Cost of Living in Xiamen

One of the most astounding things about living in Xiamen is just how ridiculously inexpensive it is to live here. Maybe it the economist in me, but I would like to dive into this subject a little bit more.

When I was trying to make my decision about whether or not to come to Xiamen, I spent some time surfing the web trying to get an accurate picture of what my budget would need to be like in order live comfortably.

It turns out this information is harder to find then I thought, so I figured I would start keeping a weekly record of it myself and make it available on the blog so that it would be accessible to anyone else that wanted to travel or live here. It certainly would have saved me some stress had it been available to me!

I should summarize my trip getting here, then I will start with weekly updates about living.

Getting too Xiamen

Costs
1 Way Flight: $636
Arranged Pick up from the Airport: $22
4 Nights in Bed and Breakfast in HK: $260
6 Months Travelers Insurance: $390
Chinese 1 Month Double Entry Travel Visa: $300
Sight Seeing in HK and Eating: $100
Flight to Xiamen: $216
Virtual Private Network (for getting around Chinese firewall): $29.50
Total (with a few small international transaction fees and bottles of water to round it off): $2,000

Many of the costs could easily now be avoided in a variety of ways. Getting the right visa in the US for starters would eliminate the need to fly to HK all together and all the costs associated with it. (Very much depends on the purpose of your visit) For my arrangement and F visa works nicely.

The first 2 1/2 months will have to be one crude summary since I didn't keep very good records.

Moving in and Living
(based on 6.8 to 1 Exchange rate)

Monthly rent for a 1 bed room one bath apartment in Huli Area: $191.17

Included in the apartment were:

• Refrigerator
• Bed
• Washing Machine
• Couch
• Dresser
• Table
• TV

Monthly Internet, Electricity, Cell Phone and Water Bills: $29.41
Hot Plate and Toaster Oven: $100
Christmas Presents for coming home: $250
Other stuff including dishes, transportation, food, and cleaning stuff, and going out: about $800
Total: about $1600

This is pretty vague, but the total is accurate because I know my monthly Salary is $800 (quite a good salary by Xiamen standards, English teachers here make about $730. I also read somewhere that $800 is about what a law school grad can expect to make starting salary here) and by the time I left to come home for break a had not taken any money out of my US account since my trip to HK. Of course I will be more specific from here on out since that is the point of this section of the blog.

Grand total of living and traveling for 3 months: $3600
(Note this does not include my flight home which was paid for by the company but would have cost me $600 had I not been coming back)

Any suggestions on a format would be great. I hope someone somewhere out there find all this helpful or at least interesting.

EDIT 06/08/2012:  I have discovered that this post is still regularly read and searched for in google.  Thank you everyone for your comments.  Sorry to those who I didn't contact.  Blogger seems to have stopped alerting me of comments. I'll be sure to fix this.

I think I will do a follow up to this post soon now that I have a better idea of what my year in XM and traveling cost.  Also if you would like another reference for cost of living in XM (since I didn't do a good job of regular updates), you can check out this post about the cost of produce and eating in XM or this one that about my first run of the mill shopping excursion. If you are interested in my living arrangements while there,  you can have a look at this post, about my apartment while living there. Thanks all for reading! 

My New Appartment! Part 2

Ok, time for a quick part two, but first a write up of my first real batch of culture shock.

The back story:

For those who don't know, the reason for moving is because my close friend and roommate from college, Chris Lombardozzi has moved out to Xiamen with me. (You can check out his blog here)

When the original plan for Chris to move out here was suggested, we mentioned it would probably be cheaper to live together. Lindon agreed and we left it at that with out elaborating.

About a week before Chris showed up, I got to talking to Lindon about living arrangements. My old apartment is quite small as any one who has followed the blog from the beginning knows and there was very little room for the two of us. My original plan was to turn the living room into a bedroom and try and swing it that way. It would be tight, but cheap, and Chris and I have lived together before, so we figured we could hack it.

Lindon however had other ideas...

When I mentioned getting another bed so that we could go forward with my plan Lindon looked perplexed. The conversation went something like this:

Me: "Is there anyway we can get another bed and turn the living room into a bed room."
Lindon: "Why do you need another bed?"
Me: "So Chris or I doesn't need to sleep on the couch."
Lindon: "Is Chris very big?"
Me: "About my size. Why?"
Lindon: "Won't he fit in the bed then?"
Me: "Yes, but then I must sleep on the couch."
Lindon: "How come?"
Me: "Because, Chris is in the bed."
Lindon: "You can't share?"

Long awkward pause...

Me: "ummmmm No, no we can't."

Apparently, it is quite common for 2 full grown men to share a bed in China! Lindon's 20 something year old brothers do it right now. Lindon could not for the life of him understand why we couldn't, and I could not for the life of me explain it. In the end we had to chalk it up to cultural difference and we started contemplating new options.

