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Karen Slawner is originally from
Montreal but lives in Toledo, Ohio. She currently teaches political science
at the University of Toledo and will stay in academia at least until she
can find a grant to spend a year living somewhere exotic and exciting.
Karen writes...
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Always carry toilet
paper...
 Always
carry toilet paper. That was the best advice I received before leaving
on a five month trip to Australia and Southeast Asia. As with all
important lessons, I was destined to find out the hard way.
Westerners in Asia learn quickly
that stomach disorders can strike without warning. One can be sitting
with a group of people, when suddenly a panicked expression will
cross a person's face and she will run from the table.
Popular myth, fostered by
Hollywood no doubt, suggests that the police and the Mafia always
determine the exits from a room before they sit down. While in Asia,
I developed the habit of determining the location of the toilet
before I made myself comfortable. And since the use of toilet paper
is a Western custom (Southeast Asians use water), I always carried
my own.
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I was in a panic...
The site of
my hard-learned lesson was Lake Toba, in northern Sumatra, in
Indonesia. My friend and I were staying on Samosir Island in a
village called Tuk Tuk. The island was beautiful. At that time,
there was no electricity, the accommodations were spartan, the
food delicious  and
the tourists tended toward the bohemian.
Once a week
a boat circumnavigated the island, picking up tourists from the
various villages and bringing them to a spot famous for its hot
springs. The island was not very big, and it shouldn't have taken
too long to get to the springs, but the captain circled the island
several extra times in an attempt to
collect more paying passengers. He had a bullhorn, through which
he repeatedly called, "Hot springs, hot springs, boat
to hot springs."
Suddenly, I
realized that we were not going to make it to the springs in time
for me to take care of an urgent bodily need. Fortunately, there
was a toilet on board, or rather a small cubicle with a hole leading
toward the hull. However, to my consternation, I discovered that
for the first time I was not carrying toilet paper. And, the cubicle
did not even have the customary bucket of water and ladle. I rummaged
through my bag in a panic. The only serviceable item I found was
my English-Indonesian dictionary. I made a quick decision-I was
unlikely to need the words beginning with X, Y, or Z-and ripped
those pages out of the book. Problem solved!
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Lessons Karen learned along the
way...
- Be patient. In Indonesian
there is an expresion "jam keret," which translates as "rubber
time." Western expectations of punctuality don't apply. Busses
leave the station when they are full, not according to a schedule.
A full bus has people sitting three or four in two seats, and
more in the aisles.
- Be patient. Business transactions
have a more sociable aspect than in the West. Before a hotel manager
will discuss room rates or even availability, he will want to
chat, ask you where you come from and how many people there are
in your family.
- Many, many people will
ask you where you come from and how many people there are in your
family. They will also want to know where you are going. Remember
that a woman travelling unaccompanied by a man is unusual in their
culture. I never experienced any sexual harassment, but was always
subjected to people's curiosity. That curiosity is usually genuine
and utterly lacking in hostility. In spite of the absence of overt
harassment, we must remember that these are conservative cultures.
Immodest dress is considered offensive.
- Don't use your left hand
for handling food in public. The left hand is only for use with
the bucket and ladle found in rest rooms. It is considered extremely
rude even to hand something to someone using your left hand. Familiarizing
yourself with as many of the cultural taboos as possible will
make your visit more enjoyable.
- Be open to the possibility
of exciting experiences from unlikely sources. On several occasions
I asked people for directions and ended up being welcomed into
their homes and shown places I would have not seen otherwise.
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More...
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