Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Having just returned from Tokyo, I spotted some odd things. What have you experienced that is weird when you have been on your holidays??

1. It is not socially acceptable to blow your nose in public, but fine for men to pick it whilst on the underground, then flick or wipe it on the seats.

2. Smoking whilst walking along the pavements is forbidden. There are corners where everyone stops to smoke.

3. Still on smoking, many people still do, and so eating out is horrible- pack febreeze to get rid of the smell on your coats, and a spray for your hair if you can't get to a shower.

4. People queue around the block (and crowds are controlled by policemen) to buy hot popcorn.

5. Toilets are a mystery- they are electric, or a hole in the ground. Some are heated which is weird the first time you sit on them, and some make a flushing sound when you sit down, which is also disconcerting. You can wash your front bits, bum and have a blow dry in the more advanced ones. Some will flush automatically, and some have a hidden flush handle down near the floor, which always seems to be in a different place.

6. Still on toilets, take a hanky or small towel with you as about 60% of loos do not have anything to dry your hands on after you wash them.

7. Tokyo has very few litter bins. Take a small plastic bag to put your bits of rubbish in.

8. Shop assistants in female fashion departments look like little dolls.

9. Stores contain lots of little shops inside the building -each shop assistant calls out a welcome in a high nasal voice (like a child) which is charming at first, but when you have 10 stalls in one small area it gets incredibly noisy.

10. If you are on a gluten free diet, do not take the coeliac society card that is in Japanese- it scares the restaurants so much that they all refuse to let you in.
Live on boiled rice, miso soup, and egg. You can also try the restaurants that have a built in barbecue on each table so you can get thin sliced meat and cook it yourself, or have sashimi (raw fish).

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

How interesting! I'd love to go there.

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

There are some amazing places- I loved the Imperial Palace Gardens and the Meji Shrine was impressive. Might have been even better if it wasn't so cold and wet. Tip- don't go in December, though the Christmas lights are also interesting.

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Sounds great - if cold.

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Great feed back Caroline... On my wish list thats for sure.

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Japanese toilets are awesome...I want one!

The one we had in Seoul recently was even remote controlled...can't quite work out the point of that!?

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Cool! Thanks for sharing. :thumbup:

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

I once saw a man in a butchers shop cooking blood until it congealed and then adding a bit of meat, fat, suet, bread, and oatmeal into it. He then sold the result to some, apparently very eager, folks, who devoured it with gusto.


It was in Bury, Lancs. I think he called it a black pudding. :)

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Yes, my OH and DD love the stuff. Me, well it just makes me feel a bit...:sick:
(I have a genuine excuse for not eating them now, as they contain gluten.)

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Tokyo is awesome - my new favourite Asian city after Hong Kong

To add to the list:
The art gallery at the top of the Roppongi Hills building. You can go up to the helicopter pad on the roof for an amazing vista of Tokyo
Spring is the best time to visit
Odiaba Island in Tokyo Bay. A man-made island with so much to see and do - Toyota Megaweb car showroom, museum, theme park, Sega Joyopolis - insane indoor theme park, Panasonic technology centre, 18m tall Gundam robot statue
The Itoya stationery store in Ginza - nothing like it anywhere else on the planet
The Tamiya hobby store in Shimbashi - release your inner child
The electronic/electrical/tech/tool stores around Akihabara station. My son loved the capsule vending machine store there
Vending machines selling everything
The incredibly polite, efficient, professional customer service attitude everywhere you go
Japanese women (especially the young) can be incredibly shy and conservative, yet many dress like total sluts. Great to look at though. Young Japanese women are marketed in an incredibly sexualised way that would be unacceptable in the west
Everyone bows
The mentalness of Shinjuku
The food - especially Okonomiyaki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okonomiyaki
Great beer
Saki
Efficiency of everything

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

I'd second a lot of that- especially the stationery store: I bought lots of things, and they giftwrapped them all- even down to the postcards!!

Shinjuku wasn't mental when we went- probably because it was sleety rain and not a weekend. Far more mental was standing outside the Tokyo Dome in more freezing rain and dark, whilst DD went all fangirl because BigBang were in concert there and she could hear them. (Her favourite K-pop group.) We had to take lots of pics of her cuddling up to the posters. She was very disappointed that we hadn't got her a ticket, and this was as close to her idols as she could get.

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

You sit down on the loo? I thought all women hover?
:-)

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

No mate, its Hoover. All women Hoover. ;)

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... until the knees give out due to age. Then it is bum up and aim or sit and hope for the best.

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

yes of course the old knee trembler!!

another approach is to rest one cheek and limit the exposure to a preferred side...

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Tokyo again -

Automatic door opening in taxis
White gloves worn by all officials
Incomprehensible shoe sizes
Amazing fashion sense of young girls

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

And more....if you are over 5 feet 4, the hanging strap handles in the underground trains will hit the top of your head. If you are 5 feet 7, as my OH is, then they will clonk you in the eye. OH felt tall whilst he was there!!

