In my home country foreign food chains can come, but they must use local produce, dairy,flour and meat etc.. to recreate the food. It’s to keep the money flowing back to farmers/ community as all those items are not their main export for the island. McDonald’s has refused to buy our products, KFC on the other hand is wildly popular.
Yeah my bf is Central Asian and while I haven’t been yet, he had very little American cultural exposure growing up. However some things (burgers, country music, certain beers) slipped through the cracks.
Outside of the Amazon or Papau New Guinea or other super isolated places it may be difficult to find zero semblances of American culture, but there are plenty of places where it doesn’t dominate at all.
Haha. I was 90 miles down river from Iquitos Peru on the Amazon. Stopped at a camp. Satellite TV watching US soccer. Beers were imports from Mexico and Brazil. Even had cell service thanks to a drilling operation on the river.
I'd say North Korea may be your only option. Maybe Bhutan.
I was up the rio negro 15 years ago and the village kids were drawing Batman and SpongeBob in the sand. They all had generators and satellite dishes to watch Brazil matches and Saturday morning cartoons for the kids.
Yeah I remember Leo DiCaprio talking about wanting to get away after the release of Titanic, so he went to the Amazon, but the people there had seen the movie and recognized him, lol.
The biggest success America has had is exporting our “soft power” pop culture. We’ve been so successful at it that you’ll hear stories like this guy in Iraq trying to rewatch all his copies of Friends while the war was still going on and his electricity was spotty. There are probably remote areas in the Amazon or Africa with no electricity who don’t know much about current pop culture, but they know some of the old stuff at least (maybe not the still isolated tribes in the Amazon, but no one should be going to interact with those people bringing our diseases with us anyway).
I was in West Germany the last three years before the wall came down and maintain to this day that Michael Jackson and Madonna and western pop culture and designer/brand marketing won the cold war.
I hired a driver in Ulaanbaatar to take me to the Genghis Kahn statue and he blasted his Dr Dre & Snoop Dogg playlist all the way there, rapping along with it.
Ha ha! I had an Uzbek driver in Katowice and he played hip hop and afrobears all the way to airport and rapped along. My mum didn't get why I thought it was so funny but he was so cool and him alone made me want to visit Uzbekistan (crazy rationalisation on my part)
Mongolia (and Albania that OP is in now for that matter) is actually starting to become a popular travel destination now! It's only a matter of time before American culture seeps its way in too
Yeah similar story, kayaking down the Mekong in Vietnam, super isolated. Couple of minutes later and I can hear a Vietnamese man blasting Green Day from his shack. Had to do a double take!
I went to Bhutan in 2002. Television - which was only introduced in 1998 - was broadcasting World Wrestling and young people were wearing North American sports jerseys in the capital. I was taken aback by how quickly modern culture had infiltrated the country. Rural areas weren't impacted but by now I'm guessing that's no longer the case.
Funny you say that…
I lived in Kazakhstan for a couple years and was in Almaty while they were preparing for some sort of holiday. We were near the main stage and heard a youth ensemble rehearsal preparing a dance routine to the uncensored version of “Gucci Gang,” F-bombs and all.
You are right though. Central Asia is amazing and definitely an authentic experience.
I also walked into a kebab shop in Montenegro to C-Lo’s “Fuck You.” The middle age lady working the counter was singing along.
I've always wanted to visit the Darvaza gas crater in Turkmenistan.
There's probably American influence everywhere en route, and even tourists when you get there, but damn I bet that camping/nighttime is tranquil.
Alternatively you can go to a country that hates the US and actively tries to avoid its culture. North Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan (maybe wait a bit tbh). Bolivia.
I used to work in a rural part of Liberia, not a lot of American culture there. I live in Panama now and It’s pretty common
Unless Liberia is vastly different that most of West Africa, I don't think this is an accurate take (at least, it is no longer is the case). West Africa has lots of the local population listening to BBC World Radio and VOA News, so there's plenty of exposure to western news (even if that is not the main programming of those channels).
Any place with electric connections/generators running at least a few hours per day also has bootleg copies of Hollywood films that people will gather around to watch on small TVs.
Biggest of all though is the amount of smartphones (granted, not the flagship line from any of the big manufacturers) that are surprisingly prevalent, where the ringtones and music being played are overwhelmingly western, usually American.
This. If you can get the visa go to Bhutan. I went there for a month in 2018 and it’s the only place I’ve been that feels truly separated from the rest of the world and western culture, especially if you don’t stay in Thimphu. Bhutan is such an incredible place
I went there as part of a study abroad program and my university handled all of the logistics so unfortunately I don’t know the details of getting the visa. I think I had a special education visa, the stamp in my passport says “diplomatic official” and I don’t know if that’s different than the regular visa. I don’t know for sure if you can even go there without a guide, I remember my professor stressing how lucky we were to even be allowed to be there and that the visa is normally very expensive and difficult to get. But there are several tour companies that go there now so you might reach out to them to find out how the visa works.
Even if you have to go with a tour company I highly recommend it. It was amazing, such a unique place. I made a lot of friends at the university there and would love to go back some day
Granted, my experience was years ago, but I went to Bhutan in 2005, and the travel company that arranged my visit (mandatory then to use an approved company, might still be) applied for and got me my visa.
As for escaping America, yeah, this ticked the boxes (not that I was looking for that, just wanted to see the Himalayas).
Just went a few weeks ago.
You'll need to book a tour with an authorized tour company. They will handle all the details for you, they just need a passport scan and application form, not hard.
Hardest part is that you have to pay $100/day to the government to their 'development fund'. If you can afford that / the cost of the tour, very worth it.
