Indosyncrasies

wombat

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Hi all,

Indosyncrasies is a term I coined for idiosyncrasies that exist here in Indonesian, those we found funny, odd or even downright bizzare.
Please list those that you yourself have found here.

I started with one:

1. When the driver in the car that is about to cut into your driving path on the road flashes his/her headlight, it means "get out of the way, I have the right of way". In Australia, it means the opposite - as a courtesy for you to go first "please you go ahead first". This could be dangerous to those us expats who misinterpret the meaning.

2. ...
 
Street name board are placed perpendicularly (not along) towards its street. My husband got lost a lot. :D
 
it means the opposite - as a courtesy for you to go first "please you go ahead first". This could be dangerous to those us expats who misinterpret the meaning.

2. ...

or dangerous to those of us who get used to using it, then do it again when visiting Australia....
 
Beating a 100mile radius around the bush instead of saying yeah or nope.
 
Not having a street name or number! Trying to explain to delivery drivers etc. As for postal address pffttt.
 
Leaving open the house to the mid-day heat, and then tightly shuttering the windows and pulling the drapes about the time a cooling breeze comes calling at sundown.
 
Leaving open the house to the mid-day heat, and then tightly shuttering the windows and pulling the drapes about the time a cooling breeze comes calling at sundown.

AND if you ask why they do that and try to explain that the breeze is cooler. Usually you get an irrelevant answer "Sudah malem ya jendela harus ditutup"

Although at my wife's house....for some reasons there are lots of mosquito outside at night.
 
I was always taught to walk against the traffic, not with it. But where I live, even on narrow roads with blind curves, everyone walks with the traffic. I want to see what is coming but the explanation I receive is that if you walk against the traffic, the driver can become hypnotized by looking in your eyes and drive into you.
 
wearing thick leather jackets when riding motorcyle in the heat of the day. Prevents "masuk angin" is the explanation. What the...?
 
wearing thick leather jackets when riding motorcyle in the heat of the day. Prevents "masuk angin" is the explanation. What the...?

I wear a jacket on the 'bike too, but I wear it to keep the heat out - funnily enough it does work- unless sat in macet for any length of time , in that case it is like being slow roasted.
 
wearing thick leather jackets when riding motorcyle in the heat of the day. Prevents "masuk angin" is the explanation. What the...?

Wearing them backwards. Best ones are with fur like collars.
 
Hijab, shirt, and leggings leaving nothing to the imagination. Evidently, pantie lines has not been declaired a fashion no no yet like in Western Nations.
 
It's pissing down rain so I won't turn on my headlights, but I'll damn sure turn on the emergency blinkers. :-D
 
It's pissing down rain so I won't turn on my headlights, but I'll damn sure turn on the emergency blinkers. :-D

Go around a bend and turn on your turn signal. Complete bend, turn off your turn signal.
 
stop to ask directions, much gesticulating, a few more join in to what resembles a vaudevillian 5 minute recitation of war & peace, the good wife returns & says "2nd on the left after the next set of lights.
 
Aftermarket mufflers without baffles or straight pipes on dinky motor bikes -- do the riders really think that the chainsaw-like high pitch whine is impressive, macho?
 
Horn blaring mobil speeding past everyone only to be held up at the next 17 sets of lights only to beep beep when the green is 7 seconds to go.
 
Ensuring fevers escalate to seizures from the heaping pile of blankets ...
 

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