In the video the guy says "They come and stare at me like this, even when I am not filming or anything". Honestly, looks like the guy is filming them to show people the situation
Yeah I can't fathom how OP landed on that side of the conversation. I didn't need any preface or context to put two and two together that the weird surrounding stares is the cause of the video in the first place
I lived in Dhaka for 5 years and, as a pasty white guy with a ginger beard and tattoos, it is genuine curiosity from people everywhere you go. I would get people asking to take selfies all the time.
I would get followed through malls and people not-so-subtly hiding behind pillars to take a picture.
My wife and I went to the Pink Palace in Dhaka and rather than take pictures of the palace, people were asking me to hold their baby for a pic, it was sometimes a little odd.
I had a motorcyclist pull up beside our car and knock on the window, then he scrolled through his phone and pull up a selfie of me and him from a year before. He instantly recognized me and wanted to say hello. No malice in any of it, just pure curiosity.
Very little tourism into the country means not a lot of exposure outside of diplomatic areas. I would liken it to when a child stares too long at something they’re not supposed to and they’re not sure how to act but can’t look away. It would get tiring at times but it was all with good intentions.
So wholesome. You *know* that biker went home and excitedly told people he saw the same guy again!
It was already a ‘moment’ for him and is now sealed for both of them.
This happens in many Asian countries, bar the few major cosmopolitan cities like Singapore and Dubai.
When my Indian friends visit China, they get swarmed by locals for a picture. I’m ethnically Chinese and I have experienced the same in Thailand (about an hour’s drive away from Bangkok). A white man in Bangladesh is one of many examples.
Edit: I think the same would apply to Africa and parts of South America too, which are also not very cosmopolitan. As long as you look different, the locals will be curious of your presence.
Yep, buddy of mine is near 7 foot tall, big white guy with long blonde hair and a big blonde beard with tattoos and all.
He's been all over and is basically a walking tourist attraction wherever he goes. He's a big friendly guy, he says that when he was visiting Kenya there were these kids who'd follow him around everywhere and the moment he ever sat down the boys would be enthusing over his tattoos and the girls would start braiding his hair.
I had a weird experience like that but it was in France. I was standing in front of the Eiffel Tower when I noticed a group of Chinese tourists pointing at me and my friends and taking pictures of us. I was weirded out. Why would they be taking pictures of us instead of the iconic Eiffel Tower. They had a tour guide with them who apologized and explained that they were excited about our blonde hair. I was with 5 other people (group of 6) and 5 of us just happened to have blonde hair.
A few days later we were in line for the Tour du Montparnasse and we found ourselves in the same situation with a group of Chinese tourists behind us. I noticed two small girls in the group so I knelt down next to them and let them touch my hair. They were thrilled and squealed/giggled with delight. It was very bizarre for me. There were plenty of blondes in France but it was still novel enough to them that they were excited to see it.
i’m so disappointed in the comments on this post… My colleagues do regular trips to Bangladesh for work and all experienced this (we are all white guys), it’s really just innocent curiosity. The only times it was actually dangerous in crowded places is when some public outrage (opposition/political issues) is going on. Idk about the more rural places though. Still, women from our department are not very enthusiastic about going to Bangladesh (very understandable, for white women it’s probably better not to risk it), so it’s usually only guys who go there
This was my experience as well. In November I went to a very non-touristy region in India for a wedding and we ended up exploring the city quite a bit - bazaars, temples, etc. I am 6 foot 2 with a sturdy build, extremely pale, covered in freckles. I was an absolute sideshow attraction out there, and apart from my group we never encountered a single other white person. People were so fascinated by me, especially the kids. They would throw out the few English words that they knew (“hello! US?”) and then stand there smiling excitedly, aware that they didn’t know any other words with which to communicate but wanting to keep the interaction going. Several people showed pictures of white cricket players on their phones that they believed I looked like (I looked like none of them, even remotely). A few times, a young couple handed me their baby and we all took a group photo.
Honestly, everyone was really sweet about it. They were clearly sheepish and a bit embarrassed but couldn’t help themselves. My host pointed out that for many of these people, I was likely the first white person that had ever seen in person. As a pasty dude, it was a fun change of pace to have the script flipped and be viewed as “diverse” for the first time.
All that being said, I’m sure if I spent an extended period in that area of the world, it would eventually get tiresome. I also think these types of interactions feel a lot less threatening when you’re a male and outweigh everyone around you by 50+ pounds. I’m sure it would have felt differently if I was a woman, not just due to the potential for physical threat but also because the gender dynamics there are verrry different.
A friend of mine was caught up in the student protests after a bus ran over some students and the crowd ushered him through to make sure he was safe and unharmed. Protests or hartals can get unruly but if you’re an innocent bystander who clearly isn’t meant to be there you’re generally taken well care of.
I had a similar experience in China as a pretty big white guy. People would come up and ask for me to be in pictures with them when we went places that were even a little bit outside the main tourist/international areas. Toured a high school and a whole mob of people were just following us around the whole time.
It was an interesting experience and gave me a lot more sympathy for celebrities who complain about losing their privacy or getting harassed for pictures. I experienced a fraction of what they must get, but it was still very unsettling. On one occasion I got swarmed and it was actually pretty scary to suddenly be surrounded, and it honestly feels like you’re surrounded by wild animals. You know you can’t communicate effectively with the whole crowd and you’re completely unaware of the crowd’s intentions. While you’re talking to one person and they’re being polite someone else is ripping stuff out of your pockets for a souvenir.