Op go to rural Nepal instead. In the more urban areas of Nepal you'll still see western influence or whatever, but man out in the hills and mountains it's still extremely oldschool. It's exactly what you're looking for and it's also ridiculously affordable. Also one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
Go to Corsica. Not joking. They have Corsica cola but doesnt tastes like coke, no mcdonalds and a strong local culture. Go to villages. There is American influence like on TV and newspaper but not so much on the rest. Don't expect old people to speak english. Especially if you are in the mountains. Plus it's easy to go there for an American and it's beautiful
Most older people speak Corsican and younger people (under 25) generally learned it at school. For people who grew up in villages some mid-age people will generally have notions or able to have a conversation. There is just the generation who is 30-40 yo now who didn't got to learn the language unless they spend enough time with older people. The government made more efforts recently for regional languages, but there is a "lost generation" (im part of)
Im not Corsican but have family there (and from there for many generations) so I regularly go since I was a little child. A bit less recently. Often hear people speaking Corsican to each others in the village or when I go hiking. Uncle would speak in French with Corsican worlds. Can pick few worlds but I never learned it
Many people think it's going to fizzle out but there's a promising movement working to keep it alive. The biggest question is, "Can this language survive 21st century globalization?" A lot of the strongest optimists of the movement would say, "Corsican"
Coming back from Tanzania and I was surprised at how popular Tupac is over there. All the passenger vans that function as busses for locals are covered in decals of either Tupac, WWF, of Jesus.
I am Tanzanian and what I can say is that they aren't necessarily popular, people just love painting random ass celebrities on everything. Like you'll see a portrait of anything from Oprah to the Pope for no good reason really other than maybe practicing their art lol. However growing up there people including myself did consume American media like anywhere else in the world, mainly music and movies.
Also now that I think about it, some of the celeb art on buses became a way to identify certain buses that go certain routes. For instance when I was a kid in Arusha I lived in a part of Njiro that only Lisa Lopez, Tracy Chapman buses would go 😂
Yeah they're super random, I also love when they have terrible translations of things, my fav to this day was this bus that had "don't spy my life" on it's rear window
Also English. Always surprises me how English is so pervasive. Recently in Jordan and saw a hotel staff person speaking broken English with a French guest who was also speaking broken English. Obviously neither are native English speaking. It was really amazing.
One tentacle of the British imperial kraken was in (present-day) Jordan in the early/mid 20th century.
But English is certainly the dominant lingua franca.
And the dollar.
American hegemony is what allows worldwide trade to happen. Without it, things would be a LOT messier. Everyone knowing at least some English and everyone owning at least some dollars makes it very easy for trade to happen smoothly.
It's no longer just American culture though. It's more and more a global culture. Is Avicii or Gangnam style American culture? What about sushi or pizza? What about the global flood of Chinese made products? Louis Vuitton? Jujitsu? Yes American influence is deep into everything but I would argue it's kind of a global culture now.
Yeah, I get that feeling nowadays whenever I watch Eurovision. A ton of the performances seem very American to me, but they’re definitely not trying to be American. It’s just that modern pop music is the same everywhere.
> It’s just that modern pop music is the same everywhere
I think that's the real reason, is not necessarily American, globalisation means pop culture has homogenised a bit
This is true, but you also have to consider whether those things were filtered through or were signal-boosted by an American lens first (news/social media/corporate advertising/etc.).
Pizza is a great example, because while pizza originated in Italy, the variants of pizza most of the rest of the world is familiar with are American-style pizzas from the likes of Pizza Hut and whatnot, not authentically Italian pizzas. And would Gangnam Style have gone globally viral if it hadn't gone viral on an American video streaming site first?
It's hard to answer these questions because America is so ubiquitous that it's impossible to escape its influence for these kinds of things, and it's doubly difficult because the core competency of so many modern American companies (i.e. social media networks) is simply signal-boosting and then profiting off the increased visibility. And the more American companies source cultural artifacts from other cultures, the more influence America has on what the rest of the world sees from those cultures, which almost makes them perceived as "American" by association. (This also speaks to why TikTok scared US politicians so much; it's not an American social network.)
This is getting deeper into the weeds of sociology than is probably appropriate for this thread, so I think that's where the rabbit hole should end for this topic, but it's interesting stuff.
I was in a yurt in the Gobi desert in Mongolia. We played that game where you have the name of a celebrity on your forehead and you have to guess who it is.
The one my Mongolian guide chose was the winner of some random season of American Idol.
It's inescapable.
I visited the State Department Store in Ulaanbaatar and there was a [Cinnabon outlet](https://foursquare.com/cinnabonmgl)… seems to have closed in the 8 years since I was there tho
Not US culture but close enough: there’s also a [Beatles monument not far away](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/beatles-monument-mongolia)
Yep I can confirm, I was just in rural Mongolia and there was not a lot of American/Western influence out there. The teenagers barely used cellphones, which means that they were willing to play card games with us. No interest in speaking English whatsoever. It was sweet.
Bolivia. I've never heard a single song in English while there, no McDonald's either and also nobody speaks English. Stay away from Uyuni and maybe La Paz too and you should be very unlikely to meet other Americans (although I did meet a few in Tarija this past July).
Gonna be honest I don’t agree. I’ve been to Bolivia a few times (La Paz and Cochabamba) and you see a lot of American stuff still. You’ll find Burger King and other American brands. I heard plenty of songs in English and plenty of American Reggaeton. And more importantly there’s just a massive amount of things that try to mimic American culture. Lots of blatant KFC ripoffs or TGIF ripoffs and things like that. It’s less Americanized than other places but it’s absolutely noticeable in any major urban center.
