Tokyo again -

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

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.

do people speak Engrish?

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

hot cock? St Peter must be furious.

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.

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.

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!

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 Guideut 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.)

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!!! )

....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!

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.

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

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

SNORT!

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

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
Merry Christmas indeed !