Aloha

I know, when people visit a new place, a new country, they go site seeing, or shopping, or on a track in the mountains, or water attractions, or the piazza where all the other tourists observe the "city life", or try to find a small restaurant where the "real people eat".
to get a clear and profound sense of where I am, I go to the supermarket. supermarket. great feeling.
I always know where to find the yoghurt, where the wine will be, how much is 1 kg of bananas.   they all use the same system.   doesn´t matter if it´s a 5000 sq meters huge hi tech supermarket in Los Angeles, USA  or a little stinky one in Dahab, Sinai.
I always take a cart, even if I only want a soap.   gives the whole experience a chill-smooth-slow-ride dynamic.   I go through the whole place, systematically, up the detergents section, around the cheap underwear and down the sweets.   I know that when I finish I stand in line, let the cashier do her thing.   I don´t need to know the language, she will never surprise me, she will say something when she´s finished but I know what she wants.   it´s written on the little monitor in front.   I can even trust her with opening my hand filled with these foreign coins.   she will help herself and always take the correct amount.
the thing is the products...
the more these places look the same the more the products are different and strange; I could never find spring onion in Uppsala, Sweden, for example and will stand amazed at the fresh-baby-eels in Asturias, Spain.
this is the core of differences between nations and races.
that's real tourism.