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Best Place to Live for Young Family

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snoopy44

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Joined: May 11, 2007
Posts: 5

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Posted: May 11, 2007 - 08:14 AM
Post subject: Best Place to Live for Young Family

Hi All,
My wife and 15month boy and a new baby boy will be moving to Shanghai within the next several months from Irvine, CA (Orange County-LA Area).

Any suggestions that will be "baby" friendly environment to live.

I was thinking the Pudong side since it is a little bit more layout similar to where we currently live.

Is there any classes and events for 1-3 year or support network. As I'm concern that my wife will be board and overwhelm moving to Shanghai.

We are both in our early 30s.

I'm not concern with commutes to my office as I will be traveling and can work out of my house if need be. But my office will in Puxi near the Ikea Xuhi area.

Any suggestions will help.

Ranter

Joined: Sep 28, 2005
Posts: 541
Location: Shanghai
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Posted: May 11, 2007 - 08:18 AM

You need to live in Gubei/Hong Qiao area. Lots of American families, some nice open park spaces, plenty of schools to choose from.....and best of all.....home of Bubba's Texas-style Barbque.

Don't kid yourself on the commute. You will spend more than 2 hours a day in a car driving to and from work from Pudong to that area, but probably only 30 minutes or so from Hong Qiao.

KJ

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Adam7

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Joined: May 11, 2004
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Posted: May 11, 2007 - 10:14 AM

Pudong is probably a bit better for families, newer and more of a western feel, but as KJ mentioned, the commute will kill you.

HongQiao is your best bet, bit of a mess but still has the expat comounds if your package covers that and also some more reasonable housing if it doesnt.

I live in downtown Puxi nd find that I'm out to HongQiao a few times each weekend for kids activities.

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Ranter

Joined: Sep 28, 2005
Posts: 541
Location: Shanghai
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Posted: May 11, 2007 - 10:20 AM

I fail to see why Pudong would be better for families. Bunch of tall office blocks and mall-based restaurants.....and not many to choose from to top it off.

Hong Qiao blows it out of the water for things to do: the zoo, dino beach, great restaurants, Hong Mei pedestrian street, a better aquarium, a number of cool parks with rides, and easy access to downtown.

Pudong has the science museum, which is cool, but other than that...........a pretty boring place to hang out.

One thing you don't want to do is put your wife on an "island" where she might feel she is tackling this on her own. This is important.

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yu888
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Joined: Jan 25, 2003
Posts: 18037
Location: ZhongShanParkArea SH

Posted: May 11, 2007 - 12:46 PM

I dunno KJ, they are coming from Irvine...last time I lived there I found it to be a cultural desert island of its own kind despite its proximity to the beach etc... Wink

Let me think about what a good answer would be though...I think there are many facets to be considered to define a place as "good"...

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Georgie

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Joined: July 14, 2005
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Posted: May 11, 2007 - 01:28 PM

Pudong - the best 'fresh air' in Shanghai, less smelly and polluted, wide open spaces, beautiful and massive Century park, places for kids to play, good shops, great pubs and restuarants, the best aquarium in Shanghai, good schools, Shanghai Wildlife Park, lots of expat familities with a good community feel in some fantastic compounds. And only a short taxi ride to the 'other side' if you want to go to Puxi for the evening. What else do you need?

Kublakhan

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Joined: Aug 14, 2006
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Posted: May 11, 2007 - 02:22 PM

I'd suggest the Jinqiao area of Pudong for a good community feel, access to toddler programs at the schools and also activity centres such as Kids Gallery which run creative programs for kids from 16 months. We also have the community center which runs lots of courses and social activities your wife could hook into. You can walk around here and bump into people you know at the supermarket - that's a nice feeling I think. I agree with Georgie on other benefits of the area. There is a choice of houses or apartments too. The tall office blocks referred to above are in the area of Pudong close to the river. There are some big apartment buildings there too which are quite popular with expats, such as Yanlord and Shimao. They are good facilities too and that area would reduce the commute to work by about 25 minutes compared to living in Jinqiao. I's suggest your wife joins a playgroup for expats ASAP (for example, Koala Kids, which is part of the Aussie expat group but has a mix of nationalities inc plenty of Americans see website: www.awsg.org) that isn't actually run in Pudong, its in Puxi - but it is a good support to have when settling in with a toddler. We do end up going over to Puxi a bit for dining, but its only half an hour at most usually, - not a big deal. For casual dining there are plenty of options in Jinqiao alone. Not quite a desert island, especially if you are a family....

Michael

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Posted: May 11, 2007 - 03:59 PM

First thing.. live on the same side of the river as you work. You will get a back a week a month of your own time not spent commuting - and even with a flexible position, you will end up going into the office sometimes. If you are working in Puxi.. live in Puxi. That said, yes Gubei is a great place for families, but there are also probably large complexes that have their own play areas that might not be in Gubei. Where you live will depend on your budget and allowances.

TXMOM
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Joined: Mar 20, 2003
Posts: 445
Location: Shanghai

Posted: May 19, 2007 - 03:56 AM
Post subject: Re: Best Place to Live for Young Family

snoopy44 wrote:

I'm not concern with commutes to my office as I will be traveling and can work out of my house if need be. But my office will in Puxi near the Ikea Xuhi area.

Traffic here seems to be getting worse and worse! But, if you'll be flying in and out of the Pudong airport a lot as my husband does (fyi, all "int'l" flights including Hong Kong, plus many/most domestic flights these days are to/from Pudong), then that will probably outweigh the problem of the long commute to your Puxi office. And, as you said, you can also telecommute, which is nice!

We live in Hong Qiao, which is considered the burbs and has lots of expat families with kids, and we like it a lot. But I agree that the environment is even more suburban in Pudong - wider streets, more green, less crowded, newer construction, etc. and I think we'd really enjoy it over there, probably even more than Hong Qiao. And, if your housing budget is an issue, I think you still get a bit more for your money in Pudong vs. Hong Qiao, but I haven't compared prices in almost 5 years, so that gap could be closing. (Retail rents in Pudong were certainly pretty high when I researched those recently!)

Pudong also has an increasing number of really nice villa compounds that do seem to have a good sense of community as Kublakhan mentioned. And as Kublakhan also said, Pudong has an active expat community center (though they are actively looking to open one in Hong Qiao too). There seems to be more and more expat "infrastructure" in Pudong every month. New restaurants and int'l schools popping up all the time, and recent improvements to the SuperBrand Mall over there, with additions like Toys R Us, Zara (Spanish clothing brand with "Western" sizes, though I thought they ran pretty small compared to US sizes! Or have I just gained that much weight? Confused

), H&M (also European clothing brand), etc.

All that said, I think your wife could easily create a satisfying life on either side of the river. Hopefully, you'll get (or have already had) a chance to come over for a "look see" so you can get a feel for yourselves of the differences between the two areas and see where you feel more comfortable.

Good Luck!

CanadaKen21

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Joined: Jan 29, 2007
Posts: 170
Location: Pudong
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Posted: May 19, 2007 - 05:31 AM

Agree with Michael, live on same side you work and try the commute before you commit to location. I take it you will have a car & driver, in which case your wife will be able to go wherever she wants/needs to with kids or without? Transporting kids that small in taxis (most have no seatbelts in back)is really not an option.
The second kid is 3 times the work so you will be very happy at the services of a good Ayi can provide your family, from taking care of the household dutes and to assisting with kids. We were both battling one hour commutes back in the US and have to say life has improved significantly being a lot closer to work. Give this some serious thought!! Good Luck!