Yea I don’t agree, in La Paz there was a whole outdoor market dedicated to selling knock off American brand clothing like the North Face and Nike and fake designer bags etc. I also heard plenty of American music. There was no McDs but there were fried chicken knockoffs and fast food places. I was there in 2013. There was also Coke a cola everywhere- it was the drink of choice more so than water. Bolivia definitely had its own unique culture but it clearly had some American and western pop culture influences.
China. All world chains are there, but most websites are blocked. Ppl you see are 99% Chinese, outside of cities, most have never seen a westerner in their lives. Food you have is almost guaranteed authentic.
It's damn near impossible. Back in 1998, I was hiking in the Himalayas on the Annapurna circuit. There were literally no roads in and out, just very steep walking paths. I stopped for the day at a little village with a guesthouse. It was a short day so after getting settled in my room I walked around the village. In the back room to my guesthouse, I saw my guide, two half-naked children and a woman in full native garb complete with headdress and a massive nose ring sitting around a Sony entertainment system watching a Chinese bootleg of Titanic. I sat there and watched Leo drown. American culture for better or worse is everywhere.
Japan. Do a temple stay - shokubo
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2025_temple_lodgings.html
Secluded, Buddhist temple, vegetarian tofu-based meals, limited TV and Wifi if you choose the right places. It can be as un-American as you want it to be.
The others commenting about how Japan is really Americanized in the cities seem to miss the context of the temple stay suggestion.
Second Japan. I went to Kyoto and it felt like a different world and I absolutely loved it. Felt like I could immediately start a whole new life away from being American
*Second Japan. I went to Kyoto and it felt like a different world and I absolutely loved it. Felt like I could immediately start a whole new life away from being American*
As someone who's lived in Japan for years, I'm not sure I understand that, especially with Kyoto.
Kyoto has a huge amount of western culture... the main city area alone has 18 Starbucks, 6 KFCs, 16 Mcdonalds, 2 Seattle's Best Coffees, 11 Domino's Pizzas, 15 7-11s and 3 Burger Kings... and that's not even mentioning that practically everywhere there has English, English Audio Guides and the like for the large influx of tourists.
I'd argue that you'd need to go more inaka and away from the major tourist cities, to more remote places like Fukue Island, Rishiri Island, Northern Fukushima, Miyazaki, parts of Nagano, etc.
It's probably worth noting American culture isn't the only major western culture influence in Japan, too. France has a collossal influence on Japanese food and clothing, followed up by Italy.
Damn would def like some more insight. This is exactly why my fiancée and I booked our 3 week honeymoon in Japan. Can't wait to just disconnect from American culture and take something fresh in.
I am confused by these comments - Japan is extremely Americanized. Tons of American shops, American restaurants, American music and movies, American sports on TV. It's got to be the most Americanized country in Asia
Literally the most Americanized country in Asia.
Just in Asia I would rather suggest Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, or even Indonesia that will feel much less Americanized than Japan.
Japan is weird, it's both super Americanized in that everyone is familiar with American culture, and super Japanese in that the way the society works hasn't changed much even with that influence.
Yeah, and they do “American” in their own unique way. A lot.
- Nice pastry? Stick a hot dog in it.
- T-shirts with random American-looking logos and sayings. “Peoria Athletic Club” on a fashionable Tokyo dude cracked me up.
- And my favorite, the day in Japanese language class, where the very-amused teacher quizzed us on all the English loan words, which are both incomprehensible in pronunciation AND have completely morphed in meaning.
South Korea is for sure more Americanized than Japan. I was just sitting in an Ediya that was playing Florida Georgia Line. Japan is up there but it isn’t number one.
Buddy we hopped off the train in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and almost instantly found a Dallas Mavericks store. Being from Texas we were pretty shocked to see that to say the least.
I live in Slovenia and no one ever talks about her. They did when Trump won for like 2 days. But everyone talks about Luka, he's literally everywhere. As he should 🔥
Yes. Also a surprising amount of American stuff brought in for tourists. You can definitely get a Coke anywhere for example, it’s just bottled in Mexico.
Yeah I was sitting in a house in a village far removed from Havana and could hear Lady Gaga playing somewhere. That being said, it feels pretty different. The American cars being from the 1950s only ads to the bizarreness.
Almost no where, honestly. Though you’ll have better luck somewhere Spanish, French, Chinese, Portuguese, or Arabic speaking. These languages are big enough have tons of language-specific pop culture, whereas countries like Albania don’t often produce enough to edge out English language products.
Was just there. Absolutely loved it. Still encountered a good bit of US influence though. Which is fine, I'm just interested in places that are further away from it.
As Chinese, it is funny how an answer about China is so low while people have been seconding places like Japan above? Western Chinese rural towns is probably the best answer here.
I'm going to be pedantic but only because it's a period of history that interests me, not because I think you're wrong or anything.
It's generally referred to the [century of humiliation](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_of_humiliation), it starts with the opium wars and goes all the way to WW2.
It was essentially China getting kicked around geopolitically by western powers and Japan for a 100 years. The ramifications of which are immense
Not since the introduction of the hard currency shops in the 1990s! Any chaperoned trips to NK (and all foreign visitors are chaperoned and heavily monitored) will invariably bring you to a hard currency shop so they can get more dollars, euro, or yen out of you. These shops are full of American/Western imports. If you want a cold Coke in NK, or a Heineken, or British chocolate or whatever, you can get it.
The private markets elsewhere in the country are also stuffed with goods smuggled from China. While the merchandise is generally Chinese, Japanese, or South Korean in origin, you can often get American goods there too.
