Moving to Zhuhai!!!
I am moving to Zhuhai from Harbin on August 27th of this year, which is fast approaching. I have not been there and the internet is limited in resources. Besides, we all know that talking with people that are already there is the best way to find out things about a place So my question is this, what advice or suggestions do you have for me? Sites to see since I am off for the first five days that I live there? Best place to open a personal bank account? Decent gym to join? Public transit info? Good coffee shops? Good places to buy clothes and groceries? Thanks in advance! :)
I think the first thing you need to find out is where your work will be located and where you will live. This will help for gyms, coffee shops, restaurants and general grocery shopping. After that for clothing, if you are regular sized then clothes shopping should not be a major problem, but if it is or you want something particular, HK and Macau to a lesser extent are the other options.
For site seeing, there are nice islands, a nice coastal (well river) road, great parks, and the whirlwind which is GongBei shopping centre to first discover.
Hope this helps a little and sure the regular contributors will be able to offer more advice
Don't even ask about housing...most of the people will tell you to live in HUAFA! Apparently it's the best place in the world to live...
Gustavo, the last thread I read about housing on this forum didn't indicate that at all; not even remotely.
It seemed quite balanced actually, except for some posters railing against Huafa, rather than offering opions on the best place to live.
We chose Jida ;-)
Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalease! Huafa has some nice grounds and some pools. Period. There is nothing else except for crappy expensive 'international' restaurants and of course the extremely polluted river everything is on in Century City. I lived there for almost a year. Maintenance fees are high, although you can find some low rent housing.
Transportation, shopping is non existent and if you want to go somewhere besides Huafa .... good luck with that.
Of course there is a slew of foreigners there.
Where your employer put you (don't know how nice it is), is a very good transportation hub and has everything you need very close by including wet market and supermarkets.
There are some very, very nice places in Zhuhai at reasonable prices. Just have know what your priorities are.
Hey Rump
You lived in Century City or New Town for a year?
Both. Been here quite some time. When I lived in Century City nothing at all was there really. Then New Town kinda fell apart with it's conveniences. Then I moved on the beach next to bar street. Nice. JIda. NIce places there. And if you have transpo you can get a house just about anywhere and Zhuhai is very big.
Nothing bad to say about Huafa. Lots of foreigners. Just nothing really there .... if you know what I mean. And swimming pool residences are all over Zhuhai too.
How about you Dave? How's Quinshan treating you. Bet if you live anywhere near that transit train you are dying for it to start moving:)
Rump
Hi Roy, welcome to Zhuhai. I also lived in Harbin a number of years ago and I have rather fond memories of the city (I taught at a #1 kindergarten that was right by the visa office, close to the walking street). I went through SARS there and it was in general a really rewarding and rich experience - I picked up most of my Chinese there and made tons of wonderful local friends.
Zhuhai will be quite a change for you, however if you like heat and humidity - it is a lovely city to be in. It's not too crowded, public transportation system is very good (especially from where you'll be staying it is very easy to get all over the city - direct buses to most of the places!). Will you be working for TPR? Since their headquarters are there and teachers usually live around that area.
We use China Construction Bank for personal banking and in 11 years in China I like it the best out of all the local banks. I use the bank for deposits, online payments, transfers abroad etc You can even open a credit card and you won't require much of the documents except minimum 5000 RMB and your passport (they can explain the conditions to you and they are quite fair, hard to actually go over the limit -) ).
Depending on your clothes size you can shop in Yi Hua (opposite Jusco near where you'll be living) or Gongbei market. Same Giordano and such are available.
There aren't many sightseeing places so I would spend your days off getting to know the area around. Huge wet market with wholesale imported food nearby, restaurants. Starbucks and Subway and more couple stops away...
There are quite a few threads on the subject, so browse the forum for more replies :-) Otherwise folks here are pretty friendly and will answer your questions.
Going to a whole new place is really a tough job to do at the beginning.With this in mind,all we want is easy the lives of those foreigners who are not that fimiliar with Zhuhai.We offer a variety of practical services according to the needs of the foreign friends who don’t have time and energy to study Mandarin. (Such as Hospital Companion Interpretation, tourism information, International Phone Calls, Online Shopping, Lawyer and so on.) Through the cooperation with the outstanding local enterprises in all fields, we ensure our high- quality and high-efficiency services.
please check our website for the services we have. http://www.mymandarinmaster.com/services.aspx
Cheekygal, you are officially my new favorite person in the world! LOL! Starbucks and Subway....I am SOLD! You are talking to the guy that has a Starbucks logo tattoo on his left foot (true story), ha ha ha! Thank you SOOOOO much for the in depth banking tips! The internet is flooded with so much misleading and mismatching information that it is very refreshing to get advice from actual people that have gone through the process before. As for my employer, you guessed correct (smart cookie you are, ha ha ha). You lived in Harbin so I am sure that you know what a real winter feels like and Zhuhai must feel like a day spa compared to Harbin in the winter, ha ha ha! A local credit card would be great as I closed everything back in NY except for my savings account prior to my moving to Harbin and I plan on returning to university via online sometime in the next 6-12 months. I am very excited to start a new chapter and can't wait until August 27th! :)
Glad you got inspired :) Hope the transition goes smooth. People and Food in the south of China are very different from the north. And Yes, the climate is completely different - you will need lots of t-shirts in summer :) Enjoy your new adventure!
@Roy.Emerson
I would advise you to steer clear from Subway.. it is horrible!! a while ago I decided to not ever go back there, but couple of days ago I gave them another try to see if they had improved .. they had not... stay clear...
@sidney they hired some new stuff with an attitude it seems. We went yesterday and the girl kept rolling her eyes at me. Well, i had to tell her nicely to change her attitude :) bread and meat /vegetable quality was fine.
Housing is already taken care of via my employer. I will be living in the Xiangzhou District in a two bedroom apartment near my employers headquarters. The name of the street is South Fenghuang Road.