My Memoirs - Citizen of the World
My Memoirs - Citizen of the World
My Memoirs - Citizen of the World
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atop Tokyo Tower, where we participated in a Japanese tea<br />
ceremony in a beautiful setting. We also visited <strong>the</strong> Tsukiji Fish<br />
Market, that <strong>the</strong> Japanese say it is <strong>the</strong> world’s largest. We found<br />
very interesting that when we went to a restaurant, to facilitate <strong>the</strong><br />
tourists, <strong>the</strong>y display <strong>the</strong> different dishes in a window, so that we<br />
can select <strong>the</strong> plate we want, because Japanese is a very difficult<br />
language. Ano<strong>the</strong>r interesting thing we found was that when we<br />
pay <strong>the</strong> bill at a restaurant, <strong>the</strong>re are no tips. I asked one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
waiters why and he told me that, by law, <strong>the</strong> restaurant owners had<br />
to pay decent salaries to <strong>the</strong>ir employees, and not depend on <strong>the</strong><br />
guests to pay extra for <strong>the</strong> service.<br />
India<br />
India is <strong>the</strong> second most populated country in <strong>the</strong> world. We left<br />
New York and arrived in Mumbai, formerly Bombay, late at night.<br />
We got a taxi at <strong>the</strong> airport to take us to <strong>the</strong> Sheraton hotel. The<br />
cab was so small that none <strong>of</strong> our pieces <strong>of</strong> luggage fit in <strong>the</strong> trunk.<br />
The driver placed our luggage on a ro<strong>of</strong> rack on <strong>the</strong> top <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> taxi.<br />
We were not sure what was wrong with our driver, but it took<br />
about 2 hours to reach <strong>the</strong> hotel. The next day we learned <strong>the</strong> ride<br />
should have only taken 15 minutes. We began feeling scared so<br />
late at night with him driving all over <strong>the</strong> place. On <strong>the</strong> way, we<br />
saw some festivities, folklore groups dancing in <strong>the</strong> street that<br />
reminded us <strong>of</strong> Azorean folk dancing during Mardi Gras. We came<br />
to <strong>the</strong> conclusion, <strong>the</strong> next morning that <strong>the</strong> driver had been totally<br />
lost. Since we were only going to stay <strong>the</strong>re for 2 nights, <strong>the</strong> next<br />
morning we hired a taxi with an English speaking driver to give us<br />
a tour <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> huge city <strong>of</strong> 15 million people. Although it’s a city<br />
full <strong>of</strong> skyscrapers with banks, business and financial institutions,<br />
and is recognized as <strong>the</strong> financial business capital <strong>of</strong> India, <strong>the</strong>re is<br />
also a lot <strong>of</strong> poverty. At <strong>the</strong> center <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> city, <strong>the</strong> driver stopped at<br />
a red light and I noticed a child crawling without legs in <strong>the</strong> middle<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> busy street begging. I opened <strong>the</strong> window and gave him a<br />
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