I had the pleasure of testing the new Dubai Metro recently and I took it from the airport to Dubai Mall and it was only like 4,5 AED (about 1 USD). The station at the airport was modern and clean and with guards walking around and a large photo of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum - the ruler of Dubai. But what I thought was quite funny was the little booklet that can be found on the station explaining all the different things that will result in a fine.  How about “Carrying of alcoholic drinks” that will result in a 200 AED fine. Does this mean that you can’t bring your duty free goods in your suitcase when taking the metro or do they mean that you are not allowed to drink on the metro? How about “Using the lifts or escalators in an inappropriate manner” - how do you use an escalator in an inappropriate manner? So naturally, when I took the metro I was a bit nervous - maybe I was breaking some of the rules. All of a sudden a woman in an Abaya (the traditional Islamic dress) walked over to me and I thought “Oh no, maybe I’m sitting on a seat designated for women”. So I jumped up and offered her my seat - she just looked at me and said “Your ticket please”. Turns out that she was a part of a team checking that the people on the metro had valid tickets. I was able to show my ticket and hence I avoided getting a fine You can find a list of all the fines on this page.

There are many ways to get around Bangkok. You can take the skytrain, the subway, use a taxi, live on the wild side and use a motorcycle taxi, get ripped off when taking a tuk-tuk etc. But there are also a few canals around Bangkok where you can find a regular “bus service”. The canals (known as klongs) are quite dirty so it is best to avoid splashes. But the view from the boat is quite nice and it takes you quickly from e.g. Golden Mount (Wat Saket) to the Siam area. Here is a video showing a bit of the experience.

Are you claustrophobic? Need a lot of personal space? I guess this means that the Tokyo Metro is one place that you should stay away from Well, honestly it was not that bad when we went to Tokyo a few years back (see our trip report on http://gardkarlsen.com/japan_tokyo.htm ) but there have been lots of reports of women being felt up on the subway and hence some of the cities in Japan have introduces female only cars on the subway systems. But as this video on YouTube shows it can get crowded on the subway in Japan.