Living Skyhigh

Did I mention we move A LOT?!  We have been living on the West side of Kunshan now for over 4 years.  Our current apartment's name is Bo Jue Da Di.  Like most apartment complexes in the city, it has an English name.  There is no reason to learn it because none of the taxi men or locals will be able to help you with directions.  (This gives you a great opportunity to start practicing your Mandarin!)  

Our apartment complex is great:  it is stunning from the outside in.  We have the penthouse with an incredible view of Yang Cheng Lake, an enormous kitchen (for Chinese standards), and a fabulous landlord who has been helping us out.  

However, this area is known for its constant construction from the new buildings being erected from all around us.  After a while, you do become desensitized to the noise.  However, we recently had a neighbor move in.  Drilling began at 7:00AM and didn't typically end until 5:00PM.  Unfortunately, the construction workers continued over the weekend.  We would crawl out of the apartment like earthworms after a rainy day and tried to find things to do outside.  Luckily, after about two months, the neighbors officially moved in...

Our apartment is quite perfect - we are only dissatisfied with one thing: our high speed internet... or should I say lack thereof?  Basically, it is nonexistent.  Chitrak ran the figures the other day and showed that while dial up was 22.2 kbps, our apartment is a whopping 8.3.  Does that put things into perspective?  It like comparing a tortoise to a cheetah (with dial up being the cheetah).  After comparing our internet with our local friends, we have found out that our VPN is cause for our poor internet connection.  Chinese websites are lightning fast.

Enjoy a tour of our home!  These pictures were taken when we were apartment shopping.

Can you guess who lives here?

We are at the tippy toppy!

Only four towers in our building complex now, but there are more popping up.

Main lobby / Entrance to building elevator.

Two elevators for our building.

A one-minute journey to the top, just hope you don't have to pee!

Our apartment has an incredible view of the Kunshan Stadium and Forest Park.

The new buildings soon to be constructed in our apartment complex.  Did anyone hear a BANG, BANG!

Master Bedroom - Out the window, you have a neat view of the bullet train line.

Master Bedroom attached bath, closet and cabinets.

Our second bathroom, just off the living room.

Our third bedroom, with the capacity for two wee ones.  No intentions to fill it.  :-)

Another closet for the kids' bedroom.

Door on the left opens to the main entrance of the apartment.  

Dining / Living Room - Chitrak is happy to see how big the kitchen is (door on the left).  He approves.

Kitchen - I have not seen a kitchen this large in all of China,unless of course you are renting a villa.

Dining room with lazy susan.

Our far-out decoration... Liberace anyone?  (We call it "tu hao" 兔毫)

Our crazy wall mirrors.

Master Bedroom Shower - apologies for the blurriness.

Laundry Room - Washer & Clothes Hanger