Traveller's talk

This week: Junk boat adventures at Halong Bay, near Hanoi, North Vietnam. We had to take a boat taxi en route. I got stuck right next to the stinky engine with someone from New Jersey, and I had one of those painful dead-end conversations I keep having with Americans. I said, 'well, we got the best seats on the barge, didn't we?'
He looked at me blankly for a full minute and then said, 'yeah, but it'd make a great souvenir.' I smiled politely.
Damn these cultural differences! I must sort them out soon.