Cemeteries are an interesting place. I remember hanging out in them, around them, on them as a teenager. Totally disrespectful, would never do that today, totally regret doing it before. But I think what led me to do that back then was my sense of not belonging anywhere, like I was dead to society. You see, you would know that being an ethnic minority growing up in a primarily white neighbourhood has its pros and cons, the cons being that you get a dose of racism / discrimination sometimes and for me, at that age, it was a very dark time. It was quite a long time ago, but I remember it like yesterday. Cemeteries were a way for me to escape from all of that and I think other "miscreants" think the same.

Now in terms of their contrast to Asia, gosh, what a contrast that is. I think culturally speaking, people still have a stronger sense of tradition and connection to superstition over there than here - a strange result given that they aren't very religious - but having buried all my grandparents and seen/participated in the yearly rituals to remember them, I get a greater sense of paying respects to the dead over there than I do here.