Forums > Living in Kunming > Apartments and Neighborhoods Hello all, your resident japanese gaijin back to ask another question on Kunming.
I was wondering which areas/neighborhoods you live, or perhaps would like to live and more importantly why.
Are you single or married ?
what do you feel is a reasonable monthly budget for a top floor apartment with a southern exposure ?
which neighborhoods are convenient/safe/quiet etc.
Some of the things that I value are
1. I do quite a lot of my own cooking so shopping at a farmers market is appealing for me and my wife. I love to follow a whole food diet and don't eat fast food if I can help it.
2. Quiet at night. I am in my mid 40's and have had my single life living in Manhattan and San Francisco. Married and value a good nights sleep :) I don't mind travel to get to a hopping night spot.
3. Ideally would like to be near the subway station. This is so I can access the town but I suppose I will try and find some teaching work while I do my diligence about starting up a business or three. 5 minutes walk would be fine.
4. My wife and I love to swim and would love access to a pool
ok I guess thats enough
thanks again in advance I very much appreciate your comments from my introduction thread. If and when I am in town the first round is on me.
dp
Forums > Living in Kunming > introduction many thanks to you all for posting and appreciate your taking time to post thoughtful responses to my introduction.
I will start a new post on another topic :)
Forums > Living in Kunming > introduction Yes thank you very much for the suggestion. I have been to Changmai and have a friend who lives there now so I am aware of the option.
I am researching changmai in a different way
thank you so much for responding or as the japanese say
onegaishimasu
Forums > Living in Kunming > I CAN'T FIND......WHAT ? this thread is so much fun to read. Your selection and availability of stuff dwarfs what I have available to me in my local town here in Japan.
the more I read about kunming the better I like it
Forums > Living in Kunming > introduction wow thanks for all that.
The more I read about Kunming I am reminded of Northern New Mexico.
My wife and I will probably visit Yun Nan sometime soon to see if its worth serious consideration.
Language barrier is well known to me and Mandarin lessons would be first on my list of tasks to begin.
Food isn't all that surprising. Japanese food is often oily and salty so we often cook at home ourselves. With the nuclear issues here many of the domestic sourced food isn't as safe as one would believe. So buying whole foods at the market sounds like a dream come true.
here in my town we have a few imported food shops but the prices are outrageous, the quality often less than hoped for as well. I didn't move to Asia to eat American but I very much appreciate the sentiment of this comment. To give you an idea, a 500g bag of imported Italian penne is about 3 dollars. I went native years ago other than the pasta that is :)
Healthcare is a serious issue. I might actually consider ordering my meds from Canada or venturing to Bangkok to pick them up. A major downside to what appears to be an otherwise very nice quality of life.
Culture.. ya. Got that. I just talked with my wife who is japanese and she said as long as she can take a bath at home everynight and that her toilet at home is clean she is good to go. What a trooper ! :)
Visa, yes an issue for sure. I have not even begun to consider this issue yet. Here in Japan I have a permanent visa which wasn't cheap but is really handy.
thanks again so much for responding.