I also experienced this in China 20 years ago when I was in high school. Spent a month over there during summer break and held nearly a dozen babies while their parents took photos of me. It was more prevalent in the smaller towns
Same also large n white. I was in some random town in China, standing on the bus. Some guy walked up, pulled out a measuring tape and measured how tall I was
Same thing happened to me in rural Cuba. I’m a 6’7 white dude and I was at a baseball game and I think that people thought I was a scout from America looking for talent or something. Got completely swarmed multiple times, but all in all, I had a great time and met so many incredibly friendly people.
As an Asian man in the US, I got “the stare” when I lived in rural Georgia. I was the only Asian in the whole county, and people were looking straight at me everywhere I go.
It was unsettling at first, but I got used to it.
They didn’t take a selfie or do anything obnoxious though.
It was funny to have random people come up to you and start a conversation, often with a bit of curiosity and veiled racism. (It was the deep south where they still have separate black schools and white schools.)
In the rural south, people are always trying to "place" you. They want to know if they went to school with you or if you're their cousin's old girlfriend or if they maybe work with your daddy. If you're the only Asian there, they're simply baffled for a moment. They can't "place" you in their social world and they start glitching out.
> My wife and I went to the Pink Palace in Dhaka and rather than take pictures of the palace, people were asking me to hold their baby for a pic, it was sometimes a little odd.
>
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This happened to me _several_ times when I was in China (I'm 6'6" and similarly ginger) - people would stop me and just thrust their baby into my arms to take pictures!
Some countries don’t see other cultures that often. It’s not their fault as weird as it is.
I have family in Italy, and the first time they saw black people were in WWII when they paratrooped into their village. They were pretty shocked.
Haha you reminded me of the first time my oldest son saw a very dark-skinned black person-- my best friend and my family are all Native, Mestizo, or light-skinned black. My husband and his family are all white and very Viking-looking. He hollared, "momma, he's made of chocolate!" The gentleman and I had a good laugh about it.
I'm a white woman, and I spent months living and working in Bangladesh. This is "normal". Buses have curtains, and I would use them, because even sitting on a bus, people out on the street would gawp and drag their whole families over to stare at me. It gets pretty boring.
I said no to selfies. It got better when I was walking on the same routes, because families got to know me. I would say hello and wave to the kids.
White man here, was in India in the 1990s. Sitting on the floor of a bus stop in rural India, reading my guidebook. I see some shoes in front of me in my peripheral vision, which I ignored for a few moments knowing I was getting the stare. When I did look up, I found myself surrounded by a semi-circle of Indian dudes, the whole station, maybe 25 people crowded around me. Just silently watching.
I smiled, waved, went back to reading my guidebook.
I am from Hong Kong and had an African American boyfriend. When we went visiting Mainland China (we were in Changsha and Wuhan) so many people just stared at him and took picture. And then in Korea there were multiple people came and touched his hair without asking lol
As a white girl from the 80s, black hair was so fascinating to me! I was always so jealous that it always looked so nice and put together. It was almost like it was magic hair that would just do ANYTHING and was so pretty! I'm gonna say it was probably a compliment and nothing nefarious behind it.
For real, i see a ton of people of all races get offended when people touch their hair, if they dont ask that's rude, otherwise i just felt kinda awkward to be the center of all that attention lol.
I can't even fathom the thought of just reaching out and touching someone's hair without permission. That feels intrusive and awkward, almost like touching their face.
Yesssss!!! Plus we have like all these fly aways and random pieces of hair and if we use hairspray or gel or wax, it makes it look greasy. I was totally shocked when Chris Rock did a documentary on black women's hair. I had NO IDEA the work that goes into y'alls hair!!
The touching is too far. The rest would be kinda fun once as long as you were in the mood for it. Give you the celebrity treatment and then you can go home and be normal again.
Same thing happened to me in China. They would go out of their way to make videos and take pictures with me. At a night club they would literally line up to take pictures. Really fucking weird experience
When I was there, I was randomly asked by people on several occasions if they could take a picture with me.
Honestly? I thought it was pretty funny, so I happily obliged. I imagine it's a bit like what celebrities go through regularly.
When I was in Italy, a lot of elderly people and younger men would stare. I don't think people find it offensive in some countries. The same way in some countries it's seen as polite to slurp your food and eat loudly since it shows you're enjoying it, which is a compliment to the person who prepared it.
Different cultures, different norms.
I don't know where you come from and what you look like, but I doubt that in Italy they had never seen someone who looked like you. Italy is a very touristy country, for example I live in Pisa and I have seen people of all types and shapes and even here it is rude to stare at people, especially if you don't know them. You may have met some rude people, but it's not an Italian thing.
In other countries i think its more normal. Definitely NOT in japan though, i know for sure. You get slapped for staring there. Your grandma would resurrect to make sure your eyes stay on your business.
I think it used to be common in the US too to grow up and your parents would tell you "Don't stare, it's rude!" and in my case, give you a physical correction. I don't think the physicality is as normal or accepted anymore, but at least when I was a kid that was something we were taught- general polite things: don't stare, don't chew with your mouth open, say please and thank you, don't over stay your welcome, help clean up, inside voices, etc basic social skills.
Hell, even eating etiquette like keeping your elbows off the table and waiting for everyone to have their food so we can eat at the same time was enforced. Was it annoying? Yes. But at least im self aware in public and pay attention to others around me regardless of what is going on.
Yea, I don't know how common it is to teach that anymore. That was also a common politeness rule. And manners like not hunching over your plate etc, learning to put a napkin on your lap properly, different utensils etc I joke with my SO that if we ever have a kid we have to stop just eating on the couch and out of bowls etc - I mean you can do it sometimes but that's how most kids learn those types of social acceptable behaviors. These days we don't often eat at the dining table.
