Reverse Culture Shock

Bangkok, the Melbourne of South East Asia. At least that what is seemed like after my third visit there. The place is bursting with cultural and artistic expression. Hedges cut out in the shapes of animals on the median strips of major roads, strange looking buildings and people from all over the world sitting in cafes and shopping in markets are just a few of the things that reminded me of being back home in Melbourne. Oh yeah, they even have pretty pink taxis, not even Melbourne has that! But what surprised me most was the reverse culture shock of being in a different place to the Philippines. I stepped of the plane and into a taxi and Tagalog just slipped out as I started talking to the driver. My brain told me I was still in Asia and mouth interpreted that as the go ahead for speaking Tagalog. When I arrived at the hotel and settled in I went to market and the same thing happened. I wanted to barter in Tagalog. Thankfully I had managed to decipher the code which had caused the miscommunication and misinterpretation between my brain and mouth by this time so I just thought Tagalog instead of speaking it. But then I faced another problem, they drove on the right, sorry left hand side of the road (which happens to be the right or correct side anyway). I stepped out onto the road to cross and found myself looking in the wrong direction for oncoming traffic. Thankfully the traffic wasn’t so bad and the thought of being road kill quickly snapped my brain back into looking the right way. And this happened after only 6 months in the Philippines. Imagine the shock I’ll experience after 4 years!