East Meets West

It's 5:30am in the Brisbane airport. I arrived here from my hotel after a 20 minute taxi ride during which my driver provided me with endless entertainment. A Malaysian native, he was thrilled to hear I was an American - he'd visited the US three times (once to LA, twice to NYC) and loved it. So much so, he said he lamented the fact that he chose to migrate to Australia rather than the US. So what made America superior in his eyes: plenty of jobs, coupons, and black women (due to their large rear ends, unlike the Australian variety of female which is apparently less well-endowed). Not necessarily things that Lonely Planet would point out as being critical components of American culture, but as far as lists of reasons to visit the US go, this seems just as good as any other.