Dos and Don'ts in the Middle East
5 Dos and Don’ts in Middle East
Dos
1) Bring a digital camera to take photographs. It is really a good tool to break the ice and make friends.
2) "Tabao" little presents and snacks to reciprocate their generousity and kindness. Syrians are really hospitable and friendly people. You can expect to get free food and drinks at the souq and even at the little dessert shops, just by standing around and watching them. We've got free sweets, peanuts, drinks, and even a slice of soap free.
3) Bring a headscarf in your bag when you go out. It would be useful when you need to enter mosques as some mosques would require you to “cover-up”
4) Follow the flow... if you see the locals queuing for food, just follow. It's guaranteed to be good. At least our experiment did work. Try the authentic Syrian pancake- it’s pancake with cheese doused in honey. It’s especially nice when it’s piping hot. Sweet!
5) Chopsticks make wonderful gifts to the people. They are curious about the Chinese way of using chopsticks and it’s a great way to start a cultural exchange teaching them how to use the Chinese chopsticks.
6) Interact with the people and make friends, you’ll get a lot more insight into the country, the people and even crude jokes about their own country and their cultures.
7) Lie about your marital status. It’s best to tell them that you’re married, or has a boyfriend who is working in Singapore. This would help to avoid any unnecessary propositions to kiss-and-hug. Trust me!
8) If you need to use the toilets or the washrooms, ask them for the W.C. They would know how to direct you, terms like toilets and washrooms do not ring any bell.
Don’ts
1)Don’t use the Okie sign. In Singapore, it means okie, but in Iran, it means asshole and it’s very, very rude to show the Okie sign.
2)The good sign (“hao”) that we are ever so comfortable using means “Fuck You” in Iran. A great cultural shock for us as we had been using the okie sign
3)Don’t ever, ever try your luck to get your visa done at the border between Turkey and Syria. We had to wait for 12 hours and according to the staff at the border, some people had waited for 1-2 days and it was very common to do so. If you are travelling to Syria, go either by air or get your visa ready in Istanbul.
