Happier Abroad Forum Community

Look what Chinese women on DateinAsia have told me about California and Los Angeles. Why do they think it's so nice there, when every American who doesn't live there have only negative things to say about it? lol Weird. There's not much scenery in CA or LA. It's all concrete and flatlands.

Here is what Chinese women have said to me about their visit to California:

haha... winston , yes , my photo is very attractive ,well. .. i should change my photo ,

i went to LA twice , have few friends live there , its a beautiful state , totally different than china , china's lifestyle is more chanllenging compare to america ,

yes ,i am interested in getting to you know you , but probably i don't have a lot of t ime to write , i have a busy job work for a company but also i am working on some other business with few friends , so the best we communicate with each other is on line talk , i am usually use QQ chat with people and overseas messenger yahoo and MSN , my yahoo ID is ************ and My QQ is *******

thank you for you write to me , i hope we will chat soon .

best regards,
anna

Hello, I have no pretty pictures, I'm just an ordinary girl, I hope to find a good and very decent man. I work in the airline, I like California, there are a lot of my friends. . . Last month I lived in California for a month. It appears we have a lot to talk.

This one is pretty hot. It sounds like she liked the USA and wants to get a visa there. Does that mean she's looking for a guy who can get a visa for her there? It's not clear if that's what she meant. Or if she means she is going to get a visa there on her own, and then meet people there when she arrives?

http://www.dateinasia.com/sky-sea.html

see u see me ! ? ~ ;~

Educated, open minded , interesting , sweet heart lady who visited US in 2008 and russia 2009 , hopefully to meet friends to explore world togather.

btw ,I go to Shanghai & Beijing sometimes.


I'm a sweety heart kinda lady . What you see is what you get. I'm looking to find someone for an eventually serious, and committed relationship. I want a best friend that I can confide in, laugh, and travel with. I'm looking for friendship here cos i 'm thinking to get a visa to USA . Hopefully to get some informations of how to improve english . Hope to Pass TOEFL SOON .

I was training sports in track and field since 5yrs to 21 yrs old in my spare time almost 3 hours everyday. I think i 'm not very tradtional as most asian guys dont like women being very sporty ( Even my father ). Pls dont think i just a sporty lady , i also was in very good schools ,also my Intellectuals parents controled me so much.( i dont like my parents the way they treated me . I'm single child. )

In somehow i thought i was lack in socity skills like judging persons as i used to always be taken advantages from some mean persons( Person in Hunan Agri. Univ.esp. accounting depart,business school&Business school party secretary, who treat me so mean after they knew i'd love to marry western man.They're Hypocritical ,be discrimination to me ,Teasing me ,given me hard time) . I'm very upset of them , as i was really nice to them and even asked americans to give professonal speeches in the Univ.

I like being an intelligent , hard working ,modest, thoughtful , healthy person . I care about eating food , doing sports everyday .

I can accept another cultural inside of me . Honestly chinese culturals doesnt affect me so much , maybe this is sth I'M VERY SPECIAL . I met western men all around the world. I'm culturals mixed .


I'm very glad i had chance to visite US in 2008 ( traveled by myself ) and Russia in 2009 ( my school paid it in travel team) .

sometimes " mini-skirt, high heels, sexy walk".

I want to meet a Male
with age from 28 to 68
and I want to meet for Friendship, Romance, Marriage or Other.

open minded , caring , good heart, thoughtful

LOL should I send these women my comparison chart and 10 surprises for foreigners blog post? lol

http://www.happierabroad.com/comparison.htm
http://intellectualexpat.blogspot.com/2 ... -open.html

Winston wrote:Look what Chinese women on DateinAsia have told me about California and Los Angeles. Why do they think it's so nice there, when every American who doesn't live there have only negative things to say about it? lol Weird. There's not much scenery in CA or LA. It's all concrete and flatlands.

Because they probably heard from someone who has family in America that it's the land of milk and honey still. Aside from the Hollywood shit machine this fake image is probably aided in part by successful Chinese-Americans..the sort you can't stand Winston. The anal retentive career focused high achievers who have done very well in the U.S. These guys will always talk up how successful they are in the U.S. and how good it is. So naturally these women think that as soon as they get to CA that they will get all sorts of instant benefits.

