So there are a lot of Asian things here and Asian populations. It all has little idiosyncrasies that make me think, what?!?
Like a Japanese Restaurant in the hotel I am staying at on the parking side -2 level.
The oddities are like, kimchi and no japanese whiskey on the menu but they do have inside out rolls, like the California roll. My stream of consciousness is probably just as confusing.
Like Cafe Sofa the first full day I was here, matcha, poke bowl, a Fuji-like shaped white chocolate, matcha cake with strawberry compote, plus a Totoro pastry. 👀
Across the street is a Vietnamese restaurant, in general there is so much Matcha, and Korean beauty products at a level that rivals Hawai’i, primarily because I can get them in the regular essential product stores.
One thing I have noticed after a few days, KFC seems more popular than McDonalds (also here) and the ladies mentioned Popeyes sitings. I haven’t seen a 7-11 anywhere. I did see a Five Guys, too, though. And of course, Starbucks.
They also have my favorite chocolate brand, Milka. I got excited and then sad. I am trying to control my random omiyage/makana spending, being only the first leg. Crossing my fingers I see them at the other locations also.
And then something that really makes me think of Hawai’i as connected through relevance, how culture and language are normalized here and an important part of identity.
I see it in the way art and the artist and politics are so closely woven and public. Art is everywhere here, generations and centuries of history are a part of every day life. You cannot go a 100 steps in the main areas I have been without seeing ornamentation, an installation, or something that has been intentionally made, so it has a story, and then the edifice retained.
I haven’t met many people from Czechnya. I honestly think, I only met one that self-identified.
Then there is the czech krown and the euro relationship.
General feeling for me, this is a place of perpetual wonder and web weaving.
So it seems like Budapest had a similar feel to me. I went into a Vietnamese restaurant and they had Thai, Chinese and Japanese food, too. It was very confusing to me. I also passed a Thai place and they were all Indian. That kind of made sense because I saw a lot of people from India in Thailand.