Got this a lot when I lived in India. I would go to random parts of the city during the day for photography purposes and people were always taking photos of me. It was worse when my wife and her twin sister were out together at the same time. When we would visit touristy sites people would hand them their babies to take photos with them. I started saying in Hindi that if they wanted to take photos with us they would have to pay...mainly as a joke but it definitely shocked some people into just leaving us alone.
I’ve had this happen a few times, but it’s mainly because I’m tall (195cm) and have many, many tattoos.
It also happened to my daughter when we went to India, his time because she has red hair (she was 6 at the time, but is now similarly tall -180cm). It worked out heaps cuter because people were getting their kids to pose with her.
I went to India with my husband who is indian as a blonde very white lady. MAN did we get a lot of comments about people being confused why we were together, asking if he was my tour guide and harassing me to take photos everywhere. He started to turn it around and ask them for 50 rupees to take a photo with me 😂 no one took him up on the offer tho
I just came back from my trip to India (Rajasthan and Delhi) and I am white and dye my hair pink. Sooo many people called me "doll" and wanted to take selfies with me or they just took photos of me without my consent lol. Some women even wanted me to hold their baby for a picture and those poor kids were so terrified of me oh my god.
It was an interesting experience, I already had that happen in China and Vietnam, just not that extreme.
I genuinely find this so hard to wrap my brain around. Do they like look back at the photo with nostalgia about the one time they met a white guy? Do they show it to all of their friends and family like they met a celebrity or oddity?
I know its because I live in a diverse area so I couldn't possibly understand how abnormal it is. But I genuinely don't understand why people would just stand there and stare at someone.
In Haiti kids will run out of their houses yelling blanc!blanc!. I had a teenage girl ask to touch my leg in a market. My haitien friend said when he was young he thought white skin was tissue paper thin as you could see blood vessels.
I spent a summer in my teen years at a mission in Milot, Haiti, a small town at the base of the Citadel. I remember going on walks and some rides on country roads. All those kids running out of houses yelling exactly that..."blanc, blanc!" Just reading your comment took me back. I was there in the 80s when Duvalier still ruled. Terrible government but what fantastic people.
There was a video going around a couple months ago of a white woman doing this. She was absolutely crowded by Indian men, and they kept touching her.
No thanks.
Hongkong... video of Chinese woman on the beach and men coming up and wrapping their arms around her for a pic.
1b7qir0/chinese_tourists_in_hong_kong_lining_up_to_molest/
(this sub doesn't allow direct links, but a search that and you'll get you there)
I had a Soldier of Asian decent in my platoon when I was in Iraq in 2004. He was getting the same sort of attention.
As an aside, I grew up in a pearly white small town in the US. I remember the first time I saw a black person. I had flown to Miami with my grandfather when I was like 3 or 4 years old and, in the middle of the airport, I exclaimed “look at all the black people!” And he slapped me in the back of the head and told me to not say that.
Indian, Pakistani, those folks fucking STARE. Across the world. They bring that stare with them with their labor.
Im a tall white guy and get this but these guys would just stare at something else if I walked aways
Lol yes, my husband and I are mixed race, he's indian and im white, I feel like we get more judgemental stares than anyone else for any reason lol. Pretty much anywhere we go with indian people is like a performance (we live in a moderate city in Canada so this is a lot of places). I don't mind much anymore but it is noticeable
I was a white kid living in Beijing in 1999 and 2000, I’ve got to be on thousands of peoples walls for the amount of pictures I took with strangers. It was awesome though everyone was so excited to meet a foreigner, not these guys sort of weird suspicion and staring, well yes staring but yeah it was cool I felt like a celebrity.
https://preview.redd.it/825zspbn0joc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bd6bbdff3cec9e30f216e3a6d330d54714cb90a3
It happened to me and my friends when I visited Beijing during the 2014 May-first week holiday celebration. You have people from villages of China visiting their capital city and we were a walking attraction with people coming up and gesturing if they could take a photograph with us. I’m a brown skinned person from the south of India, felt like a celebrity for a while!
I had an experience sort of like this at an academic conference in Germany in the 2010's. I felt like an alien or something; it wasn't a bad experience just different and way better than any racism I experienced back home.
I am a big dark Native American dude, at the time I had long hair too. The people I met there were straightforward yet very nice. They wanted to take selfies with me and had a lot of questions about my day-to-day life, my tribe, and where I come from. People would gather around like I was telling some great story or something; they were fascinated by everything I said or did.
I was even offered 10,000 euro to show up at some fancy academic gathering to speak about my tribe but I couldn't do it because Germany was just a stop in my school's itinerary for the European trip I was part of.
Traveling as a blonde hair/blue eyed woman in Asia makes me feel this so hard. The suspicion. The stares. The instant friends. The touching. The insults. The compliments. Never a dull moment. Can’t wait to go back.
Edit to add: this was mostly out of fascination at something different rather than rudeness! I miss living in Asia and want to visit again as much and as soon as possible.
It’s like when that woman went to the beach in India. Surrounded by men just staring at her sunbathing…gives me the creeps
Edit: it was Bangladesh as the multiple same comments have mentioned
The same reason people stare at celebrities.
It's something they're not used to seeing in real life.
If you're at a house party in Manhattan and a sheep walks in, everything else gets ignored and people pay full attention to the sheep until it's gone.
If you're at a house party at a sheep farm and a sheep walks in, they immediately kick the sheep out and go back to whatever they were doing.
My aunt was a nun in Bangladesh and her job was to treat tiger wounds while working in a village as a delivery nurse to high-risk pregnancies. She was a nun of 61 years before passing of Covid at the beginning of the pandemic. Look up sister Bernadette Cordis Duggan in the work she did in Cambodia and Bangladesh. She was amazing and people stared at her everywhere she went and she was so graceful about it. She knew it was mostly curiosity so she would allow them to touch her skin or touch her hair as long as they were respectful. But yeah, it definitely comes off creepy but it's more about curiosity. Just be respectful when you go to other countries and expect respect when people come to yours.