In a way they aren't entirely wrong. The U.S. really is a good place for asian-women who want a free ride off the coattails of men. There's a lot of middle/upper class suckers and asian women have a weird built in status that's highly fetishized.

I certainly don't see the same unbridled enthusiasm for the U.S. coming from Chinese or other foreign men though

I tend to be wary of the CLL girls who say they want to find a man from a particular country. Maybe they already have a marriage partner lined up there.

My first Chinese gf wanted an American man, and sure enough she found one.

She seemed really excited for the first month, posting loads of photos on her QZone. But I've not seen any more photos, I guess the reality of going to a redneck bar and whatever else passes for culture in small town USA wore off pretty quickly.

xiongmao wrote:I tend to be wary of the CLL girls who say they want to find a man from a particular country. Maybe they already have a marriage partner lined up there.

Women that are bigoted or narrowly focused in dating an "image" of someone whether they be black, white, or asian are just bad news period. Even if you're a benefactor of such an image getting married to someone who harbors these psychological issues never leads to good things. It's even worse to have women who don't want to date their own ethnicity for various self loathing/identity crisis/materialistic reasons. It may not seem that way initially but these women harbor serious personal issues that won't come full circle until later in life when they have kids and when the looks fade.

Winston wrote:Look what Chinese women on DateinAsia have told me about California and Los Angeles. Why do they think it's so nice there, when every American who doesn't live there have only negative things to say about it? lol Weird. There's not much scenery in CA or LA. It's all concrete and flatlands.

Perhaps you couldn't see the mountains just north of LA because of all the smog. From Los Angeles, you can access the following within couple hours of driving distance:

Beach/Coastal
Chaparral
Mountains (San Gabriel / San Bernardino)
Desert (Mojave/Palm)
Island (boat to Avalon/Catalina)
etc.

City of Venice canal homes (25 miles from Downtown LA):






Manhattan Beach (22 miles from Downtown LA):






SGV Mountains: (about 30+ miles from downtown LA & up Azusa, upstream area presents some very challenging fishing opportunities)




Big Bear Mountain/Lake (97 miles from Downtown LA, up the mountain):




Mojave Desert (100+ miles depending on location):



(Yes, it does get snow in winter)



Catalina Island (1-2 hours by boat)






I do not live in Downtown LA because it looks like this on a smoggy day:



Versus the skyline in South OC (40-50 miles south of Downtown LA) looks like this on a sunny day:





;p

momopi wrote:

Winston wrote:Look what Chinese women on DateinAsia have told me about California and Los Angeles. Why do they think it's so nice there, when every American who doesn't live there have only negative things to say about it? lol Weird. There's not much scenery in CA or LA. It's all concrete and flatlands.

Perhaps you couldn't see the mountains just north of LA because of all the smog. From Los Angeles, you can access the following within couple hours of driving distance:

Beach/Coastal
Chaparral
Mountains (San Gabriel / San Bernardino)
Desert (Mojave/Palm)
Island (boat to Avalon/Catalina)
etc.

LOL. I've seen all those. They are the exceptions. I said that MOST of California are flatlands and concrete. Exceptions do not disprove norms. Drive down I5 from the top of CA to the bottom. You will see mostly flatlands and golden hills, not much scenery. You've driven on I5 from SF to LA right? That is what most of CA looks like. That and the suburban strip malls. lol

Only rich yuppies can afford to live in those places in your pictures. lol Come on now. Let's get real. lol Some of you seem to think that exceptions disprove norms. I don't know why. That's not logical.

This is what most of CA looks like:

I agree with Momopi that the natural environment in CA is wonderful if you get out of the city centers. There's redwoods, beautiful wine valleys, beach towns, mountains to go camping, etc..

The problem with CA is the same problem shared by the rest of the states in America. The problem with America is that it's full of Americans replete with the shitty personality we've all gone elsewhere to avoid.

