I've heard from friends groaning about the "hardworking locals" as they complain that there's no way complimenting them being hardworking, the locals they just killing time and trying every effort to do less. Luckily I didn't meet those ppl, maybe because I just joined my new firm for less than a month, I didn't see any particular good or bad aspects. Ppl behave normally. In my last job well all the colleagues are expats and there're almost no politics.
I'm also observing the cases in my office, I'll tell u when I find any uncomfortable politics lol.