Motorcycle and tuk tuk (motorcycle towing a wooden carriage that acts as a taxi) traffic is busier than in other countries we have visited. This is partially because they use these vehicles to move everything! You would be shocked by what they can haul on a small motorbike: we saw one guy with five family members behind him…
Many of the stores are segmented into districts: for example, there are a ton of lighting/lamp stores in one area, electrical/mechanical stores are all lined up in a stretch, the diamond district has all of the jewelry in town, and there is a wedding area with everything from bridal clothes and tiaras to rings and groom’s shoes.…
There is a lot of trust, even for tourists. For example, at a bodega, I picked up some tomato sauce from a shelf in the shop that was far from the owner and harder to get to. The owner asked me how much it was and trusted me to give the correct amount (and translate it…
This town has a lot of shopping. There is a big shopping street – a bit like Santa Monica’s 3rd Street Promenade. It’s a lot of Forever 21 clones, Pac-Sun imitations, Sephora-type stores (plus the actual Sephora), and some versions of Claire’s. One type of store they also have a lot of is pajama stores.…
As in smaller towns of the Amalfi coast, many bathrooms have no toilet seats. As in Salerno, there are many french fry stands. The drivers here – of both cars and mopeds – are particularly aggressive. They drive wherever and whenever they feel like it, from going the wrong way down a one-way street, to driving 3…
Many bathrooms in this area do not have toilet seats. This applies to both fancier restrooms in public and regular bathrooms in homes. It is not that they can’t afford one: perhaps they find the custom weird? I’m not sure if squatting is the order of the day, or if they sit on the rim. I miss toilet…
There are infinity tourists. They all insist on taking photos on every bridge, though I’m not sure what of. ‘Here’s me with bridge #1 of 409. And here’s me with bridge #14 of 409…’ (Venice is made of 117 islands connected by 409 bridges.) There are no cars, buses, motorbikes, or even regular bikes in Venice.…
The view from the upper deck of the double decker buses isn’t so amazing. I saw into one restaurant from above, in a cool way, but everything else is pretty much the same as at street level. People seem to primarily sit up there if they are going longer distances, and they seem to stay…
Here were 11 things that surprised us about Croatia: Zagreb The trams and the road in general weren’t well-separated from the sidewalks. As a result, every time a tram went by, I felt like I was very close to it, or like I could accidentally walk into its path. We saw quite a few people…
Here were 7 things that surprised us about Hungary. It may seem silly, but I was excited by Hungarians’ use of pepper and spices. As in: they used them! That isn’t to say that Scandinavians and Italians avoid spices, but they tend to opt for ones like basil and sage. I missed the little kick of pepper.…