When in Asia, do as the Asians do

If you've never been to Asia (at least Japan and Taiwan), be ready for their toilets...or lack thereof. Some people out there better start practice their squatting if they want to use the public facilities. =/

As an aside, I was caught by the cleaning lady while taking this picture...here went the exchange.

Lady: Why are you taking a picture of the toilet?
Me: Oh, I'm from America.
Lady: Are you trying to compare the cleanliness of the facilities?
Me: No, no. We don't have these in America.
Lady: Well, I think these are much more sanitary. You don't have to worry about sitting on anything.
Me: But what if you can't squat?
Lady: Oh, hahaha.

japanese thoughts

Well, my trip to Japan is just about over. I've had quite a few random thoughts while here, so I thought I'd share.

1) If Japan is so clean, where the heck are the garbage cans? There are none to be found on the streets. I think I ended up having to holster some of my trash til I got back to the hotel on some occasions.

2) Saw some cars with left side steering wheels. Can the US have right side steering wheel cars? And I wonder how difficult it is to change one's mental approach to look at the rear view mirrow on your left side. I know I definitely was looking at the wrong side of the road before I crossed.

3) Speaking of which, depending on which city/area you are in, the local etiquette on which side of an escalator you should stand vs walk, is different. In Osaka, it's westernized towards right side standing. Whereas in most of Japan, one walks on the left side. I'm sure the person I blocked for a few seconds wasn't happy that I couldn't make that distinction.

5) Heated toilet seats are very strange.

6) When I first traveled on the shuttle bus from the airport, I thought it strange that there was a preponderance of drink vending machines in random places, like the far corner of a parking lot. But after surviving 80+ degree heat in humidity, I'm very happy that within a block of anywhere, I could find a vending machine to dispense some cool refreshment.

There are probably other thoughts, but it's time to go to sleep. Maybe I'll update this later.