Editor;
You know you’ve been in Asia too long when:
• You no longer wait in line, but immediately go to the
head of the queue.
• You stop at the bottom of the escalator to plan your
day.
• It has become exciting to see if you can get into the
lift before anybody can get out.
• You’re willing to pay to use a toilet you wouldn’t go
to within a kilometre of back home.
• It is no longer surprising that the only decision made
at a meeting is the time and venue of the next meeting.
• You no longer wonder how someone making US$200 per
month can drive a Mercedes.
• You accept the fact that you have to queue to get your
number for the next queue.
• You accept without question the mechanic’s analysis
that your car is “broken” and that it will cost you a lot of money to get it
fixed.
• You find it saves time to stand and retrieve your cabin
baggage while the plane is on final approach.
• You walk into a five-star hotel lobby unshaven and in
jogging shorts, ratty t-shirt and flip-flops, without worrying what the
management might think.
• You expect at least three waiters to be standing by to
take your order.
• You regard it as part of an adventure when the waiter
exactly repeats your order, and then the cook makes something completely
different.
• A T-bone steak and rice sounds just fine.
• You habitually ignore traffic signals, stop signs and
copy-watch peddlers.
• You’re not surprised when three men with a ladder show
up to change a light bulb.
• You think it is normal to wait six days to get your
laundry back or pay a 50% surcharge for same day service.
• Taxi drivers understand you.
• You consider that 5 kb/s is a pretty good download
speed.
• You can shake your hands almost perfectly dry before
wiping them on your pants.
• When crossing a busy street you believe that a limp
wrist motion with your right arm creates a force field that repels oncoming
traffic.
• You understand all of the above references!
Robert De Angel
