Experiencing different cultures is part of the magic of travelling.

But some have the potential to leave tourists scratching their heads, thanks to bizarre local customs.

Commenters took to online forum Ask Reddit to reveal some of the choicest examples after user ‘LifeOnMarsden’ posed the question: ‘What is totally normal in your country that would be really bizarre to foreigners or tourists?’

The discussion, which has gained thousands of comments since it began, recently resurfaced online. 

Getting the ball rolling, ‘chillphilsonthegrill’ said: ‘In Canada, we put maple syrup on snow and wait for it to get all gooey, then we eat it.’

Explaining how this is done, fellow Redditor ‘truecdn’ added: ‘You basically make a mound of snow and cut a trench in it, then pour the hot syrup into it and the snow cools it. Then, when it’s still gooey, you roll it onto a stick and eat it off the stick.’

Sharing another peculiar foodie tradition,’seeyouyeah’ suggested: ‘Throwing cheese down a hill then running after it.’

The comment, which earned 788 upvotes, refers to the Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake event in Gloucestershire, England, where competitors roll a cheese wheel down a steep hill and the first person to cross the finish line wins.

In another food-focused comment, ‘Azel’ said: ‘In Cambodia, there’s this food called “Happy Pizza”. It’s a pizza with marijuana on it.’

While ‘molecularpotet’ shared how, in Colombia, people put cheese in hot chocolate.

They explained: ‘You put in a bit of cheese in the cup, it melts, and you take it out with a spoon and eat it with bread. No, it doesn’t make your chocolate taste cheesy, it just melts in a nice way… the first time I did this with foreigners they were completely beside themselves.’

And while it’s not a foodie custom per se, chewing gum is banned in Singapore – a rule that locals find ‘odd’, Reddit user ‘Im_Tsuikyit’ revealed. 

Sharing the story behind the ban, which was implemented in 1992, they said: ‘The fact gum is illegal here in Singapore may be odd to foreigners, but there’s a reason for that. The reason being, people [were] constantly spitting gum onto the ground, sticking it on cars and elevator buttons, making everywhere you went covered in gum. And when the gum dried up, it would become very hard to remove.’

Also in Singapore, ‘bluezebra1990’ said that in food halls, coffee shops and food courts, you can ‘reserve a table or a seat by placing a packet of tissue or a handkerchief on the spot’.

They added: ‘No need to leave my bag or bottle or anything else to reserve the spot before I walk over to a food stall to buy food. I come back and my 20-cent packet of tissue is still there.’ 

And quirky customs extend to drinking too. Offering insight into a Russian tradition, Reddit user ‘Skordge’ revealed it’s customary to put ‘liquor bottles under the table when you finish them, because there’s a superstition about empty bottles on a table bringing bad luck’. They added: ‘You follow it even if you don’t believe it because you never know if anyone drinking with you actually does and takes offence.’ 

Several users, meanwhile, pointed out that ‘clamanto juice’ – clam juice and tomato juice – is frequently mixed into beer in Canada and Mexico. ‘It’s a “hangover cure” but I’ve had it and it might be the most repulsive thing ever,’ user ‘thatdrunkgirl’ commented. 

And user ‘DrUnce’ revealed that drive-through daiquiri shops are an unusual custom in the U.S. The cocktails are served in closed containers, so they can’t be sipped while driving. 

Another common theme in the discussion was different countries’ approaches to parenting. For instance, ‘Zrina94’ said Denmark’s approach to caring for children ‘baffles a lot of foreigners’.

They explained: ‘We find it natural to leave them unattended. They are left in their prams to nap basically everywhere, usually outside, no matter what time of the year it is.’

‘Rimana2015’ replied that it’s customary for children to be left to nap outside in Finland as well.

Sharing a parenting custom of the Ute people, an indigenous tribe in the U.S, ‘nativehoneybaby’ said that it’s traditional for new mothers to be confined to a room in their homes for 30 days after having a baby, only leaving to go to the doctor. 

The Reddit user, who explained they are Ute themselves, said that ‘it’s to help the baby identify where his/her home is’.

Manners and politeness are other topics that seem to underpin intriguing local customs.

