Hi, guys. I know that this question was probably answered before, but I am moving to Kunming and I have a few specific doughts:
1- My children will study at KIA (international school), in the south, but I heard that the north is the best part of the city for foreigners. Is that true?
2- Where can I find more western restaurants? North or south?
3- Where are the better malls located? North or south? What are the names?
4- If I choose to live close to the school, which places do you recommend us to live? I have 2 Kids and need space. Is there any good villa of houses in the south? Western stile? Or even good apartments, more than 150m2 closed to the KIA area?
5- What about good hospitais? Where are they???
Sorry but so many doughts!!!!
If you have any other info that you consider very important, please send it to me like maps, tips, address, links... lopesneto@hotmail.com
Thanks for all help!!!

hu pan zhi meng cheap aparments pretty western and is same place as kia
guangfu lu shan ping xiao zhun (?sp) 3 floor villas with private garage. 2 stops from kia.

Lots of accommodation around KIA, and means there will be less worry about kids travelling to school.
NanYa Shopping center is open and has the usual chain restaurants.

They are building a new shopping mall now, that should open next year, less than 1km from KIA.
HongShan Dong Lu just outside the city center, slightly west seems to be a good area to live for expat bars/resttuarants. It is close to Wenllin St, where there are more bars/etc.

Do you guys recomend any guide that speaks english, has a car and know the city well???

Not too clear about what you mean by north & south. Suggest you see the city before you choose where to live.

The area with the most western restaurants in town is in the city centre, between Zhenyi Lu and Qiangnian Lu, and the area with the most bars is Kundu, not too far. Also, the North has slightly more western restaurants than the south. But since you are posting here, you probably mean restaurants and bars that are owned and mostly frequented by Westerners/Whites (got to keep it within the community). In that case, Wenlin Jie and Hongshan Donglu.

The main malls in the North are Bangli Carnaval and VC Park. Not sure about the south.

There's also a new international hospital in the North that's opening next year (www.gokunming.com/[...]

The new hospital has the outpatient department open. Hopefully we won't need anything beyond that.

Bring some western food like bread, meat, chocolate and DVD for movies for your free time. There are no rent DVD stores, the DVD sold are not original. The western restaurants only have western names, the people that work there are chinese, dont expect the food to have the same taste as in your country.

Surprising how food cooked in China don't taste same as back home lol, it's like going into a Chinese restaurant in London and expecting the same quality you'd get back in China ;)

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