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Things That Shocked Me About Asia
I have been living outside of the United States for almost two years now, specifically in Taiwan. During this time, I had the opportunity to visit several nations on this side of the world. Even though I have never experienced any major culture shock moments to the point of a meltdown in my adult life (the first and last time happened, I was 8 years old), there are definitely things here that surprised me.
Asia is a massive continent. There are 47 countries that consist of regions that are clearly culturally, ethnically and geographically different. Even though there are certain things that remain constant, it’s hard to generalize an entire continent, especially one that large. The following will be based on my experiences primarily in(but not limited to) East and Southeast Asian countries since I’ve traveled around these regions the most.
#1 The Paparrazi Treatment
Asian countries are mostly homogenous, so unless they’ve left the continent, many have probably never seen a black person (of Afro-descent). The same could be said about white people too (excluding certain regions of Asia), but not with the same level of shock in my opinion.
Many people are quite curious about foreigners. I can recall when I was in Hong Kong, where I experienced Mainland Chinese tourists who would literally line…