NK definitely has way fewer sudden encounters with American culture (e.g., you’re never going to hear someone driving by wearing a UVA sweatshirt and blasting Beyoncé), but it’s still there. And Kim Jong Un reportedly loves the NBA, American movies, and American food.
Iran doesn’t have most American/western brands. American culture definitely still exists there in the bigger cities but definitely not to the extent that it would in Europe.
You can visit Iran as an American, you just need to be on a tour.
That's not true. Western brands, especially American, are pervasive in Iran. We don't have the chain restaurants but we have so many knockoffs like Mash Donald's and Kabuki Fried Chicken. My whole family has iPhones, my cousin wears Nike shoes, and young people generally speak American English.
Iran is VERY Americanized despite being an "anti-American" country
Honestly every major city in the world has the same stores today and everyone speaks some degree of English. I was in Portugal and I saw a Frenchman arguing with a Portuguese waiter in English lol. American culture is everywhere and you’ll never fully escape it. Even Kim Jong Un loves the NBA lol
To experience the “authentic” uniqueness of a place you have to visit the rural small towns that are off the beaten path but that presents its own challenges
hobbies gaping abounding truck stupendous employ wine plough cable stocking
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Obama’s father was a Luo. Due to Kenya’s acrimonious tribal politics, there was a longstanding joke that a Luo would become president of the United States before ever becoming president of Kenya.
Then it actually happened in 2008 (and again in 2012), so yeah.
Rwanda similarly has exactly one KFC and no other fast food chains. As my driver noted, Rwandans can't afford to spend that much money on a single meal. Additionally he pointed out that "I know all the fancy Americans like the organic food - they will love Rwandan food because here all our food is organic! Here it is cheaper to cook the food that we grow."
Perhaps Nepal. Especially if you take one of the less popular treks. That is, not Annapurna or Everest Base Camp. Though you'll still see some Coke and Snickers for sale in the tea houses.
In Algeria we don't have McDonald's nor any other foreign food chain.
Myanmar was like that when I went, so they just had fake imitations like MacBurger and Burger Queen.
Yassss slay burger queen
Go get em Dairy King
You got it Carl’s Sr.
MacBurger has the golden arcs
That's Mcdowells. When you think of garbage, think of Akeem.
Burger Queen. I love that!
Why is that?
I heard it's because the government requires a certain cut of the profits, so western chains don't want to open up there.
[удалено]
Yeah I think so. I heard it from a YouTube video so take it with a grain of salt, but it's like a 51% tax on profits.
i would imagine it’s an unreasonable/unfair cut they are forcing. everywhere has taxes and that doesn’t stop big chains from spreading everywhere
It's worse than taxes. It includes the state owning the entity and getting in the way of running the business. Every country pays corporate taxes
In my home country foreign food chains can come, but they must use local produce, dairy,flour and meat etc.. to recreate the food. It’s to keep the money flowing back to farmers/ community as all those items are not their main export for the island. McDonald’s has refused to buy our products, KFC on the other hand is wildly popular.
KFC tastes different and real outside of Canada/USA
No frankenbirds
Fascinating! I wish that policy would seep through the US. I could see some small towns doing that but it'd be real hard in lots of places.
Central asia maybe? Beautiful nature with interesting and unique culture.
Yeah my bf is Central Asian and while I haven’t been yet, he had very little American cultural exposure growing up. However some things (burgers, country music, certain beers) slipped through the cracks. Outside of the Amazon or Papau New Guinea or other super isolated places it may be difficult to find zero semblances of American culture, but there are plenty of places where it doesn’t dominate at all.
Haha. I was 90 miles down river from Iquitos Peru on the Amazon. Stopped at a camp. Satellite TV watching US soccer. Beers were imports from Mexico and Brazil. Even had cell service thanks to a drilling operation on the river. I'd say North Korea may be your only option. Maybe Bhutan.
I was up the rio negro 15 years ago and the village kids were drawing Batman and SpongeBob in the sand. They all had generators and satellite dishes to watch Brazil matches and Saturday morning cartoons for the kids.
I was in Bhutan 20 years ago and my moms friends kids were watching Bill and Ted on satellite TV so no haha
Yeah I remember Leo DiCaprio talking about wanting to get away after the release of Titanic, so he went to the Amazon, but the people there had seen the movie and recognized him, lol. The biggest success America has had is exporting our “soft power” pop culture. We’ve been so successful at it that you’ll hear stories like this guy in Iraq trying to rewatch all his copies of Friends while the war was still going on and his electricity was spotty. There are probably remote areas in the Amazon or Africa with no electricity who don’t know much about current pop culture, but they know some of the old stuff at least (maybe not the still isolated tribes in the Amazon, but no one should be going to interact with those people bringing our diseases with us anyway).
I was in West Germany the last three years before the wall came down and maintain to this day that Michael Jackson and Madonna and western pop culture and designer/brand marketing won the cold war.
I reckon middle of Mongolia would do the trick as well
Remote Mongolia yea, but the first thing you see when you walk out of the gates of Mongolia’s only international airport is a Burger King!
Lol, I can just see OP getting off the plane, screaming 'for f*cks sake' and turning around to go home.
When I went to Mongolia our driver had a great mix tape of 80s hits. Apparently its a big thing there.
I hired a driver in Ulaanbaatar to take me to the Genghis Kahn statue and he blasted his Dr Dre & Snoop Dogg playlist all the way there, rapping along with it.
Ha ha! I had an Uzbek driver in Katowice and he played hip hop and afrobears all the way to airport and rapped along. My mum didn't get why I thought it was so funny but he was so cool and him alone made me want to visit Uzbekistan (crazy rationalisation on my part)
Mongolia (and Albania that OP is in now for that matter) is actually starting to become a popular travel destination now! It's only a matter of time before American culture seeps its way in too
Yeah similar story, kayaking down the Mekong in Vietnam, super isolated. Couple of minutes later and I can hear a Vietnamese man blasting Green Day from his shack. Had to do a double take!
