Monday is the day to party if you’re a hairdresser!
Raw fish, yummy. Hot and humid, Turkish Sauna. Poor sanitation, any crappy pub in London. Noisy? Motocross (dirt bikes).
Like Chinatown, but replicated a million times.
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It happens to me too, but I find that response comes only from Europeans. Most Europeans who haven’t been to Asia don’t believe what I say, especially about Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Seoul. They have the idea that these countries are the same as poor areas in Vietnam etc. they think it is mostly under poverty people even though a lot of technology come from these places, they will still say it is only an export kind of thing and they have no interest in coming to visit this backward side of Earth…
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I think it’s partly because European countries have very few rich and well educated Asian immigrants , and in general just a lot less Asian immigrants than US, Canada and Australia.
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That might be the reason. But I know people who work for nice Asian companies and still think the same. It is not like they don’t have contact with Asian staff etc.
I feel much safer in Taiwan, Korea , Japan etc than many cities in Europe. The drunks and druggies are really a bummer. When I talk about this situation here and how different it is they just don’t believe it and end of story. I can’t argue, they won’t listen.
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So true to me as well
Same for me.
Japan was great! Everything was pristine and beautiful. You could even see cultural things dating back hundreds of years in daily life there that everyone appreciated, respected and valued.
Taiwan was a big shock to me. Compared to Japan it felt lacking in aesthetics and cultural appreciation from people in their daily lives. But a huge reason for this is how new Taiwan is. But I was disappointed at how filthy, dusty temples were compared to Japan.
Had Taiwan remained under Japanese rule, it would be a very different place today.
The amount of hoarding in Taiwan also doesn’t help. People keep everything and anything and just put it wherever. Never saw so much disorganization, clutter and junk in homes in Japan.
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To be fair, an advanced Asia is a fairly new phenomenon (except Japan). Anyone who has been to downtown Guangzhou or Shenzhen recently was slack-jawed.
I still wouldn’t call Taiwan, HK or any other Asian country better than good European countries but its just a matter of time imo.
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It’s hard to recall, but like @Brianjones I really had little idea and didn’t have too many preconceptions. I was aware that Asia was a big place with many different cultures and a diverse history, mainly because, although I hated the subject, we had excellent history teachers at school.
About the only Asian kid I’d ever met was a lad from HK in high school, who regularly made us all look stupid by scoring 100% in every test he ever did. So I guess I kind of had that “all Asians are smart” idea. But that’s was about it.
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Yeah, looked a bit of dump to me too. I think the point here is that the Sultan is rich. Everyone else is just … everyone else. Apparently a lot of people in Brunei are just passing through, so perhaps it’s the tenant syndrome (people just don’t care that much because they won’t be there next year).
pretty much
Good roads, low crime and clean.
Because they chop your hands off if you even think about stepping out of line.
I know people like that and the worst was a Northern Irish who thought I was a super rich kid from a country as poor as Bangladesh and wouldn’t stop bragging about how great the UK was, which annoyed the f out of me (this was before the Brexit referendum so Brits were still proud). He himself is from a poor family, so he was really smug about how he has achieved social mobility thanks to the generous UK welfare system. His attitude was really offensive, not to mention deluded.
Then he graduated with a degree not in high demand and couldn’t find a job in the UK, worked at a Wetherspoon pub in Belfast for like 1 year or something, gained so much weight, then got a NZ working holiday visa last year and is now doing construction work there and is still living in a hostel (because he can’t afford rent), and is battling alcoholism. I learned that he is not drinking atm and is still living in a hostel because I accidentally found his account on reddit.
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That’s the attraction.
Are you American or European?
I’m originally from the UK, but I left 20 years ago, and it’s changed a lot since then (as has Europe). Back then I would have said there wasn’t a great deal to choose between, say, Taiwan and the UK. Advantages and disadvantages. Today the UK is heading rapidly into third-world territory and Taiwan is becoming yet another 1st world country developing first-world problems.
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Taiwanese/Filipino. 
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