It's not ever a surprise that rules differ abroad, it's that rules can be surprisingly backwards i.e. they make the lives of people doing day to day things hard

It's not ever a surprise that rules differ abroad, it's that rules can be surprisingly backwards i.e. they make the lives of people doing day to day things harder. That's when people remark on rules (and sometimes in the positive when things are easier than they're used to, but your example is not that).