Forums > Living in Kunming > Housing Prices Back on topic...
Tiger, I not only match your sentiments on Eye of Spring's prime location, but I'll raise you.
EoS is essentially above the MRT station. If deemed a walking distance, it is a downstair descent.
Like the eye of a storm, the 'Eye' here denotes center of Spring City. Not the all-watching Mordor scanning Frodo variety.
Wherever KM's current CBD is designated, EoS along with Hang Lung's Spring 66 are destined to become the CBD epicenter. Four skyscrapers strong. Situated above possible triple MRT interchange station. Chinese may refer to such 'golden' locations as 金华地段.
Where our path diverge, however, is buyers' demand.
I've been to residential sale openings/开盘 where buyers push and shove while yelling at one another. Resembling famished survivors of post apocalypse battling for last morsel of tudou, or "po-ta-toe" in hobbit context.
In contrast, EoS sales office was practically empty like a LV store sans Chinese shoppers. Sales agents outnumber potential buyers 5 to 1.
Most telling was sales' unenthusiast demeanor when a few onlookers arrived at the sales center. A telltale sign the developer is neither intent on releasing units from their steel beam grip, nor incentivizing smiley-go-getter-inducing commission for their sales team. Apparently the team got the memo.
I may have been fooled by seagull hearsay, but that quiet church mouse congregation ain't pulling one on anyone. Particularly not the likes of infamous Wenzhou real estate speculators group (温州炒房团).
Professional/career 炒房者 like them are known to prepurchase in bulk without batting eye nor being present in body on 开盘 day. They would wire money days in advance, like entering cheat codes in the digital monopoly game. Claiming Boardwalk, Park Place, and the four Railroads before tossing the dice.
温州帮 and similar speculator groups scout nationwide for locations with optimal growth potentials. Maybe these savvy, real estate prospectors are cognizant Km real estate market is relatively slower, carry higher opportunity costs.
They've either gobbled up EoS without public knowledge, or made a hard pass knowing that flipping 10-20 million yuan per apartment unit is a risky endeavor w/ limited upside. Because how many buyers have 20-40M to buy one unit? Not many. Not the amateur 炒房 masses. Perhaps more in Shanghai, but less here. The wealthy would rather opt for garden villas, like ones of suburbia dream homes in American movies. Moreover, Km is still a long way from a Manhattan-esque metropolitan draw.
Remember, 40k/sqm "起." Meaning, "starting price" for possibly the worst, lower units directly facing the opposite taller of the two skyscrapers with limited view. As consumers in China, we should all be vigilant with the small font "起“ character.
Like I said earlier, perhaps Junfa developer is misleading the actual unit sizes to prevent speculators from flipping their smaller and cheaper units at early stages of construction, so as to reap more themselves later in development.
The first of gaggle of gulls has arrived
Posted byIt's funny you mention this lemon. Keen observation. I also noticed most are white-headed with a black dot in earlier months, but in February many appear black headed.
Either these black dots grow to cover entire face after a few months here, or the black-headed gulls arrive much later and stay for a shorter duration. My hunch is the former.
Snapshot: Chasing black snub-nosed monkeys in the forests of northwest Yunnan
Posted byThank you for the beautiful photographs Fabio. We look forward to more Yunnan culture, wildlife, and landscape through your lens. Happy journeys with Vera.
Whether snow leopards, yaks, llamas, or these funky monkeys, the sheer amount of fur these guys sport at cold, high altitudes speaks volume of evolutionary natural selection and adaptivity of our mammalian kins.
Ticket giveaway: Epizode festival in Vietnam
Posted byBut Carl also spins breakbeat, which is a mixture of funk, jazz and R&B. So Detroit techno shouldn't be the sole answer as that limits his range. Darn, I was hoping to win this. Next time.
TeamLab "Future Amusement Park"
Posted bySince we're on the subject of Hang Lung Spring 66, Crystal Jade Golden Palace restaurant on the 6th floor may be worth a visit after experiencing TeamLab on the 2nd floor.
Their sister restaurant in Singapore received a Michelin one star:
guide.michelin.com/[...]
Acclaimed dishes are their BBQ pork (炒烧肉) hung on racks. The dongpo meat (东坡肉) looks succulent. The sweet sour pinnaple fried and cooked fish is also tasty. Portions of other dishes like steamed eggplants are quite generous and delicious as well. A group of staffers can be seen preparing steamed pork buns (小笼包) behind see-through glass.
If you're closer to Nanya mall, Crystal Jade has a store there too, I think. And another one somewhere else in Kunming.
TeamLab "Future Amusement Park"
Posted byOur new editor is on a roll. Pumping out articles seemly every few days. We appreciate your super work ethic. Thank you!
This TeamLab future amusement park looks like a place where children would enjoy. Per Vera's descriptions, an unique interactive medium to unleash your child's creativity. Heck, the kid in me would be just as giddy. Being immersed in all that glow in dark black light is already enough to wow me, let alone DIY art works animated into life and interacting with others. Pretty cool.
For parents thinking about where to take their hyperactive kids with too much pent up energy, the new Aegean Shopping Mall on Baiyun Road No. 168 features a sizable ice skating ring with ice hockey classes what not. Also, another enormous two storey jungle cage with zip lines, trampolines, and assortment of bouncy objects & balls, and challenging climbing obstacles to satisfy the inner ape in all of us.