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first place i went was china. i thought people would be more polite and quiet. honorable. stuff like that. boy was i wrong. i thought there would be more temples, chinese lions stuff like that. and i thought the food would be like chinese take away. i knew very little, so experiencing china for the first time was a trip.
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Is there a āAsian kids are smartā false stereotype in the UK? In Europe in general?
Iām not sure if itās a false stereotype. Kids from China, Japan and HK do have a better academic record than British kids, mainly because British kids are entitled, lazy little buggers (I know I was, anyway). Those countries have a higher average IQ than the UK - as does Taiwan. But yeah, I think itās a fairly common idea in both the UK and the US that āAsiansā are smart, or academically gifted. Dunno about the rest of Europe.
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Asian immigrants just work harder and the children of immigrants are generally put under a lot more pressure to succeed.
Plenty of idiots here (and throughout Asia) who couldnāt find their ass with both hands and a map.
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It wasnāt as big as Iād expected.
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Thatās because you didnāt get out of your car. If you used some initiative and explored a bit, youād find itās nearly as big as the Seychelles.
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Didnāt form much of an image in my head at all about anything, to be honest, beyond some basic research I conducted with friends on quality of life (products available etc).
In part because I know itās foolish to form romantic ideas about something youāve never experienced, they only lead to disappointment. Also because I find people who think like this to be quite annoyingā¦because thatās the type that gets whiny when their ideals arenāt met.
Bollocks. If Iād never driven it would have seemed even smaller.
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Thatās the pioneer spirit! You should annex an island near Indonesia and invite me over for a gin and tonic. Oh, the mirth that would ensue!
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How do I drive there?
In your yellow submarine.
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Yeah the Chinese take away thing is a disappointment. How I long for pineapple duck with sweet and sour prawn balls.
I definitely balk when I see those dishes. 
That submarine sounds suspiciously racist to me.
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Being part Asian (mom is Korean), I had a somewhat negative impression of Asia since my momās side of the family seemed more dysfunctional than my dadās. Now after a few decades I realize the whole family is messed up on both sides, but I did have this prejudice as a younger person.
So my expectations when I first went to Korea to study were low. But after I arrived, I was somewhat blown away by what a paradise Asia was for a young guy who was hell bent on partying and otherwise putting off growing up for as long as possible. And I was also pleasantly surprised to find that my Amerasian look made dating not such a struggle here.
Even making money with a minimal amount of work was easy then (teaching, translating, doing voice work for teaching materials, etc.).
So low expectations for me to find that I was wrong about most things.
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I canāt really answer this question because I spent so much time in Taiwan throughout my life. Nothing surprises me.
I will say I didnāt expect to enjoy living in Taipei as much as I do. Corny but I do love this city.
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Yeah, well, itās that sort of nonsense that ended up in all this coronavirus business. You foreigners ought to know better. Leave those poor prawns with their balls intact, I reckon.
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It is lovely, warts and all.
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Warts? Care to elaborate?
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