younger than me (I just turned 50 and he's probably about 45) and is already a grandpa.

Seeing a stall selling knives and other weapons in a shopping mall

You can buy guns and knives (serious Crocodile Dundee type knives not cutlery) in Walmart.

troll since you are interested the village in 46km from Krakow

The men holding hands is a sign of "hey we are besties!", its totally normal. Strange from the outside looking in though. As a british asian, the whole early dinner thing is odd to me. My kids generally go bed around 9.30/10 from when they were toddlers. They wake up with no problems. Plus the weddings with no kids. I find asian weddings are a chaotic free for all where if it were 'intimate', ie, small numbers, it would be seen as odd

mommy that's mad about the guns!

I do remember seeing some very young mums with several children in tow when we stopped at a supermarket. Do people just marry their high school sweetheart?

As so many PPs have said - China. . Waiting for a train to HK on a teeming platform surrounded by people carrying all sorts of living creatures who were about to become supper, I thought "If I have an accident now, I won't be able to ask for help and nobody who loves me will know what happened to me". It was like being beamed onto another planet.
Closer to home, casual racism and homophobia in both France and Spain.

Germany was very clean and tidy and the Germans were very slim compared to us.

The crates and cages of dogs, all crammed in on top of each other in horrific conditions with visible injuries, they were being transported on a lorry in China, destined for human consumption.

Drink driving in Perth Western Australia. They don't have police cars to take you in if you are caught they have buses. Huge big coaches.

standing on toilet seats is an Asia-wide problem

This also happens in the UK

Rural Hungary - A man being knocked over and killed crossing the road and his body just being left there. It was still there when we returned several hours later and not even covered over.

The sewage system in Portugal which means you can't even flush paper down the toilet and have to throw all used toilet paper into an open basket next to the toilet.

In the US, man with a gun at the back his pick up as if it was anything but a really dangerous weapon. I felt like I was back to the Far West. It was very close to San Francisco and 2004

To be fair, there are plenty of very young mums here in the UK, but I believe fewer of them are married than those of a similar age in the Deep South. All my cousins got married - they didn't all stay married, and weren't all married at the time they knew they were becoming parents, iyswim, but they all did marry.

Coming through Calais recently, I was unnerved at being asked to unpack my car by a soldier carrying a big fuck off gun. Made me very on edge and I probably looked as shifty as anything

The toilets in Italy left a lot to be desired, as did the driving. I was also shocked at the huge amounts of prostitution on the outskirts of Verona.

DHs mother grew up 10 in a single room with a shared bathroom!
This was in Glasgow. She would only be 72 if still alive, it was not unusual

I remember getting in trouble in Rome visiting some people for asking for a milky coffee after lunch - friends husband was very offended!

"The sewage system in Portugal which means you can't even flush paper down the toilet and have to throw all used toilet paper into an open basket next to the toilet."

It's the same in some of the Greek islands. The bathroom in Corfu got very whiffy on the one day we didn't have a cleaner.

India, so many things...stray dogs everywhere. Farm animals living on the street. One time we met a man who had ridden on his camel from Rajasthan to Pune, it took him ten days!