Few years ago, my family and I went to Bali during my holidays. Bali was an extremely cultural rich country and the Balinese culture was strongly influenced by Indian and Chinese, and particularly Hindu culture. A large proportion of Bali's population adheres to Balinese Hinduism and thus there were numerous magnificent temples in that country. I remembered I was in a sleeveless top and shorts when we were brought to visit a temple by the tour guide for the first time. When I was about to enter the temple, I was declined entry. The man that was in charge refused to let me in, he said that I was inappropriately dressed, in other words, I have exposed too much of my skin. He wanted me to get a cloth from a nearby stall and to cover my arms and legs before I could get in. At that moment, I felt really awkward and that man was really angry with the way I dressed because he felt that I was being rude and disrespectful to their religion. Being dressed in a sleeveless top and shorts is a norm in Singapore, it did not occur to me when I was packing my luggage that this dressing can be deemed so differently in another country. During the journey, the tour guide also warned us that the Balinese eat with their right hand, as the left is considered impure which is a common belief throughout Indonesia. The Balinese also do not hand or receive things with their left hand and would not wave at anyone with their left hand. I kept those things in mind throughout the whole trip as I do not want to be mistaken for being rude or disrespectful again.
I realize that an ignorance of the culture you are visiting can lead to development of stereotypes and occasionally the causing of offence to the native culture. By having intercultural awareness can help us as tourists to understand the boundaries when visiting a foreign country and promotes good relations with the native culture. As we can see, being sensitive to intercultural differences is a need for many people. In a world that is constantly shrinking, coming to know and appreciate the cultural differences between us is paramount so as to ensure peace and harmony. A good thing to do before visiting another country is to get to know their cultural norms and their dos and don’ts through internet or other ways so as to ensure a higher chance of having a good experience there.
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3 comments:
Hi Mongshi
First of all, I thought that your post was really succinct and to the point. Thumbs up for that!
To add to what that you brought up in the second paragraph of your entry, I believe another crucial key to effective intercultural communication, is to be more tolerant to the local cultures of the country you visit. This is because people of different cultures do things differently from one another, and we should learn to be tolerant of deviations from the norms - what you are used to in your own culture. We must always bear in mind that what may be the norm for us may not be the norm for other cultures.
Hence, I am glad you did make an attempt to avoid deviation from the Balinese culture, prior to your first encounter. I believe being respectful to the culture and the people of the country that you visit is of utmost importance, to allow effective intercultural communication to flourish.
Guang Yi
Hello Mongshi,
You post came in very handy for me. I will be going to Bali this December holidays. AND I'm a left-handed person. But I guess sometimes people would sub-consciously use their master hand to do things. Do you think there are cases where Balinese are left-handed and they use their right hands to do their 'dirty stuff'?
I guess now that we understand that there is intercultural differences among people from different country, we should now tell ourselves that we should read up on a country of visit, even if this country is nearby.
Darren
Hey mong shi,
Besides Bali, there are a lot of entry restrictions to difference places of worship and other respected places all around the world. I was in Taiwan last year and was also denied entry to the Liberty Square as I was in slippers and entering the place in slippers would meant disrespect to the history of the place. I realised that besides places of worship, other places like historically respected places have dos and don'ts to adhere to.
Hence, I would always try to research for culture differences before embarking on my journey overseas.
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