China Romance
All About China => Your trip to China => Topic started by: rhoodtsao on November 21, 2009, 09:06:26 pm
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Well after 30 hours of flight I'm finally here, I don't have a laptop so I'm posting this from internet cafe in my hotel lobby, excuse the mispelling, I don't have my word processer, I got here about 3:00 pm here on nov 21st, in her last emf she said to call her as soon as I got in the hotel, which I did, she said she will come to my hotel with her translator after work, which was about 9 pm, since her work is not too far away from my hotel I expected her to be here about 9:30 pm, I waited for her in the hotel lobby all dress up and gifts ready, I waited in the lobby until about 10:30 and she's a no show, I don't have a cell phone, I just need a sim card, which I'm going to buy today, I went back up to my room to called her, of course no answer,I call a zillion times, still no answer, I call this morning nov 22nd. still no answer, but to my suprise there is a emf from her, she made some excuse about her having to work late and she thought I might be tire from long journey, she said we'll meet today, so stay tune guys, there's not much happening here, I'll hang around for another day to give this a chance, I might have to go into plan B.
Mr Anonymous
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rhood...ouch sorry mate...;-((
Wait til the morrow comes, she will show:icon_biggrin:
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Robin , do not know which agency you are dealing with , but if stuck Agency 218 will always look after you , regards Ying and Robert .
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Hang in there.See what she 's got to say.
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What's your plan B? Good luck man, I know I would be feeling pretty frustrated if I were you. Also, we're all friends here so the more information we have, the better able we are to help. Which town are you staying at in China? If everything goes sideways, maybe someone could suggest an alternative plan B for you. Anonymity doesn't really help anyone here.
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Yes my friend I can see your problem. I went to China but soon had to go to plan B, then Plan C then plan hell- i gave up with the plans, stayed in China and just enjoyed myself for 10 weeks and eventually meet the lady I have been with for the past three months.
Plans are like rules - they are meant to be broken.
Whatever happens in the next 24 hours enjoy your time here.
Willy
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That was the thing I feared most, that when I arrived in China, that I would come all that way and I would not even lay eyes on her. But it's not nearly the worst thing that can happen, and life goes on.
Sometimes it really feels like the end of the world. It really feels that way at the time. You feel abandoned and ashamed and disgraced. But it's not that way at all. You have to live the dream. If she fails you, it is not you who have failed. I can remember a line from the one of the characters in a Chinese novel, about the three kingdoms: "better to be betrayed by the whole world, than to betray another". You have acted in good faith. If she has acted in a faithless way, then that is not reflection on you. Maybe she had a good reason for what she has done. Maybe not, but regardless, you know in your heart if you have acted in a good and proper way.
The first time I came to Zhuhai she was about an hour late and I thought what a fool I was. During my second visit to Zhuhai, she explained how nervous she was, and so she spent so much time doing her hair and choosing her clothes and putting on her make-up and that was why she was so late. When she told me this, I wasn't so sure about it. But I remember my own good wife, and the way she would fuss about clothes and appearance, and she could easily spend an hour or two getting ready to go out, so who is to know, maybe it was the truth. I will never know.
The woman I was visiting might have decided not to come at all, like the woman you were visiting. I was fortunate. But in the end, it is best to know as early as possible what someone is like. She has let you know, in a way that is more reliable than anything else she could have told you. Watch what people do, more than what they say.
I am really sorry to hear what happened. There is not much to take consolation from. I suppose when there is the chance of great happiness, there is the corresponding chance of great disappointment. I don't think it is possible to have the one without the other.
Good luck.
If it does not work out, don't sit around in the hotel room like I did. Make yourself get out and have a good time. There will be time to be sad when you get home. A lot of guys have started their trip with a disaster like this and they have bounced back and had a real adventure. So if it doesn't work out, make yourself enjoy the rest of the time. Maybe go to an agency, or just have a blast and get wasted . . . whatever will make you happy.
Good luck and take care!