Irish Reddit user ‘Madra_ruax’ suggested that the custom of ‘thanking the bus driver’ can confuse visitors from other countries. They said: ‘If I don’t thank them, I think that [the bus drivers] think I’m rude.’ Another UK-based Reddit user admitted this is commonplace in Britain too. 

Sharing a custom in Iran, ‘Sunchild21’ said ‘it is common to say “no” out of politeness’ when you are offered something.

They explained: ‘Only if the other person asks again will you say yes. Cab drivers will do this too for instance.

‘You ask how much you owe them and they’ll say something along the lines of “oh, don’t worry it’s worth nothing” to which you then reply by insisting on paying. Only then will they tell you the price.’

User ‘EasyDeezy’ said: ‘In Bulgaria, we nod for “no” and shake [our heads] for “yes”… foreigners get really, really confused.’

And Reddit user ‘Skordge’ revealed that in Russia, it’s not customary to smile at strangers. 

One unnamed user said the ‘no smiling’ practice also happens ‘in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia’, adding: ‘When we smile, it actually means something.’

Local festivals can baffle foreigners, the forum suggested. Reddit user ‘TommyTbone’ revealed that Swedes dance around a penis-shaped maypole that’s festooned with flowers to celebrate Midsummer each year. ‘Historically this was to ensure a plentiful harvest,’ they explain. 

Other customs that can cause confusion are the different words used to describe the same thing, the forum highlighted.

Australian Reddit user ‘Imnotavegan’ said: ‘We call flip-flops “thongs” and erasers “rubbers”.’ User ‘guustavoalmadovar’ weighed in and said that flip-flops are called ‘jandals’ in New Zealand.

While ‘butterpopkorn’ said that in Malaysia, water is referred to as ‘sky juice’. 

Brits, US and Irish tourists are hospitalised with botulism after eating sardines at a Bordeaux restaurant – with one woman killed

• Eight people taken to hospital and one person has died from the outbreak
• They ate at Tchin Tchin Wine Bar in Bordeaux between September 4 and 10 
• Botulism is a rare but life-threatening condition that can cause paralysis

By Madison Burgess

Published: 11:51 EDT, 14 September 2023 | Updated: 12:38 EDT, 14 September 2023

Two Irish tourists, aged 59 and 60, are run over and killed on ‘one of the most dangerous roads in Rome’: Victims were ‘thrown several yards by the impact’

• Two victims were walking in the southern outskirts of Rome when they were hit 

By Rachael Bunyan

Updated: 12:45 EDT, 7 September 2023

An Australian traveller has shared her ‘honest review of the Amalfi Coast’ and why the popular tourist destination is ‘not for the faint hearted’. 

Isabella Highfield and her partner, from Sydney, visited the picturesque must-see Italian town in early August but were left disappointed. 

While Isabella described the Amalfi Coast as ‘one of the most beautiful places she’s ever been to’, it was tainted by awful experiences. 

She claims catching jam-packed buses felt like a ‘death wish’, restaurants charged ‘too much’ for a bowl of pasta and she felt sick by the smell of body odour.

The experience left the couple wanting to flee and travel back home as soon as possible.

Isabella detailed her experience in a five-minute TikTok video that’s now been viewed more than 70,000 times.  

‘Let’s start with getting here. We are staying in a little town called Minori which is one across from Amalfi. Whichever town you stay in on the Amalfi Coast … you first have to get to Salerno which is the main train station,’ she said. 

It took the couple five hours to travel to Salerno on the train from Rome via Naples, which she said was a hassle in itself.

But the bus ride to their hotel was possibly the most terrifying experience of the whole trip. 

‘We had to catch the bus to Minori … it took over an hour. When I say I’ve never experienced anything in my life like this before, it’s not an understatement,’ she continued. 

‘I’m talking about a one-way street they somehow manage to fit three, four lanes of cars depending if there’s people parked on the side of the road. 

‘The buses drive at literally 100km/h whirling, whirl-ing around corners.’ 

She claims it seemed like two buses driving in opposite directions were only ‘millimetres’ away from each other. 

