Not to stir the forum, but cleaning and hygiene are cultural aspects that definitely could have a foreigner raise a brow and it is time we discuss this.
What struck you most?
Me: people seem to take personal hygiene very seriously, they often smell like they have showered 5 minutes ago, women often wear fruity perfume in abundance.
However, there is a lot of people sitting on the sidewalks or bus or train cars -- children, adults, teenagers, youngsters, elders. This somehow clashes with the first part of this paragraph, to my eyes.
People wearing flip-flops seem not to care if they are walking among garbage. I expected people walking almost barefoot to be more concerned about the cleanliness of the curb, but it looks like it is the opposite, indeed!
