Travel advice from Neal Stephenson

In the course of a long interview on Slashdot (particularly worth reading for Stephenson's perceptive typology of writers), Neal Stephenson was asked by a fan of his "travel novels" whether he has any "Travel tips for modern primitives?" and "Do you carry any sort of self-defense means in some places?" I like his response:

The best "self-defense means" when you are surrounded by a hundred million people of some other culture is to avoid dangerous places and figure out some way to get along with the folks around you.