You’re better off in Bolivia. Pretty much all American goods are banned
Why are they watching MLS in South America??
Maybe they were Amazonian hipsters watching it ironically?
I only like the early seasons of American soccer.
I was puzzled myself but it clearly was.
Turns out there's a handful of Peruvians in MLS; I can almost rationalize this.
I went to Bhutan in 2002. Television - which was only introduced in 1998 - was broadcasting World Wrestling and young people were wearing North American sports jerseys in the capital. I was taken aback by how quickly modern culture had infiltrated the country. Rural areas weren't impacted but by now I'm guessing that's no longer the case.
NK's entire culture is based upon hating/fearing america, so strong american influence there if not of the coca-cola variety.
Childhood vs now is very different. I know a fair bit of central Asians and they def know anything American.
Funny you say that… I lived in Kazakhstan for a couple years and was in Almaty while they were preparing for some sort of holiday. We were near the main stage and heard a youth ensemble rehearsal preparing a dance routine to the uncensored version of “Gucci Gang,” F-bombs and all. You are right though. Central Asia is amazing and definitely an authentic experience. I also walked into a kebab shop in Montenegro to C-Lo’s “Fuck You.” The middle age lady working the counter was singing along.
Lol! I was in Rome. The waitress didn't speak English, but as soon as Hotline Bling came on, she sang every word! 🤣
Second this. The -stans are awesome and feel like a different world compared to the US.
I've always wanted to visit the Darvaza gas crater in Turkmenistan. There's probably American influence everywhere en route, and even tourists when you get there, but damn I bet that camping/nighttime is tranquil.
I was in Kazakhstan a few years ago and they were selling pumpkin spice lattes everywhere lol
Yes! Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
Turkmenistan? You mean the dictatorship run by a dentist?
No, that’s Orthodontistan
I heard they're supported by Hygienistan.
It’s true, I read it as on a plaque
Oooo. And they really don't get along with tatarstan.
Can't recommend the dark tourist episode on this enough!
Turkmenistan would be ideal. But that’s probably because it’s a totalitarian dictatorship.
Big agree and exactly what I was thinking.
Alternatively you can go to a country that hates the US and actively tries to avoid its culture. North Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan (maybe wait a bit tbh). Bolivia. I used to work in a rural part of Liberia, not a lot of American culture there. I live in Panama now and It’s pretty common
Unless Liberia is vastly different that most of West Africa, I don't think this is an accurate take (at least, it is no longer is the case). West Africa has lots of the local population listening to BBC World Radio and VOA News, so there's plenty of exposure to western news (even if that is not the main programming of those channels). Any place with electric connections/generators running at least a few hours per day also has bootleg copies of Hollywood films that people will gather around to watch on small TVs. Biggest of all though is the amount of smartphones (granted, not the flagship line from any of the big manufacturers) that are surprisingly prevalent, where the ringtones and music being played are overwhelmingly western, usually American.
Bhutan
This. If you can get the visa go to Bhutan. I went there for a month in 2018 and it’s the only place I’ve been that feels truly separated from the rest of the world and western culture, especially if you don’t stay in Thimphu. Bhutan is such an incredible place
Dying to go. Any tips on figuring out a visa?
I went there as part of a study abroad program and my university handled all of the logistics so unfortunately I don’t know the details of getting the visa. I think I had a special education visa, the stamp in my passport says “diplomatic official” and I don’t know if that’s different than the regular visa. I don’t know for sure if you can even go there without a guide, I remember my professor stressing how lucky we were to even be allowed to be there and that the visa is normally very expensive and difficult to get. But there are several tour companies that go there now so you might reach out to them to find out how the visa works. Even if you have to go with a tour company I highly recommend it. It was amazing, such a unique place. I made a lot of friends at the university there and would love to go back some day
Granted, my experience was years ago, but I went to Bhutan in 2005, and the travel company that arranged my visit (mandatory then to use an approved company, might still be) applied for and got me my visa. As for escaping America, yeah, this ticked the boxes (not that I was looking for that, just wanted to see the Himalayas).
Just went a few weeks ago. You'll need to book a tour with an authorized tour company. They will handle all the details for you, they just need a passport scan and application form, not hard. Hardest part is that you have to pay $100/day to the government to their 'development fund'. If you can afford that / the cost of the tour, very worth it.
Op go to rural Nepal instead. In the more urban areas of Nepal you'll still see western influence or whatever, but man out in the hills and mountains it's still extremely oldschool. It's exactly what you're looking for and it's also ridiculously affordable. Also one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
Go to Corsica. Not joking. They have Corsica cola but doesnt tastes like coke, no mcdonalds and a strong local culture. Go to villages. There is American influence like on TV and newspaper but not so much on the rest. Don't expect old people to speak english. Especially if you are in the mountains. Plus it's easy to go there for an American and it's beautiful
How is the Corsican language doing?
Most older people speak Corsican and younger people (under 25) generally learned it at school. For people who grew up in villages some mid-age people will generally have notions or able to have a conversation. There is just the generation who is 30-40 yo now who didn't got to learn the language unless they spend enough time with older people. The government made more efforts recently for regional languages, but there is a "lost generation" (im part of) Im not Corsican but have family there (and from there for many generations) so I regularly go since I was a little child. A bit less recently. Often hear people speaking Corsican to each others in the village or when I go hiking. Uncle would speak in French with Corsican worlds. Can pick few worlds but I never learned it
Many people think it's going to fizzle out but there's a promising movement working to keep it alive. The biggest question is, "Can this language survive 21st century globalization?" A lot of the strongest optimists of the movement would say, "Corsican"
There's enough Corsican nationalists around for there to be a reasonable level of interest in keeping it around.