‘It’s wild, and they just honk their horns around the corners for safety. I honestly thought I was going to die,’ Isabella recalled. 

‘Not to mention the other motorists or motorcyclists that swerve in and out of these cars, or walk on the side of the road.’ 

This year in particular thousands of Australians have travelled to Europe for the ultimate summer holiday, but Isabella said the sheer number of people visiting Amalfi was ‘overwhelming’.     

‘Not to mention that I think people in general doesn’t know what deodorant is because the smell.. I mean it is hot..,’ she said. 

‘If you’re not gonna be sick from the buses, you are gonna be sick from the smell of people.’ 

Isabella also claims the ferries and buses ‘don’t arrive’ on time based on the schedule – so plan ahead. 

She added how the lines for the ferry are unorganised 

‘We had to catch a ferry from Amalfi to Positano … but there’s one line, and hundreds and hundreds of people all waiting in line for lots of different ferries, but one line,’ she said. 

‘So when your ferry comes and you’re right at the end of the line, you’ve just got to push your way through people that don’t want to get on that ferry. 

‘Like, why not just have six different lines? It’s honestly not that hard, there’s definitely room for it.’ 

The entire ordeal left Isabella ‘frustrated’ and feeling the need to ‘rant about it’. 

As a whole, likely because of the surge in popularity in recent years, Isabella found Amalfi to be an expensive place to visit. 

She dubbed the food as ‘average’ and ‘expensive’ compared to other parts of Italy. 

‘Some places are charging €36 ($60 AUD) for a plate of pasta. It’s f***ing flour and water!’ she added. 

After watching Isabella’s video opinions were divided and some agreed with her. 

‘My sister HATED IT! Said the bus trip to get there was the scariest thing ever,’ one commented.  

‘Agree overly priced,’ another said, a third added: ‘We were there last week and we had nearly the same experience.’ 

However others felt like Isabella was overreacting. 

‘Epic dramatisation,’ one wrote, another said: ‘The train from Rome to Salerno is one hour and an half. Logically the cheapest one is four hours.’

‘The problem is that lot’s of people try travelling without information of the place their visiting,’ a third said.  

Others recommended thoroughly researching a destination before travelling.

READ MORE: I upgraded to business class for $25 and have done it on the cheap three times. Here’s how to do it

Warning as Aussie tourist stunned by ‘shocking’ side effect on long-haul flight from Europe: ‘Everyone needs to know about this’

This is the horror moment a British tourist driving a hire car ploughs into a packed cafe terrace on the holiday island of Fuerteventura and injures eight people including a four-month-old baby.

Two Brits were among those injured when the vehicle careered off the road yesterday morning and into the crowded cafe in the tourist hotspot of Corralejo, police revealed.

Footage of the crash showed a man in a red T-shirt and blue jeans, who ended up on the vehicle’s bonnet, scramble to rescue the baby in its pram before the car drove into him.

Published by a local paper, CCTV footage of the dramatic incident showed that the other victims were caught completely unaware of the car.

Five of those hurt, including the baby and an 18-year-old woman, were seriously injured. 

DO YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THE CRASH? Email christian.oliver@mailonline.co.uk or tips@dailymail.com

One of the victims was a lady in a pink dress who was smashed feet-first into a neighbouring building and hit her head on the ground.

Bystanders could be seen going up to the driver’s door in the seconds after the accident before racing away to raise help.

The English driver, who has not been named, was also taken to hospital. His condition this morning was unclear.

This morning police confirmed all of the eight people taken to hospital following the drama in the tourist hotspot of Corralejo on the island of Fuerteventura, who included the hire car driver, remained alive.

The baby girl was airlifted to a hospital on the neighbouring island of Gran Canaria because of the nature of her injuries. 

A police chief said: ‘Two of the seven people the car went into are from the UK.’

He said he was not in a position to confirm how seriously injured they had been, or give out their personal details including their ages, but did reveal the baby is Spanish.

Referring to the driver he added: ‘He is a 55-year-old British man who was driving a hire car and was on holiday on the island.

‘He is still under observation in hospital.

‘He was with his partner who is also British and we have spoken to her but I am not at liberty to reveal what she said.’

