In Shanghai, it’s hard to get off the Metro because of the people pushing to get in. In other parts of Asia and the Middle East, somebody who arrived after you will almost certainly try to steal “your” taxi, and drivers will almost always ignore pedestrian crossings.
If you are standing in the foyer of a museum in Russia, looking at the English signage, you will realise that you will be charged substantially more for entry than the locals.
Or if you’re in a bar in Thailand and you say something that’s fairly standard political banter for where you come from, somebody may threaten to report you to the police. They may even do it, and you could be facing a jail sentence.
These are just a few of the frustrations travellers and expatriates face on a daily basis. And it’s understandable why people get confused and angry at what they consider to be inappropriate or unfair.
But the fact is that it’s not your country and the rules are not yours. Be they formal laws — such as Thailand’s extremely strict lese majeste legislation that prohibits you from saying anything negative about the royal family — or strange behaviour — like the kind that forces you to fight your way off a train or out of an elevator in China because of the barging by those trying to get on — there is little you can do except go with the flow.
It’s no use explaining the good sense or social benefit of queuing or taking you turn or obeying the green red lights, because you are in the minority.
Your sensibilities, even your logic, go out the window, because it’s not your country, and it’s wrong to believe that everybody thinks the way you do. And the sooner you accept that, the better off you will be.
Update: Obviously I am not talking about criminal behaviour here. That should never be tolerated.
I have to assume some responsibility for Brett’s angst. I talked him into coming to Shanghai. I also talked him in to coming to Bangkok. As for the Middle East? All his doing…