Today's sights and sounds... and smells! :O

On my way to Hong Kong (and back)...

-Buddhist monk in Timberland-ish sandals and toe socks :D

-I sat by the most adorable little Japanese kid; his mom is Korean and doesn't speak any English; his dad is Japanese and wasn't on the flight; I sat down and saw he was struggling with the headphone set, so I pulled mine out, took off the package, put it neatly away, and he copied that... uncoiled the wire, he copied that, too... plugged it in, ditto... and it went on from there... he's 6... I managed to get that out of his mom, with fingers and sign language between us... :D before take-off, he was restless as no movies were playing and his mom was filling out forms, so I gave him my pen and scrap of paper, which kept him thoroughly entertained and mom was all surprised and happy... which led into our non-communicating-communication... he was actually quite a brilliant little kid... he figured out how to make everything work by mimicking me, including eventually getting his movie on, though I had to show him where the Japanese option was... very visual, but then also very auditory... because his mom managed to get me to understand that she was wondering how you say "dragon" (by pointing to it in the movie), so I said it, she repeated and he listened to me, then corrected her "dlagone" with a "dragon", proper American "dr" sound and all, haha... could be precocious, I guess, but I loved it; great interaction!

-"No stowage", technically correct, I guess, but it just sounds wrong :D ("Anybody want a peanut?")

-First non-Asian stewardess I've seen on an Asian flight! I guess she could've been Indian, though, which would still be generally the same area, but still, very different ethnicity from the usual

-Noticed a lot more Chinese-guy-with-Western-girl type ads in Hong Kong than you see in Taiwan... at least, the Danshui part of Taiwan... :)

-Our country suffers from bad breath; I'm sorry, but it's true; my next project will be "dental hygiene and education"; seriously!; how can such offensive smells travel a couple meters and emanating even from some technically "lovely" (yes, we know how it's all done) females; in Turkey, it would've been "take this deodorant, pleeease!"

-Some loud, angry American dood with his Asian girlfriend: “I didn’t hang up on you! You hung up on yourself!” she continues to smile... pleasantly... what else to do, in public, when being humiliated... tsk-tsk...

-Some outfits alarm me... sometimes even more so than the stereotypical "American who shouldn't be in spats at Walmart" American outfits...: plaid flared skirt (read: "schoolgirl" look -- yeah, don't analyze it too much, it's just wrong, I don't care what people-who-have-grown-up-with-it say... -- on mid-30s woman, bad start), Dorothy-red heels, gold (shiny! not subtle) purse on the large side, transparent silk-ish blouse, dark sleeveless undershirt; I was under-dressed, for the airport (well, if you compare it to how my mom dresses for the airport, ehe -- you have to understand, I have flown and continue to fly probably about 10 times as much as she has/does, so it might still be special for her, so not complaining, ehe), but I'd much rather be under-dressed than _that_-dressed :); and in an airport with tooons of foreigners, people STILL stare at me; I'm telling you, there's something wrong with me that, in all my many years, nobody's had the courage to tell me; tell me, already, what it is!

-I wanna buy ALL the books on business and finance in the over-priced airport bookstore(s), gaaah

-Some female was intently examining her newly-acquired feminine products at the train station around 11:15 at night; what an interesting sight, aherm

-People are pretty random; I'm the most random, I know... it's just funny seeing other people be as weird as I am: one teenage girl with her mom... they go through immigrations separately... daughter's waiting, spaces out for a few seconds, as mom walks past her, also spaced out, on phone... mom walks off and away from immigrations, out of sight... teenage girl decides to tune-in and you can see the entire scenario playing out on her face... "where's mom?", looking around... I can see mom around the corner, but she has to do the entire looking-all-over thing, since she can't see her, from where she's standing; then there was the group of 3 guys, standing sheltered from the rain... some girl drives up in her car, where the bus parking spots are... she's on the phone... the guys are on the phone... they're to her left... she doesn't see them... she's parked... these two phone-speaking entities aren't seeing each other... I'm seeing both... guard tells girl in car she needs to move... she's still on phone... guys realize she's nearly directly in front of them... don't see that guard is telling her to move... she takes off and they're running after her...; both situations could've been more quickly resolved if I had shouted and pointed... but one doesn't do such things in/at the airport... if ever... :D