One of my Squad Leaders posted ‘29 Dead Giveaways That You’re in Southeast Asia,‘ and I thought she was pretty accurate so I decided to share what she wrote.
“Well, we fly to Central America in 10 days [now only 7]. Y’all, I feel like we just got here. Time is FLYING.
With that being said, let’s take some time to reflect on some dead giveaways of living in Southeast Asia. Enjoy!
1. You eat some type of rice or noodles at almost every single meal.
2. Your only form of transportation for a month is sitting in a carriage type contraption pulled by a moto; aka a tuk tuk.
3. You happen upon the closest thing to Tex Mex and your month is made.
4. You learn how to kindly say no a million times a day, because everyone wants you to buy their stuff.
5. You pay $2 for a pair of pants that then rip later the same day.
6. There is bidet in every single bathroom you enter. Still don’t understand those things…
7. You get to experience Starbucks, McDonald’s, Subway, and even Chili’s again for the first time in months.
8. You sweat like no other continent because of the humidity (other than Texas, of course).
9. You come across coffee shops every couple blocks.
10. You see some of the darkest places that unfortunately foster sex trafficking.
11. You forget for a hot second that you’re actually in Asia, not America.
12. You use as squaty potty every now and then.
13. You ride in a train for 30+ hours to get to another country.
14. You eat naan for a dollar every other night across the street.
15. You spend your budget on coffee to get good WiFi, to realize you wasted it cause the WiFi is actually horrible. But ya already bought the coffee soooo…
16. You always have to take off your shoes when you go inside.
17. You accidentally offend someone by using your feet to point, hold a door open, and many other things that you don’t realize you do with your feet until it’s considered offensive (feet are considered the most unclean part of the body).
18. You have a shoilet (shower/toilet-aka no shower curtains) everywhere you stay.
19. You look homeless because everyone actually dresses up.
20. You spend $7 to withdrawal money from an ATM. The worst.
21. You come across the strangest smells while walking through the city.
22. You sleep on beds that are hard as a rock.
23. You rejoice that there is AC in your room, and wonder how you ever lived without it the previous month.
24. You sing and dance with kids for an hour without a translator.
25. You end up on an island off the mainland and ask yourself, What is life right now?
26. You become best friends the Grab app.
27. You see motos more than vehicles.
28. You throw your toilet paper in the trash instead of the toilet.
29. You meet the cutest orphans that you’ll never forget.
Asia, we’ll sure miss you.”
For more of her blogs, check out LindseyKappler.theworldrace.org =)
Next stop….Nicaragua!