Winston wrote: LOL. I've seen all those. They are the exceptions. I said that MOST of California are flatlands and concrete. Exceptions do not disprove norms. Drive down I5 from the top of CA to the bottom. You will see mostly flatlands and golden hills, not much scenery. You've driven on I5 from SF to LA right? That is what most of CA looks like. That and the suburban strip malls. lol

The I-5 through central CA is a truck route, like I-710 in LA (goes to Port of Long Beach). The tourist route is 101 and 1 (PCH). I usually take the 101 N from LA to North CA. Open a map and look at areas along the I-5 vs. the 101. There's very little tourist attractions (or scenary) along the I-5 route from LA to SJ. But if you look at the 101, you'd find all the central coast vinyards and wineries from Santa Barbara to Paso Robles (note that since I live in the south, I think in terms of South -> North). Along the 1/PCH you'd find Hearst Castle, Big Sur, Monterey, etc.

In Santa Barbara just N of LA, you can take a jeep ride over the Santa Ynes mountains. If you're lucky, you can see mountain lions at the watering holes. From Paso Robles, you can take route 46 to Cambria for some nice scenary.

My recent route was LA -> Santa Barbara -> Santa Ynes/Los Olivos -> Paso Robles -> Gilroy -> San Jose -> Daly City -> San Francisco -> Napa -> St Helena -> Calistoga -> Headsburg -> Cloverdale -> Willits -> etc.

At Santa Ynes/Los Olivos I visit Carhartt Vinyard & Winery to sample their latest vintage
At Paso Robles I visit friends from CSULB and sample local wines. Sometimes we drive to SLO to have lunch at Apple Farm Inn.
At Gilroy, I usually don't stop by on the way up, but I'd stop by Casa di Fruita on the way down for their fried chicken
At San Jose I visit my cousin
At Daly City I visit my Japanese friends
At San Francisco I visit my uncle
At Napa Valley I visit the wineries
At St. Helena I like to dine at Tra Vigne (I'm too cheap to dine at the French Laundry)
At Calistoga I take Petrified forest road up to the smaller wineries north of Napa that are much cheaper, friendlier, and don't charge you for tastings. If you're bored, they have fainting goats at Calistoga that you can go gawk at.
There are also many wineries in Headsburg and Cloverdale area, but some require taking rough back roads to reach. I'd make my way up to Willits to visit my high school buddy, then we take a drive over to Mendocino for breakfast.

On my last trip, I took a side trip to New Camaldoli Heritage to buy some brandy-soaked fruit cakes. I sat on this bench at the Hermitage and had lunch:




But if you're looking for flat land and nothing interesting to look at, try Fresno.

Winston wrote: Only rich yuppies can afford to live in those places in your pictures. lol Come on now. Let's get real. lol Some of you seem to think that exceptions disprove norms. I don't know why. That's not logical.

Well, let's see, I posted pictures of Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead up there too. Live-in condition cottages with peek a boo lake view can be had for $60,000 and up, and fixer uppers for $40k in Arrowhead.

The CA RE market crashed after 2006 and many areas are now selling for 1/2 - 1/3rd of 2005-2006 prices. That is, if a house was $300,000 in 2005, it's now on the market for $100,000 - $150,000. If you want to nit pick $3 million properties selling for $1.5 million today and say it's not affordable, that's your prerogative.

momopi wrote:

Winston wrote: LOL. I've seen all those. They are the exceptions. I said that MOST of California are flatlands and concrete. Exceptions do not disprove norms. Drive down I5 from the top of CA to the bottom. You will see mostly flatlands and golden hills, not much scenery. You've driven on I5 from SF to LA right? That is what most of CA looks like. That and the suburban strip malls. lol

The I-5 through central CA is a truck route, like I-710 in LA (goes to Port of Long Beach). The tourist route is 101 and 1 (PCH). I usually take the 101 N from LA to North CA. Open a map and look at areas along the I-5 vs. the 101. There's very little tourist attractions (or scenary) along the I-5 route from LA to SJ. But if you look at the 101, you'd find all the central coast vinyards and wineries from Santa Barbara to Paso Robles (note that since I live in the south, I think in terms of South -> North). Along the 1/PCH you'd find Hearst Castle, Big Sur, Monterey, etc.

