Now that I have left Asia (I am actually in Mexico right now), I wanted to write a blog post to document a number of interesting things that I noticed while I was in Asia, in addition to some things I learned about myself. These things somehow never made it into one of my blog entries (or was only briefly mentioned), and I wanted to make sure I shared them before I completed my blog.
I will start with my list of interesting Asian quirks.
1. Interesting flavours of chips: when you go to the chips aisle in a grocery or convenience store you will not always see the standard “BBQ”, or “Sour Cream and Onion” flavours that we are used to seeing at home. Instead, you will see flavours like “Manhattan Rib-Eye Steak”, “Beijing Duck”, “Grilled Lobster Mornay”, “Nori Seaweed”, and “Brazil BBQ Pork Rib”. I’ve actually tried most of these flavours and they aren’t too bad!
2. Restaurant menus have too many items on them. Restaurants want to please all the tourists by adding a wide selection of items from western favourites (burgers, fries, hot dogs, pizza, pasta, etc) in addition to local dishes, and traditional dishes from nearby countries. The problem with this method is that these restaurants don’t specialize in any one item, and chances are that if you order a burger you will be disappointed. A perfect example is the restaurant at the resort we stayed at in Koh Phangan. It had so many items on the menu that the menu was a very thick book (about 1 inch thick), and whenever you ordered something from the menu the staff usually didn’t even recognize the dish you were ordering and had to copy down the description to bring to the kitchen staff. Most of the food was pretty awful as it felt like it was their first time making each dish (even the traditional Thai dishes). We felt that if the menu selection was reduced, they could become experts in a few key dishes and make them very well instead of offering a multitude of dishes, but each dish is only mediocre at best.
Also, some restaurants will have an item on the menu but not actually make the item. When that item is ordered the restaurant staff will run across the street to a nearby restaurant to pick it up and then bring it back and serve it at their restaurant. Very strange.
3. Restaurant items are served at different times: If you go to a restaurant with a friend or group, the meals and drinks come out at different times. Sometimes there is even a 20 minute time difference between when the first person gets their meal to when the last person gets their meal. I found this to be very annoying because I’ll generally wait for everyone to be served before starting to eat, so serving me first is a complete waste because my food will be cold before I even start eating. In Canada the restaurants generally time the meal delivery so that everyone is served at the same time.
4. Toilet Sprayers: here they have the normal squatter toilets (where there is no toilet, but instead a hole where you squat and do your business into) in addition to regular toilets. But I will not focus on squatter vs regular toilets, I want to focus on this special device they have all throughout Southeast Asia: a sprayer. This sprayer is located next to the toilet and it used to spray yourself instead of using toilet paper. I learned to love the sprayers and am thinking of having one installed in my bathroom in Toronto! Not only do you save paper, you feel much cleaner and fresher after.
5. Bargaining: There is no fixed price for most things, and you can bargain for almost everything. When you go to the markets the general rule is to offer the seller half of what they ask for, and then you work back and forth to find a price in the middle. The same goes for tuk-tuk or taxi rides, and even at hotels, resorts and guest houses (as long as you don’t book them and pay for them online before arriving – bargaining for accommodations only works if you walk in to the establishment and enquire about a room). It’s going to be a transition being at home having fixed prices for everything!
6. People are obsessed with having white skin. Generally people prefer and aspire to have very white skin, and try to stay away from tanning and the sun. If they are outside they will cover up all parts of their body (no matter how hot it is), to keep their skin white. It is perceived that if you have a tan it comes from having to work outside, which is viewed as being of lower class. While people who work in offices, and thus have whiter skin because they see little sunlight, are viewed as being higher class. I realize that this is a pretty big stereotype and generalization, but either way, whatever the rationale behind their thinking: they aspire to be as white as possible. To help them achieve their goals, a multitude of different products are sold that will help whiten your skin including face-masks and lotion.
7. Vietnamese have lack of awareness of others: This may sound like a harsh statement, and it is not meant to criticize the Vietnamese people, so let me explain. From what I noticed, everything seems to chaotic and un-orderly. They rarely wait in lines, so when you are at a store and you want to buy something, you must push your way in to the front. Everyone pushes and buds in front of each other, so forming a line is pointless as you will wait forever and not be served. Pushiness is the key to success.