The police chief continued: ‘The investigation into the incident is ongoing but there is nothing at this stage pointing to any intention of the part of the driver to hurt anyone and therefore nothing at this stage pointing to any criminal responsibility on his part for what happened. He has not been arrested.’

Local reports said the holidaymaker tested negative for alcohol and drugs and investigators are understood to be focusing on the theory he suffered a health problem at the wheel of his vehicle.

Isai Blanco, mayor of the municipality of La Oliva which Corralejo is part of, added: ‘Our thoughts are with the people affected by this tragic incident.

‘We are working closely with the relevant authorities to try to clarify what happened and offering our support to the victims and their families at this difficult time.’

As well as the teenager and the baby, the other most seriously-injured casualties were a 49-year-old woman and two men aged 40 and 43.

A five-year-old girl and two men aged 44 and 50 were also hurt.

An 18-year-old woman was also flown to another hospital in Gran Canaria after initial treatment at Virgin de la Pena General Hospital in Fuerteventura, the second largest of the Canary Islands and the nearest to Africa.

All the other casualties, who included a girl aged five, were taken to the Fuerteventura hospital.

After the incident yesterday, police suspected the driver may have suffered a heart attack or another medical emergency behind the wheel, Canarian Weekly reported. 

Pictures show the rental car, which appears to be a white Dacia Duster, was heavily damaged in the crash, with its windscreen smashed and bonnet dented.

Sources told local media the vehicle was travelling between 50-60mph when it left Avenida Nuestra Señora del Carmen and barrelled towards the packed terrace.

The Mayor of the La Oliva municipality where the accident occurred said in a statement yesterday evening: ‘Our thoughts are with those affected by this tragic event. 

‘We are working closely with the relevant authorities to clarify what happened and provide support to the victims and their families at this difficult time.’

The City Council said: ‘We are working tirelessly to obtain more information about what happened and take the necessary measures to prevent similar situations in the future’.

Fuerteventura is the second largest of Spain’s Canary Islands and the closest to the African mainland.

A bear who was filmed in adorable scenes walking through an Italian town with her two cubs just days ago has been shot dead – sparking a furious backlash.

The known and tagged bear, named Amarena, was caught on camera by dozens of tourists as she strolled through the centre of a village earlier this week.

Amarena was spotted first and then seconds later – to the sound of cooing from bystanders – her two cubs suddenly appeared and followed her across the road.

The ursine family then trotted down some stairs and away into the forest at San Benedetto dei Marsi in Italy‘s central Abruzzo region, which is home to dozens of brown bears.

But in a devastating turn of events, just hours after the cute creatures had been spotted gathering in the street, the mother bear’s lifeless body was found in the garden of a house on the outskirts of the village.

The bears have never been aggressive towards humans in the town, shocked regional president Marco Marsilio said upon hearing about the shooting.

A man – who has not been identified – was questioned by police over the death.

He told officers: ‘I fired because I was scared but I didn’t want to kill the bear. It was on my property, it was an instinctive act, an impulse.’

Meanwhile, the woman who captured the scene and posted it on Facebook, Gemma Di Pietro, said: ‘I was the first to see Amarena in town the other night, it must have been around 1015pm.

‘I called the local carabinieri station and said I had seen the bear and her two cubs in the centre, you could tell she was frightened and wanted to get across the road to safety.

‘A few minutes later I heard the owners of a house sounding the horn on their car and flashing its headlights, so the bear didn’t approach a chicken run behind their property.

‘Then I saw the bear run off and the first thing I heard that it had been shot. You could tell she was frightened, and I just don’t understand this act.’

Abruzzo region president Marco Marsilio said: ‘This is a very grave episode, against the whole community and it fills us with rage and pain because it is an incomprehensible gesture.

‘In all these years, the community both inside and outside the region’s parks have known how to live with and alongside the bears and not interfere with their behaviour.

‘Never has a bear in the Abruzzo region represented a danger to man, not even when they have wandered into built up areas in the past.

‘This act of aggression has no justification. We put our trust in the investigation that has been started by the police, and who have already identified the person responsible and will now face justice.’