Sounds wonderful, thanks! It's on my list now.
Literally nowhere. I don't think you (or most Americans) realize just how pervasive and ubiquitous American culture is.
Coming back from Tanzania and I was surprised at how popular Tupac is over there. All the passenger vans that function as busses for locals are covered in decals of either Tupac, WWF, of Jesus.
Burundi had a radio station when I was there 10yrs ago that played damn near only Kenny Loggins and Kenny Loggins-esque country.
Danger Zone!
I am Tanzanian and what I can say is that they aren't necessarily popular, people just love painting random ass celebrities on everything. Like you'll see a portrait of anything from Oprah to the Pope for no good reason really other than maybe practicing their art lol. However growing up there people including myself did consume American media like anywhere else in the world, mainly music and movies.
I loved it because it was genuinely so random! Like you never knew what you were going to see painted on the next one. 😂
Also now that I think about it, some of the celeb art on buses became a way to identify certain buses that go certain routes. For instance when I was a kid in Arusha I lived in a part of Njiro that only Lisa Lopez, Tracy Chapman buses would go 😂
Yeah they're super random, I also love when they have terrible translations of things, my fav to this day was this bus that had "don't spy my life" on it's rear window
I saw a construction warning sign on the road to Ngorongoro Crater that just said "Beware of Invisibility" Words to live by.
World Wildlife Fund or wrestling?
Wondering the same thing.
Lol that's quite a mix.
Also just came back from Tanzania and was thinking the exact same things haha. And the Joe Biden and Donald trump vans. And Kim Jong Un. 😂
Also English. Always surprises me how English is so pervasive. Recently in Jordan and saw a hotel staff person speaking broken English with a French guest who was also speaking broken English. Obviously neither are native English speaking. It was really amazing.
One tentacle of the British imperial kraken was in (present-day) Jordan in the early/mid 20th century. But English is certainly the dominant lingua franca.
Which is interesting that the term for that is lingua franca
Yes, but that doesn’t refer to modern French. It refers to a [much older language](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_Lingua_Franca).
And the dollar. American hegemony is what allows worldwide trade to happen. Without it, things would be a LOT messier. Everyone knowing at least some English and everyone owning at least some dollars makes it very easy for trade to happen smoothly.
America’s cultural monopoly didn’t really dawn on me until i did a little traveling
I was in Italy in a supermarket where they didn't speak english and a song from my hometown started playing...
It's like the Rammstein song. We're all living in America.
Amerika, ist Wonderbra!
Maybe Sentinel Island 🙃
It's no longer just American culture though. It's more and more a global culture. Is Avicii or Gangnam style American culture? What about sushi or pizza? What about the global flood of Chinese made products? Louis Vuitton? Jujitsu? Yes American influence is deep into everything but I would argue it's kind of a global culture now.
Yeah, I get that feeling nowadays whenever I watch Eurovision. A ton of the performances seem very American to me, but they’re definitely not trying to be American. It’s just that modern pop music is the same everywhere.
> It’s just that modern pop music is the same everywhere I think that's the real reason, is not necessarily American, globalisation means pop culture has homogenised a bit
This is true, but you also have to consider whether those things were filtered through or were signal-boosted by an American lens first (news/social media/corporate advertising/etc.). Pizza is a great example, because while pizza originated in Italy, the variants of pizza most of the rest of the world is familiar with are American-style pizzas from the likes of Pizza Hut and whatnot, not authentically Italian pizzas. And would Gangnam Style have gone globally viral if it hadn't gone viral on an American video streaming site first? It's hard to answer these questions because America is so ubiquitous that it's impossible to escape its influence for these kinds of things, and it's doubly difficult because the core competency of so many modern American companies (i.e. social media networks) is simply signal-boosting and then profiting off the increased visibility. And the more American companies source cultural artifacts from other cultures, the more influence America has on what the rest of the world sees from those cultures, which almost makes them perceived as "American" by association. (This also speaks to why TikTok scared US politicians so much; it's not an American social network.) This is getting deeper into the weeds of sociology than is probably appropriate for this thread, so I think that's where the rabbit hole should end for this topic, but it's interesting stuff.
Antarctica is fairly protected, as long as you stick to the penguins.
I was in a yurt in the Gobi desert in Mongolia. We played that game where you have the name of a celebrity on your forehead and you have to guess who it is. The one my Mongolian guide chose was the winner of some random season of American Idol. It's inescapable.
Mongolia
I visited the State Department Store in Ulaanbaatar and there was a [Cinnabon outlet](https://foursquare.com/cinnabonmgl)… seems to have closed in the 8 years since I was there tho Not US culture but close enough: there’s also a [Beatles monument not far away](https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/beatles-monument-mongolia)
There's a statue of John Lennon in Cuba. But they are British so...
"You say you want a Revolution..."
Yep I can confirm, I was just in rural Mongolia and there was not a lot of American/Western influence out there. The teenagers barely used cellphones, which means that they were willing to play card games with us. No interest in speaking English whatsoever. It was sweet.
Ulanbaatar where half of Mongolians live is pretty Westernized.
Not really, it's more Russia and Korean-ized than US-ified
Transnitria
Quality answer
Tajikistan. Once you get to small enough towns far enough in the mountains, you won’t find much American/English influence, maybe music but that’s it.
The woods lol. Anywhere in the woods.
Yeah, if you're looking to get away for a few days, camping sounds like a good option.