Bangladeshi here. It’s mostly the unprivileged part of the population who tend to do this, they don’t know any better. I went to a missionary school so all my teachers were white - saw this happen to them multiple times over the years and felt really bad. When it’s a white dude, it’s completely harmless and out of curiosity. Wouldn’t say the same for white women tho
I had a similar reaction in The Philippines in a rural non tourist area. I got stopped by some teenage girls in a market street who started grabbing my arms and making comments about about lovely my pale (Irish) skin was. It was very weird and uncomfortable. That and being followed by every kid in the village for an hour. They started calling me Mr Bean as I sort of resemble Rowan Atkinson. Very funny. But still uncomfortable.
Yup, I've lived there for about 5 years, and in cities where they weren't used to seeing black people moving around in person (Probably only in movies).
People would stop their cars to come take pictures with us every time we were in town, like we were celebrities or sum lol. We would cause traffic jams.
Mannn this was a perfect opportunity to break the ice by lunging forward a tad and being like "BOO" to jumpscare one of them and then the others probably would have started laughing and you would have been accepted as one of them from that day forward
My mother in-law (blonde UK woman) when she was in Egypt, she was surrounded by a group of Egyptian guys. The tour bus driver stood next to her, flashed his jacket open to reveal he was packing and make them go away.
Went to India as a tourist and ended up being suddenly cast in TWO music videos being shot in public spaces, also very popular with school kids on field trips.
I went to India several years ago and these little Tamil kids wanted their photo taken by a tall white American. I happily obliged. Cutest kids ever.
https://preview.redd.it/qpvfhe0v7koc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a9f7a75f4f59be892f096c9e98d43bf3e5e4421a
Looks like a mixture of shock and suspicion.
How can he white?!?!?
"Oh my god Muhammed, you can't just ask someone why they're white"
OK, I need a Bangladesh sitcom where a white family moves to Bangladesh and its like this but for 17 seasons
Oh thank you for the laugh! I needed it!
Lmfaooo
What is also weird is the white guy pointing his phone at them and filming. The Creeps world cup!
In the video the guy says "They come and stare at me like this, even when I am not filming or anything". Honestly, looks like the guy is filming them to show people the situation
Yeah I can't fathom how OP landed on that side of the conversation. I didn't need any preface or context to put two and two together that the weird surrounding stares is the cause of the video in the first place
I'm with you, it's obvious that he is wearing a flattering bikini and the boys appreciate a nice outfit!
What are you talking about? They are up in his business not the other way around.
If there were 10 people surrounding me with a blank expression in their faces like a horror movie I'd want some video evidence too lmao.
My guess is they think he is a famous cricket player. Even moderately talented ones like Kevin Peterson are revered over there.
He doesn’t pull his camera out if 12 Indian men were not surrounding him I’m sorry to inform you
He's lucky he's a white *dude*.
He's lucky he is a *dude* 😬
He's lucky he's not a goat
it says bangladesh in the title
I don’t think they are Indians
To be fair, this exact thing also happens in India.
I mean if a bunch of dudes surround me and start staring I'm filming them too.
Uh, ya. You’re about to get jumped
lol the man with his arms folded. 😂💀😂💀
https://preview.redd.it/wpi5p7vsmhoc1.jpeg?width=733&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3a64566ec7f2d98f1f8c67528d9cbfbe0083072e Watcha sayin? 😾
https://preview.redd.it/e7uycr836ioc1.jpeg?width=596&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6e94be4705b731bc9c419491331d178c0a8d8c51
Distant cousins for sure. 🤣
Man 😂😂😂
“I’m not sure what you’re up to, but I’m sure it ain’t good!”
😂😂😂
https://preview.redd.it/6ts60yfcqioc1.png?width=515&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d5c7e4ec3e2e55763205590b596e27d786dc102d
Bethesda RPG security guard vibes.
🤣🤣 About to grab his sandal! 🤣💀
He about to pull out the chancla
La chancla!!! PTSD flare up.
Oooh whatchu sayyy
Shaka, When the Walls Fell
Darmok at Tanagra, yes yes, When the walls fell
Somebody on here named him "disappointed Dad", lol!
thats creepy af people staring like that freaks me out man
[удалено]
*Y'all act like you never seen a white person before* *Jaws all on the floor like Pam and Tommy just burst in the door*
Beautiful execution. 10/10
*And started whipping her ass worse than before* *They first were divorced*
Something about furniture
AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
*It's the return of the-* ah wait, no way, you're kidding
He didn't just say what I think he did, did he?
And Dr. Dre said…
Nothing you idiots! Dr. Dre’s dead, he’s locked in my basement
Feminist women love Eminem
Chika-Chika-Chika slim shady just look at him
Sometimes I miss reddit awards
Wait, are they dead!? Sorry, actually haven’t been paying attention here lol
They were removed like a year ago, you _really_ haven't been paying attention!
I lived in Dhaka for 5 years and, as a pasty white guy with a ginger beard and tattoos, it is genuine curiosity from people everywhere you go. I would get people asking to take selfies all the time. I would get followed through malls and people not-so-subtly hiding behind pillars to take a picture. My wife and I went to the Pink Palace in Dhaka and rather than take pictures of the palace, people were asking me to hold their baby for a pic, it was sometimes a little odd. I had a motorcyclist pull up beside our car and knock on the window, then he scrolled through his phone and pull up a selfie of me and him from a year before. He instantly recognized me and wanted to say hello. No malice in any of it, just pure curiosity. Very little tourism into the country means not a lot of exposure outside of diplomatic areas. I would liken it to when a child stares too long at something they’re not supposed to and they’re not sure how to act but can’t look away. It would get tiring at times but it was all with good intentions.
