Buying a house in China - Yunnan

[rogerluli]

Most guide books to China begin their chapter on Yunnan something like this - If you only have time to visit one province in China, Yunnan is the one to see. It is without a doubt one of the most alluring destinations in China. It is the most varied of all of China's provinces, with terrain ranging from tropical rain forests to snow-capped Tibetan peaks. It's the 6th largest province and home to vast numbers of "minority' people with nearly 50% being non-Han. It is home to half of all of China's plant and animal species.

 

Neither of us had ever been to Yunnan when we arrived to buy a house last month but we had read and heard enough to convince us that this was the place in China to spend the summer (April-October). Yunnan is well known for it's mild climate with Kunming being known as "Spring City". Over that 7 month period the average daily high ranges from 68 - 78 and the low from 50 - 62 (F). Air conditioning is very rare even in hotels and we had decided that the climate was extremely important to us in our "golden years"...(okay wiseacre, my golden years as laopo is still a kid).

 

We flew in to Kunming and had a development selected as our first choice in the area near the Expo site northeast of the downtown. We never saw it... We immediately found Kunming too big, crowded, with freeways being built over freeways. I do not wish to live in a place where I am never sure if I live just past the 5th or 6th ring road... .So the next day we were off to Yuxi, 98 km south, where a good friend of laopo lives. We immediately loved Yuxi. It is a small city of around 300,000 but it is a very rich city thanks to the famous and renowned Yuxi Cigarette Factory, the largest in Asia. People in Yuxi do not greet you by shaking hands but by offering you smokes... It is almost considered your civic duty to light up... and our house warming gift from the development company we bought our apartment from was the perfect Yuxi present, a huge crystal ashtray. Yuxi is spacious and never crowded, there are beautiful public spaces, walks and parks, the streets are wide and lined with flowering trees, and they even have a Wal-Mart... The city is surrounded by high hills and to the east there are a series of lakes including Fuxian Lake, an especially beautiful and deep one. The countryside was beautiful with horse-drawn carts clomping by even into the city. We bought a 162 m2 place on the 13th floor of a 13 floor building. It is a 4 bedroom, 2 bath apartment on the corner of the building, our living room faces south and we have great views from every room. The apartment goes through the building so we have south, west and north opening windows. The living room does not have an open porch but instead a glassed in sitting area with a curved window going all the way across the 4.8 m space.

 

I think the single most beautiful thing I found in Yunnan was the sky. Here you will not find much of the hazy skies that plague most of China, but wonderfully clear, deep blue skies with puffy clouds floating by and at night you see every star that's out there...

[PapaBear]

Roger.....Your Yuxi find sounds beautiful! I fell in love with Yunnan when I visited there too. Also, had the same impression of Kunming when I flew in from Hanoi, Viet Nam. I had researched Yunnan ahead of time and had planned on spending 4 or 5 days in Kungming before pushing onward into LiJiang. But after landing, even before I got out into the city, I knew that I wanted to push on to LiJiang sooner. So, before leaving the airport I purchased a ticket to LiJiang for the following day and spent 7 days in and around that area befoe returning to Kunming for a return flight to Hanoi. It was a good decision, one which I will never forget nor regret.

 

I've had to promise Lao Po a vacation trip to Yunnan soon! The country-side there is just beyond description. The people are some of the nicest I've met anywhere, seems they wear their hearts on their faces....big smiles! And the geography is full of everything delightful! A great vacation destination!

 

Roger.....where are the pictures? I know you had some troubles keeping pocession of your camera....butr you did make it back with some didn't you? Post some why don't ya?

 

PapaBear B)

[rogerluli]

Roger.....Your Yuxi find sounds beautiful! I fell in love with Yunnan when I visited there too. Also, had the same impression of Kunming when I flew in from Hanoi, Viet Nam. I had researched Yunnan ahead of time and had planned on spending 4 or 5 days in Kungming before pushing onward into LiJiang. But after landing, even before I got out into the city, I knew that I wanted to push on to LiJiang sooner. So, before leaving the airport I purchased a ticket to LiJiang for the following day and spent 7 days in and around that area befoe returning to Kunming for a return flight to Hanoi. It was a good decision, one which I will never forget nor regret.

 

I've had to promise Lao Po a vacation trip to Yunnan soon! The country-side there is just beyond description. The people are some of the nicest I've met anywhere, seems they wear their hearts on their faces....big smiles! And the geography is full of everything delightful! A great vacation destination!

