A few pointers ...

Over the last week I've been compiling a list pointers about traveling....

• Don't believe everything you read in your travel guide. I had read that there was a 'spoon' festival in Fukuoka on the first weekend in May. I mentioned this to someone in Miyazaki and quickly got laughed at ("Spoons?!? HAHAHAH!") Then when we got to Fukuoka on May 3rd the hotel clerks were telling us about a festival happening the following day to which I responded "Oh! The Spoon Festival!!" and again, quickly got laughed at ("Spoons?!? HAHAHAHAHA!"). I'm not sure what the book was referring to but... there were no spoons. Maybe it was one of the authors' jokes... who knows.
  
  
• Always look where you're walking. This seems like an obvious one but... When we were in Macau I accidentally tripped over what must've been part of a shrine that was set next to a building on the a very busy sidewalk. I had been looking up because people had their umbrellas open and I was trying to avoid getting stabbed in the eye. Anyway, I sent a tin box flying through the air followed by a trail of ashes. I was mortified. I think I may have uttered the word "oops!" Needless to say, people around me were not impressed... I quickly picked up the box and tried putting it back.
  
  
• Just to set the record straight: I realize that a mosquito net will not protect you from a rat. I had convinced myself that it would... just so that I could get some sleep that night. Who was I kidding? that thing chewed through masking tape like it was a cheese covered cracker! The net wouldn't have done anything!
  
  
• Mosquito net? don't bring one. You probably won't need it... well, maybe you will but I never did. Maybe if you stay in a really really cheap hut they won't give you nets but even my rat room (which was really cheap!) had a net. Granted, I had to fix some holes in the net but it still worked. I carried a mosquito net until Ryan arrived, at which point I quickly transferred it to him. It hasn't been out of it's bag yet. I figure we can use it at the cottage. You can also buy mosquito nets there in some stores...
  
  
• Thailand has amazing food. Eat it, be merry! You may want to beware of that pineapple rice though, I hear it has larvae in it...
  
  
• Japan has the strangest food I've ever eaten. Eat it, be wary. One of the towns we stayed in specialized in raw horse meat (yes, horse), bee larvae and crickets.
  
  
• Thailand - do not drink the water!
  
  
• Japan - yes, you can drink the water!
  
  
• Hong Kong - still undecided on the water situation here... same with the food... Actually, the food was for the most part good... just remember - they use every part of the animal... especially in their soups.
  
  
• In Thailand don't worry too much about getting around towns. It's really easy. Know your destination and how much you're willing to spend and you're set... It helps to ask people you can trust (people working in restaurants or hotels) how much the going rate is to get somewhere BEFORE you start trying to hail a taxi or a motorcycle. Oh, and don't worry, it seems that almost everyone gets ripped off getting a taxi from the airport in Bangkok... just don't take the limos into town... you'll feel pretty ridiculous if you do (*takes a bow* ooh, i'm traveling in style!)
  
  
• Thailand has a crazy transportation system - it seems that everyone is working together to get you to your destination even though they aren't even with the same company. Trust them. They know what they're doing... (at least that's what I kept telling myself) even when they send you across town to some place you've never heard of in a sawngthaew with a bunch of locals. They'll get you there... Trust.
  
  
• Oh right, and if you take a (private) bus anywhere in Thailand they always seem to stop at a travel agent to try to get you to buy accommodation. They say it's so that the driver (who can't speak English) can get directions to your hotel from the travel agents, I don't buy it... I actually used this method a couple of times to find places to stay and it ended up working out okay most of the time - I probably spent more than what I would've paid had I just walked into the hotel though...
  
  
• In Japan, you really should try that public bath they have in your hotel. Yeah, it's a strange phenomenon - kind of like high school gym class all over again except worse because you're older and they make you sit on a tiny little stool while you scrub yourself down. Once you get into the tub though, you'll see what all the fuss is about... Ryan convinced me to try it when we were in Kamikochi. I have to say, that bath was amazing. The cold mountain air was coming in through the open windows as the steam rose up from my boiling bath... It was quite relaxing. I tried other baths after this, unfortunately none were as good.
  
  
• If you're going out to a club in Japan, expect to pay a lot of money to get in. I think the cheapest club we got into was $35 each. If you're planning on staying out late, maybe you shouldn't get a hotel room that night. You can lock your bags in a locker at the train station and then stay out as late as you want. The only problem is that once you get tired you have nowhere to go... Well, you have a few options: 24-hour internet cafes (they're made for this kind of thing and have overnight rates), love hotels (a 3-hour rest?) or even capsule hotels if you're lucky enough to be male (or even luckier to find one that accepts women). All of these are much cheaper than actually getting a room in a hotel. And there's always the train in the early morning... if you have a pass, you can hop on and sleep free of charge.
  
  
• This one's another basic one: Try to learn at least a few words of the local language... Hello, goodbye, thank you - these are pretty basic. You'll figure out which other ones are important as you travel... It seems like whenever I would use the little vocabulary of Thai or Japanese that I have, people would smile (probably because I was mispronouncing...)

That's it for now...