GENERAL INFO

When you are traveling in places� like China,HK and Japan, you NEVER have to give tips in restaurants, even if it's fancy!� But I have seen it in HK movies that they tip the guy who stands in the bathroom and hand out towels to people.� Guess that's a high class 5 star hotel

If you ever go travel in China, some of the places you should go are Sichuan, Shanghai, Qixingyan(Seven Star Crags). The caves in the 7 star Crags are said to be natural wonders. They were form by natural minerals and it's spectacular! Some other touring places are Huang Shan(The Yellow mountain,located in Suzhou,near Shanghai)and Gui Lin. Huang Shan is one of the 4 famous mountains in China. When you reached the summit areas of Huang Shan, everything is covered by clouds, gives you the illusion of being in a "wonder land". While you are in Huang Shan, keep you eyes open for "funny looking" rocks and stones. And Guilin,located in the south, is famous for its limestone Pinnacles. For those of you who's stuck in Beijing, don't forget to go to the Summer Palace. Oh, and during the cold winter, it's a great idea to go to Harbin in the North, because there are tons of ice sculptures to see. They look fabulous, especially at night. One last reminder, FLOOD is always common in Southern China during the summer. In most Asian countries, like some part of Japan and Southern China, the summer thunder showers are nothing like you've ever seen! So a good umbrella and raincoat always help.

If you ever eat in fast food restaurants in Asia, don't ask the cashier to put extra cheese or "no onions please".� They will probably do it for you because you are a foreigner, but you will look weird.

When you are traveling in major metropolitan cities like Beijing, Tokyo and HK, don't ever expect people to hold the door for you, or apologize when they bump into you.� Those people are just too busy to notice little things like that.� On the other hand, some of them just don't care.

When travelling in Asia, try not to take pictures inside Buddhist Temples, especially pictures of the statues of gods. Most people perceive that as an offensive behavior. If you are into traditional temples or shrines in China, you should always go up to the mountains. Most of the mountains are located in the suburban areas. I remember one of them I had been to served as a place for tourist. It provides inns for people to "get away from it all". Most of these inns don't serve meat, they usually have plain bread and water for breakfast; tofu and veggies for lunch.

Again, when you are walking in big cities, try to walk fast even if it kills you!� Other wise you will look awkward walking so slow.� A good example is HK, people there are all track stars, no wonder they walk and take the bus, instead of driving and getting stuck in traffic.� In fact, Tokyoites ranks first when it comes to walking fast, English rank second, and American ranks third

PDA� (Public Display of Affection) is never appropriate in Asia, especially when you are eating. People won't tell you to get a room, they will just star at you.

Try not to open a bag of candy before you pay for it.� People will probably yell at you or think you are rude.

� When you are in HK and Japan, get ready to join in the Hello Kitty spirit, or should I say Hello Kitty hysteria.� You will see Hello Kitty EVERYWHERE you go.

�� In� Japan, you will see vending machines everywhere on the street.� It provides conviences for people in a rush.� You will find all kinds of merchandises, mostly alcohol beverages and ice cream, coffee, socks, pretty much everything!� As for the beer, you can find 50 different kinds of beer, not to mention whiskey, and other variety.� The newest alcohol vending machines have a device that can read your birthday on your drivers license or other form of ID, so minors can't get access to the bad stuff.

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