Hello! I recently returned from a work-related trip to Asia. It was pretty short but exciting, and something I was really glad to be able to do. I even got to go into Malaysia during a long-layover and see some friends that I haven’t caught up with for many years.

There was a lot that I appreciated the places I visited–qualities that are unique, God-given and beautiful. But there were also random things that struck me as unusual or funny, which I’m getting into in this post. A lot of it was just based in my own misunderstanding (a predictable part of traveling overseas). And a lot of it was at airports–places that are classically not all that interesting which maybe meant that these odd details just struck me more particularly.

For instance, all over the airport in Malaysia was this ad–talking about Jakarta (in Indonesia) and how it was “nice for mice.”

What in the world does that mean, I wondered.

Well, just now I have looked it up and discovered that “MICE” is a terms which refers to “Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions”, and so this add is reaching to international businesspeople in Asia and saying to consider Jakarta for your next event or corporate gathering. So it’s interesting to have something which seems so inexplicable to me on first viewing turn into something fully understandable. A good indicator not to judge premature, I guess.

Another thing which confused me at first was this…

On the side of the ramp which we people use to board a plane was the hashtag, #girlpower.

Coming as a I do from a Hollywood-saturated world as I do, my first thought when I saw this way the entertainment industry often makes tiresome attempts to empower women through badass but flat and unengaging female action characters (how I’d characterise the likes of Captain Marvel or the live-action Mulan). Why, I wondered, is this showing up on the side of a gangplank used to entire a fairly low-budget airline in India?

Well, my local friend set me straight. This hashtag has nothing to do with Hollywood (I mean, why would it?) or even Bollywood, but is part of a local media campaign to advocate for the value and rights of women and especially female children, in a country that has not always recognised these things like they should. Thus potential scoffing from me is therefore completely inappropriate.

There were other things I saw which just struck me as quirky. Like this Deadpool-themed soda machine in the airport…

Or this warning on a set of stairs in the airport, reminding you not to walk and text at the same time. Of course I responded by pulling out my phone as I was walking and taking a picture.

Or this flight information screen which informed me that a certain flight has been “Preponed”…

This is a word I had never seen or imagined before, but which logically meant that the flight was actually leaving a bit earlier than scheduled.

Moving beyond the airport, there was also this hotel room with a full-on swing inside of it. Who knows, maybe if I was on my honeymoon or traveling with small children, I’d have appreciated that?

It wasn’t my room so I didn’t have a chance to check it out.

Beyond this, there were the things that were just straight-up funny because of slight oddities in the English. Like this sign in a mall stairwell that led up to a club, which is just brimming with conviction.

Or this sign where you can put in your suggestions about how we can all just get in line…

Or this little surface, featuring an odd mix of characters…

Spider-Man I know, of course, but the others were strangers to me. My friend told me that the little boy on the left is Chhota Bheem, a nine year old with super strength who fights evil and solve problems.

The blue thing on the broom is Doraemon, a robotic cat from the future who is sent back in time by his inventor to help his own modern-day ancestor deal with some of his problems.

Doraemon is Japanese, and Chhota Bheem is Indian, and Spider-Man of course is American, so this could be seen as a kind of international cross-over that maybe in these multiverse-saturated days is not as implausible as it once was.

And then finally, to close off, there was this rubbish bin in the shape of a penguin, because why not?

Like I said, there is a lot to appreciate about my trip besides these sorts of frivolous things, but these are the sorts of details that keep me entertained in the long days away from home.