Jessica's Travelogue

Recently, I went on my first trip to southeast Asia.

I packed up my bags, forgot my current worries and struggles, and took at 16 day trip to Thailand.

It was a great experience and I really enjoyed my time there.

But, as soon as I arrived back in South Korea, I realized that I was experiencing a lot of reverse culture shocks. I never thought that I would experience reverse culture shock after such a short stay in another country but, yet here I was, experiencing reverse culture shock. I will be returning back to the USA in a couple of weeks so I am really curious what culture shocks I will experience after being away for 3 years. Will I be able to readjust back to life in the US?

Without further ado, here are the 10 reverse culture shocks I experienced after returning from my trip to Thailand.

1.) Bali Bali culture. In Korea, there is a bali bali culture. This means everything is fast paced and efficient. In Thailand, I got used to the slow pace and relax nature of things. No one chased after buses or trains, no one ran down stairs, no one was rushing through the streets. Everyone in Thailand was taking strolls and enjoying their life. But as soon as I returned to Korea, everyone was rushing to get everywhere.

2.) Lack of personal space. Although trains in Thailand were packed during rush hour, everyone still respected each other’s personal space. Even on the escalator, people left more space in between the person in front of them. In Korea, for an example, people usually leave one step in between the person in front of them. But in Thailand, most people leave 2 or 3 steps in between each person. And, just in general, I never had a person run into me in Thailand. But, it Korea, you will find that this happens quite often.

3.) Car sickness. In Thailand, I took the subway, sky train, intercity train, overnight train, songthaew, and many grabs and taxi grabs. Not once did I experience car sickness. As soon as I arrived back in Korea, I was experiencing car sickness every single day. To me, drivers in Bangkok and Thailand drove really safe (with the exception of 1 driver that I had experience). They left room in front of them and didn’t jerk their car, drive super fast, or slam their breaks. But in Korea, I was jerked around everywhere, flying from my seat, and keeping my eyes closed as I got really bad motion sickness. Two times in Korea, my bus driver ran into a ditch and everyone on the bus were literally thrown into the air and went flying on the bus. Personal items went flying… and I also hurt my back from it. ㅠㅠ

4.) Smog. If you didn’t know, Korea has bad air pollution. There is almost always fog. In Thailand, I totally forgot about this. It wasn’t until I returned back to Korea when I realized how bad it was.

5.) Lack of English speakers. In Korea, I rarely used English with natives. And when I do, I often lose confidence in myself because there is a Korean way to pronounce English words and they don’t always understand it when I use the native diction. Also, as I live in Korea, I try to speak Korean as much as possible. It’s respectful to them and it will help me in the long term. In Thailand, many people were super good at English. So I got by without knowing any Thai. When I returned back to Korea, it was like I had to turn on a switch so that my brain could switch to Korean mode again.

6.) I can cross streets safely. In Thailand, you really had to look right and left many times before and while crossing the street. Cars, motorcycles, mopeds, etc. make crossing streets really dangerous. Many times, there were no pedestrian lights so it was dangerous. In Korea, there are pedestrian lights and I didn’t have to be as conscious of my surroundings as I had to be in Thailand.

7.) People smoking everywhere. I rarely saw anyone smoke in Thailand. But in Korea, people are always huddled outside smoking. So it was shocking to smell it, see people huddled up in the alleyways, or seeing cigarette butts everywhere on the streets.

8.) No wiping gym equipment. In Thailand, the gyms that I went to wiped gym equipment like they did in the US. But as soon as I returned back to my regular gym in Korea, I was reminded that people don’t wipe gym equipment after each use.

9.) Small hand towels used as body towels. I was used to living in hotels after my long trip to Thailand. And, as soon as I returned back to Korea, I was on another trip to Sokcho, and again, staying at a hotel. I was so shocked when I was given hand towels to use as body towels in Korea. Although I knew that it is the norm in Korea, I totally forgot during my stay in Thailand since they also use big body towels.