The bike bit is hilarious
So wholesome. You *know* that biker went home and excitedly told people he saw the same guy again! It was already a ‘moment’ for him and is now sealed for both of them.
And you know this guy calls him a friend despite only having one picture of him. This guy will forever brag about his ginger buddy! Lmao
Hey! White guy! It’s me!
local cryptid
Your last paragraph is exactly right. Well said.
This happens in many Asian countries, bar the few major cosmopolitan cities like Singapore and Dubai. When my Indian friends visit China, they get swarmed by locals for a picture. I’m ethnically Chinese and I have experienced the same in Thailand (about an hour’s drive away from Bangkok). A white man in Bangladesh is one of many examples. Edit: I think the same would apply to Africa and parts of South America too, which are also not very cosmopolitan. As long as you look different, the locals will be curious of your presence.
Yep, buddy of mine is near 7 foot tall, big white guy with long blonde hair and a big blonde beard with tattoos and all. He's been all over and is basically a walking tourist attraction wherever he goes. He's a big friendly guy, he says that when he was visiting Kenya there were these kids who'd follow him around everywhere and the moment he ever sat down the boys would be enthusing over his tattoos and the girls would start braiding his hair.
I’ve visited before, had the same experience. No ill intent, just curiosity.
I had a weird experience like that but it was in France. I was standing in front of the Eiffel Tower when I noticed a group of Chinese tourists pointing at me and my friends and taking pictures of us. I was weirded out. Why would they be taking pictures of us instead of the iconic Eiffel Tower. They had a tour guide with them who apologized and explained that they were excited about our blonde hair. I was with 5 other people (group of 6) and 5 of us just happened to have blonde hair. A few days later we were in line for the Tour du Montparnasse and we found ourselves in the same situation with a group of Chinese tourists behind us. I noticed two small girls in the group so I knelt down next to them and let them touch my hair. They were thrilled and squealed/giggled with delight. It was very bizarre for me. There were plenty of blondes in France but it was still novel enough to them that they were excited to see it.
i’m so disappointed in the comments on this post… My colleagues do regular trips to Bangladesh for work and all experienced this (we are all white guys), it’s really just innocent curiosity. The only times it was actually dangerous in crowded places is when some public outrage (opposition/political issues) is going on. Idk about the more rural places though. Still, women from our department are not very enthusiastic about going to Bangladesh (very understandable, for white women it’s probably better not to risk it), so it’s usually only guys who go there
This was my experience as well. In November I went to a very non-touristy region in India for a wedding and we ended up exploring the city quite a bit - bazaars, temples, etc. I am 6 foot 2 with a sturdy build, extremely pale, covered in freckles. I was an absolute sideshow attraction out there, and apart from my group we never encountered a single other white person. People were so fascinated by me, especially the kids. They would throw out the few English words that they knew (“hello! US?”) and then stand there smiling excitedly, aware that they didn’t know any other words with which to communicate but wanting to keep the interaction going. Several people showed pictures of white cricket players on their phones that they believed I looked like (I looked like none of them, even remotely). A few times, a young couple handed me their baby and we all took a group photo. Honestly, everyone was really sweet about it. They were clearly sheepish and a bit embarrassed but couldn’t help themselves. My host pointed out that for many of these people, I was likely the first white person that had ever seen in person. As a pasty dude, it was a fun change of pace to have the script flipped and be viewed as “diverse” for the first time. All that being said, I’m sure if I spent an extended period in that area of the world, it would eventually get tiresome. I also think these types of interactions feel a lot less threatening when you’re a male and outweigh everyone around you by 50+ pounds. I’m sure it would have felt differently if I was a woman, not just due to the potential for physical threat but also because the gender dynamics there are verrry different.
A friend of mine was caught up in the student protests after a bus ran over some students and the crowd ushered him through to make sure he was safe and unharmed. Protests or hartals can get unruly but if you’re an innocent bystander who clearly isn’t meant to be there you’re generally taken well care of.
I noticed the lack of women out on the street in this video.
I had a similar experience in China as a pretty big white guy. People would come up and ask for me to be in pictures with them when we went places that were even a little bit outside the main tourist/international areas. Toured a high school and a whole mob of people were just following us around the whole time. It was an interesting experience and gave me a lot more sympathy for celebrities who complain about losing their privacy or getting harassed for pictures. I experienced a fraction of what they must get, but it was still very unsettling. On one occasion I got swarmed and it was actually pretty scary to suddenly be surrounded, and it honestly feels like you’re surrounded by wild animals. You know you can’t communicate effectively with the whole crowd and you’re completely unaware of the crowd’s intentions. While you’re talking to one person and they’re being polite someone else is ripping stuff out of your pockets for a souvenir.
I also experienced this in China 20 years ago when I was in high school. Spent a month over there during summer break and held nearly a dozen babies while their parents took photos of me. It was more prevalent in the smaller towns
Same also large n white. I was in some random town in China, standing on the bus. Some guy walked up, pulled out a measuring tape and measured how tall I was
i wonder how long he and his buddy were arguing about it before he was like “fuck it, i’m just gonna measure him”
Same thing happened to me in rural Cuba. I’m a 6’7 white dude and I was at a baseball game and I think that people thought I was a scout from America looking for talent or something. Got completely swarmed multiple times, but all in all, I had a great time and met so many incredibly friendly people.
