Additional culture talk...

Speaking of culture. I've got an example of when things just don't combine well. Bengali's have worldwide renown for being the worst people as far as airplane etiquette. I've heard over and over that flights to and from Dhaka are considered the worst flight assignment a steward or stewardess could get. I was reminded of this when I flew back from Malaysia. As soon as you get to your boarding gate you are reminded that you are returning to Bangladesh by the fact that all the Bengali's are pushing and shoving to get to the front of the line. This is regardless of whether there is significance to being at the front of the line. They just seem to want to be there. We sat in our boarding area for about 20 minutes and a group of Bengali's stood the entire time at the door waiting to be allowed to get on a plane that they already had assigned seat for.

When we got on the plane there were all sorts of guys (oh and just for the record, you hardly ever see a woman on any of these flights) playing with cell phones and cameras despite the fact that they've been told to turn them off. While we were in the air the smoke alarm kept going off because people kept trying to smoke in the bathrooms. Finally, after about 5-6 times of this occurring, a Bengali man got up and really spelled it out clearly for them which seemed to mostly fix the problem. My favorites though were as we were landing. On our decent the guy across the aisle from us was trying to make phone calls and another guy about 4 rows ahead of us was literally standing up, leaning over his neighbor, looking out the window. I think he did manage to sit down before we actually hit the ground but I was just amazed at the fact that he was doing that. As we hit the tarmac there was the typical clicking of seat-belts coming unlatched immediately. Then about a half-a-dozen men stood up and tried getting their carry on luggage while we were still half a mile from the terminal. I was sitting in the middle seat and the guy on the window seat tried being one of these people, but I told him to sit down and refused to let him get past me. I didn't go to the bathroom during this flight but I've heard that is quite the experience on any of these flights as Bengali airplane bathroom etiquette is the worst of the worst. I might have to go on the way back from the states just to have a story to share myself.