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Rhood I am guessing your name is Robin,
If you need to get in touch with the P218 the agency managers name is Kangjian Tang. I hope things turn around for you real soon.
Shaun
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Oh jims fav hangout agency. Seems to be getting worse with them isnt it.
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On both sides of the world.
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Give her the benefit of doubt. Their work ethic is second to none. She should have called the hotel to tell you of course and she is probably nervous to meet you and just chickened out the first time. IF she misses the second time, then I think it would be time to cut bait and head to the agency. Spend a day searching and meeting. What city are you in? Some of us have friends that would like to meet a good guy.
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Robin.. Don´t forget the 24 hour rule..
Keep you head cool until tomorrow and if nothing happens get in contact with the other agency in Changsha. They could help you..
Best luck
Peter
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Well gents sorry about late posting to my sitution here,I could not log in yesterday, no. My plan B doesn't involve jumping out the window, haha let me pick up the story from nov 22. I got an emf from my girl saying that Toni our translator will come and pick me up at my hotel and we're to meet at her school, where she teaches, sire enough Toni show up at 5:30 and we went to her school, man the school was just let out, and some of you know how crowded changsha is,there's a million people on the side walk outside the school, but there she was I pick her out of the crowd before Toni even did, I walk up to her, offer her a single red rose I brought with me and man I'll never forget the surprise look on her face. We exchanges greeting Chinese style, no hugs or kisses, that's cool man no problem, we went to a restaurant named wings, the same restaurant that she had mention in the eariler emf, she was very surprise that I remember that restaurant, I told her I remember everything about what she said. We had a nce dinner there, the girls even told the waiteress not to put too much spice, but still it's heck of spicy. We had a nice conversation having a translator is a big help it's also help that the girls are friends, I feel like I have k ow our translator for a long time also, heck 70plus letters that's a long time right? After that we went back to my hotel, no don't jump the gun here, we had a couple of drinks And talk some more. Ok here's the killer guys, I ask my girl and the translator about the meeting fee, they were very surprise, didn't know what the meeting fee is, I had to explained it to them, they both said there's no fee for that, so I don't know where some of you guy got that outrages meeting fee. The translator cost is 100yuans an hour, or I can hire her for a whole day for 400 yuans. I have to sign a discloseur state ment from love bridge agency, thT said they don't gurantee marriage, I'm on my own as to how much gifts I want to give my girl, yadee yayada blah blah. Ok on to the next day, my girl's day off yipee right? At last night at the hotel lobby she said she'll come by in the afternoon after she finished writing some papers for her class, there I go again assuming that she meant around noon, I really can't sleep any way, I wake up about 6:30 went down stairs to eat brakefast and went back to my room to wait for her to call, waited and waited some more, now I am bore to death, I waited for her to go to lunch, I called her several times no answer, now I am getting inpaitence, waited the whole day, no call or nothing, oh last night I told her I run out of emf credits, so don't write emf, I can't read them anyway, at about 6:30 I went down stairs, where I can get wifi, wrote her an emf after I get more credits I wouln't say nasty letter but it was kind of edgy. I should obey 24 hours but after what I went thru the he'll with it, after that I went to dinner by myself, got back to my room, sure enough message waiting light is flashing. Damn it the message came in 10 minutes after I gave up waiting for her, also there was an emf from her saying she finished writing her paper, and we can meet now, she ask Toni to call me several times, looking for me, I still don't have a Chinese cell phone, must get one, but I finally get my us IPhone to roam here. Man f:;"@up I already send the edgy emf. Anyway I called Toni back Toni came to my hotel to pick me up and we went to a KTV place to hook up with my girl, I was almost to my knees apolozing, and to my surprise she too is almost to her knees apolozing for not being able to meet eariler. Alrighty then we're even on that department, the rest of the night we sing, well they sing mostly, they are very good singers.after a couple of beers i got enough courage to take the mike and belt out a couple of songs, hehe. We had a great time, well i had a great time, I think she did too hopefully. Well after that I found out that the phone number I have of her is no good anymore, she got a new number.
