Canadian (in a heavy Montreal accent): Hey, you know where this bus is headed?
American: Central Station.
(pause. both look at the passing scenery.)
American: You been in Malacca long?
Canadian: No, just two days. I'm going to Kuala Lumpur now and then back to Taiwan.
American: You live in Taiwan?
Canadian: For about seven years now. I live there with my girlfriend and her three kids.
American: Huh ... so what brings you here?
Canadian: I take photographs for a French Canadian travel magazine. It doesn't pay much - enough to keep me traveling. Where are you from?
American: The States. Utah originally, but I'm living in California for the summer.
Canadian: I love Utah. You've got Moab. Bryce. Arches. I used to go mountain biking in Moab. Great times.
American: What got you into all this traveling?
Canadian: Well, I ran away from home when I was 16. I couldn't stand my dad and one day I just started hitchhiking across Canada. It took me about two months. In the end, I loved it so much that I just kept going.
American: Hitchhiking, huh, how was that?
Canadian: Fantastic. A lot of people will say, "no, you can't hitchhike anymore. Maybe twenty or thirty years ago, but not now." But they are wrong. If you smile and shave and look presentable, people will pick you up. I even hitched around the Western United States for several months through California, Nevada, Arizona ... Utah. It's not dangerous at all and I love meeting new people. What are you doing here?
American: I'm doing an internship in KL at a law firm. I used to live hear about four years back and figured it was time to come again. Once Asia gets in your system, there's no way to get it out.
Canadian: You said it.
(More time goes by and the two talk about a stolen motorbike, trips to China and the future of that country's growth, photography, and religious policies in Malaysia. If you're still looking for a point ... stop. The only point is that not all Canadians end sentences with 'eh.' And that is cultural understanding.)
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