mybestkungfu's Diaryland Diary

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lost in translation

had a 7 hour layover in Taipei and hung out in the airport. it's one of the cleanest/nicest ones that i haven't gotten lost in.
after passing out on uncomfortable benches for 2 hours, i decided to get cleaned up and explore the shops.
i picked an isolated bathroom with minimal traffic and after trying out their squat toilet (see pic), i washed my monstrous mass of hair in the sink.

i wanted to buy something to commemorate my stay - even if it was 2 days in total.
it soon became apparant that i wasn't going to be purchasing much, as soon as my image conscious fingers turned over a delicate handmade figurine (ie. would like to minimize the correlation between my age and socio-economic class, and the number of items i own that say 'Made in Taiwan').
but i did get a pair of ceramic shot glasses with help from a polite, young, emasculated salesman.
he said 'miss, take careful because *kaprash* (the sound he made as his hand performed a crushing motion)'. i acknowledged his message and reciprocate with vigourous nodding.
it's cool how the mimicry of sounds also change with different countries.
like in North America, dogs say 'bow wow'. but in the Philippines, they say 'ow ow'. and in Australia they say, 'hey, how're you going'?'

12:58 a.m. - May. 06, 2005

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