Cultural disconnects

I've been reading a bit about common cultural disconnects for Americans in Cambodia.  I found several quite funny.

Imagine a total stranger telling you the following -

"You're really fat!"  "You have a huge nose!" "You're really white!"

What we have here is a classic case of the grass is greener on the other side of the hill.  In Cambodia, if you're fat, it means you can afford to buy lots of food and must be rich.  Money and status mean everything here, so being fat is basically a status symbol. 

I think the nose and skin thing are simply cases of wanting what we don't have.  Think of the Americans who spend huge amounts of money to have their nose slimmed down or skin tanned.  Here, the opposite is seen as beautiful.  The women at Tuol Tom Pong market are always trying to sell people like me dark colored shirts.  Why?  It emphasizes my "beautiful" white skin.  When I was younger, I was insanely jealous of people who could tan.  Go figure.

Another cultural bit I like - if nature calls, you can go anywhere you want.  Next to a bush, on the side of a building, anywhere!  No one cares.  Women even do this - they just wrap a towel around the waist, squat, and "ahhh - relief!"