This post is just for you to have a few laughs, and for us to share some interesting habits we have observed here, and not forget some great (or not so) moments! In no way do we mean to undermine any of the cultures or countries in question, and for this reason also do not mention which in particular, unless it is something that cannot be possibly interpreted as an offense. There are simply habits and customs that not all cultures share in common, and for us have been quite shocking and/or unpleasant. However, we are sure there are plenty of things to say about our culture as well! To each his own.

So, here goes:

1. It seems to be quite normal to give your friend a helping hand by removing lice from their scalp. By quite normal, we mean that we have seen this in many occasions and they do not try to be discrete or hide it at all. For instance, amongst the “waiters” at the restaurant you are eating at, when they are waiting for some form of transportation to pick them up, or just simply in front of their front door… It’s always a pleasant site to see!

2. In certain countries here, the floor is the temporary garbage. By this, we mean that inside a restaurant (not all the restaurants of course) you will find the floor filled with paper napkins, chicken bones, soda cans, etc… And by temporary we mean that they accumulate throughout a few hours all the garbage there, and then sweep it away. Yes, they are in fact a very clean culture always sweeping their house daily etc, but they have no problem filling the ground with garbage during a few hours before cleaning it up… Always a hygienic feel when sitting down to eat, you know?

3. Have you ever had something in your throat that itches and that needs to be removed? Well, in this country it seems they constantly have something stuck in their throat, especially while eating. To relieve such “pain” they decide to make us all part of it. A loud noise of them hucking something up from deep down inside, sometimes followed by an extremely charming spit on the ground… And voila! How nice, free background music…

4. Have you ever had something stuck in your teeth, and no toothpick… Well, it seems the same charming throat clearers from above often do! And to remove this item is again some beautiful music. A loud squeaking noise coming from lips being pushed together and saliva being squeezed through teeth.. How tender and sweet!

5. As already described in a previous post (ups & downs), the concept of space is not well respected. However, this also applies to waiting in line. You can be politely waiting in line for your turn, for instance to go to the toilet, be attended at the post office, order food at a food stall, etc., and there comes a local, sees you, however goes right in front of you and cuts you. They may or may not even look at you, however you can be certain they will go into the first free stall, or go straight to the counter in the post office, and you, well you keep waiting! Argh!

The following is more a story rather than a habit…

6. So far this has not been the norm at all, but has happened on a few occasions. Eating dinner, enjoying local flavors in a simple atmosphere surrounded by only locals. And next to you is a sweet little cat (with its tail chopped off as is the standard in SE Asia) playing with a huge, juicy cockroach. It flips the poor guy over, pushes it, and slowly the disgusting little creature makes its way closer to your feet… And then, in the not far distance, some friendly rats speed by… Ooo how much we enjoyed that meal amongst the wildlife! As you may imagine this occurred at the same type of restaurant that has the “spotless” floor described in number 2 above.

To clarify any myths and stories you may have heard…

7. Yes, they do eat dog meat, cat meat, as well as rat meat. However, only on very special occasions as it is a delicatessen, and very expensive to buy. Also, the rat’s they eat are wild rats, not the gross city rats. That means they have fed on wildlife and fresh organic greens, probably even gluten-free, and not on a garbage bin! So the likelihood of serving us foreigners one of these expensive and special delicatessens without us having ordered and paid for such, is not very high!

And this last one is more of an observation..

8. In all of the countries we have visited so far, usually the store owners are very superstitious. If you are the first customer in their store of the day, they will be more easy to negotiate because they want you to absolutely buy. It brings them very good luck if you buy, and terrible luck if you don’t. In fact, you must be careful because they get extremely offended, put on extremely angry faces, say some bad things in a language you can’t understand, and finally you end up feeling terrible for not buying anything. So better only negotiate if you are sure you will buy… But 100%, because they almost make you feel as if now you have bad luck too if you walk away! Also, in Laos, often when you buy something in their store, they after take the money you gave them and bless all other articles in the store by going around and tapping the items with those bills… Quite interesting!