Tuesday here she got a presentation at her school with the head master today, I will go pick her up for dinner at her lunch break.
Excuse the rumbling, I'm typing this on my iPhone with my thumb, can't go back and redifine this post it's too long. Thanks to all the guys for all the encouragement.
rhood
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Hey, that's a great story.
I'm glad you kept away from the window. I tried not to think about that plan *laughs*
It sounds like you're having a good time, whatever happens, you take back a pile of memories.
It's a bit of a roller coaster ride, but it's a wild one!
Thanks for writing about it. I am really enjoying it. Good luck!
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Well gents, tuesday We , Toni come pick me up at my hotel, and we went to meet Julia at a restaurant near her school for dinner break at dinner we decided to watch 2012 after Julia finished with her class, we then went to the movie later, walk around the shopping center a little bit waiting for the movie to start, at the movie she lay her head down on my shoulder and we hold hands, hehe feel like I was back in high school, movie didn't end until 2 am, after the movie we took a taxi home the girls drop me off at my hotel and they went home. On to the next day, Toni came to pick me up and we went to meet Julia at her school, she got a couple of hours of free time between her class, we then went to a restaurant/ coffee shop talk for a little bit, and Julia ask me do I have any thing to ask her????? I don't know what she meant by that, so all you experts out there, what she meant by that? I ask Toni what she meant by that too when Julia went to bathroom and she doesn't know by that either. Both girls are so. tire from being out so late last night they almost fell asleep, old man has worn them out, haha since they are so tire we just call it a day, maybe I'll drag them out to go clubbing tomorrow.
Rhoodtsao
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Thanks for the update Mr Rhoodtsao ! 2012 is a bit of a baffling film, but I liked it. I find Chinese women totally baffling at times, so I don't know what she was wanting you to say, maybe she was fishing for an engagement ring!? Have you told her you love her (w? ài n?)? They do want to hear you say that :icon_cheesygrin:!
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Julia ask me do I have any thing to ask her????? I don't know what she meant by that, so all you experts out there, what she meant by that?
Don't speculate, ask her, not the experts here. When you have some time together, and it's quiet, maybe after dinner, ask her about it, in a light and easy way, say something along the lines that, "you know when we are at the coffee shop, you asked me whether I had a question for you . . . did you mean about the future, or our relationship together?" That's how I would deal with it.
Good luck!
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Danny
As a relative newbie here, I think that's close to being the most perfect advice I have read on this Forum. rhoodtsao can speculate until the cows come home about what Julia meant; and members here can speculate for the same length of time with the advice they give him about it. But he will never truly know the answer to his dillemna until he asks Julia what she meant.
So, go on rhoodtsao - ask her!
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Robin , do you have an electronic translator with you as you seem to be stuck with a human one , your discussions will never be on a personal level relying on a third person to translate plus the money you have already spent probably would have almost paid for a low end Besta translating machine , regards Ying and Robert .
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Julia is a heck of a busy girl, and this is a slow time for her, my original plan was ro come meet her over Christmas and new year, I have a little more time to stay here, but Julia said she's really busy at that time of the year, so as usual Toni came pick me up after she's done translation at her work, usually about 3 pm, Julia don't want me to be bore by myself, she sends Toni to keeps me company, we have about two hours to kill before Julia get off work. Toni is pretty cool, she speaks very well, ver slight accent, we talk about every thing, oh I forget to mention Toni and I have the same last name, Tsao is not very common, any way as usual we went to pick Julia at school, went to a Korean restaurant, next to that restaurant is a dept. store, one of the advertising on the side of the building said yes I do, I ask Julia to read it for me, and she did, I then said the question was do you love me? Haha I for her there, I'll never forget the lookon her face, turn all pinkish and so embaressed, she hide her face on my chest, we walk around for a little bit after dinner, Julia is so tire from running all day get up at 6am preparing for her class, had a staff meeting and then still have to teach, I didn't have the heart to dragg her to clubing man, the girls then took me back to hotel, then they went home, on the way home on the taxi ride I told Julia I was coming back to this shopping/clubbing area after I have a couple of beer at the hotel, and she ask me why? I told her I'm coming back to watch people, she then pinches me and told me I better not be back here watching women haha I told her I won't have that experience when I get back to America, she still give me that dirty looks, she looks so cute man.
