One of my fellow foreign teachers, Phil, has completed his year contract and has left Chengdu to do some travelling in Cambodia and Vietnam for a few weeks before he returns to the UK. For some reason that I cannot comprehend, the school admins wanted to have his flat-mate, Ben, relocate to the Tongzilin area, where the majority of the EF teachers live. This would mean than rather than living in an apartment within ten-minutes walking distance from the school he works at, they wanted him to pack up all of his things and move to an apartment a half-hour bus ride away from work. This made no sense to either of us. Having been here for five months now, (and being a little tired of the bus commute) I voiced the idea that I would instead relocate to his apartment and live in Phil's old room. After discussing things with our D.O.S. and the housing manager, they agreed that this would be a better course of action.It costs 2 RMB and takes between half an hour and forty-five minutes to go to and from work, which equates to almost 8 hours a week spent on the bus and 80 RMB a month. And while neither expense is too unbearable, I would like to live closer to work. Now I should be able to ride my bike to work in 5 minutes or less.
In preparation for the move, I packed all of my belongings before I had to leave for work yesterday, so I'd be able to take advantage of my day off. I got a call first thing this morning from Ben, who had apparently locked himself out of his apartment late last night and had spent the night wandering the city. I told him he could have called me and I would have let him in, but oh well. I grabbed one of my large suitcases and my smaller travel bag and hustled out to the street corner to hail a cab to the Yopindo area.
The taxi dropped me off near the school, where I met up with Ben. Together we made our way over to the new apartment. The complex is much newer than Singapore Gardens and is nicer overall. My old, 3rd floor apartment had lousy fake-wood floors and a bathroom that smelled of sewage every time someone on the upper floors flushed their toilets. The new apartment is on the 11th floor, has nice tile floors, and a toilet with a proper U-bend in it. The living room area is not as large as the old apartment, but my bedroom is larger. The view from the balcony isn't amazing but hey, we're in the middle of the city.There are plenty of restaurants and commodities nearby including another branch of the bank I use to send money home for my school loans.
Understandably, Ben was eager to get inside and get some rest before he had to leave for work, so while he took a nap, I started unpacking some of my things. Around noon, I left and walked over to the plaza to grab some lunch at 7-11. I don't recall whether or not I've mentioned this in the past, but the food they serve at 7-11 is pretty damn good for convenience-store fast food. All of it is cooked on the spot and served fresh between noon and one. My favorite is the gung bao chicken with peanuts and red chili peppers. Also, a pork dish with bamboo shoots, sliced cucumber, and banana peppers. It's very affordable too. I took the food up to the school and ate there before catching the bus back to the Tongzilin area to grab the rest of my belongings.
Back at the old apartment, I stuffed the remaining items in my large suitcase and made my second trip. Rather than pay 30 RMB for another cab ride, I lugged my heavy suitcase over to the bus stop and took the 147, which dropped me off across from the school. From there it was a 10 minute walk over to the new apartment, rolling my heavy luggage behind me the whole way. (Not a lot of fun, but I saved some cash in doing so...) Lee had one of his girlfriends over for the night before and had left the apartment sometime before I returned from my first trip, so I didn't get to say goodbye in person, but I sent him a text, wishing him well.
By the time I got back, Ben was waking up and preparing to leave for work. I spent an hour or two relaxing and then left again, taking the bus back to Tongzilin to fetch my bike. (At this point, I'm really glad that I'll no longer have to take the bus to work.) I went up to the apartment, got my bike of the balcony, and left my old key and access card on the table. Before I left the area, I went down to Mike's pizza and had a sandwich for dinner. I don't know when I'll be over there next, so I figured this was my last chance to eat there for awhile. After dinner I set out on my bike for the last trip back to Yopindo.
The city is very flat, so my single-gear bike works just fine. I wasn't entirely sure about the idea of riding a bike across the city given the crazy drivers and lax adherence to the traffic lights and other rules of the road. As it turns out, the ride wasn't too bad and didn't take me much longer than the bus ride usually takes. As long as you remain vigilant for the traffic and other cyclists, riding across the city is pretty painless.
The only thing lacking now is a desk for my bedroom, so I plan on making a trip over the the IKEA near Tongzilin to pick one out with some of this month's bonus money. I don't know if they have some sort of delivery service or if I'll have to try and fit my purchase into the back of a cab, but it will be interesting nonetheless to explore a Chinese IKEA.