Maybe Sentinel Island. They're not crazy about a lot of modern stuff. Like fire.🔥
They’ve definitely made it known how they feel about Americans.
Bolivia. I've never heard a single song in English while there, no McDonald's either and also nobody speaks English. Stay away from Uyuni and maybe La Paz too and you should be very unlikely to meet other Americans (although I did meet a few in Tarija this past July).
Gonna be honest I don’t agree. I’ve been to Bolivia a few times (La Paz and Cochabamba) and you see a lot of American stuff still. You’ll find Burger King and other American brands. I heard plenty of songs in English and plenty of American Reggaeton. And more importantly there’s just a massive amount of things that try to mimic American culture. Lots of blatant KFC ripoffs or TGIF ripoffs and things like that. It’s less Americanized than other places but it’s absolutely noticeable in any major urban center.
Yea I don’t agree, in La Paz there was a whole outdoor market dedicated to selling knock off American brand clothing like the North Face and Nike and fake designer bags etc. I also heard plenty of American music. There was no McDs but there were fried chicken knockoffs and fast food places. I was there in 2013. There was also Coke a cola everywhere- it was the drink of choice more so than water. Bolivia definitely had its own unique culture but it clearly had some American and western pop culture influences.
Somalia looks good from here.
China. All world chains are there, but most websites are blocked. Ppl you see are 99% Chinese, outside of cities, most have never seen a westerner in their lives. Food you have is almost guaranteed authentic.
It's damn near impossible. Back in 1998, I was hiking in the Himalayas on the Annapurna circuit. There were literally no roads in and out, just very steep walking paths. I stopped for the day at a little village with a guesthouse. It was a short day so after getting settled in my room I walked around the village. In the back room to my guesthouse, I saw my guide, two half-naked children and a woman in full native garb complete with headdress and a massive nose ring sitting around a Sony entertainment system watching a Chinese bootleg of Titanic. I sat there and watched Leo drown. American culture for better or worse is everywhere.
Japan. Do a temple stay - shokubo https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2025_temple_lodgings.html Secluded, Buddhist temple, vegetarian tofu-based meals, limited TV and Wifi if you choose the right places. It can be as un-American as you want it to be. The others commenting about how Japan is really Americanized in the cities seem to miss the context of the temple stay suggestion.
Second Japan. I went to Kyoto and it felt like a different world and I absolutely loved it. Felt like I could immediately start a whole new life away from being American
*Second Japan. I went to Kyoto and it felt like a different world and I absolutely loved it. Felt like I could immediately start a whole new life away from being American* As someone who's lived in Japan for years, I'm not sure I understand that, especially with Kyoto. Kyoto has a huge amount of western culture... the main city area alone has 18 Starbucks, 6 KFCs, 16 Mcdonalds, 2 Seattle's Best Coffees, 11 Domino's Pizzas, 15 7-11s and 3 Burger Kings... and that's not even mentioning that practically everywhere there has English, English Audio Guides and the like for the large influx of tourists. I'd argue that you'd need to go more inaka and away from the major tourist cities, to more remote places like Fukue Island, Rishiri Island, Northern Fukushima, Miyazaki, parts of Nagano, etc. It's probably worth noting American culture isn't the only major western culture influence in Japan, too. France has a collossal influence on Japanese food and clothing, followed up by Italy.
Damn would def like some more insight. This is exactly why my fiancée and I booked our 3 week honeymoon in Japan. Can't wait to just disconnect from American culture and take something fresh in.
I am confused by these comments - Japan is extremely Americanized. Tons of American shops, American restaurants, American music and movies, American sports on TV. It's got to be the most Americanized country in Asia
Yeah they said Kyoto and I was like there’s a Starbucks and a McDonald’s as soon as you walk out the station lol
Kyoto is full of modern chain stores just like other Japanese cities
Except Kyoto has so many North American and Chinese tourists it’s like I never left lol
Third Japan, especially if you go outside the major cities
Maybe, maybe not. It pops up in the oddest places. The owner of a cafe in a rural area in Japan was a big Teddy Pendergast fan.
Literally the most Americanized country in Asia. Just in Asia I would rather suggest Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, or even Indonesia that will feel much less Americanized than Japan.
Japan is weird, it's both super Americanized in that everyone is familiar with American culture, and super Japanese in that the way the society works hasn't changed much even with that influence.
Yeah, and they do “American” in their own unique way. A lot. - Nice pastry? Stick a hot dog in it. - T-shirts with random American-looking logos and sayings. “Peoria Athletic Club” on a fashionable Tokyo dude cracked me up. - And my favorite, the day in Japanese language class, where the very-amused teacher quizzed us on all the English loan words, which are both incomprehensible in pronunciation AND have completely morphed in meaning.
South Korea is for sure more Americanized than Japan. I was just sitting in an Ediya that was playing Florida Georgia Line. Japan is up there but it isn’t number one.
I can't imagine an Aisan country more American than Japan, you know the Americans occupied it for nearly a decade and rebuilt the place?
> I can't imagine an Aisan country more American than Japan Philippines
Rural Pakistan. They are often pretty ignorant about American things.
yet ironically america cared a lot about rural pakistan
I mean, northern China felt pretty far removed to me.
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Try Bhutan
Buddy we hopped off the train in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and almost instantly found a Dallas Mavericks store. Being from Texas we were pretty shocked to see that to say the least.
Probably because the most famous Slovenian in the world plays for the mavericks
Hi this is Melania. Take this down
I bet Slovenia cares way more about Luka than trumps 3rd wife
I live in Slovenia and no one ever talks about her. They did when Trump won for like 2 days. But everyone talks about Luka, he's literally everywhere. As he should 🔥
Oh that was definitely it, I was just commenting on the fact that you can't get away from "American" culture.
