Happy North Americans in London

East Meets West

I meant to write this post in Turkey. The defacto boarder country of the East/West divide. A country that is 98 percent muslim yet also 98 percent European in its "feel." The clothing is Europe. The food is not...however the quaint cafe pervades. There are mosques and sometimes the shops close for prayer times. But business is conducted in English. Streets and sites are clearly marked. Tourism has taken full hold. Shopping is a shared national sport...however in this part of the world buyer be very aware. Legitimate shops with expensive designer labels operate right next door to markets full of blatant trademark infringements. I find it much harder to bargain here...because who knows what they're buying? Real or fake...and the price difference can be in the 100x range. Wouldn't it hurt to get burned to that tune?

Other transitions back to the West: Democratization of the automobile. Skirts and exposed shoulders are back for the ladies. People know what a map is and how to use it. Mixed race couples seem normal again and not a freak of economics. Public transportation is clean and a dream to use. Public toilets I have decided are quite crass in every corner of the planet.

And now, here I am in London. The "true hub of the Western world"...NYC, keep advertising. What an amazing transition I have had back into the life of which I was born. I now know that I took the right path. This journey took me Westward and the dividends are now paying in trumps. I had my shock factor with the first stop in Japan. Transitioned progressively deeper into harder to navigate SE Asia. Then set myself up for luxury living in Thailand and Laos. Just when I was feeling a bit low and wanting to end the trip...a hop over to Israel, a new region of the world - the Middle East - and re-energizing a possible aborted mission. Knocked off a few natural wonders of the world and swept into a final new country - Turkey before London and home. Wow...next stop: The States! The mixture of excitement, fear, love, hate, and wonder...answered and newly unanswered questions that are all welling up inside me is indescribable....

Songs are the Things by Which we File Memories

By now everyone knows how to download an MP3, yes? This song pretty much wraps together all my feelings of the moment and is a good sumation of what I have learned on my trip. It was introduced to me by my good friend Sunshine who lives here in London.

It's called: "I Love the Unknown" by Clem Snide

If you're one that does, you should.

Gloomy

Yes, after a few days of uncharacteristically warm and sunny weather...London has again slumped into a miserable piss. Ah, the wonderful grey blanket that envelopes this great city has indeed spread her length in all directions. But alas, out with those hip brown boots and jumpers. Dust off the umbrella and wet up your shiny new macintosh. This is London after all. This kind of weather almost makes me want to get inside and get some work done!

Phucking Fone

Back in the world of the west and it is completely impossible to operate without a mobile telephone. Damnit! I have missed meeting up with people on two occasions now. Nothing worse than spending an hour in Lecestier square at the 1/2 price ticket window only to discover an hour later that there are FOUR such windows and you friend was probably standing at any one of the other three you staked out!!! Or the other friend that tries to call and call but can't get through. Yeah. I finally have a mobile for the week as my friend Sunshine switches over. What ever am I going to do next week? Miss my appointments or break down and buy a pre-paid. Small price to pay for missed opportunities but I have to say that it totally SUCKS returning to the slavedom of my phone.

London Baby!!!!!!

I have arrived back into the Western world! Everyone speaks uninhibited English and the city is as mad as ever. I'm actually off to a rough start as I lost my underground ticket. Luckily my sob story prevented me from paying the $40 fine and I just had to buy my original ticket twice. Now I'm in an internet cafe RE-printing out directions to my friend Sunshine's house as that fell out of my pocket with the ticket.

Mental note: Throw these feckin pants out as they are the same ones I was wearing when my camera fell out on a train at Mt. Fuji. They are costing me WAY more than they are worth.

Scalped

Thought I would save a little money and get one last haircut in Turkey before I rolled into London. Heading back into the real world looking clean and fresh. I had a good plan. The cost here is about one-fifth of that in the Western world. Unfortunately so was the quality. I now have the same haircut as my high school yearbook photos. Good thing I didn't splurge on the tatoo!

Straws

Who knew? The rest of the world uses plastic drinking straws for everything! I had no idea until stepping outside the US and W. Europe. I guess everyone think that cans and bottles are dirty. Frankly, a lot of the time they are. Whether at a restaurant or a shop...you will be offered a straw with your beverage and looked at twice if you don't take it. So, I say relish in being a kid again and slurp it up!

Turkish English

Most of the signage on all the shops in Turkey are in English - not Turkish. Promoting international commerce I suppose. But what is really neat is the way everything is spelled. Though the signs would fail any Microsoft powered spell-checker...they are in everyway phonetically correct.

Berber = Barber
Fotokopi = Photocopy
Otomotiv = Automotive
Otel = Hotel

It's definately a new twist and never too hard to sound out. It's like learning English again for the first time.