 

Roger.....where are the pictures? I know you had some troubles keeping pocession of your camera....butr you did make it back with some didn't you? Post some why don't ya?

 

PapaBear B)

 

 

I have all my pics from Hainan and most from Yuxi, except no interior shots of our apartment, but all the ones from Lijiang, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Fenghuang, etc are gone for good (Insert Smilie crying a river of tears)...So I'll post what I've got soon...

 

I think everyone who has not been to Yunnan should be planning on going there, so if it's any time after August 2013 be sure to stop in Yuxi and I'll spring for a free carton of Yuxi's most famous brand...Hongtashan fags...

[rogerluli]

Dining at the Three Treasures Restaurant

 

 

In the dusk bats swoop low over the fields to dine,

From the light of our restaurant room the perfect rows of vegetables are still visible,

Fires from burning tobacco stalks punctuate the night,

Their smoke lying close to the ground.

Above the crystal Yunnan sky beckons.

On leaving we follow a horse-drawn cart down the ancient lane,

The horse's fast clip-clop and jangling bells echoing from the houses,

Just before we emerge onto the main road,

A man in a doorway smokes from a large bamboo pipe.

[Trigg]

Dining at the Three Treasures Restaurant

 

 

In the dusk bats swoop low over the fields to dine,

From the light of our restaurant room the perfect rows of vegetables are still visible,

Fires from burning tobacco stalks punctuate the night,

Their smoke lying close to the ground.

Above the crystal Yunnan sky beckons.

On leaving we follow a horse-drawn cart down the ancient lane,

The horse's fast clip-clop and jangling bells echoing from the houses,

Just before we emerge onto the main road,

A man in a doorway smokes from a large bamboo pipe.

Gee thanks Roggie!! Wifey came in a bit ago and saw all the info you wrote about china etc.. she said "HUSBAND!! Why you no tell me LuLi and her rich husband come home?" So I had to fess up. Now she is calling LuLi. that means that soon I'll be buying two, bigger and better , homes in china. I guess I can finance this through my new purse selling business!

 

Thanks Roggie. now you will pay. you may have me for a neighbor!! Can I borrow a cup of money??

[rogerluli]

Dining at the Three Treasures Restaurant

 

 

In the dusk bats swoop low over the fields to dine,

From the light of our restaurant room the perfect rows of vegetables are still visible,

Fires from burning tobacco stalks punctuate the night,

Their smoke lying close to the ground.

Above the crystal Yunnan sky beckons.

On leaving we follow a horse-drawn cart down the ancient lane,

The horse's fast clip-clop and jangling bells echoing from the houses,

Just before we emerge onto the main road,

A man in a doorway smokes from a large bamboo pipe.

Gee thanks Roggie!! Wifey came in a bit ago and saw all the info you wrote about china etc.. she said "HUSBAND!! Why you no tell me LuLi and her rich husband come home?" So I had to fess up. Now she is calling LuLi. that means that soon I'll be buying two, bigger and better , homes in china. I guess I can finance this through my new purse selling business!

 

Thanks Roggie. now you will pay. you may have me for a neighbor!! Can I borrow a cup of money??

 

No problem big guy... I brought home a ton of those light, little 1 jiao coins... I will fill up your cup and then some... And on the bright side I can take you out and teach you how to fish in China...

[PapaBear]

So Roger.....what's this wait til August 2013 bit? You're not planning on waiting til then to retire are you??? Well, I guess that's not too far off....I'm hoping to stick it out another 6 years in the workplace before retiring.

 

You mentioned going to Tiger Leaping Gourge, did you make the trip out of LiJiang to the kingdom of women, Lugu Lake? Another of my favorite places in Yunnan! Also, was going to ride the tram to the top of the Jade Snow Dragon Mountain, but the lines were way too long. Ended up horse-back riding to a small meadow on the side of the mountain, singing my way up the trail (the Chinese woman whose horses we were on said the horses liked my voice.....I was singing tunes from The Sound of Music.....Climb Every Mountain, as well as the rest of them). What a memorable trip! I didn't visit Old Town LiJiang until my last day in LiJiang, enjoyed all that time out in the country-side!

 

Anyway, congrats on the Yuannan Yuxi home. Is it furnished or unfurnished, new or used? I'd be interested in the average m2 price you found around Yuxi. Just interested, we're going to be busy fixing up our Beijing home.....will host my parents there this year, and with the Olympics in 2008.....will be entertaining my own children there then! So.....lots of work to do in the mean time (Lao Po wants to completely redo both our bath rooms....major tile and renovations in the works).

