The Taiwan Metro is a pretty awesome place, looks a little like Singapore's MRT stations. The people there are really organized. They would stand on the left side of the escalators, and the right side is only for people who are rushing.
Apart from escalators, people there are willing to climb the stairs. Even the old were climbing up stairs. They would also line up outside the train doors in the middle section of the train. It was really a sight to behold, to see so many people in such an organized manner. It made me think that what we have here is close to chaos, with people rushing for escalators and into trains even before others leave.
One thing that I found queer was that people walked alongside expressways, across flyovers to get to their destination. Initially, I thought people were just a little eccentric that way. I did come to realize there weren't any roads built for the people to get across to the other side, and that's why they had to use expressways.
Perhaps the most important thing to do is just to observe, and see what others are doing. We would be able to get a better insight to what their culture is like or how they lived. It seems easy. But it really isn't. Most of the time, we judge first. We ask, why are they doing what they are doing? We judge their culture by the standards of ours, and that is one big mistake we often commit.
I have to admit, I am guilty of doing such things, and it is an area that I need to improve on. Before we do anything, we must remember not to judge other people by our standards. Effective intercultural communication cannot even begin if we do so. Let us begin this wave of change.
I will leave you with a humorous clip about culture:
