Lao Wai

The new year celebrations were hard for everyone this year, even man-sized teddies. This sad corpse was lying outside my hotel in Kunming, I’m guessing thrown angrily away by some girl who had expected diamonds or hard cash. Men! Man-sized (or any sized) teddy bears are not good as presents to anyone above the age of six!

Anyway – Kunming is a big city and they’re used to seeing foreigners. But still, many inhabitants felt the need to point out to each other that we were foreigners. The streets reverberated to the sound of “Lao wai” (Caucasian in Mando) as we made our shuddering way away from the station looking for a taxi.

But the “lao wai” thing has definitely decreased. When I first came to China in 1988, people used to crowd around me just to get a good look. I often counted 30 or 40 people audiences, or spectators, rather. Of course I loved the attention! Now everything has become so normal. Sigh. However, a thing happened in Hong Kong before I left that I really didn’t like:

Not in my ‘hood. No no no.

老外 – “lao wai” (I’ll never teach you any more mandarin, promise!) Old Outside
鬼佬 – Gwai Lou (Devil geezer)
鬼婆 – Gwai Po (Devil hag)