You know you have been in Asia too long when…
Nov 17th, 2006 by Michael Max

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Your hotel room has karaoke equipment, and that seems like a good idea.
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You tuck your scooter up against the bus at the left turns, and have it run interference for you.
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Pizza does not seem like a good idea.
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Sewers smell worse than chou doufu.
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You feel very strange when after a dinner with other foreigners, the check gets divided up.
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Taiwanese girls stop looking skinny.

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When there are not a lot of people around, you feel lonely.
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Seeing your white face in the mirror looks more and more like a caricature.
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Going down into the basement of a building to do grocery shopping seems perfectly normal.
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There is no longer irritation when complimented for a few words of poorly spoken Chinese.
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Signs make more sense in Chinese, than they do in English.
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Seeing blue sky is a surprise.

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Tomorrow, four hours before I depart Taipei, I will arrive in Seattle.
I am going to miss all this.
Very, very much.
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Welcome back… (home?). Reading your posts, all of them, this one in particular, and seeing your photos… I would love to travel to China one day myself, even not knowing the language. Your love for it comes through.
Home. Yes, that place in ourselves where we are completely comfortable.
China is an amazing place to travel. I have thought of inviting a few people to come with me next time I go. Kind of a free form tour, with a number of definate destinations, and room to roam.
This one makes me laugh outloud. Indeed, you have been in Asia too long, even for someone who spend half of her life in Taiwan and the other half in States…