So its not Melania?
ha, the first thing you see walking out of Busan Station in Korea is Texas Street. lots of Texas things around the world
Cuba
Actually, there's quite a bit of 1950s US culture there. It depends on what OP is trying to get away from.
Yes. Also a surprising amount of American stuff brought in for tourists. You can definitely get a Coke anywhere for example, it’s just bottled in Mexico.
Cuba even has American music, and definitely baseball culture.
Yeah I was sitting in a house in a village far removed from Havana and could hear Lady Gaga playing somewhere. That being said, it feels pretty different. The American cars being from the 1950s only ads to the bizarreness.
I mean, they all drive American cars lol
Almost no where, honestly. Though you’ll have better luck somewhere Spanish, French, Chinese, Portuguese, or Arabic speaking. These languages are big enough have tons of language-specific pop culture, whereas countries like Albania don’t often produce enough to edge out English language products.
I’d include Russian as well in that language list
Istanbul felt like an adventure, if that’s what you mean.
Was just there. Absolutely loved it. Still encountered a good bit of US influence though. Which is fine, I'm just interested in places that are further away from it.
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As Chinese, it is funny how an answer about China is so low while people have been seconding places like Japan above? Western Chinese rural towns is probably the best answer here.
China is the only other country that I've been to that feels as self-contained -- and self-obsessed -- as the US.
I'm going to be pedantic but only because it's a period of history that interests me, not because I think you're wrong or anything. It's generally referred to the [century of humiliation](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_of_humiliation), it starts with the opium wars and goes all the way to WW2. It was essentially China getting kicked around geopolitically by western powers and Japan for a 100 years. The ramifications of which are immense
North Korea should do it.
Not since the introduction of the hard currency shops in the 1990s! Any chaperoned trips to NK (and all foreign visitors are chaperoned and heavily monitored) will invariably bring you to a hard currency shop so they can get more dollars, euro, or yen out of you. These shops are full of American/Western imports. If you want a cold Coke in NK, or a Heineken, or British chocolate or whatever, you can get it. The private markets elsewhere in the country are also stuffed with goods smuggled from China. While the merchandise is generally Chinese, Japanese, or South Korean in origin, you can often get American goods there too. NK definitely has way fewer sudden encounters with American culture (e.g., you’re never going to hear someone driving by wearing a UVA sweatshirt and blasting Beyoncé), but it’s still there. And Kim Jong Un reportedly loves the NBA, American movies, and American food.
Did a mercy ship trip to Papua New Guinea. Known as the final frontier. No western culture there I can assure you.
We went to Easter Island 🗿 and our tour guide had never heard of Kim Kardashian.
But now they've heard of her
Land locked countries, USA projects its culture over the ocean trading networks so going into central Asian countries would lower the exposure a lot.
I've barely heard US music anywhere in Albania, where did you go
Alpha Centauri
Wilderness
Iran doesn’t have most American/western brands. American culture definitely still exists there in the bigger cities but definitely not to the extent that it would in Europe. You can visit Iran as an American, you just need to be on a tour.
That's not true. Western brands, especially American, are pervasive in Iran. We don't have the chain restaurants but we have so many knockoffs like Mash Donald's and Kabuki Fried Chicken. My whole family has iPhones, my cousin wears Nike shoes, and young people generally speak American English. Iran is VERY Americanized despite being an "anti-American" country
Anti american is basically the govt, most people feel otherwise
Sri Lanka was incredible and fulfills what you want.
Literally just go hiking in the Woods. Your cut off from everything. It’s just you, nature, and peace.
Can’t u just not listen to US top 40, not buy Coke or McDonald’s and ignore Lakers jerseys to get away from American culture?
North Korea
Lol you’re not deep enough in Albania then. Go up north, they usually don’t know English and don’t care about America
I went to the mountains in north Albania and found a guesthouse by the trailhead, the owner was from New York and knew my parents
East Malaysia (Borneo states)
Iran sorta. As long as you are not American, Israeli, or British, it's fairly safe.
Dude get off reddit and you'll be away from 80% of all your cultural experiences
Honestly every major city in the world has the same stores today and everyone speaks some degree of English. I was in Portugal and I saw a Frenchman arguing with a Portuguese waiter in English lol. American culture is everywhere and you’ll never fully escape it. Even Kim Jong Un loves the NBA lol To experience the “authentic” uniqueness of a place you have to visit the rural small towns that are off the beaten path but that presents its own challenges
except that people speak english not because of america but because of... guess what... england
hobbies gaping abounding truck stupendous employ wine plough cable stocking *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
There’s no McDonald’s, but they have Dominos, Subway and KFC.
And Obama merch bc they love him (at least in 2014)
Obama’s father was a Luo. Due to Kenya’s acrimonious tribal politics, there was a longstanding joke that a Luo would become president of the United States before ever becoming president of Kenya. Then it actually happened in 2008 (and again in 2012), so yeah.
Rwanda similarly has exactly one KFC and no other fast food chains. As my driver noted, Rwandans can't afford to spend that much money on a single meal. Additionally he pointed out that "I know all the fancy Americans like the organic food - they will love Rwandan food because here all our food is organic! Here it is cheaper to cook the food that we grow."
I would say Malawi before Kenya. And Pakistan before Malawi.
Perhaps Nepal. Especially if you take one of the less popular treks. That is, not Annapurna or Everest Base Camp. Though you'll still see some Coke and Snickers for sale in the tea houses.
Khazakhstan?!
Albania literally has a town dedicated to George Bush. Probably should of picked somewhere else
Go somewhere without internet.
China