In Santa Barbara just N of LA, you can take a jeep ride over the Santa Ynes mountains. If you're lucky, you can see mountain lions at the watering holes. From Paso Robles, you can take route 46 to Cambria for some nice scenary.

My recent route was LA -> Santa Barbara -> Santa Ynes/Los Olivos -> Paso Robles -> Gilroy -> San Jose -> Daly City -> San Francisco -> Napa -> St Helena -> Calistoga -> Headsburg -> Cloverdale -> Willits -> etc.

At Santa Ynes/Los Olivos I visit Carhartt Vinyard & Winery to sample their latest vintage
At Paso Robles I visit friends from CSULB and sample local wines. Sometimes we drive to SLO to have lunch at Apple Farm Inn.
At Gilroy, I usually don't stop by on the way up, but I'd stop by Casa di Fruita on the way down for their fried chicken
At San Jose I visit my cousin
At Daly City I visit my Japanese friends
At San Francisco I visit my uncle
At Napa Valley I visit the wineries
At St. Helena I like to dine at Tra Vigne (I'm too cheap to dine at the French Laundry)
At Calistoga I take Petrified forest road up to the smaller wineries north of Napa that are much cheaper, friendlier, and don't charge you for tastings. If you're bored, they have fainting goats at Calistoga that you can go gawk at.
There are also many wineries in Headsburg and Cloverdale area, but some require taking rough back roads to reach. I'd make my way up to Willits to visit my high school buddy, then we take a drive over to Mendocino for breakfast.

I'm aware of all those areas and have been to most of them. But my point is still true. If you open up a map of California, you will see that the MAJORITY of its land is NON-SCENIC. The exceptions are on the coastline and in the redwoods in the north. That is my main argument. Your exceptions constitute the minority of CA land. That was my logical assessment. How have you proven me wrong?

Winston wrote: Only rich yuppies can afford to live in those places in your pictures. lol Come on now. Let's get real. lol Some of you seem to think that exceptions disprove norms. I don't know why. That's not logical.

Well, let's see, I posted pictures of Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead up there too. Live-in condition cottages with peek a boo lake view can be had for $60,000 and up, and fixer uppers for $40k in Arrowhead.

The CA RE market crashed after 2006 and many areas are now selling for 1/2 - 1/3rd of 2005-2006 prices. That is, if a house was $300,000 in 2005, it's now on the market for $100,000 - $150,000. If you want to nit pick $3 million properties selling for $1.5 million today and say it's not affordable, that's your prerogative.

Prices may have fallen, but all in all, in general, those are still places where the affluent generally live. Not everyone can live there. That was my general point. What you've revealed does not logically disprove that.

Repatriate, Momopi,

Why do Chinese who emigrate to America mostly settle in California? Why not Texas or Florida? Why is California so popular with Chinese people?

Winston wrote:Repatriate, Momopi,

Why do Chinese who emigrate to America mostly settle in California? Why not Texas or Florida? Why is California so popular with Chinese people?

Why did a lot of polish people settle in Chicago? Arabs in Dearborn Michigan? Why did a lot of Italians settle in NJ and Jews in NY? Why did a lot of Irish go to Boston?

The answer is simple, community. There's safety, money, and comfort amongst your own in a strange new world. Plus Chinese were heavily discriminated against in the 19th century. Read about "sundown towns" where blacks were lynched automatically in certainly cities. These rules applied to Chinese too in some towns. There were entire small communities of Chinese immigrants in the midwest that were lynched and burned out in the mid 19th century.

San Francisco and later Los Angeles were obvious choices because they were on the coast and that's where asian immigrants first land. Making your way inland back then in the U.S. was a risk that was met with a lot of hostility and violence. It's still very difficult for a lone asian person to make it somewhere in a predominately "white" city in the midwest or "white/black" city in the south.

