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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.
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.
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.
It wasnāt as big as Iād expected.
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.
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.
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!
How do I drive there?
In your yellow submarine.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It is lovely, warts and all.
Warts? Care to elaborate?