*UPDATE*
So here are the photos. It occurred to me that I had never posted pictures of the old apartment, so here are photos of both for comparison. The old apartment was a little better furnished overall. It had better seats in the living room and a better entertainment center. (But nobody uses the TV so it doesn't really matter) The school had purchased bedding on the cheap for my old apartment, which wound up being pink. Most bedding here in China is extremely feminine looking, i.e. pink and purple and floral patterns. But I was able to find some better bedding for my new room along with an IKEA desk for my computer.
In preparation for the move, I packed all of my belongings before I had to leave for work yesterday, so I'd be able to take advantage of my day off. I got a call first thing this morning from Ben, who had apparently locked himself out of his apartment late last night and had spent the night wandering the city. I told him he could have called me and I would have let him in, but oh well. I grabbed one of my large suitcases and my smaller travel bag and hustled out to the street corner to hail a cab to the Yopindo area.
The taxi dropped me off near the school, where I met up with Ben. Together we made our way over to the new apartment. The complex is much newer than Singapore Gardens and is nicer overall. My old, 3rd floor apartment had lousy fake-wood floors and a bathroom that smelled of sewage every time someone on the upper floors flushed their toilets. The new apartment is on the 11th floor, has nice tile floors, and a toilet with a proper U-bend in it. The living room area is not as large as the old apartment, but my bedroom is larger. The view from the balcony isn't amazing but hey, we're in the middle of the city.There are plenty of restaurants and commodities nearby including another branch of the bank I use to send money home for my school loans.
Understandably, Ben was eager to get inside and get some rest before he had to leave for work, so while he took a nap, I started unpacking some of my things. Around noon, I left and walked over to the plaza to grab some lunch at 7-11. I don't recall whether or not I've mentioned this in the past, but the food they serve at 7-11 is pretty damn good for convenience-store fast food. All of it is cooked on the spot and served fresh between noon and one. My favorite is the gung bao chicken with peanuts and red chili peppers. Also, a pork dish with bamboo shoots, sliced cucumber, and banana peppers. It's very affordable too. I took the food up to the school and ate there before catching the bus back to the Tongzilin area to grab the rest of my belongings.
Back at the old apartment, I stuffed the remaining items in my large suitcase and made my second trip. Rather than pay 30 RMB for another cab ride, I lugged my heavy suitcase over to the bus stop and took the 147, which dropped me off across from the school. From there it was a 10 minute walk over to the new apartment, rolling my heavy luggage behind me the whole way. (Not a lot of fun, but I saved some cash in doing so...) Lee had one of his girlfriends over for the night before and had left the apartment sometime before I returned from my first trip, so I didn't get to say goodbye in person, but I sent him a text, wishing him well.
By the time I got back, Ben was waking up and preparing to leave for work. I spent an hour or two relaxing and then left again, taking the bus back to Tongzilin to fetch my bike. (At this point, I'm really glad that I'll no longer have to take the bus to work.) I went up to the apartment, got my bike of the balcony, and left my old key and access card on the table. Before I left the area, I went down to Mike's pizza and had a sandwich for dinner. I don't know when I'll be over there next, so I figured this was my last chance to eat there for awhile. After dinner I set out on my bike for the last trip back to Yopindo.
The city is very flat, so my single-gear bike works just fine. I wasn't entirely sure about the idea of riding a bike across the city given the crazy drivers and lax adherence to the traffic lights and other rules of the road. As it turns out, the ride wasn't too bad and didn't take me much longer than the bus ride usually takes. As long as you remain vigilant for the traffic and other cyclists, riding across the city is pretty painless.
The only thing lacking now is a desk for my bedroom, so I plan on making a trip over the the IKEA near Tongzilin to pick one out with some of this month's bonus money. I don't know if they have some sort of delivery service or if I'll have to try and fit my purchase into the back of a cab, but it will be interesting nonetheless to explore a Chinese IKEA.
*UPDATE*
So here are the photos. It occurred to me that I had never posted pictures of the old apartment, so here are photos of both for comparison. The old apartment was a little better furnished overall. It had better seats in the living room and a better entertainment center. (But nobody uses the TV so it doesn't really matter) The school had purchased bedding on the cheap for my old apartment, which wound up being pink. Most bedding here in China is extremely feminine looking, i.e. pink and purple and floral patterns. But I was able to find some better bedding for my new room along with an IKEA desk for my computer.
As it turns out a Chinese IKEA is pretty much exactly the same as an IKEA anywhere else; there were just more Chinese people wandering around. After picking up my new desk I carried it out to the bus stop and caught the 84 bus back to the school. From there I hailed a took-took (a motorize bike-taxi) the rest of the way to the apartment.
There are many places to eat and shop between the new apartment and the school. I'll probably spend the mornings on my day's off at the nearby cafe, MAAN COFFEE.