It's A Different World

When you arrive in a place where you can descend the airport escalator with your luggage trolley, you know that you are somewhere completely different. I mean, when i asked the lady at the information desk where i can leave the trolley and she just pointed down the escalator, i was sure she just misunderstood my question. The the "escalator assistant" pushed my trolley on the escalator for me in the correct way; it just felt surreal.

When you arrive in a place where everyone is Japanese, very thin and has a good head of hair so that you suddenly feel that you are the odd one out (especially if your bald), you know that you are somewhere completely different.

When you arrive in a place where woman carry arount umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun, there are "smoking benches" in parks (see below), many people wear surgical masks in public to prevent exposure to germs or pollution, the signs at pedestrian crossing show a man walking wearing a hat, and the rules for public areas are illustrated with cute cartoons, you know you are somewhere completely different.