{"id":725,"date":"2008-12-12T12:35:04","date_gmt":"2008-12-12T19:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bspcn.com\/2008\/12\/12\/12-things-not-to-be-caught-doing-in-a-foreign-country\/"},"modified":"2008-12-12T12:48:39","modified_gmt":"2008-12-12T19:48:39","slug":"12-things-not-to-be-caught-doing-in-a-foreign-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/2008\/12\/12\/12-things-not-to-be-caught-doing-in-a-foreign-country\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Things Not to Be Caught Doing In A Foreign Country"},"content":{"rendered":"
Written by Hal Amen<\/a><\/p>\n Feature photo by _MaO_<\/a>. Photo above by Tomas flickr<\/a>.<\/p>\n You definitely don\u2019t want to be caught breaking these rules when you\u2019re a visitor.<\/p>\n We all know the old adage: \u201cWhen in Rome, do as the Romans do.\u201d<\/strong> But in some countries, it\u2019s even more important NOT to do what the Romans AREN\u2019T doing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thailand takes its monarchy very seriously, to the extent that insulting the king or royal family, verbally or otherwise, carries a high price.<\/p>\n Just ask Oliver Jufer, a 57-year-old Swiss expat who ran afoul of the l\u00e8se majest\u00e9<\/em> law when he defaced portraits of King Bhumibol Adulyadej after a few too many Beer Changs. A Thai court handed him 10 years in jail (out of a possible 75), but his sentence was later commuted by the same king he had affronted.<\/p>\n Technically, it\u2019s illegal to hold hands in public in this Emirati tourist hotspot. Try rounding all the bases, as two British beachgoers did in July of this year, and you could find yourself in court at the epicenter of a culture war.<\/p>\n Simply bringing tobacco into this tiny Himalayan country is costly\u2014you\u2019ll pay a 100% tax at customs. Smoke in public and you\u2019ll be out $225 more. But if for some reason you\u2019re caught selling tobacco products\u2026that might just land you in a Bhutanese prison on smuggling charges.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Photo by g-hat<\/a>.<\/p>\n Among the long list of legally defined no-no\u2019s in this tiny island nation\u2014littering, jaywalking, and leaving a toilet unflushed, for example\u2014is graffiti vandalism. Remember Michael Fay, the 18-year-old American who pled guilty to spray painting cars in Singapore? Then you probably also remember that he was jailed, fined, and given four strokes of the cane for his crime.<\/p>\n Iranian law makes it illegal for non-Muslim men to maintain relationships with Muslim women. (Don\u2019t get too excited, all you non-Muslim ladies out there\u2014I\u2019m sure it works the other way, too!) Though rare, arrests of Westerners on this charge are not unheard of, and it\u2019s doubtful that an Iranian jail cell would be your first choice of where to spend the next few years of your life.<\/p>\n To curb gun violence, this Central American nation has strict licensing requirements for firearms. Several tourists have been detained for allegedly violating these regulations, despite at first being led to believe they had obtained all the documents necessary to carry their gun in the country. Moral of the story: leave the weapons at home. Years-long prison terms await offenders.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n1. Disparaging the royal family in Thailand<\/h3>\n
2. Showing affection in Dubai<\/h3>\n
3. Smoking in Bhutan<\/h3>\n
4. Tagging in Singapore<\/h3>\n
5. Romancing a local in Iran<\/h3>\n
6. Carrying a firearm in El Salvador<\/h3>\n