What's the most specifically exotic/foreign place you've ever been? (I.e. culture shock)

[Tommy_Carcetti]

And if I can expand, I'm asking beyond simply a foreign country or a city. Because most airports are pretty much the same worldwide, and you can find a McDonalds just about anywhere, so....


What I'm really asking for is a specific place where you just felt so far removed from your regular American/Western style of life. Some place where there is just a distinct culture shock to it all...some place where it simply is unlike anything you've ever seen before or are accustomed to.

For me, I would probably say it would be the Pechersk Lavra Monastery in Kyiv, Ukraine. Beyond just the Byzantine style architecture which is typical throughout Eastern Europe, it really did seem unworldly to me. First, they are very picky about the dress code if you want to go inside--men must wear long pants and women should wear scarves.

Then when we were touring the grounds, I saw out of the corner of my eye a female occupant of the grounds--not sure of her specific religious role--wearing this plain religious garb and carrying a sage branch and she was actually shaking the sage branch at the ground, as if to sanctify it. And I've seen that in the movies and TV, but I've never actually seen that in real life.

But the most exotic part of it all was actually the "caves". Which are technically catacombs. Narrow tunnels containing the graves of old monks and priests. And when they were describing it before we went in, I was operating under the assumption that it was like a mausoleum, where the caskets were entombed behind the walls. I've seen catacombs like those before.

I was not expecting what I actually saw, however, which were glass coffins containing the mummified remains of the monks, simply wrapped up in blankets. All out in the open for everyone to see. I did not take any pictures but this is what it looks like:



It was rather eerie but also very cool all in the same. But definitely by far the most foreign experience of anything I've encountered in my entire life.

[Lochloosa]

1. Alabama

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. LOL, beat me to it!

[True Dough]

2. I'm not supposed to speak of it

[guillaumeb]

4. Were you one of the ones in green?

[True Dough]

5. Hey, it was a good paying gig

No shame!

[wryter2000]

6. Galapagos

One morning four of us plus a naturalist were the only people on an island, and we swam with a sea lion pup, a pelican, a penguin, and oodles of fish that darted all around us.

[Aristus]

7. Saudi Arabia.

During the Gulf War in 1991. I didn't get to see much of the country other than desert. We were too busy training for the ground war (which ended before our training mission did, as it turned out)

Near King Khalid Military City, there was this beautiful jade-green mosque. Absolutely lovely.

When we were far out in the desert on our tanks, we passed a tiny village. The local mosque looked like it was constructed out of tin siding. That was a telescoped course in Islamic architecture for the rich and for the poor.

[Cracklin Charlie]

8. Does Florida count?

[fierywoman]

9. Guanajuato, Mexico during the Day of the Dead.

And then I walked into our hotel lobby to see a couple dozen soldiers cradling sub-machine guns. (I was playing in the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra, we were on tour, and the First Lady of Mexico, Sra Lopez-Portillo -- the founder of the orch, known among us as La Reina de la Noche -- was staying in our hotel.) My Nicaraguan colleague, who'd gone to Indiana University, looked at my shock and said, "Ai, gringa, the third world..."

[Cousin Dupree]

10. Ave Maria, Fla.

[llmart]

18. Good one!

I agree, though years ago I visited Jim and Tammy Baaker's PTL in South Carolina and was creeped out. We used to refer to PTL as standing for "Praise the Loot".

[MarvinGardens]

11. The Conch Republic

aka Key West, FL. This was in the early 2000s.

I hate to admit that I still have not traveled off the North American continent, so I am being serious with this post.

We could legally walk around with Solo cups full of beer, all over the city. Public nudity seemed to be tolerated to some degree on the street, and in some bars. It was very gay friendly, which wasn't seen in as many places then. The sunset watch gathering at Mallory Square every evening was rather unique, coming to a climax of cheering as the last sliver of the sun dipped below the horizon. It's also a tropical climate where it almost never gets cold, with no recorded freezing temperatures. Hemingway's house is still there and open for tours. The drive down from the mainland was also very beautiful. It's like a Carribean island you can drive to.

With all that, it was a very laid back atmosphere, rather than a "Woo! Party! Spring Break!" mentality one might encounter in other beach cities. Casual dress was allowed and welcomed even in the nice restaurants. My first visit was in my late 20s, and we seemed on the younger side for the crowd. It seemed to be more an older crowd, 30s-50s ish.

I don't know if it's still like that or not. Some of the attributes I listed would not seem as exotic in the US now, as they did then. Maybe it was a time & place thing.

[greatauntoftriplets]

12. China.

In 1982, there were no McDonald's there.

[Sneederbunk]

13. Havana

[Floyd R. Turbo]

14. A Raiders game!

[ProudLib72]

15. Saudi Arabia

But I got used to it after two years.

