Hi all, I am looking for an apartment in Kunming, but am not interested in paying the rents or the foreigner scene around greenlake park or wen lin jie.
I also can speak some Chinese and dont need to speak English everyday.

So, what areas in Kunming are convenient (inside 2nd ring road-can go most places by scooter within 10-20 minutes) and also have apartment buildings that are reasonably quiet, with some nice local eats nearby, fairly green (a park or 2), and inexpensive rent?

I would like to pay between 800-1100 for a small furnished one bedroom.

So what neighborhoods are out there?
Is there a newcomer's guide to the different barrios/section of the city?

Any help you could give would be great.

cheers!

If you have no need to be in the city area I suggest Anning, its a nice area, you can get anywhere within 20 minutes and its much cheaper then living in the main Kunming area. Also you wouldnt have to worry about getting caught up in the foreigner scene there.

If you need to be in the city then anywhere except for Greenlake, Bei Chen or the Chun Yuan areas in the west should fit your requirements.

The SuJiaTang area has a lot of cheap accomodation, but also many international students so I am not sure if you would be interested.

thanks yuantongsi！

I am not avoiding foreigners at all, already met a few here and they were great-just not in need of the creature comforts that those areas can provide-so i will check su jia tang as well as the others you mentioned.

thanks again.

I do need to be in the city for work, but i would like to check anning anyway, i am no expert on the scale of this city yet.

cheers.

Living in Anning? 20 minutes to go where? It takes me nearly twenty minutes on the bus to get from Green Lake to Nanping Rd. by bus. Anning would be a disastrous choice.

Su Jia Tang isn't too far away from the so-called "foreigner scene" but it's close enough. If you really want to get out of that area I suggest going somewhere further north in the city or somewhere out in Xi Shan District. I can't say it will be incredibly convenient or even comfortable, but it will definitely be cheaper. You could also check out Huang Tu Po - it used to be a rather rough area years ago but from what I've heard it's cleaned up a bit.

I think you are looking for an area that is greener, cleaner, quieter and easy to get around. I'd say northeast, just south of Beichen, on the door steps of Expo, along Bailong Lu. There are quite several xiaoqu would fit in your criteria. There are Jia yuan xiao qu, Li dao jiao yuan, Shi ji long yuan, Tan xiao yuan.....etc. to name a few. And the Expo isn't the only green acres benefites the area here. The Foresty University campus nearby provides vast acres of lawns, gardens and matured trees, it's a perfect place for strolling and relaxing, and it's free to enter. Tan xiao yuan and Shi ji long yuan are right in its neighborhood.

It takes no more than thirty minutes to get to green lake or Bei chen area at off peak hours, and there are plenty of buses running along. I have noticed on my last visit, there are only a few foreigners living in the xiaoqu I mentioned above, so you won't be totally deprived of seeing westerners around, but definitely, and absolutely not the bustling scene in Wenlin jie.