rogerluli Posted November 16, 2006 Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 500 g. each of shrimp, crab, clam, squid and fish, tofu, vegetables, winter melon and fresh mushrooms at an outdoor hot pot restaurant...70 RMB... Go all out and add 500 g. of abalone and the bill skyrockets to 98 RMB...Hainan beer...5 RMB or Anchor double ice brewed for 7 RMB to wash it all down...you're a teetotaler okay have a pitcher of papaya juice for 9 RMB or coconut milk for 25 RMB...coconut, mango, banana, guava, oranges, melons, pomelo, star fruit...not gassed and transported for days...fresh off the tree...lobster will set you back 120 RMB for 500 g...in GZ they were getting 280 RMB...jaili duck, hele crab, donguan mutton, fresh coconuts with a straw stuck in...2 RMB... Two years ago laopo and I vacationed at Sanya on Hainan. We loved it but when it came time to look for a winter place Sanya was eliminated for 2 reasons...1. We did not want to live in a popular tour town. In Sanya in the winter you will not believe that there are that many tour busses on the planet... Also Sanya has become VERY expensive. We thought Haikou, the capitol, was too big and we then discovered Qionghai, the third largest city on Hainan. When we first started looking at it online there was only 1 development listed on Soufun, now there are 9 in some stages of planning or building. The book says there are 40,000 people there but I would guess maybe 100,000, it is a small city and it is never crowded, the traffic is not insane ever. The first development we looked at was at a hot springs area about 8 km from the city. The largest apartments were only 77 m2 and although they would have sold us a floor with 2 adjoining apartments I could not envision any way to make 1 cohesive place out of the space. Also there was nothing else around the area and we thought it better to be in the city for services. For a small fee you can go these hot spring places any time for a leisurely soak anyway and even as residents they still would have charged us for every use. We looked at a very nice 120 m2 place with a great view of the large river that flows through Qionghai but we found out that the land that this development was built on was in dispute with the local government and no one had gotten their ownership papers as a result. We liked a place but it was built above stores and laopo was afraid of possible noise from below. We almost bought a 13 floor apartment that was 2 floors of 150 m2, but it was on a busy street with no nice tropical garden around it. Then we found it...our tropical dream... A large, 19 buildings, development on the Southern edge of the city. Developed by the Beijing railway it had the best financial backing of anything we looked at. Everything was done absolutely first-class, the paths and roads were of a substantial slate laid down perfectly, tropical vegetation was being brought in as mature trees and massed not one here and there. We were able to buy in a building that overlooks a huge tropical garden 70 m across with ponds. Of course almost nothing is there now. There are 9 buildings in various stages of completion and a few people have started moving in. Our apartment should be done in about 1 year. We bought a 142 m2 place, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, all unfinished of course, 3rd floor with stairs in a 6 story building for around 1700 RMB/m2. That comes out to about $31K. There are not a lot of places yet available and we thought it an incredibly good investment at that price. One other CFL couple just made the plunge and bought a place in our same building this week so if there is anyone out there who would just love to be able to call 'ol Don and ask him how cold and rainy it is in Portalnd today as they sip from their coconut under a palm tree... ...PM me for details... Link to comment
pkfops Posted November 16, 2006 Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 That's where the crew of the US spy plane stayed. Some idiots said they were being held hostage. Link to comment
rogerluli Posted November 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 That's where the crew of the US spy plane stayed. Some idiots said they were being held hostage. Yeah Pete I guess they were horribly mistreated and forced to eat nothing but lobster, crab and shrimp ever day... More Qionghai notes... The city is 20 km inland and therefore sits at the incredibly high elevation of 82 ft... These two factoids mean it does not share the higher humidity level of being right on the coast and also has not been blown off the map by a typhoon in the last 1000 years. The coastal cities nearest are Boao, where the Asia-Pacific Forum is located with big-wigs from all over Asia holding conferences and meettings there in between the other tropical pleasures and Tangmen, a fishing town. Link to comment
Robert S. Posted November 16, 2006 Report Share Posted November 16, 2006 . . . . that Anchor double ice brewed sounds really good Link to comment
rogerluli Posted November 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2006 . . . . that Anchor double ice brewed sounds really good The good think about Chinese beers is the low alcohol content. Every one I tried for breakfast... ... lunch and dinner... was between 3.1 and 3.6% alcohol. I had the feeling I would drown before I would get loaded... Link to comment
rogerluli Posted November 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 http://www.wanquanriver.org/en/ Here's the Qionghai, Hainan website... Link to comment
Dan R Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 Darn Roger, I just checked virtualtourist and no one has entered anything on Qionghai! Here's the link http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Asia/...e-Qionghai.html Be the first! Link to comment
Dan R Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 Roger are you going to raise geese when you move there? It seems to be a local custom. Would be a great supplementary income. Link to comment
Randy W Posted November 19, 2006 Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 Roger are you going to raise geese when you move there? It seems to be a local custom. Would be a great supplementary income. It runs in his family - his mother did. Link to comment
rogerluli Posted November 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 Roger are you going to raise geese when you move there? It seems to be a local custom. Would be a great supplementary income.PETA members please do NOT read further... http://www.wanquanriver.org/en/fjiaji.html Yes Dan here is the lnk to the section on the famous Jiaji duck and goose served in Qionghai. These poor critters are kept in special very low cages and force fed special feed but man does it ever work. They are both the best I have ever had in China... And yes I have had the famous Beijing duck at the famous Beijing duck restaurant with too many q's in the name and their own duck farm and Im sorry Beijing folks but this is better. The thinnest, crispiest skin, the most succulent, fine-grained, moist meat... Link to comment
rogerluli Posted November 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2006 Roger are you going to raise geese when you move there? It seems to be a local custom. Would be a great supplementary income. It runs in his family - his mother did. And I see that Randy has thrown his hat in the ring to be my new fight buddy... Link to comment
rogerluli Posted December 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2006 Wisconsin today...Heavy snow...6"-11"...24 F now, wind 10 mph Ne, windchill 16 F...temps dropping like a rock later... Qionghai...72 F right now... Link to comment
mercator Posted December 6, 2006 Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 Is it finished? My wife says that often new apartments are bare (as in BARE) walls and no fixtures, let alone appliances and such. You may spend another 10k just to get lighting, appliances, paint, and flooring into the thing if it is not finished. Nice to have it custom, but can come as an expensive surprise if you are unprepared. Link to comment
jemmyell Posted December 7, 2006 Report Share Posted December 7, 2006 Wisconsin today...Heavy snow...6"-11"...24 F now, wind 10 mph Ne, windchill 16 F...temps dropping like a rock later... B) Qionghai...72 F right now... And you are where??? -James Link to comment
Dan R Posted December 7, 2006 Report Share Posted December 7, 2006 Wisconsin today...Heavy snow...6"-11"...24 F now, wind 10 mph Ne, windchill 16 F...temps dropping like a rock later... B) Qionghai...72 F right now... And you are where??? -James Only 72 It was 80 here today. I may have to reconsider moving to a frigid region. Link to comment
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