People Were Asked About Things That Shocked Them In Foreign Countries. This Is What They Said

The Reddit community has always delivered anytime someone has posted interesting questions. In a recent thread, one Redditor posted the question - What was something that shocked you when you visited a foreign country?

The moment this was dropped, Redditors emerged in packs with their interesting tales. Since this author spends most of his waking hours lurking on Reddit, he decided to compile some of the most interesting answers and present them to the ScoopWhoop readers.

Mind you, not all of these are hardcore facts, but merely individual opinions based on personal experiences.

"I lived in Japan for a year. The satellite radio at my school had a channel called "Rokki" that played the Rocky theme song on a loop 24:7." - Thompson_S_Sweetback

"They also have two channels called "Alibi". One is an endless loop of the noise of passing cars and pedestrian chatter, and the other is the din of a pachinko gambling parlor. They are intended to be used as background noise when you call your wife and lie about where you are." - the2belo

"Trains in India. Furious fighting, shoving, scratching, and clawing to get on, then for the rest of the eight hour journey scrupulous "I'm so sorry I brushed your foot with mine" politeness." - tumblingnebulas

"I got laughed at by a taxi driver in Romania for putting my seat-belt on." - AndTheSexyStud

"Refillable fountain drinks in the US. As someone who drinks a lot, I was really pleasantly surprised. Plus some even serve water at the dispenser, which I really appreciate." - CervezaPorFavor

"YES! went to a mcdonalds and wondered why the cashier didn't ask why want I want to drink and instead ask what size of cup I want. Almost lost my mind when I saw the fountain drink dispenser, those shit are like myths here in my country." - jootsie

"How empty and untouched New Zealand is." - LindenZin

"How much Indian food there was in London." - thehonestyfish

"Not just London. Practically every high street in the UK has at least one. That's the great thing about having an empire. When your food is shit, just go out and acquire other people's." - gupa

"Hanoi, Vietnam: Sweet-looking old woman (looks like late 80s, but was probably younger) shuffles up to a street corner where we're waiting to cross the street. She leans her back against a sturdy tree right next to us, looks me directly in the eye and while maintaining eye contact lifts up her dress and starts to take a massive shit against the base of the tree. Even cracks a little smile mid-process." - pbspry

"From India to New Zealand as a child made me feel like I was in heaven. I never knew a place could be so green and clean. In India I never even knew what grass was (I was 7 when I moved)." - The_Fassbender

"How small all of the fruit was in England. One apple in the US is like two UK apples. I went through a lot of apples." - Bmoreisapunkrocktown

"How cheap everything was in Portugal. Literally, I got a bottle of white wine in a grocery store for only 1.19 euros." - b_pacman1996

"An acquaintance of mine is a blonde white young woman who spent a few months down in Ghana. She got proposed to on a daily/weekly basis by random strangers." - JanV34

"Not sure if we have the same friend but a friend of mine had the same experience. Started with the cab driver from the airport and ended with the cab driver to the airport." - escalat0r

"Shocked, and also loving, the complete lack of responsible service of alcohol laws in Bali. Get a bit drunk in a pub in Australia and you risk being cut off. In Bali they will serve you while you're lying on the floor vomiting, as long as you keep paying." - grindinaway

"How truly polite the Japanese are. And how unbelievably clean the cities of Japan are." - Lady_Blue_Dream

"When I visited Tokyo it was SO clean when compared to other capital and large cities I had visited (London, Paris, Manhattan). It also felt incredibly safe, I saw Japanese people just leaving their wallets, phones, bags, etc alone at their tables when they visited the toilet. You'd never dream of doing that in the UK." - ChanSungJung

"Spotted a Ferris Wheel & Resort surrounding a reservoir in Afghanistan. Wasn't prepared for that at all." - arrogantt

"When I visited Hollywood, I couldn't believe how disgustingly dirty it was, and how unsafe I felt! It may just have been that I was unlucky enough to experience a couple of crazy incidents in my first two nights, but it definitely wasn't all the glitz and glamour that I was expecting." - Zeeaaa

"Ten year old children drinking vodka on a bench in St. Petersburg, Russia. This was in about 1994, when the country was in chaos, but still." - ThumpMunk

"Swedish babies are hardcore. And people are awesomely chill and friendly. In mid-January, it was knee-deep snow everywhere, yet in Stockholm it was pretty common to see parents enjoying a drink at a cafe, with a queue of prams outside in the snow.

The babies are wrapped up heavily yes, but they are fully comfortable leaving them outside like that. No fears over child-thievery, or worries about the cold. These kids are brought up to be metal right from the word go. It's awesome.

I imagine if you tried that in the UK (or especially US) there'd be hysteria and child services would relieve you of your parenting." - Lyra_Belacqua

"How many US flags were everywhere. Just looking down a street you'd lose track after counting a dozen or so. The sheer huge size of everything too in the U.S and the cheap cost of junk food." - Maccas75

"How beautiful Greece was.

Western media doesn't paint it in a particularly positive light; refugee crisis, economic crisis, etc. We went only a few months ago, and it was a beautiful place filled with beautiful people." - joeypeapots

"Paris is a fucking shithole." - Leftys-Wheelchair

"The first time on the metro, a guy tried to steal my friends phone. There were kids at the trainstation outside disneyland being chased away by a police dog because there were stealing on that train.

When you got close to the middle of the city there was a guy selling tower trinkets at every corner.

There was a true and awful smell of piss in the tunnels between trains.

I tried to embrace the culture and spoke French while ordering food at a McD's. I got something wrong in it, the lady scoffed and me and she started a conversation with the lady to my right. You could feel the looks they were giving. As if they were better than me because I couldn't speak their language, instead of appreciating the thought.

I just wasn't a fan." - Leftys-Wheelchair

"Germany, how dare you charge for ketchup?" - jillybrews

"When Americans boast about freedom, this is what they mean!" - rightfulemperor

"Sheep being transported on motorbikes in Morocco." - doctorish

"People seem to drink beer all the time in the Czech Republic. Our local guide said that sometimes workers will have a few beers for lunch and then go back to work, calling it "liquid bread" or something like that." - remix951

"Haha seriously. My brother worked there for about a year, everyone drank at lunch. The cafeteria had beer on tap. This was at a nuclear power plant." - 75pellets_of_Mesclun

"UK - How hot it is in the tube. Every pub has a different beer, it's amazing. But a little pricey sometimes." - Salmonaxe

"I was in Koln, Germany, it was about midnight, and I was just sitting in the Rudolfplatz (like a courtyard square with stores and restaurants and benches) and watching young people out and about. There was a young man sitting on the sidewalk, drawing with chalk on the concrete. A police car was just patrolling through, as cops are supposed to do. This young man was blocking their way, and he didn't move for them. He didn't even really look at them - he just kept drawing. The cop car sat there for a second, then reversed, found another way around him, and went about their business. I was goddamned dumbfounded. That would NOT happen in the U.S. The cops would have barked the siren at him, shined 
lights on him, honked at him, gotten out, harassed him, demanded ID, gone through his stuff, and probably arrested him for some horseshit reason just to show him who's boss.
Seeing those German cops just keep on patrolling to ensure the safety of everyone, rather than detain and harass him despite seeing that he's not causing anyone any trouble really stuck with me, more than almost anything else I experienced on that trip."