Like I said eariler Toni is cool, she"s almost invincible I can and will say anything infront of her, I don't have a problem with that, I have a language translator with me, but I rather talk to me it's livelier.
Myrtor park is right around from my hotel, I went there a couple of time by myself, Julia has never been there, is she got the time we'll go there, I will also ask her tomorrow what she meant the other day at the coffee shop, tomorrow is the last fullday I have here.
Rhoodtsao
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I image the other agency is OK. Just pray Melody is not your translator. There is proof that others have done very well there.
Shaun
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Well guys things are going well between Julia and me, I get to hold her hand and put my arm around her, even in public places, I think that's some accomplishment, nothing really exciting, we meet in the morning before work, Toni and I go and pick Julia up for lunch then Julia goes back to work, we then go back and pick her up after work, and we decide what to do after Julia get off work, I don't care what we do as long as I can spend time with Julia I'm a happy boy, tonight I dragged them out to clubbing, afterna couple of beers I started dancing, and I drag Julia with me, we dance for a while, the girls are not really into clubbing or dancing, we stay for a while, some guys are starting to bother the girls, one guy try to put his arm around Toni and she jump out out her seat, I wanted to stay longer but the girls are getting uncomfortable, so we left.
That was supposed to be my last night here. Some of you may know what I am going to do from the other tread, any way I went to Zhuhai the next morning, but I left my heart in Changsha, I try my hardest to have a good time with my friends, but I miss Julia too much, and try to catch next flight back to Changsha, the flight from Zhuhai to Changsha was full damm it. I'm screw, I then ask the travel agent from my hotel, what the next closest airport I can go to catch a flight to Changsha, she check around, found out I can go to guong Zhou which is about two hours by car from zhuhai and catch a flight from there, and I did it, I was going to suprise Julia by not telling her and just show up at her work, but I better not, knowing how busy Julia is, better tell her in advance so she can squez me into her schedule, I called Julia to tell and she's so suprise she thought I was joking, she's really close to me now I guess I show her how much she means to me, well this is it my last night here this time for real, I'm waiting for Julia to get off work to do something. I got some photos of us together, I'll try and post them when I get back.
Jim I don't have any reason to visit your fav agency so I didn't go but I ask a lot of question to Toni, according to Toni, she translate everything the way it was written, some lady calls her on the phone to tells her what to write, some sends her email, the ladys are real, Toni has about 10 ladies that she regulary translate for, so are the other translator, all the ladies have their regular translator, she never block anything out when the guys ask for personal contact, of course she gets pay per letter that she translate, she made 4 yuans per letter, I will continue to use emfs after I get back, I know abot all the online translation, it's all garbage translation for me, I rather have a human translator, but that's me. I have never meet Julia on web cam, even then I was able to pick Julia out of the crowd, according to Toni, it is the lady themself are hestite to meet on the web, and talking on the phone, really come to think of it unless your lady and you can speak a common language, what do you say after ni how! It'll be long silence after that, personal email!!!!!!! Can you really get your message to your woman, using some o line translation?
If you can do all that more power to you. Well it's almost time to go pick Julia up. See you
rhoodtsao
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Great update, glad it's working out! Changsha seems to have more than it's fair share of lovely ladies, I think there is something in the air as nearby Yichang was also crammed full of beautiful women :icon_cheesygrin:.
I was so worried about my first Skype session with my lady, yeah, I also thought after "ni hao" what then!!!? But it turned out my lady's English was better than I expected, well they are full of surprises aren't they.