Officials said a task force of 100 forestry workers was now combing the nearby regional park using drones to locate the two missing cubs.

Amarena was one of around 60 Marsican brown bears in the region. An adult can reach a weight of up to 210kg and 180cm in length, while female bears are smaller.

Earlier this year in another incident, a bear in the northern Italian region of Trento was captured after it attacked and killed a jogger.

A court initially ruled that the bear should be put down, but this has now been overturned.

Elsewhere in Italy, police have launched an investigation after video footage was posted online of a group of youths kicking a goat to death on a holiday farm at Anagni near Rome.

If found guilty of animal cruelty they face up to 18 months jail and a maximum fine of £15,413.

In a statement on its Facebook page, alongside a graphic picture of the dead bear, the National Park of Abruzzo wrote: ‘The Park veterinarian intervened on the scene with the emergency response team, who could however only determine the bear’s death given the severity of the injury.

‘The man was identified by Park staff and taken by the Carabinieri of the local station, who intervened following their call.

‘The dynamics of the incident are underway and will continue as park staff are engaged in identifying the two bear cubs to evaluate what to do.

‘The episode is a very serious incident that causes enormous damage to the population that counts about sixty and involves one of the most prolific females in the history of the Park.

‘Obviously, there is no reason to justify the incident since Amarena, despite causing damage to agricultural and zootechnical activities, always and in any case compensated by the Park has never created any kind of problem for humans.’

Three men accused of plying a British teenager with alcohol before gang-raping her in a Magaluf hotel are alleged to have called strangers into their room to enjoy ‘free sex’, it has been claimed.

A total of eight men are accused of raping the 18-year-old woman, according to Spanish police, who said the suspects did not know each other prior to the attack on August 14.

Civil Guard investigators discovered one of the men involved in the alleged rape knew the victim by sight and was staying in the same hotel. 

He is said to have partnered with two of the other suspects, who saw the woman drunk in a bar in the early hours and decided to buy her even more drinks with the intention of incapacitating her, investigators believe.

Those three are said to have begun the abuse, before inviting strangers in the corridor to follow them into their hotel room for ‘free sex’, according to local media.  

The girl fled a hotel room at around 5am, telling police she had woken up surrounded by young people holding mobile phones.

Six suspects – five French and one Swiss – are in jail in Palma, while two more suspects were arrested in France on Sunday and are awaiting extradition.

The spokesman said: ‘The Civil Guard has closed the investigation sparked by the alleged gang rape that took place in a hotel in Magaluf in the early hours of August 14.

‘Officers saw early on the complexity of the investigation, as the alleged aggressors didn’t form part of the same group of friends but, encouraged by other participants, had allegedly joined the group action in sporadic acts, meaning no type of relationship existed between them,’ he said.

A number of men have since been taken into custody by police, with police in France making the latest arrests after Spanish cops discovered the men had flown to Germany before crossing the border en route to the French city of Strasbourg.

The pair arrested on Sunday face extradition to Majorca, while Civil Guard officers announced yesterday their probe to identify the men involved had now concluded.

Confirming the first six suspects had been held the day of the alleged sex attack and remanded in prison, the force said in a statement: ‘The probe continued to identify the two young men whose arrests were pending.

‘Once they had been identified, officers discovered they had taken a flight to Baden-Baden in Germany so they could head to their homes in the Strasbourg area.

‘The Civil Guard sought the assistance of the French authorities through the normal channels and issued European Arrest Warrants to avoid them evading justice.

‘On Sunday, the French police confirmed they arrested one of them in the French locality of Scherwiller before subsequently confirming a second arrest at Basilea Mulhouse Freiburg Airport in France, when that suspect was trying to take a flight to Turkey to avoid detention.’

Officers initially identified three suspects by ringing the girl’s phone, which it was claimed had been stolen during the ordeal. 

The man who answered and two of his friends were then duped into heading to the hotel’s reception without realising that they were going to meet police and the girl.

The alleged victim pointed at the men – named as Anthony G, 20, Anthony A, 20, and Khalil A, 18 – and they were quickly arrested.