He was also extremely surprised that Dan (my brother) and I only shared a room until about the age of 11 and that we never shared a bed. He told me how him and his 3 brothers share a bed most of their life and always shared a room. When he asked why we did it, I could really one think of "because that is what is common in the US." Which is not an answer I particularly like giving, but at the moment (and still really) I couldn't come up with a good reason.

While this was quite a shock at first, once I sat and thought about the economic conditions and the complete lack of space and resources, it actually makes a lot more sense.

Fortunately Lindon is a great guy and very understanding. (He also gets things done!) 2 days later, his wife (Susie) went out and found us this great new apartment and I was moved in Thursday.

Which brings us ack to the comparisons. I did 5 positive on the last post so I'll start with one of the draw backs this time.

A one true down side: The Building is much older.
The old apartment was only 3 years old. It was fresh, clean, and new. Most things were just put in, if not still being put in, and it just gave a very clean modern appearance. This one, not so much. It is however, much more like what I THOUGHT living in China would be like. This picture is taken from out kitchen.


The whole complex is the kind of odd round building where you can look out of your kitchen and just see what everyone else is doing. Something oddly communist about it to me.

Another positive: Bathroom.
Just about everything about it. There are cupboards for putting things in (especially nice with 2 people living there), running hot water in the sink, and a DOOR ON THE SHOWER! so that when I shower the whole bathroom doesn't get soaked like it did in the old apartment.


A down side for practicality, A plus for my health: Floor number
As you may have noticed from the picture of the building, this apartment is on the 6th floor. There is no elevator. Moving in was brutal! But now I am starting to get used to it. A good climb after sitting in the office all day isn't such a bad thing. This is the gate, the 602 is painted over and just barely visible.


Another positive: The kitchen.
The kitchen is about 3 times the size of my old kitchen. Aside from the fact that it has a table, cabinets, and is larger, it also has TWO gas stove top burners (still no oven) AND about 5 times the counters space (really 5 times as much, no exaggeration) That means that I no longer have to take the hot plate off the counter, put it on the floor, prep all my food, put it on top of the fridge, turn the hot plate on, make the rice, finish that and cover it and hope it stays warm, change plans, and then, hopefully, cook the rest of the meal in one plan. Rather, I can make rice in a steam cooker, have a pot and a pan hot at once and still have room to cut vegetables!

For comparison, this is my WHOLE kitchen in the old place.


And here is the new one again.


Here also, are the funky lights over the dinning part of the kitchen.


And finally a mixed difference: Cheap wooden stuff/Mini Bar
Because the apartment is old and we are in China everything that is "wooden" is actually really cheap plywood with cheep vinyl looking wood over it. The bag part about this is that from any closer than 3 feet away everything looks super cheap and cheesy. The good part is that the old owners at least used it to make a super cool mini bar thing in the living room! (complete with mini bridge, shelves, and spinny stools!)


There are also some smaller thing I have noticed after a few days that I like. I like the lighting much better, it is less harsh. I also like the marble floor and tables for ease of cleaning. I still can't get over how much more ROOM there is and how great it is.

In all, this place just has more character, and that is what I like in a living space. The other apartment was clean and nice and new, but it was also sterile and boring.

With a little cleaning up and a few Brad and Chris finishing touches (we already have a picture of Charles Darwin on the fridge (thanks Sara!) and my Nat. Geo. Dino poster behind the door) I have no doubt that this place will start to feel much more like home very soon!

My New Appartment! Part 1

Moved into the new apartment yesterday!



This post has a brief, yet great story behind it, but I will have to tell it another day. My internet time is limited.

We are still in the Huli area. The new place is maybe 200 meters from our old place, just on the other side of the road. It has two bed rooms, one bath, a MUCH larger kitchen, a livening room, and a balcony. We pay RMB 1650 a month which is about $240 (split two ways!) so $120 a piece.

Out of a list of ten notable differences so far, there are 7 good things and maybe 3 not as good things. I will talk about 5 in this post.

The good first, SPACE! There is so much more room for everything! We have shevles and cabinets in the kitchen for everything! There is room to move around in the living room and we both have our own rooms!

There is twice as much cabinet room in this photo alone, and you cant even see the one under the sink and the one under the stove top!


Good thing number 2 would be that we have a table. Techincally yes I had a table in the old apartment but it was a coffee table and it was about 6 inches too short for anyone from the US even eating from the couch.


The next is Bedrooms. We have our own. This is good because not only are we not sharing a bed but we also aren't living on top of each other. And since we are also working in the same company 3 feet apart, this is probably a good thing.

Bed room one,


and bed room two


both rooms have these as well. As I was saying MORE ROOM!


Positive thing number 4. Balcony!