The oldest Chinese community is in Flushing, NY but even that was endangered several times.

Even now you would have to pay me serious money to live in the midwest or southern U.S. It's just not worth the hassle unless there's some sort of major hardship stipend involved. I've lived in the south before growing up and it had its good people and bad peopl but generally speaking it's no place for an asian person to be at.

The oldest Chinese community is in Flushing, NY but even that was endangered several times.

Interestingly enough, I live near Flushing. I remember back in the early 80s when Asians started coming to Flushing, the whites did not like it all. Before then, it was mostly a Greek, Italian, and Jewish neighborhood. Asians started coming in en masse around the late 70s. Today, most of the whites have moved out and its almost all Chinese, Korean, and Indian people living in Flushing. It's a pretty thriving place now filled with a lot of very good ethnic restaurants and bakeries.

Winston, the reason why many immigrants tend to congregate in one neighborhood and form ethnic ghettos is due to the racism and discrimination factor, as well as comfort factor for living with your 'own' people. The big problem with the U.S. is that we do a very poor job of integrating and assimilating different groups of races and ethnicities into one cohesive unit. That is why there is so much racial division in our country. This goes way back to the early European immigrants like the Italians, Irish, Polish, and Jewish immigrants.

I think Europe also has a big problem with this as well; with all the problems related to the Turks, Muslims, and African immigrants creating a lot of friction in European society. As Angela Merkel and David Cameron recently confessed, multiculturalism has been a complete failure in Germany and England and throughout Europe as a whole.

You know what man....this girl...i know so much about her already. i have been around many asian ladies here in Los Angeles. and if she LOVES L.A. let me tell you something she is like all the other women around. anti-social, unfriendly, rude, and very scared.

Los Angeles is extremely prejudice or what people call racist !!! towards black folks. to people here ( including asian ) black men beat people up, are homeless, dangerous, rapist, will steal from you and are angry.

This is how the vast majority of ALL people of southern california feel about me and any other black male. these people are so stupid and paranoid they will believe anything they are told and stereotype blacks here.

this is why i say if she likes it in L.A. she has some serious mental problems. i am no longer interested in women here and i am ready to get out and leave.

Winston wrote: I'm aware of all those areas and have been to most of them. But my point is still true. If you open up a map of California, you will see that the MAJORITY of its land is NON-SCENIC. The exceptions are on the coastline and in the redwoods in the north. That is my main argument. Your exceptions constitute the minority of CA land. That was my logical assessment. How have you proven me wrong?
<snip>
Prices may have fallen, but all in all, in general, those are still places where the affluent generally live. Not everyone can live there. That was my general point. What you've revealed does not logically disprove that.

1. 45% of the State's land is forests. CA has 2nd longest coastline after AK in the US. The majority of CA's population lives along coastal areas. If you wish to exclude the forests and the coastline just so that you can win an argument, you're wasting my time.

2. You're the one who opted to drive on the I-5 truck route through the central agricultural valley, where the land is nice and flat and the farms produce over 50% of the country's fruits and vegetables. If you had opted to drive on HWY 1/PCH, are you going to complain that all you see is the ocean?

3. Is affordability for "everyone" a realistic expectation? When my family immigrated to California, we had to work hard and saved for 7 years before we had enough money for down payment on a town house. It was within walking distance to Ralph B Clark regional park (http://www.yelp.com/biz/ralph-b-clark-r ... buena-park) with a lake stocked with fish. Poorer immigrants understand this, you get a job or business, you work hard, and you save for your down payment.

4. Can't afford to buy house on the beach? Buy a few blocks inland or 1 city over (amazing how RE prices jump up or down just across 1 street between Newport and Costa Mesa). Can't afford to buy? Rent. See craiglist for market rent rates.

5. Right now, there are many good RE deals in areas with good scenery and cash flow. But no, I'm not posting them. If anyone is serious about buying investment properties in Southern CA, you can contact me via PM.

For primary residence, the interest rate on 30 year mortgage is around 3.75% to 4%. For every $100k purchase with standard 20% down and 80% loan, your mortgage payment will be $375 to $382/month. Mortgage interest and property tax are fully tax deductible. Investment properties will require 25% down and slightly higher interest rate.


