05-March-07 at 4:56pm
Foreigners, aliens, ‘Lao Wai’ tend to start feeling down after several months living in a place where cultural and lingual difficulties create a sense of loneliness. They start blaming everyone and everything about their plight except themselves. This can happen anywhere, so don’t blame Hangzhou just because you feel depressed. It’s the really crappy weather! And if you were in Shanghai you’d be bitching on about Shanghai, because it is moaning season.
Hangzhou’s population of 10 million plus (that is larger than 90% of most European cities) seem to having a good time here. All my local friends show me where and how to have a good time here. Actually Beijing sucks…six seasons including sand storms, and pollution that grows worse by the day (would you raise a young family there?). Shanghai sucks..No trees, no parks, no mountains or natural scenery… just an endless daily grind for 20 million people.
This is the seventh country I’ve lived in Asia, including Taiwan and Korea, and at the end of the day Hangzhou doesn’t rate badly.
Lao Wais, including overseas born Chinese who don’t make an effort to assimilate are always going to moan on and on where ever they are. Call it culture shock (loneliness), but blame it on the crap weather that really really sucks.