It's worth getting Julia's QQ number, then you can send her messages when you're back home. The Google translations are hard work but when things get tough we just start talking in dancing banana emoticons lol :icon_cool:.
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Jim,
Try the new and improved Yahoo Messenger Voice option. It is working very well in more ways than one.
Shaun
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Scott,
Well for me the new update means I can do video, audio and type at the same time. Never could get audio going in China but could talk with mpo Mike in Canada.
I do not know about anyone else's experience with yahoo messenger. Of course I am not paying much attention to anyone but Peggy these days.
Shaun
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Shaun,
When my wife and I first started doing webcam on yahoo we couldn't get the audio to work either, so for some bizarre reason we used yahoo for video and QQ for audio simultaneously! :huh: It took a couple of weeks for her daughter to sort it out,apparently we were using different versions, Don't really know if that was the reason, at the time I was just too nervous to think straight!:-/
Robin, I hope things continue to go well for you both, sounds like your having fun!:icon_cheesygrin:
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Paul,
I think that was the problem. I think Peggy had just loaded it up and I had an older version. It would be interesting to see if I can talk with someone with an older version.
Back to you Robin.
Shaun
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[attachment=1102][attachment=1101]About my last day in Changsha, we decided to play badminton, in the morning, I haven’t pick up a racket in a long time, just like sex, once you’ve done it you don’t forget, we played for a couple of hours, man my whole body is sore, on the way back we decided to go look at some condos being built, you can get a 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1000square meters for 447,000 rmbs, go on guys convert it to your currency, we also look at some used condos on the market, used ones are a little cheaper, but they comes with everything in it all the furnishing, tv, washing machine, all you have to do is bring your clothes and move right in.
Julia didn’t want to go to work since this is my last day here, but I don’t want her to get into trouble at work and get fired, so I dragged her to work, after work I gave the girls choices as to what to do, movie or clubbing, they rather go to movie, so movie it is. We went to watch Mulan, my Chinese is better now, I saw two movies in Chinese when I was there, Julia is a happy go lucky girl, full of emotion, she laugh so hard at the movie sometime she slap my leg, and she cry when one of the main character die, of course your truly is there to comfort her, hehe.
After the movie we took a taxi back to my hotel, and have to say good bye there, my flight is at 8am, that means I have to leave my hotel at 6, Julia wanted to see me off at the airport but I decided that’s too early for her, since it’s already 1:30 am now, and she still have a whole day of teaching, tears are rolling down Julia’s eyes, so so sad, I promised her I’ll be back as soon as I can, and I will.
I’ve never mention age difference huh? Well I’m 48, Julia is twice as young as me.
I’ll try to attch some photo.
Signing off Rhood.
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Do you mean 100 square meters? Cause 1000 square meters would be huge (remember 10 square feet = 1 square meters)..
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haha my bad it's 100.
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Congrats man. Let me be the first to say that. She is a truly beautiful lady.
Tell her when you call her "wo mei tiang shang ni" (bad phonetic but she'll get the idea). It means I think about you everyday.
Why condo? Do you want to live there? Or are you planning to move back to the US? I'm confused? or is she wanting you to buy her a condo?
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Thanks Regnis and Jim
I want to go back as soon as I can but I don't have anymore vacation days left, it'll be cool to meet you there, and all the other guys in Changsha and have a big party maybe wedding party, haha,
wo mei tiang shang ni huh? thanks Regnis I'll tell her that next time, as to why condo, I don't know, out of the blue I wanted to go take a look at it, maybe in the back of my mind I wanted to move there someday.
Robin
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Changsha is nice city but I've never been there. I may go next year when I go back to China -- who knows? I may meet some cutie from there. I'm an Chinese-Canadian (born in China but mostly raised here). I speak and understand mandarin but can't read and write.
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Don't want to ruin your trip but I would be wary about her intention since he's half your age. She might be just looking for somebody to get her out of the country. I heard enough stories about people marrying someone a lot younger in China and once they got their citizenship they left the person or found somebody else during their time in your country.
