rtw quickies #6

- 7-eleven was a life saver in singapore, malaysia, thailand and hong kong. water, drinks, snacks, meals, you name it. i've never been to one while living in the US. 

- while checking in on a hotel in koh samui (thailand), the receptionist couldn't find my name on my passport and put my name as "masculino" on the check in sheet.
 
- i loved the egyptian food, but i went to mcdonald's once there. it's still the best drunk food ever.

- in hong kong, people spoke a lot of hindi to me. in egypt, it was either spanish or arabic. yeah, multinational looks.

- small airplanes have way longer taxiing times than the big ones. don't know why.

- crocodiles don't need much food. half a chicken is enough for a couple of days. they get most of the energy they need from the sun.

rtw quickies #5

- in egypt, more people spoke arabic to me than english (i do look arab).

- while in halong bay, vietnam, i found out i’m slightly double jointed. things make more sense now.

- i only had to check my backpack twice for the flights. same with my guitar.

- i didn’t see a mcdonald’s in laos, cambodia or vietnam. rumor has it that there’s one in ho chi minh (vietnam) though. 

- there’s loads of stray cats in singapore, malaysia and egypt. sick stray dogs in thailand, and huge stray dogs in greece.

rtw quickies #4

- even after decades trying to control their population, there's still over 30 million possums in new zealand. 

- when doing a rescue diving course, the people being 'fake saved' shout "pizza", not "help" (for obvious reasons).
 
- women can't touch the buddhist monks.
 
- selling chewing gum is illegal in singapore. contrary to the rumors, possession is not illegal.

- if you go to this countries, you're likely to try this drinks: fiji: kava, australia: goon, singapore: sling, thailand: chang (beer), laos: beerlao and lao lao (whiskey), indonesia: arak. they're all either cheap or traditional, usually both. and generally very bad.

rtw quickies #3

- egyptians stare at anything different (or "wrong"), and they don’t care. i didn’t care either.

- crocodile’s teeth are for grabbing and tearing, not chewing.

- according to statistics, lawn bowling is the world’s most dangerous sport. more people die playing lawn bowling than any other sport. the average age of the players is 85 years. really.

- while the western part of the menus in asia are subdivided in categories (breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizers, sandwiches, pizza, pasta, sides, etc…), the asian part is only one (noodles or rice).

- 80% of the fijian land is still owned by natives.

rtw quickies #2

- nha trang, in vietnam, is actually pronounced "nhé jen" (the 'e' in 'nhe' is like the one in 'yes').

- there is no concept of queues (lines) in egypt. 

- in asia, it's considered offensive to show the sole of your feet or to touch someone's head. 

- hippos hang out in the water, mate underwater, give birth under water, nurse underwater, feed and defecate underwater. they can stay up to 5 minutes underwater. their closest relatives are the whales. 

- i heard "i've got a feeling", by the black eyed peas every single night i went out. therefore, it's the trip's theme song and a guilty pleasure. 

-- pt -- 

- nha trang, no vietnam, e' pronunciado "nhé jen". 

- no egito, a ideia de fila nao existe.

- na asia e' considerado uma ofensa mostrar a sola dos pes ou tocar na cabeca de alguem. 

- hipopotamos ficam o tempo todo na agua, tem bebes na agua, amamentam na agua, comem e defecam na agua. eles podem ficar ate' 5 minutos embaixo d'agua. seus parentes mais proximos sao as baleias. 

- a musica "i've got a feeling", do black eyed peas, tocou todas as noites que eu sai'. por isso, e' a musica tema da minha viagem e um prazer do qual nao me orgulho.

rtw quickies #1

- i was only sick for one day the whole trip: day 54, my fisrt day in cambodia and the exact middle of the trip.

- i can read numbers in arabic. couldn’t pronounce them to save my life, though.

- fiji has more than 300 islands, i visited two. indonesia has more than 17,000, i visited one.

- in vietnam, facebook is blocked. problem solved by using a proxy server like vtunnel or downloading an encryption software like hotspot shield. facebook lite was an option but is no longer available. 

- i have over 5,000 files from this trip, between photos and videos.

-- pt -- 

- eu so' estive doente por um dia em toda a viagem: dia 54, meu primeiro dia no cambodia e exatamente o meio da viagem.

- eu consigo ler os numeros em arabe. mas nao sei pronunciar nem se minha vida dependesse disso.

- fiji tem mais de 300 ilhas, eu visitei duas. indonesia tem mais de 17 mil, eu visitei uma.

- no vietnam, o facebook e' bloqueado. o problema foi resolvido usando um servidor proxy como vtunnel ou baixando um software de encriptacao como hotspot shield. facebook lite era uma opcao mas nao esta' mais disponivel.

- eu tenho mais de 5 mil arquivos desta viagem, entre fotos e videos.

@sapotb twitter

.sapo. travel blog is now on twitter.. you know, for those quick updates..
if you don't have twitter, you can always just check the side bar, right there to your right.. it will always show the three most recent tweets..

--- pt ---

.sapo. travel blog agora esta no twitter.. pra atualizacoes rapidas, sabe?
se voce nao tem twitter, voce pode checar a barra ali do lado direito.. ela sempre vai mostrar as tres entradas mais recentes..