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Alive and kicking

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Voiceroveip:
I'll have some relatives in GZ but not the closest ones which are in orther Guangdong cities, so I think I'll be ok ... + I can hide in my office since I will be starting a company in GZ. Renting offices is so cheap in GZ that I could have a "spare" with full living equipment

Brett the Ms. Woo thing certainly rings a bell :D Happy dating and don't catch anything ;) You could aim at Changsha too, very prolific and quick to get to with the express train. I was really impressed moving around with those express trains in Guangdong, used them a couple of times to visit suppliers and they're clean, comfortable and fast, beats driving a car.

Willy thanks for the info on Ted, pass on my regards, I think I have his wife on QQ still if she didn't eject me :D

So Brett where do you recommend to get settled in GZ? I only know it from traveling a few days at a time, always stayed around Tian'he in hotels but that seems a little to banky/businessy vs residential, and I'll need a decent international school close by and preferably somewhere where the laowai community are centered. Coming from Europe, price is not that huge of an issue after I sell my house here, I do want an apartment though, tired of cutting the grass, life is too short and individual house prices are crazy in GZ anyway, + we want to be quite central :D Rooftop 50th floor 200sqm with view on Pearl river would be nice :D We'll start renting and once business is secure we'll probably buy, it will also give us a chance to experiment different areas as necessary. My family actually suggested buying a flat around the corner from them, but luckily they are a little off center so I had a good excuse :D

The only hold-up now is selling my house, the market is depressed in France, patience is key unfortunately.

Willy The Londoner:

--- Quote from: Voiceroveip on May 31, 2013, 08:43:33 am ---

Willy thanks for the info on Ted, pass on my regards, I think I have his wife on QQ still if she didn't eject me :D


--- End quote ---
God Help you! 

I will ask Ted if he wants me to pass over his email address when we next chat.

Willy

brett:
Hi Voice,

When I first came here I spent 3 weeks in a hotel - I bargained them down to 165RMB a night which wasn't bad.

If you're white and middle class then you'll find the other white middle class people live in Tianhe and Zhujiang. It's OK but the metro and buses are very crowded, especially if you gotta get anywhere in the morning!

The more creative types prefer Liwan - the old city centered around Ximenkou.

I think there are some foreigner settlements around Tonghe on Line 3, but I've found it quite poor and rough looking round there.

There's a massive gated apartment 3 bus stops away from me - 2/3 bedroom apartments there were 3000-4000RMB a month. A lot I looked at came with furniture and stuff.

Most property rentals are for 6 months, so I guess you can just find anything then take a look around for something more long term.

Be careful of buying here, this bubble's gonna pop sooner or later. And just bear in mind that paperwork for starting/running a company here is onerous to put it lightly. Not like the UK where I only have to file a couple of documents a year (at a cost of £15).

Yeah, I should probably take a trip to Changsha. Actually Shenzhen's been pretty good to me - China's smartest ladies live there but maybe they're just too smart for anybody. I just found it a bit soulless, whereas Guangzhou's quirks make it what it is.

Voiceroveip:
Still alive, still kicking but unfortunately still in France .... Brett, a very late thanks for the info ...

We sold our house last year during the summer but the sale fell through after we had emptied everything out just days before signing, legal procedure, some compensation months later and now it's on the market again, which is even more depressed after the Paris and Nice attacks. :(

I'm happy to report a second daughter which was actually born in China, we had already rented a base there last summer and my wife preferred to deliver in China, although she did regret it later, especially the lack of peridural resulting from an understaffed anesthesist department in the hospital. We smuggled our Chinese daughter to France on a tourist visa, LOL !!! To crown it all, our newborn caught pneumonia at 3 months, I rished over and brought it back (the pneumonia) and even relapsed 5 months later although I'm fine now. Shitty 2015 for us to be honest.

Looking at statistics, we're pretty lucky considering that we had only met twice for less than 3 weeks before we got married, and we're still going strong after over 6 years and 2 little girls. I think the key was a reasonably good match and having adequate expectations of each other.

So a quick hello and goodbye until next time :)

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