In addition, their public actions are not censored for the benefit of others. For example you will frequently see people spitting and urinating on the street, and this is considered normal behaviour. I even saw a lady pull down her pants, squat on the sidewalk and deposit a large stool sample on the concrete. She wiped herself with a rock, pulled her pants back up and continued walking as if nothing had happened. No one around her even flinched.
8. People are Blunt and honest: Many people I encountered throughout Southeast Asia were very blunt and honest, almost to the point of being a bit inappropriate - at least to the standards I was used to. For example, I was at the market with someone from my Contiki group who was looking at buying a t-shirt for herself in a size large. The vendor saw her and immediately told her that she isn’t a large, she is an extra-large and pointed to the pile of XL shirts. The vendor didn’t speak with a rude tone, and she was merely trying to help, but she failed to realize that her statements were offensive and they caused her to immediately lose the sale as we moved on to another stall. I encountered many examples like this all throughout my travels (luckily I was never told that I was too large, but I did have a lady tell me that my eyebrows were in need of some grooming).
9. Tuk-Tuks: instead of taxi cars, tuk-tuks are very common throughout Southeast Asia. They come in different sizes, some that only fit 2 or 3 people, and others (made by modifying a pick-up truck) that can fit about 10 people. I learned that these tuk-tuks are not actually cheaper than taking a taxi, and the drivers are tricksters, so by the end of the trip I was trying to use real taxis instead of tuk-tuks.
What’s interesting about a tuk-tuk is that you don’t always get your own private tuk tuk. Drivers will try to fill their tuk-tuk up as full as possible and charge per person instead of per ride. People going to similar destinations will all share one tuk-tuk, each person will pay a few dollars, and the tuk-tuk drivers make a fortune on each ride, while the passengers squeeze uncomfortably in the back.
10. Questionable safety standards: I have a number of examples and instances where I noticed this. Firstly, most taxis do not have functioning seat belts and many places I visited people didn’t bother with them. Another example are the tuk-tuks, where if you do not hang on tight you could fall right out of the back. I frequently saw people standing outside on the end of the tuk-tuk, hanging on to the back, while the tuk-tuk driver would speed down the streets. One slip of the hand, or abrupt turn or stop by the driver would send those passengers flying off the tuk-tuk.
While in Vietnam I was very surprised to learn about the helmet regulations for motorbikes. All adults are required to wear helmets when riding a motorbike, but children are excluded from this rule, and are allowed to ride the motorbikes helmet-free. I found this to be very surprising, as I think it would be more important for children to wear helmets than adults! I also found it interesting that this rule is followed only because it is the law, not because people necessarily want to protect their heads. There are many stores around Ho Chi Minh City that sell “fashionable” helmets, which are basically hard baseball caps, which do not actually offer much protection for your head. Also, when you ride a bicycle you are not required to wear a helmet, even if you are riding on the street with all the motorbikes. When Mads rode a bicycle (before she bought a motorbike) she would wear a helmet, and the Vietnamese people would stop her and ask her why she was wearing one, and would inform her that helmets were not required on bicycles. They didn’t understand why she wanted to protect her head if she wasn’t required to.
This trip taught me so many things about Asia, but it also taught me a lot about myself and about my relationships with people. To say that every single moment of my trip was amazing would be a lie. I had some difficult times (both physically and emotionally) in Vietnam surrounding the incident of when I was very sick and was hospitalized. That was the hardest point in my trip, but I grew and learned from that incident, and I believe I ended up stronger and on top in the end.
When you travel with people you see the best and worst sides of them. I unfortunately saw the worst in a few people, and those experiences caused some hardships during my trip. But I also saw the best in some very special people, and those people and those experiences are the ones that matter and that helped make my trip incredible. I believe that traveling with someone it is a true test of character and it also accurately determines the strength of your relationship. There are a few people I developed close relationships with during my trip, including Mads. My time with Mads made me realize the value of true friendship, and how special our relationship is. She has been my best friend since I was 12, and even though we have both grown and changed since we met, we are still as close as ever. I was amazed that we could spend every moment of every day together for over 5 weeks and not get sick of each other. I will miss her tremendously now that we are apart, but I am so grateful we had the chance to take this trip together.
Traveling is a learning experience, and is not meant to be amazing 100% of the time. There are always ups and downs, but as a whole, my trip was completely incredible, amazing, and unforgettable. I feel so lucky to have been able to experience all that I have these past 10 weeks, and it was an experience I will never forget.
Thank you to everyone who followed my blog and who supported me through my travels. Your support and well wishes through my trip were greatly appreciated.