The 5th and final for today, a nice couch for chilling and CSer's to crash on



The other 5 and back story another time! Time to unpack! I am being rushed out the door!

The 'Hood

Talking to Rach (from back home) the other day, it was mentioned that I only ever take pictures of the really cool/beautiful/unique things I do. That is all fine and good I think, but my original purpose of the blog was to really be able to show what daily life in Xiamen is like and to provide a little bit of information for people that would consider coming here.

From now on, I am going to try and start doing more short, daily life related posts and then when something interesting comes along I will do a longer one.

So, to kick this format off, I thought I'd just do a quick post about my Neighborhood so people can get a better sense of where it is exactly that I am living.

First some info. My apartment is in the Huli area of Xiamen. You can look at a map here


It is pretty small, just 1 bathroom, 1 bed room, a living room and a TINY kitchen. My rent is about 1300RMB a month (Approximately $180). Its nothing fancy, but it suits my needs just fine.

Here is the entrance to the apartment complex that I only ever see if I walk there. Its kind of like how everyone has a front door that looks nice and is always decorated, yet for what ever reason it only opens when special people come visit.


This is my apartment complex. I live in the last one on the left, 8th floor.


Some of the buildings are apartments and some of them are "houses" I guess? A good comparison would be, If you live in the Bronx and you have one of those sort of "Classic" houses with the stoop and what not. That considered a house not a large apartment right? (Jim McMahmon if you're reading I am specifically thinking of your house." Anyway...


This is standing a little ways out from the entrance to my building at sun set.


Across the street there are a variety of shops, markets, and food vendors.

Occasionally I'll pick up some fresh fruit at this little stand before work.


These are dinner carts where workers or passersbyers can grab a quick bite on the fly.


Here is the market where I get most of my produce. Sorry for the blurry picture, I didn't have flash on so as not to attract even MORE attention then I already do as a foreigner ,with a camera, in a market.


More photos of the market. A table full of spices. (Can you name them in their not ground up and bottle forms?)


Some fresh veg. Again sorry for the blur...


These two are the view from my apartment at night.


The market is right behind this hotel.


And finally, for my own enjoy and if there are any TSLers reading, there was a SAAB outside my building today! By the look of it, an 06-07 Aero! I'd love to find out who's it is. Its only the second one I have seen in Xiamen so far!

Well, that's all for now. Hope that paints a decent picture for people!

Brad's List of 8 Inferred Guide Line for driving in China.

One of the things I am having the hardest time adjusting to is the absolute insanity that happens every day on Chinese roads.

I have however, been compiling a list of inferred guide line that I thought was worth sharing. First some information on ownership, roads, and cars in Xiamen.

Personal car ownership has increase an average of 40% every year in the past 4 years.

90% of these people got their license for the first time when they bought these cars. (today's inspiration for this post came from Su, Lindon's wife, who picked me up to go to the grocery story today. She has been driving one day a month for 2 years for a grand total of 24 days of driving experience)

To put this driving culture and mentality in perspective, Imagine a city the size of Boston where the vast majority of people drive like they are between the ages of 16-20 in brand new cars.

Most roads where built 20+ years ago and where meant to handle government vehicles, some taxis, and buses. Personal car ownership at this time was essentially 0. This means that the biggest roads around where intended to accommodate the traffic of a residential culdesac)

Bicycles and hybrid motorized bicycles have been the primary mode of transpiration here for decades and used the roads for much of this time because there where so few cars. They where, for the most part, the largest and fastest moving things on the street. Because the spike in car ownership has only occurred recently, this mentality has not really changed. (Even though they clearly no longer are.)

All Chinese roads have large side walks. It is as common to see cars on side walks as it is to see bikers.

Ok, that does it for outlines. Now...

Brad's List of 8 Inferred Guide Line for Driving in China.

1) There was a little joke I used to tell friends when we where first learning to drive. It went "All stop signs with white boarders are optional." For all of you who have not heard this joke, all stop signs have white boarders. In China it is not a joke.

2)You do not have the right of way.

3)At all costs, stay away from buses. Usually this means just don't drive, since buses are EVERYWHERE. If you must drive, assume that these lunatics will drive their 2 ton lump of steal and glass full of 39027430948 Chinese people like it can handle and accelerate like it is a Formula One car and is equally as long.

4) All lines, signs, and lights are for purely atheistic purposes. I am not really sure why they waste the paint and electricity. It would be easier to understand Chinese driving if the pavement was blank and there where no lights. This would at least remove the confusing illusion that you are following some kind of logical system. That way you could focus on not getting run over instead of putting all of your energy into yelling "WTF IS THIS GUY DOING! ITS A RED LIGHT AND HE IS IN 2 LANES WITH PEOPLE CROSSING THE ROAD!"