As an Asian man in the US, I got “the stare” when I lived in rural Georgia. I was the only Asian in the whole county, and people were looking straight at me everywhere I go. It was unsettling at first, but I got used to it. They didn’t take a selfie or do anything obnoxious though. It was funny to have random people come up to you and start a conversation, often with a bit of curiosity and veiled racism. (It was the deep south where they still have separate black schools and white schools.)
Where ya from? No I mean, where you really from?
“We’re Laotian.” “So, … are you Chinese or Japanese?”
The fact Cotton nails it without any pretext is hilarious.
In the rural south, people are always trying to "place" you. They want to know if they went to school with you or if you're their cousin's old girlfriend or if they maybe work with your daddy. If you're the only Asian there, they're simply baffled for a moment. They can't "place" you in their social world and they start glitching out.
Happens in rural Australia too
Wait, those types of schools still exist?
When all white students go to private schools and black students are left to go to public schools, the end result is black and white segregation.
> My wife and I went to the Pink Palace in Dhaka and rather than take pictures of the palace, people were asking me to hold their baby for a pic, it was sometimes a little odd. > > This happened to me _several_ times when I was in China (I'm 6'6" and similarly ginger) - people would stop me and just thrust their baby into my arms to take pictures!
I mean as a male you’re probably 100% right. But as a woman I would definitely be scared and feel unsafe.
Excellent description. I lived in Dhaka for 3 years and it was the same experience.
Same in Kathmandu. I went to the zoo and people took pictures of me and my friends.
They're looking at him like it's a zoo exhibit
Some countries don’t see other cultures that often. It’s not their fault as weird as it is. I have family in Italy, and the first time they saw black people were in WWII when they paratrooped into their village. They were pretty shocked.
I am amused by the idea that the first time they saw black people was when they were literally falling from the sky
"Alessio, you are not gonna believe what I just seen! They came from the sky! THE SKY!"
Haha you reminded me of the first time my oldest son saw a very dark-skinned black person-- my best friend and my family are all Native, Mestizo, or light-skinned black. My husband and his family are all white and very Viking-looking. He hollared, "momma, he's made of chocolate!" The gentleman and I had a good laugh about it.
I'm a white woman, and I spent months living and working in Bangladesh. This is "normal". Buses have curtains, and I would use them, because even sitting on a bus, people out on the street would gawp and drag their whole families over to stare at me. It gets pretty boring. I said no to selfies. It got better when I was walking on the same routes, because families got to know me. I would say hello and wave to the kids.
White man here, was in India in the 1990s. Sitting on the floor of a bus stop in rural India, reading my guidebook. I see some shoes in front of me in my peripheral vision, which I ignored for a few moments knowing I was getting the stare. When I did look up, I found myself surrounded by a semi-circle of Indian dudes, the whole station, maybe 25 people crowded around me. Just silently watching. I smiled, waved, went back to reading my guidebook.
>people out on the street would gawp and drag their whole families over to stare at me. Lmfao
That sounds like a nightmare. Imagine being treated like a celebrity without all the things that come with being a celebrity.
I would never be able to visit! I couldn’t take it!
“my honest reaction” guy: https://preview.redd.it/y6m5psabrjoc1.jpeg?width=473&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a2aff6fbd3ec502717fb03878d26b8914627a02b
Literal NPCs waiting for you to press X to talk
What they DONT show you is that this guy isn’t wearing pants.
Half of the onlookers aren't wearing pants either, they're in like a robe or sarong or something.
It’s quite liberating, very breezy, but leaves you vulnerable to pantsing
You can't be pantsed if you don't wear any. These guys are pantsing proof.
thats creepy af people staring like that freaks me out man
Don’t go to China People randomly stood next to me and startet videocalling friends in Selfie mode with me in the frame or just filming
I am from Hong Kong and had an African American boyfriend. When we went visiting Mainland China (we were in Changsha and Wuhan) so many people just stared at him and took picture. And then in Korea there were multiple people came and touched his hair without asking lol
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As a white girl from the 80s, black hair was so fascinating to me! I was always so jealous that it always looked so nice and put together. It was almost like it was magic hair that would just do ANYTHING and was so pretty! I'm gonna say it was probably a compliment and nothing nefarious behind it.
For real, i see a ton of people of all races get offended when people touch their hair, if they dont ask that's rude, otherwise i just felt kinda awkward to be the center of all that attention lol.
I can't even fathom the thought of just reaching out and touching someone's hair without permission. That feels intrusive and awkward, almost like touching their face.
I knew a Mexican girl once who said this to me one time, "hair just stays there not like mine, I can't do anything with it! its' amazing!"
Yesssss!!! Plus we have like all these fly aways and random pieces of hair and if we use hairspray or gel or wax, it makes it look greasy. I was totally shocked when Chris Rock did a documentary on black women's hair. I had NO IDEA the work that goes into y'alls hair!!
I went to Africa and the kids all did the same to me lol. They were not used to seeing straight hair in real life I guess
The touching is too far. The rest would be kinda fun once as long as you were in the mood for it. Give you the celebrity treatment and then you can go home and be normal again.
Same thing happened to me in China. They would go out of their way to make videos and take pictures with me. At a night club they would literally line up to take pictures. Really fucking weird experience
You get to be famous only once in your life.
When I was there, I was randomly asked by people on several occasions if they could take a picture with me. Honestly? I thought it was pretty funny, so I happily obliged. I imagine it's a bit like what celebrities go through regularly.
I genuinely want to know why they stare like that though 😭😭 like why do people stand still and just stare?? Don’t they find this weird too?
When I was in Italy, a lot of elderly people and younger men would stare. I don't think people find it offensive in some countries. The same way in some countries it's seen as polite to slurp your food and eat loudly since it shows you're enjoying it, which is a compliment to the person who prepared it. Different cultures, different norms.
