The KIA is off Guangfu lu, NOT in Guandu area, just to be clear. Its pretty far away, but not too bad at all. Lived out that way for a couple of years now and its fine. The Wicker Basket south (www.gokunming.com/en/listings/item/32966/wicker_basket) is where most westerners congregate out there and most seem to live in and around that little neighbourhood. There is a small "Kiwi cafe" just up the road from Wicker Basket too which make OK kiwified western food.
It can be a bit of a mission accessing Wenlin Jie area however, there are buses that go and a subway from the Nanya mall in the far future (probably 5 years away). But if you are keen on cycling its about 30 minutes by bike (average person speed) or about 20 if you are fast! By e-bike is about the same a little bit quicker probably for most.
Guandu area is even further, but with the addition of the subway nearby I am sure it now feels a lot closer! Getting a subway to Chuanxin Gulou Station station and busing or walking from their to Wenlin Jie is a decent option now (though I haven't done it personally). Expat services are few and far between out Guandu way though with Napa Valley being the closest I believe? There are your normal supermarkets out there too though.
There may be a Metro going up on the South Side of Da Shang Hui too, intersection with Guangfu Lu, which should considerably improve the services out there (if the sign I read was to be believed!).
Kunming new home sales plunge
发布者Sorry cloudtrapezer, I was talking about recent comments about rental space for shops, not for apartments.
Kunming new home sales plunge
发布者I have little doubt that there will be a rather large price and supply readjustment to the Kunming property market. Look around at night to see how many lights are on in buildings and you will see possibly 20% in new buildings. Once the price starts dropping, all those holding these unproductive assets (who bought them thinking the price will always rise) may end up wanting to sell before the price drops further... then you are in for a real price readjustment.
It is needed though, considering rental prices in Kunming are beginning to exceed that of Manhattan. That's when you know the real estate market is out of control.
A rather large % of Chinese growth comes purely from real estate, I have heard estimates ranging from 1.5% to 4%. If the middle of this range is correct (say 2.75%) disappears, China's growth numbers start to look considerably worse at less than 5%.
Around Town: Yunnan Provincial Library
发布者Did they have 50 shades of grey? I can't find that anywhere :-p
Kunming approves eight new subway lines
发布者@yankee00
Yep, some of them I think probably are. The parts I am mainly talking about though are the same ones tallamerican is talking about - big patches of road that are flat, ashphalted but look just to be missing their finishing touches. Maybe they require another govt department to do these last touches in order to reopen the roads/footpaths etc, and its not on that govt departments job sheet for a few months.
@tallamerican
I have been on Shanghai, Guangzhou, HK and the new Chengdu subway. All were almost certainly better than those in the west (well, in Italy/Spain/England - the others I have been on), probably just due to them being newer and therefore using more modern tech. The HK ones are usually the cleanest (everything is clean) but the Shanghai one is basically to the same standard as HK (except the toilets are cesspools again). Guangzhou is a little bit worse than the previous two but not by much in terms of cleanliness. Chengdu was brand new so hard to tell at that stage...
Kunming approves eight new subway lines
发布者Yep, my opinion is they should get the lines they have under construction up and running ASAP before starting new ones... else they will potentially strangle the cities streets through construction everywhere. As these are 3-5 year projects, that sort of time frame can have a major influence on traffic (be it vehicular or foot) patterns, hence living standards/patterns and business profitability. Essentially they can strangle a city. Already we have parts that have been under construction and are now still blocking the traffic when it appears they could easily open them - obviously just a few finishing touches before it needs opening. My experience is that Chinese construction companies are great at starting construction and getting it almost finished really quickly, but things seem to stay in an "almost done" state for an extraordinary amount of time. All the construction people seem to move off to do the next big thing...
I was hopeful this wouldn't be the case with the subway, but cycling around I see numerous spots that probably could be open, the roads are asphalted and everything, they just haven't painted them or put in curbs yet etc etc. It seems everyone has just abandoned these sites with them 95% finished. Can anyone actually confirm that? It is possible they are actually still working underground, or are having to do xyz to enable them to put the finishing touches on.