The Milk Bar

There is a bad baaaad habit that I am surrounded by everyday here in Palembang. Spitting. A person gets out of his car, SPIT. Hops on his bike, SPIT. Exits the department store, SPIT. Wash their hands, SPIT. It is everywhere, all the time. Sometimes when we're stopped at the traffic lights, I look left to see the guy on his bike spit and then look right to see the guy in the next car wind his window down to do the same thing.

All the obvious spitting is done by the men. They are ALL (and I do mean 100%) smokers here and perhaps that contributes to the habit. I don't know. The slightly less obvious, but still very visible, spitting is done by women. They spit as frequently as the men. And its acceptable. I don't understand it and I don't really want to ask anybody about it.

Its not that I'm unaccustomed to spitting because Malaysia is also a country where there is a lot of spitting going on but its just not as frequent. I've grown deaf to the sounds of it over here in Palembang but every so often, like today, I'm reminded by it when I feel that my foot was narrowly missed! Just another aspect of the life we're experiencing here I guess.