[sinkingfeeling]

16. I've been to the Pechersk Lavra Monastery. Was there last year and had to

take a dress to visit there. The women's room had no toilets, just a hole.

Most removed place for me was probably Easter Island (Rapa Nui) or Anartica.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

17. Oh yeah, I totally forgot the "toilet".

That was culture shock in and of itself.

[hunter]

19. Exotic? The affluent white U.S.A. hometown I fled more than forty years ago.

It's even worse now.

Holy Nightmare, Batman! if that's the American Dream I want nothing of it.

My parents are artists who were only living in the place because that's where they worked. When my dad retired they left. All my siblings left. I don't have any family there.

We also spent some time as kids in exotic places, here in the U.S.A., Europe, and Mexico on my parents very limited budget, sleeping rough at times. (My parent's called it "camping." It wasn't like the camping my schoolmates described.)

What is the "regular American/Western style of life?"

I currently live in a place where 40% of the community doesn't speak English at home. I've lived most of my life in such places.

The sooner we abandon this idea that the U.S.A. is some kind of melting pot, and begin to celebrate our diversity, the better off we will be.

From where I'm sitting now I can walk a few minutes to exotic places that would terrify the "regular" people who attend Trump rallies.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

20. Moscow and Leningrad in 1976.

March that year, and they were having the coldest winter in living memory.

I was with an group of airline employees (an interline tour) and was utterly fascinated by everything I saw. I even slipped away from the Intourist guides one morning and rode the subway system, just me and a friend also on the tour. We stood out, as we were so obviously American and wandering around on our own.

[Coventina]

21. Angkor Thom, Cambodia

It was just after dawn, and there was a wispy fog as we approached the huge gates of the ancient city in the jungle.

I and my husband were on foot, but next to us strode an elephant with tourists aboard.
Even though it was walking slowly, it gradually pulled ahead of us, due to the length of its stride compared to ours.

I let my fingertips brush its skin along its side as it passed me by, on into the mist.

I felt deeply sorry that the elephant was enslaved like it was, such a noble creature to be reduced to being a taxi for entitled tourists.

But, it was an encounter with a bittersweet beauty.

I'll never forget those moments.

[smirkymonkey]

22. Szentendre, Hungary.

Back when I was doing a semester abroad in college in the mid 80's in Vienna, Austria. We took a weekend trip to Budapest, which was very interesting, but still just emerging from the Communist era and hadn't quite become westernized yet.

However we took a day trip to Szentendre, just outside of Budapest. It is a multi-ethnic artists colony originally settled back in the 9th century. Although it is very touristy in the present day, at that time, it was not yet so popular and still retained its old world charm.

I was walking around by myself in the afternoon, as I like to just explore the streets and see whatever I happen to fall upon. I reached a perch on the hillside in the town and looked around and there was not one single thing in sight that would indicate that I was in the modern world. Everything seemed so old-fashioned or even primitive and I felt this almost preternatural sense of peace come over me. I didn't want to leave. I felt like I had gone back over 100 years in time.

I had to meet the rest of my student group so I didn't have a lot of time to spend in my new favorite place, but I felt almost rooted to that spot and have always vowed to go back there. It was almost like I had been there before. It was the strangest feeling. I had never felt so grounded in my life.

Anyway, that was the most exotic place I have been simply due to feeling like I was completely removed from the modern world.

[DFW]

23. I was there in 1982, I remember the impression. n/t

[smirkymonkey]

29. There was just something very mystical about the town, and the entire nation.

I can't describe it, but it made me want to see more of Hungary.

Unfortunately, I am not a fan of the government, but the culture and the land are beautiful and so compelling. I hope they reject Viktor Orban soon and take their country back. Like us in the US, not all of them are right wing fascists. We can't dismiss all of them.

[DFW]

39. The last time we were there was 2012.

The town has gotten touristy in the meantime, but is still very charming. Even now, few people there speak anything other than Magyarul (Hungarian), which I do not speak at all, and it resembles nothing else.

[DFW]

24. Japan, 1980

I have been to many places that were TECHNOLOGICALLY far less advanced, but CULTURALLY, I never felt as foreign as I did on my first visit to Japan. The rules for EVERYTHING were completely different there.

[Wolf Frankula]

25. Aleppo, Syria

Tarsus, Turkey and Essaouira, Morocco.

Wolf

[gopiscrap]

26. the small village of Sen'afe Eritrea last December

[at140]

27. When I saw Tajmahal in Agra, India

The entire tomb is made of finest marble anywhere, the fitting between each stone is incredibly thin and accurate. History says it took 22 years to build this tomb built by the emperor for his wife who died prematurely.

[Thunderbeast]

28. Marangu, Tanzania

Southern slope of Kilimanjaro.

[stevil]

30. Tioman Island, Malaysia.

I'm a shitty writer so here is some train of thought.

