Out of my comfort zone is most likely the other way around ;-) The largest city nearby where I live has about 125k people, and that's more than enough for me.
My home town is Belfast in Northern Ireland - a city of about 250,000 in a country of about 1.6 million so I suppose that's not dissimilar to you. I think people react differently to finding themselves in a new environment. I lived in Munich for a while, a very orderly and wealthy city of around 4 million, and yet I met some expats there who felt overwhelmed by it and couldn't wait to leave!
And yet it is surprisingly navigable, partly down to the excellent public transport, but also because like most long established cities there are distinct districts and neighbourhood that are in many ways self contained.
I also loved in Manila at one point which is another huge city, much more chaotic than Guangzhou, yet it's surprising how quickly we adapt to the environment.
Out of my comfort zone is most likely the other way around ;-) The largest city nearby where I live has about 125k people, and that's more than enough for me.
My home town is Belfast in Northern Ireland - a city of about 250,000 in a country of about 1.6 million so I suppose that's not dissimilar to you. I think people react differently to finding themselves in a new environment. I lived in Munich for a while, a very orderly and wealthy city of around 4 million, and yet I met some expats there who felt overwhelmed by it and couldn't wait to leave!
16-18 million! that's more than many countries, how wild!
And yet it is surprisingly navigable, partly down to the excellent public transport, but also because like most long established cities there are distinct districts and neighbourhood that are in many ways self contained.
I also loved in Manila at one point which is another huge city, much more chaotic than Guangzhou, yet it's surprising how quickly we adapt to the environment.