Shanghai Surprise I'm coming at you live from Narita again! My trip has been mostly amazing. It was so much fun, incredibly relaxing, and wonderfully random. Anyway, here are some random thoughts while I wait for my slight back to San Francisco.

- All Asia passes are great for when you want to randomly follow people around to other countries.

- In a continent with millions of beautiful Asian women, I latch onto the first white girl I meet. That sounds about right, huh?

- I'm convinced that all dogs bark in English, no matter what country they live in.

- The same goes for cats and meowing.

- Starting off the day with a lovely stroll to the fruit stand for some freshly sliced papaya and / or some freshly cracked coconut is delightful.

- Going to some island because I heard it mentioned in a movie was one of the most brilliant ideas I've ever had.

- Vacationing in countries with favorable exchange rates is totally boss. It's rad when a venti latte comes out to $2.83 USD.

- You know, I'm not sure I've been to a country that didn't have a Starbucks.

- It's really weird seeing small elephants strolling down the sidewalk.

- I really need to understand the metric system better. When someone tells me that we're only 7.5 kilometers from the next island it has no meaning � though it lets my brain exercise a bit by trying to calculate how many centiliters that is.

- Seeing who can find the coolest piece of washed up coral on the beach is a fun contest where everyone wins.

- The few days I spent in non-tropical climate probably prevented me from tanning so much that I turned orange.

- Vacations are good. I wonder why I haven't taken a real one in several years. Maybe I'll go on another in a few months. *Sends mental signals to Steve*