Another taxi driver has asked me whether I’m local.  This time round, I was told that I look Japanese.  Well, that’s the same comment my Japanese host mum made years ago. Hah…maybe I’ve got a cosmo face. 

In Singapore, I’ve been asked whether I’m Malaysian, Indonesian Chinese, Taiwanese or Japanese.

In China, some people thought I was a 2^nd/ 3^rd generation Korean who has been living in China for some time.  Most of the time, they can’t decide and will say “hello” in English, Japanese and Korean.

In Philippines, they think I’m a Filippina.

In Japan, they assume I’m Japanese.

In Hong Kong, they assume I’m a Hong Konger and people speak in spews of Cantonese to me. Well, at least that is understandable. Haha….

Interestingly enough, I’ve never been asked whether I’m Thai, Vietnamese or Burmese.  And I’ve never been assumed to be Thai when I was in Thailand…except maybe when I was younger and I could remember how to count in Thai, so I was bargaining in Thai.  Don’t ask me now; I’ve completely forgotten how to count in Thai.  I can only remember that “peng mat” means “very expensive” in Thai.

I guess having a ‘cosmo’ face does have its advantages. There’s less of a barrier when it comes to trying to connect as we can laugh over the person’s ‘mistake’.  Let’s see whether the peeps in the U.S of A will guess correctly where I’m born and bred…. ;)