39 Bizarre Things That Seem Normal In Some Countries, But Not In The Rest Of The World

In 2020, the public transport was made free for all locals and visitors alike.

The only modern country in the world with a non-quadrilateral flag is Nepal and it is said to derive from Hinduism.

A few years ago, a Lamborghini was added to the police vehicle fleet in Italy, and it’s probably quite fast and, well, impressive to look at.

Most Scandinavian parents think that it's healthier to expose their children to as much fresh air as possible. Therefore, they leave them outside to take their naps.

As the word for green originally didn't exist till later and 'blue' was used to refer to both green and blue, Japan uses the most blue shade of green that is legally possible.

The ofuro baths are for sitting and soaking in hot water and are not frequently found around the world.

The sweet cocoa drink is consumed with savory cheese slices. And if you've tried it, you know that it's quite delicious, but surely not common elsewhere.

Most of the milk sold in France is pasteurised at UHT (ultra high temperature) and therefore doesn't have to be stored in cold.

This place in New Zealand is said to have the longest name and it's 85 characters. Have you tried to pronounce it?

The annually held Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling is a competition where people race down the 200-yard hill chasing a giant wheel of cheese.

In countries like South Korea, for the safety of others, people would wear face masks even when having a common cold prior to the pandemic.

To some foreigners, staircases in the Netherlands might look more like a health risk than anything. Historically, the buildings were built up rather than out, saving all the centimeters possible.

If you are visiting Ecuador, you might mistake the garbage truck tune with an ice cream tune and get highly disappointed.

Due to the size of this country, you can easily walk the length of the whole country. How convenient!

At Hong Kong polytechnic, you can major in Bra Studies, where Top Form manufacturer has its lab and factory.

You are not expected to tip in Italy as it is quite normal for the service charge to be added to the bill.

Italians associate milk with mornings; cappuccinos are traditionally drank as a morning beverage.

This food item of questionable health value originated in Scotland in a fish and chips shop. It's battered and deep-fried. Would you like to try?

If you are into water fights as much as Thai people, you should participate in Songkran, the Thai New Year's national holiday (13th of April). The water fight is a part of ritual cleansing during the celebration period.

Don't be surprised seeing clothing drying on bamboo poles in this country—the bamboo material is widely available, making it quite a popular tool to dry things.

One of the things related to feet etiquette in Thailand is taking one's shoes off before entering a building—that's to keep dirt from the outside outdoors.

Although some streets might have names, they might not necessarily have signs, so the addresses in Costa Rica are still described by local landmarks.

On the federal highway system AKA autobahn in Germany, the speed limit in certain places is only a recommendation and drivers can choose to drive as fast as they want.

A Christmas tradition in Slovakia is letting the carp that is meant for dinner swim in the bathtub for a few days to clean its tract, since it's a bottom feeder. And, well, people don't take baths unless they want to share the tub with a fish.

World sauna endurance championships were so famed that people from different countries would compete in this extreme activity in the homeland of saunas—Finland.

It seems that the Dutch don't mind people looking into their homes. This might be coming from Protestant religious traditions and the notion of 'I have nothing to hide.'

Citizens of Russia have two passports: one national passport that serves more like an ID and a passport for travelling abroad.

In the past, writing someone's name in red in the book registry meant that the person is deceased.

Some women in Brazil like to bleach their body hair rather than remove it completely in order to keep the light fuzz.

This messy tradition derives from spice sellers in 16th-century Denmark who were famed to be single and were called 'pepper men' and this makes a perfect extra excuse to party more. So why not?

Due to the different addressing system in Japan, the blocks have names instead of the spaces between them (streets).

As you need to order food from the counter and risk not being able to find a seat, Singaporeans leave anything from umbrellas to packs of tissues to maintain seats reserved for when they return with their purchased meal.

Shredded chicken breast in a milk dessert, anyone? Tavuk göğsü is a sweet served in Turkey that might be not to everyone's taste.

Surprisingly, instead of saying "cheese" (after all, a lot of cheese is made in the Netherlands), the Dutch say "Lach eens naar het vogeltje" ("Smile at the little bird").

Lightly salted and fermented Baltic sea herring has been in Swedish cuisine since the 16th century and it's famed for its extremely particular taste.

A perk of having cold winters in Sweden is that you can cool your drinks outside in the snow. Perhaps a few countries take advantage of infinite alcohol cooling opportunities outdoors.

No matter how bizarre it sounds, it's normal for the Dutch to answer the phone with the very old-school 'hoi,' that even gave the roots for the nautical term 'ahoy.'

Driving on the left side of the road is a feudal heirtage of the days when it was more convenient to hold and use swords in the right hand and have any opposing traffic on the same side in order to fight them.

The Swedish are so serious about cheese that they use a cheese slicer (which is said to have been invented by Norwegians) instead of a regular knife.