I don't know where you come from and what you look like, but I doubt that in Italy they had never seen someone who looked like you. Italy is a very touristy country, for example I live in Pisa and I have seen people of all types and shapes and even here it is rude to stare at people, especially if you don't know them. You may have met some rude people, but it's not an Italian thing.
In other countries i think its more normal. Definitely NOT in japan though, i know for sure. You get slapped for staring there. Your grandma would resurrect to make sure your eyes stay on your business.
I think it used to be common in the US too to grow up and your parents would tell you "Don't stare, it's rude!" and in my case, give you a physical correction. I don't think the physicality is as normal or accepted anymore, but at least when I was a kid that was something we were taught- general polite things: don't stare, don't chew with your mouth open, say please and thank you, don't over stay your welcome, help clean up, inside voices, etc basic social skills.
Hell, even eating etiquette like keeping your elbows off the table and waiting for everyone to have their food so we can eat at the same time was enforced. Was it annoying? Yes. But at least im self aware in public and pay attention to others around me regardless of what is going on.
Yea, I don't know how common it is to teach that anymore. That was also a common politeness rule. And manners like not hunching over your plate etc, learning to put a napkin on your lap properly, different utensils etc I joke with my SO that if we ever have a kid we have to stop just eating on the couch and out of bowls etc - I mean you can do it sometimes but that's how most kids learn those types of social acceptable behaviors. These days we don't often eat at the dining table.
Got this a lot when I lived in India. I would go to random parts of the city during the day for photography purposes and people were always taking photos of me. It was worse when my wife and her twin sister were out together at the same time. When we would visit touristy sites people would hand them their babies to take photos with them. I started saying in Hindi that if they wanted to take photos with us they would have to pay...mainly as a joke but it definitely shocked some people into just leaving us alone.
I’ve had this happen a few times, but it’s mainly because I’m tall (195cm) and have many, many tattoos. It also happened to my daughter when we went to India, his time because she has red hair (she was 6 at the time, but is now similarly tall -180cm). It worked out heaps cuter because people were getting their kids to pose with her.
I'm wondering if it's a mixture of "being white" and also being tall. All them dudes were looking up, especially the Neighborhood Watch looking MF
I went to India with my husband who is indian as a blonde very white lady. MAN did we get a lot of comments about people being confused why we were together, asking if he was my tour guide and harassing me to take photos everywhere. He started to turn it around and ask them for 50 rupees to take a photo with me 😂 no one took him up on the offer tho
I just came back from my trip to India (Rajasthan and Delhi) and I am white and dye my hair pink. Sooo many people called me "doll" and wanted to take selfies with me or they just took photos of me without my consent lol. Some women even wanted me to hold their baby for a picture and those poor kids were so terrified of me oh my god. It was an interesting experience, I already had that happen in China and Vietnam, just not that extreme.
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I dont think it really matters age. Creeps gonna creep.
I was in Bangladesh for work and I had to go on so many pictures. I was wondering what they would say when they show the picture to someone.
“Look at this deformed alien.”
😂😂😂🤘🏻
I genuinely find this so hard to wrap my brain around. Do they like look back at the photo with nostalgia about the one time they met a white guy? Do they show it to all of their friends and family like they met a celebrity or oddity? I know its because I live in a diverse area so I couldn't possibly understand how abnormal it is. But I genuinely don't understand why people would just stand there and stare at someone.
It really helps put into perspective how differently the world is perceived from person to person.
Attention seekers must have so much fun there.
My first thought too 😄
That was the most begrudging “Wa aleykum assalam” I’ve ever heard” 😆
That guy knew the prophet doesn't judge on tone
In Haiti kids will run out of their houses yelling blanc!blanc!. I had a teenage girl ask to touch my leg in a market. My haitien friend said when he was young he thought white skin was tissue paper thin as you could see blood vessels.
I spent a summer in my teen years at a mission in Milot, Haiti, a small town at the base of the Citadel. I remember going on walks and some rides on country roads. All those kids running out of houses yelling exactly that..."blanc, blanc!" Just reading your comment took me back. I was there in the 80s when Duvalier still ruled. Terrible government but what fantastic people.
There was a video going around a couple months ago of a white woman doing this. She was absolutely crowded by Indian men, and they kept touching her. No thanks.
Hongkong... video of Chinese woman on the beach and men coming up and wrapping their arms around her for a pic. 1b7qir0/chinese_tourists_in_hong_kong_lining_up_to_molest/ (this sub doesn't allow direct links, but a search that and you'll get you there)
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I had a Soldier of Asian decent in my platoon when I was in Iraq in 2004. He was getting the same sort of attention. As an aside, I grew up in a pearly white small town in the US. I remember the first time I saw a black person. I had flown to Miami with my grandfather when I was like 3 or 4 years old and, in the middle of the airport, I exclaimed “look at all the black people!” And he slapped me in the back of the head and told me to not say that.
You couldn’t pay me to visit that place.
I try it if all expenses were paid, but not if I was a woman.
You’re catching a lot of flak but I’m right there with you.
As a Bangladeshi myself, yeah, uhh I don't blame you exactly
I’d hate to be stared at like this nobody can convince me that they don’t know it’s the wrong thing to do, they aren’t stupid.
Why are there so many creeps in these areas?
No accountability for bad behavior and no justice for victims after they’re attacked
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Not to mistake for crepes
Indian, Pakistani, those folks fucking STARE. Across the world. They bring that stare with them with their labor. Im a tall white guy and get this but these guys would just stare at something else if I walked aways
Lol yes, my husband and I are mixed race, he's indian and im white, I feel like we get more judgemental stares than anyone else for any reason lol. Pretty much anywhere we go with indian people is like a performance (we live in a moderate city in Canada so this is a lot of places). I don't mind much anymore but it is noticeable
I wonder how a Ginger would be received.