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Congrats man. Let me be the first to say that. She is a truly beautiful lady.
Tell her when you call her "wo mei tiang shang ni" (bad phonetic but she'll get the idea). It means I think about you everyday.
Why condo? Do you want to live there? Or are you planning to move back to the US? I'm confused? or is she wanting you to buy her a condo?
I think that's supposed to be "wo mei tian xiang ni" (?????)
Sorry, just want to make sure that it's correct so there's no confusion.
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Close enough. My pingyin isn't that great. I can speak it though. :)
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Close enough. My pingyin isn't that great. I can speak it though. :)
Nothing wrong with that. I speak fluent minnan myself. My only concern is that if you type out improper pinyin (and I've done this myself), you can get a bad translation that could cause a lot of problems. I'd hope others would correct me if I make a mistake as well. :)
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Jim,you're the man, I wish I can stay in Changsha as long as you,
Regnis, Changsha is a beautiful city, I wouldn't be afraid of P216, go for it, if there's some one you're interested in.
Heckerd, I'm aware of that possibility, I did some research about it, it'll take two years for some one to get permanent citizenship after they are married and get over to USA, don't get me wrong, I'm doing it with serious intention, but she can leave anytime she wants after we're married and she gets over here,if we can get to that stage, it's still too early to talk about marriage I just have to do it again.
Robin
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Jim
you're right, every body should have a plan B, when they visit their woman for the first time, I was very disappointed about the first night I got there, but things turn out very well, I would not have sat there feeling sorry for myself, people in Changsha are very friendly, I made some friends with hotel staff, I got their phone numbers, they offer to take me around Changsha, some of them speak a little english, I think they want to pratice their english, it's ok I want to pratice my chinese too. I didn't have time to go out with them though. I would love to meet up with you in Changsha in the future too, looks like the earliest I could go back will be march/april.
Robin
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Robin... If you are thinking of buying something in Changsha it is the right time now.. The prices are going up and the apartment are just getting more and more expensive..
Me and my wife just bought an apartment almost in the center of Changsha, 10 minutes cab ride from the pedestrian street in the center.. The price was about 4000 yuan per square meter when we bought it in August.. now it is 5700 yuan pr square meter in December.. The price will go up and down but I know that we will get out money back when we use the apartment in an exchange to another apartment.. It is a way to invest our money for the future, 6 years from now...
I think you will agree with me that Changsha is a great city and the Ladies are just great.. I can only refer to my wife and her friends..
I guess we will have a reunion in the future for all he people that in some way are connected to Changsha.. I know a great pub to have a beer or two.. I think Martin will also be there ...
Peter
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Hi Peter
Congrats to you and your wife on getting an apartment, we are still in very early stage of our relationship, barely pass the getting to know each other stage, still haven't meet mama and getting her approval yet, if we end up getting marry, we'll probably buy and apartment in Changsha. If you don't mind I like to ask you a few question about how the process of buying an apartment go in Changsha, how did you put down payment? Did you transfer $$ to your wife account? Did you bring a suit case full of cash? Did you open a bank account in China first? How did you guys obtain a loan? Did you guys even need to obtain a loan, or did you guys bought it with straight out cash? Yes let's have a reunion of sort party in Changsha, it'll be fun, thanks.
Robin
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Robin,
as of right now someone not from china cannot buy a house here so you will
have to buy it in your wifes name. although when i was nosing around at the
PSB building Guangzhou will soon implement foriegners can buy a house in
Guangzhou as long as they use it for their own residence and not rent it out.
thats good news for us as soon it will be all of china were you can do this
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so bottom line, how much in usd is 4000 yaun? and how much in usd did your apartment cost?
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4000rmb would be about 400 Euro or 560 USD
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We have bought it but it is in my wife's name even if I would be registered as living there in the future. We used some of my wife's savings and also got a loan in Bank of China. The apartment cost us about 3 000 yuan per month in loans and maintenance fee. We will rent it out in the future so hopefully it will pay for itself when we are in Sweden.