Two other French men, Thomas E, 23, and Romain C, 26, were reportedly arrested later at the hotel along with the Swiss man Lucas H who is aged 20.

The arrests were made after the victim described the men to police and ‘various surveillance devices’ were placed on the hotel entrances.

All six men were held on suspicion of rape and remanded in custody on Tuesday at a court hearing on the island capital Palma.

Over the weekend, it emerged the judge who refused the six suspects bail and remanded them in prison pending an ongoing criminal probe had concluded the British teenager had suffered ‘really humiliating and degrading treatment’ and described the men’s claims sex was consensual as ‘completely preposterous’.

Mobile phone footage of the alleged sex attack, seized by police on the suspects’ phones and handed over to the investigating judge, is said to have shown the men had been ‘enjoying themselves and laughing.’

On Sunday, Spanish newspaper Ultima Hora published more details of the judge’s remand ruling that it appeared to have been given full or partial access to. 

It said the suspects had allegedly ‘deliberately taken advantage’ of their alleged victim’s drunkenness to persuade her to accompany them to a hotel room before ‘surrounding her’ and ‘carrying out numerous sexual practices’ with her despite her ‘obvious lack of awareness and willing to carry out those practices.’

The criminal investigation has now been passed on to Palma’s Court of Instruction Number Two, having been dealt with by a duty court in its initial stages.

The British teenager, who gave a statement to police as well as the investigating judge in court, is said to have flown back to the UK with a female friend who was on holiday with her.

Medical reports revealed that the girl had several bruises or grip marks on her right arm, suggesting she had been held down, and a small cut on her upper chest. 

Police have already confirmed they found footage on the suspects’ mobile phones showing the alleged multiple rape that is now in the hands of the investigating judge and could form a ‘key part’ of the case.

BH Mallorca Resort, the hotel where the alleged sex attack took place, has said it is cooperating fully with police and offered its support to the unnamed holidaymaker.

A spokesman said in a statement released last Thursday: ‘The BH Mallorca Resort deeply regrets what has happened and would like to manifest its firm and forceful repudiation of the alleged sexual attack that occurred in the early hours of Monday August 14 at the hotel.

‘The hotel also wants to demonstrate its solidarity with the alleged victim of this aggression.

‘We are co-operating fully with the Civil Guard and its investigators in everything they consider to be necessary.

‘This hotel ratifies through this statement its commitment to the condemnation of all types of sexual attacks that affect peoples’ dignity and physical integrity.

‘Behaviour that undermines those rights has no place in this establishment.’

The hotel said it would be making no further comment for the time being.

A security guard at the hotel reportedly came to the rescue of the 18-year-old Brit after finding her sobbing on the floor in the lobby.

He called police after finding her around 5am on Monday, recalling how he had just come in for his morning shift and describing the police response as very quick and efficient.

Investigators have already looked at CCTV images the hotel has provided and carried out an inspection of the room where the alleged gang rape took place.

The men held and remanded in prison have not yet been charged with any crime as is normal in Spain, where formal charges are only laid shortly before trial. 

At this stage they are ‘investigados’ in an ongoing criminal probe, which means they are under formal investigation.

It is not known if the British teenager has hired her own lawyer.

The four-star adults-only BH Mallorca Resort describes itself as the ‘best accommodation option in Magaluf’ on its website.

It has its own beach club with over 100 VIP beds, a DJ booth and dance floor.

By Shania Obrien For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 22:42 EDT, 20 August 2023 | Updated: 05:15 EDT, 21 August 2023

• Tourists watched in awe as an iceberg flipped over in Svalbard, Norway
• Iceberg flipping is a rare phenomenon that takes place as a glacier breaks apart

By Lauren Haughey and Dimple Mistry For Mailonline

Published: 04:14 EDT, 20 August 2023 | Updated: 05:31 EDT, 20 August 2023

Le hangover! Two US tourists are found asleep near top of the Eiffel Tower after getting stuck inside Paris landmark overnight ‘because of how drunk they were’

• Security found men at 9am between lofty second and third floors of famed tower

By Afp

Published: 09:22 EDT, 15 August 2023 | Updated: 10:20 EDT, 15 August 2023