Hi there,

i'm currently living in beijing and looking to move to kunming in August, probably to work at one of the universities.

i dont want to live on a campus, so does anyone have any advice about good areas of kunming to live? and the general cost of renting single bedroom apartments?
not looking for anything fancy at all. - (the housing allowance and salaries offered by the universities are pretty low) location is key.

thank for any advice!

Jon

You really have to post where you are going to be working at. Without knowing exactly where, it will be hard to advise you.

See the recent thread on this:

www.gokunming.com/en/forums/thread/8250/finally_on_the_way

As long as you speak OK Chinese finding a place isn't too much of a problem. It depends what you consider "a good area of kunming to live". My personal preference is out of the city nearby a river or some parks where its a bit quieter so I live in the South (and don't have to commute into town). If you have classes etc then you will want to live within a bikable/walkable distance to your university. In that case, it depends where you are working.

Foreigners live all over Kunming city and all seem to like different parts for different reasons, so "a good place to live" is highly subjective.

Hi, thanks for your quick responses,

i'm not sure exactly where i'll be working yet, it seems a lot of the universities are around Wuhua? one of them mentioned a longquanlu.

i dont mind 20 minutes half hour commute, especially if its cyclable.
Part of the reason i want to move to kunming is because its a little more scenic than beijing, but i would also looking to be pretty close to areas with a a bit of a night life.

i can speak ok chinese, i imagine i will start by living on campus and then when i actually get down there is will be easier to look for places.

in terms of the cost of apartments? i'm sure it varies but ay ball park figures? i'll be on a budget.

thanks for your advice so far

Right now Kunming is full of traffic jams. What used to take 10-20 mins. now takes 45mins. to an hour. This is due to the subway being built and the beautification projects.

its a little more scenic than beijing

actually, most parts aren't particularly scenic. and if you live far from your work, the most scenery you're gonna get to see is tailpipes.

Ha.Ha. Lots of tailpipes.

Beautification projects??

Try getting the public washrooms right ..

well, i guess im mainly concerned with the air quality. beijing is atrocious. and while kunming may not be scenic I'm looking forward to living in the south west.
with long holidays, is it fairly easy to hop over to thailand and vietnam etc?
in terms of places to live, i was told a lot of people live in a north urban area? any info about that? what are your opinions?
again, any ballpark figures for apartments rentals would be really useful, either single rooms or 2 bedroom sharing?

cheers

There are many apartments listed for rent in the classifieds section here.
Kunming is probably not a good place to move to at the moment though. The atrocious air that you will miss from Beijing will be blown right into your face by the vehicle exhausts with black smoke or the construction trucks that kick up thick clouds of dust, especially if you are planning on riding a bike, scooter or segway.