In Singapore on business.
Had to go to Malaysia on a day off to leave and return, get passport stamped.
Originally just a day trip to drink a beer and head back.
Fellows I was traveling with wanted to go to the beach.
Beach was in an island three hours drive from Singapore and a two hour boat ride when we reached the coast.
Tioman Island.
Later learned they shot the film "South Pacific" there.
Got off the boat and walked to our hotel.
No cars.
Chickens.
Monkeys.
Solo cabin 100 feet from the beach. Bucket list.
Crystal clear water. Bucket list!!!!
Snorkling over coral. Amazing.
Beach Sunset.
Went to a neighboring hotel for dinner. Made friends with a small cat. Ate and drank for hours.
Neighboring hotel was so happy we tipped like crazy people (50%) had limo service for the evening.
Went to the tourist trap hotel to party.
Made friends with the band from the Philippines.
Travel mate got up and did a song with them.
Got a free ride back to the hotel.
Woke up to beach view.
Was going to be late back to work in Singapore because trip back would take eight hours.
Flights back to Singapore were booked.
Stopped by the airport to see if there was any room.
They kicked off a surly traveler and we were in.
An hour late for work with the bosses blessing.

[sprinkleeninow]

31. Whoa, an Orthodox monastery!

Was def not expecting that. ☺ I think I love you...😍

Mine was France. Paris and then countryside. We also visited England, but that can't qualify. 😊

[Behind the Aegis]

32. Standing in the guard tower of the receiving station at Birkenau

We were allowed up into the control room, allowing us a complete view over the entire camp.

[stevil]

34. How did you feel?

I flew into Berlin and was feeling uneasy during the landing. The city was great and I had a really good time there but just landing there was uneasy for me.

[Behind the Aegis]

42. It was surreal.

I could see the entire camp, including the intake areas.

I loved Berlin. When we were planning our trip, based on a conference my brother was attending, there was discussion about going a week before or after the conference. We were planning on going to Auschwitz. My brother was also planning on using the train as transportation. So, I convinced him, taking a train from Krakow, Poland (just outside of Auschwitz) to Berlin would be much more preferable than 4 Jews (our family) taking a train from Berlin to Auschwitz.

[stevil]

45. Yeah.

Landing in Berlin filled me with a sense of dread. But the city calmed me. I went to a concert at a tiny music hall (Radiohead) and on the way we passed the Olympiastadion. All I could think of was Jesse Owens.

[forgotmylogin]

33. A large international grocery store.

I was going to say England, though just because things were just different enough to feel a little off. Water closets?

The international grocery store was like being in a Walmart on an alien planet with completely unfamiliar vegetables and grocery items, but it was fascinating. There's was actually a sign that directed you to "Animal blood products".

I admit I've rarely traveled outside the US.

[procon]

35. New Mexico - Native American 'towns'.

The abject poverty and despair was crushing. No electricity, no running water. Ramshackle sheds that wouldn't even be suitable as chicken coops were what families lived in, patched together old trailers and campers, buses, even mud and stick shelters dotted dirt roads. Abandoned cars were everywhere, livestock wandered about in search of food.

It could have been a diorama from the Great Depression era, and certainly the people existed without hope. They were resigned, their lot in life would never change, but they were the gentlest, kindest folk I have ever met.

[doc03]

36. The Villages in Florida. I drive through this little

dirt poor town of mostly immigrant workers on the way. I have to check at the gate to enter the Villages and I see people sitting in their Florida rooms with a cold drink watching the imigrants mowing their lawns and working on their landscaping. I suppose they are talking about voting for Trump to build his wall.

[Hotler]

37. Juarez Mexico, 1971, 16-yrs old, unsupervised period during a class trip.

I feel in love with my first older women that trip. She left a yellow rose in a long neck bottle on the table beside my bed. With a short little note saying I had a good time, it was written in lipstick red. Just like smoke through the keyhole.....

[Skittles]

38. Sicily

the wild beauty was amazing

[appalachiablue]

40. Parts of Peru, Kauai, and sections of NYC

[LibDemAlways]

41. A two day tour of St. Petersburg, Russia, off of a cruise ship.

The customs officials at the dock were openly hostile. The bus driver was hung over and hit another vehicle within a few minutes of the start of the tour. A policeman pulled up, determined there were no injuries, and waved us on. No information was exchanged. The man's driving never improved and made me uncomfortable. I don't like being a passenger in a vehicle with an unsafe driver. At the Church of the Spilled Blood, my daughter and I were followed around by a very stern woman who scolded us for not having a sticker on our cameras which allowed us to take photos. We had the stickers. She just didn't see them. The historical sites were fascinating, and I'd go again. But, the entire experience felt unfriendly and off.

[a la izquierda]

43. Samaipata, Bolivia

In the middle of the Bolivian cordillera. It was my first time in South America. I can’t put my finger on what was so different, but it was an unreal experience.

[jpak]

44. Athens GA 1977 coming from Maine