The Best Way to Understand the World is Through Surviving Culture Shocks

The most common ice-breaking question every traveller ask each other is obviously: “How did you end up here?”

Some travel to take a break from work, some are just wandering, while figuring out where to go next. I like to think I’m the wandering type. I was on one of those typical boat tours to Halong Bay in Vietnam, a trip I took after 5 rigorous weeks of volunteering in Hanoi. It took a few conversations to finally be able to spew out a pre-constructed answer every time I got asked by someone new.

The story of how I ended up on a boat in Halong Bay on the worst day ever (it was cold and rained all day), actually started with me being lost. I was lost in a sense that I really didn’t have a clue what I’m going to do now that I’ve graduated. It’s one of those crisis every graduates face, really.

Anyway, it was in the middle of an internship when I realise I don’t want to be stuck in a cubicle any longer. I wanted to be out there, especially since I’m still so young. I long to be a stranger, a minority. I long to acquaint my taste buds to different flavours. I long to meet people and figure out the similarities among our differences. So, when I got the opportunity to volunteer in Vietnam for 6 weeks, I took it in a heartbeat.

The minute I touched down in Hanoi, and met my host sister, I knew I was going to have to navigate through one culture shocks after the other. My first bout of culture shock was crossing the street in the maze that is Hanoi’s Old Quarter. The next one was taking the bus on my own for the first time, and realised Hanoi is doing public transport better than my hometown, Jakarta. The following culture shocks after came naturally until I finally learned to accept it and pick out what I can learn from the experience.

Another kind of culture shock I face has got nothing to do with surviving the chaos of Hanoi, though. Instead, it happened through my many conversations with Vietnamese youths I met. It was in the stark differences between our realities, and how society shapes our mindset differently. These kinds of conversations that happened in the sidewalk food stalls over hotpot and cheap beer are the best moments I will cherish, as it adds to my understanding about the world.

So, yes, I ended up in Vietnam because I wanted to escape the shackles of a 9-5 life and go volunteer. But, in reality I did more than that. I attempted to discover the world, by surviving a series of culture shocks. That, I believe, is the essence of travel.