4a) All lines that are painted are dotted. This includes main streets, narrow avenues, alleys, and one way roads. Keep in mind these are NOT straight-aways on unpopulated New England back roads, this is like putting a dotted yellow line in the middle of Time Square.

5)Do not use your blinker. Most likely you will get pulled over for having unnecessary lights that distract other drivers.

6)J walking is not only legal but necessary as there are no cross functional walks. People standing on the dotted lines on a 4 lane highway are not uncommon. This is again misleading because all 4 lane highways are actually 6 lanes and the dotted lines serve as almost not protection.

7)Using your Horn or flashing your lights usually means "You WILL loose this game of chicken because I am not backing down, even though I am on the wrong side of the road" or "I am driving twice your speed behind you and will plow your car into on-coming traffic if you do not pull on to the side walk and let me pass".

8) All of these guidelines will be rendered useless in a matter of a week. As a rule of thumb I throw out all of my establish a guidelines once as week because usually I see 3 or 4 examples of them being rendered useless in this time.

Getting my license within a month!

First solo shopping excursion

While I am waiting for my more fun photos from my weekend to finish uploading, I thought I’d write up a quick post on cost of living hear in Xiamen.

Today I went on my first solo-shopping excursion to buy some stuff I need around the apartment (I have been doing dishes with hand soap for about 3 days. Google said it was safe enough, I have too much faith in the Internet.)

The trip was largely successful. I got all the essential things I needed plus even a little bit of Chinese honey. To top it off I learned how to say sugar as well. But the most interesting part is the translation of price. Below is a picture of every thing I bought.



Not a whole lot, but plenty of useful things windex, dish soap, sponges, sugar, Tupperware, honey and broom . My guess in the US it would have run me anywhere from 25-35 dollars depending on how much a broom like that costs and the quality of the honey. Either way, it all ran me exactly 50 RMB. For those of you with out a calculator handy or that don’t know the exchange rate, that’s a whopping $7.35.

Not a bad.

More interesting post coming of sight seeing as soon as all the pictures are done!

Your Kung Fu is Not Strong!

Mr. Wu, Tear down this fire wall!

Its annoying.

But nothing that can't be dealt with obviously (since I am posting)!

Anyway. I'm here!! Having not posted in 2 days while so much has been going on feels a little overwhelming. So much to talk about, but I have to keep it short because I have lots to do.

So on Monday I arrived in Xiamen. Lindon met me at the airport and I have been busy ever since. He has really taken care of me! We went out to dinner at a Western style place and talked about my role at the company and this and that. The apartment is fantastic. Much nicer and larger than I was expecting. I am on the 8th floor with plenty of big windows and have a pretty decent view of a school park and a small mountain. Pictures will come soon once I have tackled that.

Yesterday started by going to the office and meeting most of the people on the team. There are 4 girls, Lindon, and Lindon's younger brother who are all part of Enry. (the company I am working for) There are also 2 other people in the office that work for Lindon's other start up business.

One of the girls speaks English pretty well. With careful listening and a little coaxing it is easy to have a conversation with her. It was/is really comforting to have her around. 2 of the others speak enough that as long as I speak slowly, throw in what ever Chinese I know, and use a few hand gestures there isn't much trouble.

Lindon sent me his Brother and 2 of the girls out on a mission to get things for my apartment around lunch time. We went to a Chinese equivalent of wal mart and picked up so basics. After that we went out to lunch. It was my first true Chinese food tasting experience. It is worth saying at this point as I am sure quite a few of the readers here are concerned, I am not going to starve to death and did actually quite enjoy a few things and can easily tolerate some others. :)

Lunch was followed by a return to the apartment to drop everything off. I gave the grad tour and we where off again, this time to one of the factories where the bags are made. I learned a bit about quality control, what to look for, and how this process works. I will post some pictures of this here soon as well. I got a really nice backpack made specifically carrying laptops and work related things out of this! Pretty neat!

Then it was back to the office for a bit where we met up with everyone again and headed out to dinner. Lindon also picked up a few friends from college along the way and we had a HUGE dinner at another Chinese place. I tried LOADS of stuff and greatly amused everyone while I struggled with chop sticks, reacted to different foods, and pronounced tofu wrong (it is the right word but we say it wrong.)

Finally we headed to a shopping mall not too far from my apartment and picked up a phone. In China, you can't buy an iPhone. But you can take the one you have to a kiosk in the mall to have it jail broken no problem. Silly me installed the latest software the day I left so now I have to wait a month before they can crack it. Until then I have a beautifully little modern rendition of the big blue nokia brick from High School. It may even have snake!

Well, that wasn't really condensed, but nor was it with great detail. More time will be spent at the office today I think so I will see if I can post more once there. (I say I am going to the office, but work for me to do is still non existent. Still need a work visa.) Or at least get some pictures up.

I miss everyone lots!