Funny thing is that when we bought it there was noting in it.. We had to buy wallpapers, floor and so on. This is something I am not used to in Sweden.. The only thing is the phone on the wall and the contact and switches
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1 USD= 6.75 Yuans on my last trip
Robin
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Wow Peter? I didn't know the apartments are stripped to bare floor and walls? They don't have any finishings, like a floor, walls that can be painted, etc? And do you have to hire people for that (finishings)? Can you do it yourself (if you had the knowhow, tools, etc)
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Vince,
There is normally two standards of finish to new apartments/houses etc in China with obviously two different per sq mt prices, One is what you saw in the picture and the second is fully finished. Fully finished can be to your chosen flooring and wall finishes, ie paint colour wallpaper etc. Same goes for the kitchen and bathrooms etc.
It's just a way of keeping the initial costs down and /or to get the finishes you want and not what the developer want to give you. Believe it or not, it can be a lot cheaper to get your own people in to do this finishing work, than to let the developer hand over the finished apartment!!!
David.....
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Depending on many things but I would rather do the work myself. It's not a cost thing, it's a do it right thing. :icon_biggrin: Thou it's hard for me to lay floors or carry it up flights? Looking at the photo the floor is wavy so any tile work you would have to resurface that floor first. Here I found they use rolled corking to silent the floors? They don't smooth off the floor first so I wouldn't trust them anyway. My lady has a finished condo anyway that she said we will live in when there.
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Ha ha!! yeah it's called ''getting older'' but at least they do provide lifts now, if over 3 floors (not including the ground floor) i think it is now.
Personally i prefer to hire my own people and supervise the work being carried out myself. They do have some pretty dammed good tilers over there by the way....
David....
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right now it is any building over 7 floors has to have an elevator
used to be 9 floors
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Ted,
Maybe different areas different rules, ...not that many developers stick to any of them ..lol!!!
David.....
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Dave, FYI, I may fall into the ''getting older'' category but the reason is a spine (disc) injury and any heavy lifting may re-injure and I'm not willing to have that. I'm still very active compared to others I see my age. :icon_biggrin:
I can give the recent water heater episode.
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Wow Peter? I didn't know the apartments are stripped to bare floor and walls? They don't have any finishings, like a floor, walls that can be painted, etc? And do you have to hire people for that (finishings)? Can you do it yourself (if you had the knowhow, tools, etc)
Vince,
Check out this picture of where my wifee is now. The tiles only go so far up the wall before they end and it's just the mortar to the ceiling. No effort to hide the pipes. The floors are a flimsy vinal wood simuated. The doors are paper thin and doorjams are like really cheap pine. With all this said, it's a far cry from where she lived before. construction standards just arent the same as we're used to here. haha.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/edchangchun/3986702756/in/set-72157622400834421/
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Looks like they didn't finish the tile work for some reason? That's called a floating floor, I have a floor something like it. Door jambs are just a wood strip? Not wide enough to fill the jamb and No molding could be used this way? Are all their door ways this way? I'd have to look at it for real to see how they have the stops? (keep door from swinging past the frame) or if the jamb is the stop but then how does the lockset work? Mmmmm
At the windows (nice view) what is along the window edge? is that form insulation sticking out? Razor it off. I see they use tile everywhere.
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It has a throne, and for me that is more than enough for a long time. buzz
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Ed,
By the look of those pipe connections, you might be pleased they didn't close them in.
Is this apartment yours are are you renting it?? If it's yours, you can modify and improve the finishes as you go bit by bit. As you say, standards in China leave a lot to be desired, but you can achieve a much better standard either doing things yourself, or getting your own people in that you can supervise....
David......
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Ed,
was all this done by the developer? and as they are
finishing it do you get to say fix this and fix that or
was it already finished and empty when you looked at it