 

PapaBear

[rogerluli]

So Roger.....what's this wait til August 2013 bit? You're not planning on waiting til then to retire are you??? Well, I guess that's not too far off....I'm hoping to stick it out another 6 years in the workplace before retiring.

 

You mentioned going to Tiger Leaping Gourge, did you make the trip out of LiJiang to the kingdom of women, Lugu Lake? Another of my favorite places in Yunnan! Also, was going to ride the tram to the top of the Jade Snow Dragon Mountain, but the lines were way too long. Ended up horse-back riding to a small meadow on the side of the mountain, singing my way up the trail (the Chinese woman whose horses we were on said the horses liked my voice.....I was singing tunes from The Sound of Music.....Climb Every Mountain, as well as the rest of them). What a memorable trip! I didn't visit Old Town LiJiang until my last day in LiJiang, enjoyed all that time out in the country-side!

 

Anyway, congrats on the Yuannan Yuxi home. Is it furnished or unfurnished, new or used? I'd be interested in the average m2 price you found around Yuxi. Just interested, we're going to be busy fixing up our Beijing home.....will host my parents there this year, and with the Olympics in 2008.....will be entertaining my own children there then! So.....lots of work to do in the mean time (Lao Po wants to completely redo both our bath rooms....major tile and renovations in the works).

 

PapaBear B)

 

Michael we spent 4 nights in Lijiang at a Naxi guesthouse in the Old Town. It was very relaxed and pleasant, drinking tea and smoking in the courtyard at night. We only did the one day trip out of town, by taxi, to Tiger Leaping Gorge and the surrounding countryside and I agree with you completely that the area around Lijiang is better than being in Lijiang. It is gorgeous. I know we will be back many times for vacations. And next year you can take the train there for the first time and since Yuxi is the southernmost train stop in Yunnan we can jump right on there and wind our way up the mountains and past the lakes to Lijiang, the northernmost stop.

 

Yes I also have 6 more years to work before I retire... B) althopugh laopo says with my gummint job I am already there... B)

 

Both apartments we bought are new and therfore unfinished. In fact the Hainan one isn't even there yet, just a spot out in the field... . In Yuxi we bought from the Longma Real Estate and Development Co or something like that. Mr Longma is the biggest, little guy in town with a fleet of Cadillacs to prove it. He owns the largest hotel and this is his crowning glory a big development of fancy-shmancy shops and restaurants and apartment buildings. Ours is in one of the 2 just and first completed. There are about 10 more apartment buildings coming of up to 26 stories. We saw the plans for everything and we liked our floor plan the best although if we had bought one of the later ones we could have gotten more of a "sale", although the prices were higher. Anyway we paid about 2100 RMB/m2 and I think the priciest 26th floor place was about 2700...So compared to what you're used to in Beijing these prices are very cheap... Even in Kunming we would have had to pay about 3000 RMB/m2 for the suburbs and much more close in.

[Yuanyang]

http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/...tent_467246.htm

[Trigg]

http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/...tent_467246.htm

Roggie did this when he was there. Something about running for the hills when he refused to pay for his 'foot massage'.

[rogerluli]

http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/...tent_467246.htm

 

Well as you can see this occured 180 km from Kunming whereas Yuxi itself is 98 km from Kunming... Those durned Chinese "cities" are just too big...

[rogerluli]

http://www2.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/...tent_467246.htm

Roggie did this when he was there. Something about running for the hills when he refused to pay for his 'foot massage'.

 

I did actually get the "full body massage with oil"... this time... but wouldn't you know it here I am in this private room with the young woman working her magic on my tired old bones and I'm waiting for the good stuff to start when in walks laopo to watch the last part of the massage... then she and the masseuse chat for the next 15 minutes...but it did feel G..R..E..A..T..

[rogerluli]

http://i19.tinypic.com/4ih3rib.jpg

 

I finally got interior pics of our house from Yuxi so today i did a gallery thingie of Yuxi.

[rogerluli]

Beautiful roof tops, Roger.

 

BTW - you need to wash your windows.

 

Hey Don I'll put you up for a night if you don't mind crawling out there and washing the windows...

[Randy W]

Beautiful roof tops, Roger.

 

BTW - you need to wash your windows.

 

Hey Don I'll put you up for a night if you don't mind crawling out there and washing the windows...

 

 

Just remember that rooftops grow . . .