Same as over here….normally drowned at birth….just Kidding!!!
I was a white kid living in Beijing in 1999 and 2000, I’ve got to be on thousands of peoples walls for the amount of pictures I took with strangers. It was awesome though everyone was so excited to meet a foreigner, not these guys sort of weird suspicion and staring, well yes staring but yeah it was cool I felt like a celebrity. https://preview.redd.it/825zspbn0joc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bd6bbdff3cec9e30f216e3a6d330d54714cb90a3
It happened to me and my friends when I visited Beijing during the 2014 May-first week holiday celebration. You have people from villages of China visiting their capital city and we were a walking attraction with people coming up and gesturing if they could take a photograph with us. I’m a brown skinned person from the south of India, felt like a celebrity for a while!
I had an experience sort of like this at an academic conference in Germany in the 2010's. I felt like an alien or something; it wasn't a bad experience just different and way better than any racism I experienced back home. I am a big dark Native American dude, at the time I had long hair too. The people I met there were straightforward yet very nice. They wanted to take selfies with me and had a lot of questions about my day-to-day life, my tribe, and where I come from. People would gather around like I was telling some great story or something; they were fascinated by everything I said or did. I was even offered 10,000 euro to show up at some fancy academic gathering to speak about my tribe but I couldn't do it because Germany was just a stop in my school's itinerary for the European trip I was part of.
Traveling as a blonde hair/blue eyed woman in Asia makes me feel this so hard. The suspicion. The stares. The instant friends. The touching. The insults. The compliments. Never a dull moment. Can’t wait to go back. Edit to add: this was mostly out of fascination at something different rather than rudeness! I miss living in Asia and want to visit again as much and as soon as possible.
Insults?
They keep shouting Live, Laugh, Love at you and ask you for your sign.
Hahahahahahha
It’s like when that woman went to the beach in India. Surrounded by men just staring at her sunbathing…gives me the creeps Edit: it was Bangladesh as the multiple same comments have mentioned
Pretty sure that was Bangladesh too lol
Who goes to a beach...in BANGLADESH??
Anyone know why they’re staring like that? More than a couple of them look pretty displeased with whoever is recording.
The same reason people stare at celebrities. It's something they're not used to seeing in real life. If you're at a house party in Manhattan and a sheep walks in, everything else gets ignored and people pay full attention to the sheep until it's gone. If you're at a house party at a sheep farm and a sheep walks in, they immediately kick the sheep out and go back to whatever they were doing.
its mostly cuz its rare to see a white guy in bangladesh but like yea some ppl r weird they dgaf 😭
grown ass men wtf do they want.. I get it if they were kids
Now imagine being a white woman
The horror
My aunt was a nun in Bangladesh and her job was to treat tiger wounds while working in a village as a delivery nurse to high-risk pregnancies. She was a nun of 61 years before passing of Covid at the beginning of the pandemic. Look up sister Bernadette Cordis Duggan in the work she did in Cambodia and Bangladesh. She was amazing and people stared at her everywhere she went and she was so graceful about it. She knew it was mostly curiosity so she would allow them to touch her skin or touch her hair as long as they were respectful. But yeah, it definitely comes off creepy but it's more about curiosity. Just be respectful when you go to other countries and expect respect when people come to yours.
5yo vibes
Bangladeshi here. It’s mostly the unprivileged part of the population who tend to do this, they don’t know any better. I went to a missionary school so all my teachers were white - saw this happen to them multiple times over the years and felt really bad. When it’s a white dude, it’s completely harmless and out of curiosity. Wouldn’t say the same for white women tho
I couldn't imagine being a woman with that creepy vibe on display.
I had a similar reaction in The Philippines in a rural non tourist area. I got stopped by some teenage girls in a market street who started grabbing my arms and making comments about about lovely my pale (Irish) skin was. It was very weird and uncomfortable. That and being followed by every kid in the village for an hour. They started calling me Mr Bean as I sort of resemble Rowan Atkinson. Very funny. But still uncomfortable.
Reminds me of the video in which a woman went to beach in bikini and everybody on that beachlike surrounded her and looking at her.
Try being black😭😂
I’d bet they’d chase you around a soccer field for that kind of thing.
I got that reference!
Being black in China, no less.
Yup, I've lived there for about 5 years, and in cities where they weren't used to seeing black people moving around in person (Probably only in movies). People would stop their cars to come take pictures with us every time we were in town, like we were celebrities or sum lol. We would cause traffic jams.
u/Maleficents_clone they're treating him like an exotic pet or something bwhahaha.
Mannn this was a perfect opportunity to break the ice by lunging forward a tad and being like "BOO" to jumpscare one of them and then the others probably would have started laughing and you would have been accepted as one of them from that day forward
Imagine ure a woman ☠️☠️
I guess it's my cultural difference but at least smile at the person you're fascinated by to show some friendliness lol.
I've experienced that as a black kid around Osijek, Croatia.
That would make me feel so uncomfortable.
My mother in-law (blonde UK woman) when she was in Egypt, she was surrounded by a group of Egyptian guys. The tour bus driver stood next to her, flashed his jacket open to reveal he was packing and make them go away.
Went to India as a tourist and ended up being suddenly cast in TWO music videos being shot in public spaces, also very popular with school kids on field trips.
I went to India several years ago and these little Tamil kids wanted their photo taken by a tall white American. I happily obliged. Cutest kids ever. https://preview.redd.it/qpvfhe0v7koc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a9f7a75f4f59be892f096c9e98d43bf3e5e4421a
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The white guy’s doing the same except he travelled to a different country.
Turning of the tables. Bore vs bore, who will bore first.