Month 4. We’re traveling on a bus to Cambodia today, our last country in Asia. As I see images and people pass me by, I realize how normal abnormality has become. This is my first time traveling out of the country, and so quickly, mental pictures that shocked me in the beginning have become so normal now.
It’s normal to see motos with 4 people on them. They love motos here and nearly everyone has one. Sometimes a whole family sits snuggly right on one together. Even dogs will sit on them, paws up on the steering wheel ready to go. Or see large bags of really anything hanging off them. Long poles or pieces of bamboo tied down, riding down the road.
It’s normal for traffic to make no sense but somehow make sense. Traffic in Asia is so very different. They’ll cross lanes and drive straight into oncoming traffic. There isnt always always two sides of the road. Just pick wherever your heart desires to drive.
They use their horn. A lot. SO MUCH. Beep beep beep at everyone they see. Pedestrians, other motos, dogs. Everything that could maybe be in their way. And you cross the street at your own risk. Even with a 20 moto traffic jam. Find the opening and commit. There’s no time for hesitation or to be scared.
It’s normal to see cows everywhere. Cows and cows and water buffalo. To see these large buffalos wading in the water, just their snout and antlers raised above for breathing room. To see beautiful white cranes resting next to these large animals, sometimes even on their backs.
It’s normal to see tuk tuks. They’re these little carriage like cars that’ll drive you around. Cinderellas carriage taxi. But much less bright and shiny, and the men driving you are Asian, barely speak English, and often you’re not sure if you’re going the right direction. Normally they’ll seat 4 people, but if needed they’ll stick 8 in there.
It’s normal for people to take pictures of you or with you. All. The. Time. So much so that you start posing when you catch them sneaking a photo as you walk. It’s normal to be stared at everywhere you go and not be offended or concerned. And when 60 of us travel together, our large packs and guitars and white skin. Drawing attention absolutely everywhere we go and no longer being phased by it.
It’s normal for people to pester you as you walk the street, to stores, through the market. “Hello one for you! I have big size! Happy hour yes!!!” To have people look at you as an ATM because you’re white and overcharge you double or triple what they’d normally sell it. And it’s normal to bargain with them, to walk away a few times and pretend uninterested just to get them to lower the price. To play their game with them and remember they’re typically being sweet because they want your money.
It’s normal to hear random music often. Random Asian music at 10PM, 2AM, 4AM, all night really, because there’s a wedding and they’ve been partying for two days. I guess they don’t get tired. I’m not even sure why or how, but I’ve been told it’s a wedding and, now it’s normal.
It’s normal to not understand any of your day. The culture, the language, the people. To watch as men hold hands because it’s in their culture. For men strictly to be friends with men, and women to be friends with women.
To go to a church service and not understand a word because it’s in Vietnamese. And you watch as they do their “special numbers” and skits you think you’re following.
To watch the children be rough and hit one another because their culture is more rough than what we are accustomed to. To watch people kick or hit dogs, and to swallow the lump in your throat. To hold back your judgement and anger because their culture is just different, not necessarily wrong.
It’s normal to pay for water everywhere you go, because clean water is a blessing and a privilege, not something you just drink at convenience. No more going out to eat and saying “I’ll just have a water.” Expecting it to be free. It’s normal to see bones in almost all the meat you eat. Yay! And to often not know what you’re eating. It’s normal not to be picky or choosey, and to eat what’s in front of you.
It’s normal not to see soap in most places. To stop at the bus station and see only water in the stalls and at the sink. To know that they use water to clean themselves and not always soap. To use a squatty potty, a little hole in the ground and not flush the toilet.
All of this is my new normal. I no longer question these things or wonder why they do them. I just accept the culture as it is, accept the people as they are. So I watch families ride on motos, cross the street when I’m not sure I’ll live, watch the buffalos wade in the water, hold my tongue when needed, and accept all of it for what it is.
This world isn’t just ours. It isn’t just our comfortable little America. It’s much more. And when you experience it, I pray that you accept it just as freely too.
