Picture Taking

All of us took so many pictures for the trip. The same place, each of us would have at least one of the same post/background. Well, Compact Flash is cheap, I guess. Digital printing is also relatively cheap and convenient. So, all together we printed over 800 pictures. Those 800 pictures costed about US$100, I believe? Actually printing them in Taipei might have been even cheaper. Oh well.

Shopping in HK

We went crazy shopping in Hong Kong. Mostly clothes from chain stores like G2000, Bossini, Giordano, and U2. We spent hours and hours trying piles of clothes. The other things we shopped for are electronic stuffs like digital camera, memory cards, computer accessories, VCDs for TV series. We also bought loads of snacks from Aji Ichban like egg rolls, dried plums, dried mango, etc. When we went home, our suit cases were all full. The craziest were the two sixty-something pounds suitcases :) I am amazed that the airline actually didn't charge extra !

Toilets in Tokyo, Taipei, and Hong Kong

All three places offer both the squating style and the sitting style toilets for ladies. Apparently many Japanese ladies prefer the squating style since they are the most available among the three places. So do some Taiwanese ladies. Well, isn't there some study that claims squating is good for the bladder? However, the squating style toilets are not as available in Hong Kong. I guess North Americans and Europeans aren't really accustomed to them. Both Tokyo and Taipei have the most public restrooms. Every train, metro, and MRT station has public restrooms. Hong Kong, on the other hand, has no public restroom in any MTR or CRT station, making the life of us travellers lots more difficult. The cutest thing about public restrooms in Taipei is that posted on the door of each stall is a poem encouraging people to aim directly and to flush the toilet after use. Very cool.