--------------------

Maps of Southern California Counties from North of Los Angels to San Diego:




Ventura County:


Los Angeles County:


Orange County:


San Diego County:


San Bernardino / Riverside Counties:





See those green areas marked as national forest lands? Its not difficult, if you want to see this:





You do this:




And no, we don't have giant sequoias down south. Here the locals visit Aspen Grove in Big Bear during fall season:




Los Angeles County has about 10 million residents, 25% of its land is in national forests. This doesn't include state and regional park lands like Malibu (3,000 acres) & Griffith Park (4,300 acres). Sometimes people take urbanization for granted and do stupid things like walking into mountain lion territory alone without protection, and get attacked or eaten -- this occurred at Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park just 12 miles from my doorstep in Irvine. Like it or not, if you want scenery, you get into your car and drive to it. Los Angeles is surrounded by park lands to the north and east, and the coast to the west. You can go surfing at Newport Beach to Arrowhead Ski resort in the mountain in 1.5 hours (off-peak). You can go up the mountain to ski, go to Joshua Tree to rock climb, go to the deserts to ride ATV, or go fishing at the lake or stream. There are also many hill areas that can vary greatly in appearance by season and rainfall. During dry season it can look dead, and during spring/summer it can be covered with pretty wild flowers that sends people with allergies to pollen crying.






Here's a list of parks by where I live (Irvine):
http://www.irlandmarks.org/Explore/default.aspx
http://www.irlandmarks.org/About/Photo-Gallery.aspx

So why park lands? Because if it's not designated as park lands or restricted from development, it'd get bull dozed and turned into someone's backyard. Anyways, going back to the original post in the thread, did you ever stop to ask "what does she (the Chinese visitor) consider to be pretty" ? Casual visitors to CA from China usually do not visit parks or beaches. Perhaps she saw some master planned community with faux Spanish colonial homes and thought it was pretty and clean. When I was in East Netherlands, I meet some girls who thought LA/CA was great because Disneyland was there and they were Disney fans. Obviously, they weren't concerned about the lack of scenery from I-5.

Winston wrote:Repatriate, Momopi,
Why do Chinese who emigrate to America mostly settle in California? Why not Texas or Florida? Why is California so popular with Chinese people?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_American_history

I think Repatriate said it best, it's the community! sure California has the best weather in the continental US (of course Hawaii is not part of the continental US) but the Chinese in general, not just the women, love being in a community where they can be comfortable and communicate. There are so many factors that make California and Los Angeles the most loved state and city to the Chinese.

1. Metropolitan city: trust me no foreigner wants to be trapped in a rural community with no foreigners. It's huge and everything is available.
2. Coastal city: This is where they enter the US and where most people live increasing the chances of finding other foreigners of the same ethnicity, nationality & language.
3. Weather: duh!
4. Communities: Obviously SF has a huge Chinese community but they mostly speak Cantonese, Los Angeles is huge and has many ethnic communities, and there is a HUGE Chinese community and well as 2 smaller ones and they mostly speak Mandarin Chinese, which is what most Chinese people speak. Everybody in China has a "friend" in Los Angeles. There is an insane influx of Mainland Chinese people into Los Angeles within the last few years given the state of the US economy and all the flexibility with Chinese visa's if they are willing to invest their ren in the US and trust me they are willing to put money down for homes, investments, etc.
5. Education: Most if not all Chinese want their children to get educated in the US. So they try to send their kids here to get and education they spend money to invest and extend visa's so their kids can get a US education and even citizenship. There is a belief in China that the US provides the best education in the world because we have the #1 GDP. It's very Chinese to see more money as better and happier. So if you are going to send your children off to a foreign land you want to maximize his/her comfort and safety right? So send you child to a place with more resources, hence my point #1 and #2. Although this is not what is true but this is the Chinese belief

peace brothers, happy to have found this site, I'm an American and love the US but I do enjoy my foray's into Asia!

D.