If you are 6 feet or more, beware sections of the underpasses down to the stations as they can be less than that high.

The tiny bathroom in our hotel was a capsule: pre-built and slotted into place. The shower was in the bath, but a 6 foot person would have to bend to avoid jamming their head on the ceiling.

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

do people speak Engrish?

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Yes, and they write it too: we had labels on the food at the hotel- "cornfrakes" and "hot cock" (steamed chicken):rofl:

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hot cock? St Peter must be furious.

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Oh blimey, you should come to Penang. There's a dish here called Yong tau foo. basically you choose from lots of little dishes what goes in, then a hot broth goes on top. I saw one dish that looked like congealed blood lumps :( and, foolishly, thought it would be like black pudding. Ehrm....it wasn't. :sick:

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

think I am getting old and set in my ways because I just can't stand the thought of travelling anywhere like that. Give me a tent, a beach, a book and a bottle of wine and I am a happy person.

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Sounds amazing - I'd love to go.

I think I'd like to do 3 days there then do NBs ides of beach, book and wine! :D

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Give me a hotel, a white sand beach, pool and cocktails and I'm a happy woman- don't do camping after disastrous one as a Girl Guide:put me off for life, and with MS I need aircon! (Last night was horridly sticky- lack of sleep on top of jetlag and incredibly itchy this morning.)

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Its too easy to pick on food as a radical difference when travelling - but its the other little cultural things that intrigue me.

- In Manila I recall sitting in a very busy McDonalds (yeah yeah - but occasionally wherever you are in the world one needs a BigMac!) watching the security guard at the end of the counter standing there clutching a machine gun whilst looking out over the patrons. He was a very stern looking gentleman and not someone you'd want to mess with. 2 minutes later the chip frier behind him started beeping... and beeping... and beeping..... Clearly the service staff were too busy to give the machine attention, so the guard put the machine gun down on the front counter, turned around and attended to the fries for a a couple of minutes (including tipping them out and sprinkling with salt) before turning back to the counter and re-assuming his position complete with finger on machine gun trigger!

Also in Manila I recall being locked in to the bank - we went in to cash some travellers cheques (this was a looong time ago when they made sense) as soon as we walked in, they closed the doors, locked them and placed a big steel girder across the door (think medieval castle style door barricade). It then took us well over 45 minutes and involved at least 6 different staff members checking, signing, countersigning etc etc a whole bunch of paperwork before they handed over the couple of hundred $$ worth of cash we were after and then unlocking the doors and letting us out again! (Thank god for global ATM networks now!)

- In Malawi my wife and I sat in a bar having a quiet beer and were joined by a couple of locals. We had a good chat and they were nice guys and we enjoyed talking about our different lifestyles and environments. A couple of beers later I was offered a number of cows in exchange for my wife! (damn - what a lost opportunity! I could have had COWS!!! :rofl:)

....I'm sure there's plenty of other odd things I could comment on too but if I start I'll end up posting an entire travel novel - so I'll spare you all!

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Visiting family vacationing in Qld told us their motel accomodation checkin was done by the local police...as the owner was away...

When in the third world, I love overpaying the locals for their goods. Some westeners like to haggle but I would prefer to give them a week's wages if it's not too much trouble..we can help each other.

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They've installed them posh bogs on rockO foreshore.... Plays muzac when you pee, no soap dispenser...it just squirts into yer hands when you wave them underneath the thingy...no taps, same deal...and a blade dryer that makes yer hands wobble....

Cool:thumbsup:

Only what isn't cool is the door automatically opening after ten minutes...especially after he has taken Viagra :blink:

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

SNORT!

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

3 things I noticed yesterday here in Sydney
1) a policeman driving a van in a Santa outfit :ohmy:
2) a small pile of snow outside a shop in Oxford Street:blink:
3) independently operating traffic lights for BICYCLES ! WTF ! :huh:

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Added to list
Fit young 20 something bird running across George street at lunchtime with mates to catch a taxi when all of a sudden 2 the biggest cajungas you could wish to see unexpectedly break free from her bikini top much to the amusement of the nearby crowds as she's scooping them back in rather quickly:thumbsup:
Merry Christmas indeed ! :)

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Does anyone else find it weird that refuse collectors work over the holiday period? I've just put the bins out, and it is Christmas Day!!:blink:

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Ours had the day off and collected on Christmas Eve instead.

It's weird though, we had a slip of paper through in the mailbox, almost apologising for the inconvenience of having our bins collected A WHOLE DAY EARLY just so the garbos could have the day off.

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Oh, just noticed what time you posted, you must have been putting your bins out for today, Boxing Day?

Yeah, it's totally bizarre!

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

What???

Re: Weird things observed while travelling.
 

Just checked out the BBC pics of what happens at midnight on NYE. Auckland- fireworks, Sydney- fireworks, Hong Kong- fireworks.


Japan, middle aged fat guys in loincloths beating the hell out of an innocent mochi with a stick.

Russia, no fireworks, lots of miserable police and one small paper balloon with a fire lit under it.:blink: