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[sianeth]

Oh I hope the weather gets better for you then by the time you get there, allegedly its not great right now! Its about 20 degrees in London! Supposed to be 21 by Friday, so looking up!

Umm it was 28C yesterday not 20. S*$# today though

Its wrecking Wimbledon *sob*

[rbisset]

Yay! Keep on raining. Cancel Wimbledon!!!

[inasia2008]

Well these are but a few, let me know if you are interested in anything I haven't mentioned!

You are a star, a wealth of information.

Friends of mine went in January and did not like Bahrain. So I am taking one of them back and doing it again. I think they had problems with taxi's and someone threw something at them as they drove by...which is a little sad, because from what I have read about Bahrain it seems odd that this happened.

Thanks for this list. If we get to the irish bar I will ask who the Bar Manager is..and if it is your friend I will say hi.

...I will let you know how it goes when we visit. As for the water park check out this link....it is a new park and looks awesome.
http://www.lpodwaterpark.com

Wow looks very cool! Wish that was there when I was there.. huh!

That's weird what happened to your friends? You don't hear of that happening! Well I certainly never anyway! I did hear from a friend though a while back that she got a rude comment shouted at her from a car with some Americans in it, they were being rude about her size! But usually its a pretty nice, trouble free place to be, the locals get a bit heated sometimes with their protests, but nothing violent or anything, usually about pay etc.

If you get to Fiddlers, and Dee is still there just say Jo the english girl who used to share a flat with her behind the CPR office! LOL!

I really hope you have a good time there!

[inasia2008]

Yay! Keep on raining. Cancel Wimbledon!!!

You meanie, poor Sian!

[mmbcross]

I don't have holidays at the moment - I work until I have enough money to travel again. Although at the moment I'm leaving winter in Australia to fly to the UK which is in summer, so I guess that ticks one box of your question. I won't be on holiday for the first month though!

Goodness, that's very European. When I lived in Guatemala there were any number of travellers who did that, yet I never heard of a North American doing anything likewise. What do you say Louise? Do you know anyone up there who works, saves, takes time off abroad, then goes back to work when the money runs out. The North American work ethic is overpowering. I would imagine the Japanese don't do this either.

[starlagurl]

Well, yeah, Keith (findingnine) does that.

[cheli]

Goodness, that's very European.

Interestingly it's a very Aussie thing to do - I tend to think it's cos it costs us so much to get anywhere and takes so long to get there that the concept of a long trip abroad is quite common amongst my peers.

That guy I met in San Francisco couldn't comprehend it. He was so caught up in the 'get into the best school then get the best marks then get the best internship' thing that he was terrified he'd throw it all away if he took time off to travel. I felt so awful for him.

[inasia2008]

I think in Japan most people take time off when their kids are on vacation and that is it, the kids don't get anywhere near as long as we do in the west, I think its 2 weeks, or could be less!
Japanese people from what I can see are very discplined about money I wouldn't think there is a lot of personal debt here. Also, the spend all their free time at Pachinko parlours trying to win more money!
One of the busiest flight routes from Tokyo is to London and this is by no means a cheap flight! But from my experience the passengers are mostly single people or older people! I think families tend to go to Guam for their vacation! Although its much cheaper to fly there its not very cheap once you are there!

[mmbcross]

they spend all their free time at Pachinko parlours trying to win more money!

Tell us about this. Are we missing something here in the wild west?

[cheli]

Pachinko is kinda like the pokies. I thought it was mainly adults and older people that played them tho?

[inasia2008]

Pachinko is a mixture of slot machine and pinball. The player is quite passive while playing pachinko. He or she is only controlling the speed with which many small steel balls are thrown into the pachinko machine.

Most of the balls just fall down the machine and disappear, but a few find their way into special holes. This activates a kind of slot machine. Like with slot machines, you win if the same three pictures appear. This occurs quite rarely in pachinko, but if it happens, you win countless new balls. When just playing for 500 or 1000 yen, you may likely just lose all your balls within a few minutes.

Pachinko machines can be found in pachinko parlors which are spread over the whole country. Many parlors also offer a corner with slot machines. One can recognize parlors easily because they are bright and colorful. Inside a parlor it is loud and smoky. Both men and women play pachinko and it is said that there are even a few pachinko professionals.

If you win balls, you can exchange them into goods that are available in the parlor's gift shop. But you can also bypass the law that prohibits gambling in Japan by exchanging the balls first into some special goods and then exchange them for cash at a small window just outside the parlor.

[starlagurl]

You guys, they had it on the Price is Right...remember Plinko???

Cheli: Yeah sometimes it's hard to give up something you've "worked your whole life for"...I totally get it. It was pretty hard for me to leave my job at the newspaper, because that's all I ever wanted to do, and it seemed like I spent a good chunk of my life just leading up to that.

[cheli]

Yeah sometimes it's hard to give up something you've "worked your whole life for"...I totally get it. It was pretty hard for me to leave my job at the newspaper, because that's all I ever wanted to do, and it seemed like I spent a good chunk of my life just leading up to that.

I totally get you. I was so focussed on the exact course I wanted to do after school that I couldn't imagine what I'd do if I didn't get in. Then when I did get in, I worked so hard to do well that my whole life revolved around it and I was worried I wouldn't get a job in the area I was studying in. Then when I got that job it was a huge amount of work to keep on the ball and keep it...

...but a few pretty crappy things have happened to me on the way and I've slowly been able to learn for myself the wisdom the others had been trying to tell me all along - there's more than one way to skin a cat. Life never works out as you'd want it to (at least, it never does for me!) and plan B can often make you just as happy as you hoped your initial ideas would...

[inasia2008]

Life is one big test, and it never stops testing you! I just think sometimes things have a simple answer and not everything has to be so complicated, I wish I had learnt this lesson and listened to others more when I was growing up etc. and even in recent years! I think I would have done a lot of stuff differently!

[mmbcross]

I think if we had listened to our elders when we were young we would all have grown up as perfectly boring characters working in the local bank or accountant's office. I didn't listen to my parents, make some pretty lousy mistakes and ended up, well, as me, not them. You have to take the test yourself, not let others take it for you. Only then can you show your true character.

[inasia2008]

Yes, I didn't mean listen to EVERYTHING!!!! I already know I am a different person to my parents and siblings!

[starlagurl]

I think if we had listened to our elders when we were young we would all have grown up as perfectly boring characters working in the local bank or accountant's office.

Yeah, I've only met one person that I liked who worked at a bank, and then I didn't really like her that much...

[chloee_05]

the rainy season just started here in Manila, Philippines.. i'm going out in search of the sun!!!
i'll be in KL and Bali 2 weeks from now and i'm so thrilled!

[inasia2008]

Lucky you! Have a great time...

[chloee_05]

Thanks, inasia2008!!


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