How did you imagine what Asia was like before arriving?

I am steeped in banality, my friend. But I do thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for reading my boring, idiotic posts. :heart:

Guy

Iā€™m waiting for him to get beat up by scooter punksā€¦or stalked by a psycho xiaojie at leastā€¦

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Who fuckin said I read them???

Spoiler alert.

He drinks a shed load of whisky

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Of course you read them. Donā€™t pretend you donā€™t. You love me, and I love you, too. Letā€™s not get too soppy about this. People will think weā€™re gay.

Guy

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:grin:

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Bhang lassiā€¦Varanasiā€¦

I uhā€¦have no recollection of that at this timeā€¦

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Youā€™re on a roll, Jimi.

Pump out another 1000 of those, stitch em together, and youā€™ve got the next big thing!

NYT best seller big thing, not Coffs Harbour Big Banana big thing.

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Do I gotta spell it out for you?

image

Yeah, thatā€™s the one.

I first came backpacking through Asia in 1974, so pretty much what I expected: backwards, romantic, exotic. India still the Raj; SE Asia, like you were living in a Vietnam War movie.
Didnā€™t get to East Asia till the mid-80s. China was grim, ragged, and industrial. I lived in Beijing for two years- buses,bicycles, Mao jackets- it was just starting to change. HK was madly go-go.
Taiwan- ā€œHey, I didnā€™t know Chinese people could smileā€. Coming down from Taipei to Kaohsiung, looking at the sweatshops and waste heaps I thought resignedly ā€œIā€™ve got to survive and make money for six months hereā€. Instead surprisingly comfortable living in an apartment in Kaohsiung (well, after China): easily available work, western bars, fun mixed crowds of foreigners (dregs mostly) and Taiwanese hipster outcasts. Moved to Taitung, thirty years later still here.

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Yeah, I wouldnā€™t fuck you with a boneless dick.

Anyways, China, you want a piece of this stripey ass, you going to have to go through @the_bearā€¦weā€™re pretty much committed.

Guy

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That, my friend, is disgusting. Fresh coconut milk with pineapple and a few shots of rum, on the other handā€¦

Jeez, look who got all fussy all of a suddenā€¦

Heā€™s only coming with an attitude like that from the safety of his well-stocked bar. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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Whatevs. More for us :tropical_drink:

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My wife to be picked me up in her grey Mitsubishi Lancer from Kaohsiung airport. Japan was my frame of reference upon arrivalā€¦ First impression was they were loud on the plane and not dressed that well. Kaohsiung looked like a suburb of Tokyo except more chaos, scooters, and pollution, and the music was terrible. Late nite cable was trippy and artistic. Tried to watch a world cup match and a pivotal goal was interrupted by a PINKY commercial. The baseball was boring and the uniforms looked like NASCAR jerseys.

And lots of noise, the garbage trucks at 4 PM playing Mozart and megaphones with taped messages on repeat a little too loud that people seemed not to notice.

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Ah yes, the Lancer. Some fond memories of my wife, then gf, in that model. Quite versatile, the Lancer. :sunglasses:

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comfy back seat, for example?

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I wonder what would happen if you told a European stuff with numbers?

Like, ā€œTaiwan is the second safest country in the world, behind Iceland.ā€

Or, ā€œTaiwan has the fourth highest net assets per capita in the world.ā€

Probably the same reaction.

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