Apartment Location Strategy?

[americano]

Hi,

Wife and I will  be moving to Chengdu soon.  My job will be in north west part of town near Foxconn plant.  However, it seems that most expats live in south part of town.  Are there expat communities in north west part of town?  Would I be better off dealing with the 45 a 60 minute commute each way every day and then live in South area?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

thanks!

A.

[Charlie]

I wouldn’t want to live in the Northwest to be honest, but since your job is there, it may make sense to live up there for the first 3-6 months and see how it goes. You can always move to the South later, if you want to do that. A 60 minute daily commute in Chengdu would be really unideal.

[Julius]

I know a few expats live in areas in the direct west, near SW University of Finance and Economics (西南财大), and it’s quite nice and developed over there.  You could simply live in the middle and cut your commute to both places.  And there is a new subway line that goes through there, too.

[americano]

Thank you , I’ll check it out!

[americano]

Any thoughts on Zhonghai International Community area?

[897934-884]

Nothing wrong with Zhonghai International, really. It’s only a short drive down the highway to Foxconn. Walmart there, McD’s, Subway Sdwch, Starbucks, plus lots of other local and varied restaurants about. If you want quick subway access into the city yet still be near your company, try the Poly apartments at BaiCao road Subway station.

Living in Tongzilin/Yulin (south) and working in Xipu sounds like a nightmare, though living particularly around other foreigners holds no currency for me. Honestly the subway system is fast enough to get you anywhere reasonable in less than an hour – 30 mins most likely. Faster once the circle line opens up. But rush hour on those things is quite unpleasant.

[tinku_400_21]

I live near Tongzilin and my work is close to the Foxconn plant…
The ride is long and takes a toll on your mind and body after couple of months (70 minutes in the morning and 90 minutes to 2 hours in the evening)
Subway is not ideal either as the factories are atleast 20 minute taxi ride from the Xipu station..
I would recommend to find an apartment close to Qingyang Road,Line 4 (big Metro shopping mall) as it takes less than an hour to go to the plant…

[squirrel suit]

I don’t think Xipu/PiXian is the worst, but don’t think I’d want to raise a family out there.

It’s not *difficult* to make that commute, but doing it every day would be rough. Better if you had your own vehicle, but still long.

I second the ZhongHai idea. It’s a nice area with “ammenities”, such as walmart, McDonalds, Starbucks, a movie theater, Subway, some kind of beer garden, a driving range, other stuff that “international people” are supposed to be into. It’s probably a 10 minute drive to FoxConn, and not too hard to get into city from.

[americano]

Thank you for the replies above.  I feel better that there are soem valid options out there!

 

[Author]

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