Getting ready for the next adventure

We’re off on Thursday for our first visit to Asia. We have a few days of sightseeing in Tokyo and Seoul before we go south for some warmer weather and some snorkeling. This will be our first real experience where the language, culture and even the alphabet (or lack thereof) will be completely alien. We’re going with a great deal of trepidation, hoping not to get too frustrated and, above all, not to act like ‘the ugly, barbarian tourist’.
We’ve had some small exposure to this before, particularly while touring in Moorea and visiting Ile des Pins in New Caledonia. We struggled with our minimal grasp of the local language (high school French, anyone) but at least the alphabet was recognizable and signs and maps could be deciphered (albeit slowly). This will be a whole new world. Add to the equation the size of Tokyo and the pace of life in a big city and things get interesting. At least in Seoul, we’ll have some guidance from Melissa. Should be a very unique experience. Hopefully, we’ll survive it and emerge as better travelers.
When we head down to Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and the Philippines, we’ll be spending most of out time in tourist areas where the same problems should not present themselves. We’ll be passing through some large cities (Bangkok, Singapore, Manila) but not spending any significant amount of time in the urban environments. Plus it will be warmer. It’s always easier to deal with problems and frustrations when you’re not freezing.
It will be cold in Tokyo and Seoul but, hopefully, we will escape the snow that has dominated southern Ontario for the past few months. The media are really focused on the fact that we’re on the cusp of setting a new record for snowfall, breaking the old mark set back in 1939. (Mind you, the record of 207.4 cm pales when compared to St. John’s and its mark of 648.4 cm) But there’s still nowhere to put any more snow.