Moving to Shekou... Please read

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  1. #1

    Exclamation Moving to Shekou... Please read

    Hi All,

    My husband is considering taking on a job as a Managing Director in Shekou. I've been searching the net and found some info but... We would be interested in living in Jingshan Villas but their e-mail does not work. Any other suggestions than Jingshan Villas? How much would rent be? I also tried to contact the Shekou Womans International Club but haven't received a reply. Any suggestions in how to contact the expat community in Shekou? I read that the climate is humid so I guess it would be a good idea to store our furniture in the states and buy new or do those Villas or Duplexes come furnished? Lastly, I found out that there are two International Schools in Shekou. I have a 15 and 12 year old. What is the difference between the QSI and International other than the price? I would greatly appriciate any info.
    Thanks and have a great day.


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    12,383

    Here's a good place to start.

    http://www.geoexpat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3176

    A couple of others seem to be moving to Shekou.


  3. #3

    Thanks

    I will try again.


  4. #4

    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    12

    Red face

    Hi B,

    We are moving to Shekou this summer. We a planning on moving to Jingshan Villas. We have been in contact with them. The email address I used is [email protected]. There were some issues with the responses to my emails when I first started sending to Shenzhen. Email coming to me from Shenzhen couldn't get through to me. I had to switch to my hotmail account, and then everything was fine.

    I received a list of available villas in Jingshan. There were about 15 or 20 villas on the list. Just to give you a rough idea of price, the cheapest was 14,000 RMB per month (148 square meter), and the most expensive was 41,700 per month (314 square meter). My husband was there last week having look around. You can rent a villa furnished or unfurnished (the prices listed above are furnished villas, you get a 5% to 10% discount for unfurnished). My husband also had a look at Monte Vista, which is just up the street from Jingshan. The houses and newer, bigger and more beautifully furnished than Jingshan, but higher priced (40,000 to 54,000). The facilities at Jingshan, especially the pool, are very nice. Monte Vista has an indoor pool and that's about it. Jingshan is more of an expat community, and Monte Vista is more of a local neighborhood. That's about all I know, and that's second hand info from my husband last visit.

    SIS is located in Jingshan Villas. Right now we are planning to send our children there. Their ages are 12, 11, 8 and 3. I didn't look thoroughly at QSI, but the information I found seemed to indicate that most expats send their children to SIS. I am planning to go on a househunting trip in May, and I am most interested to check out the school. In any case, from what I understand, QSI is right across the street from Jingshan, so no matter where you rent you would have a choice of either one.

    Right now, the big thing that we are trying to figure out is our transportation. We have big family, so this is a more complicated issue than it would be normally. At first we were going to bring our Land Cruiser with us, we even found a way to import it duty-free. Now it seems that if you are driving a car which you also own and get into some sort of accident, there is a danger of a huge liability. I don't know for sure if that is accurate, but we're hesitant to do it. We are now looking at public transportation, taxis, motor pool or hiring a car/driver. Do you know anything about any of these?

    I hope this helped a little. I still have a lot of questions myself. Lists and lists of them.

    Dogberta


  5. #5

    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    12,383

    Dogberta, Cant the company your husband is working with, lease / buy a car and provide it as a part of the package (either adjust the compensation or add an additional benefit?).

    Not sure what the tax benefits would be ..


  6. #6

    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Beaverton, OR in transit to Shekou
    Posts
    6

    Red face

    Dogberta,

    Thanks for all the info on housing. My hubby is going soon to look around too and this helped us to focus.

    Hope all is going well-I think relocating with one child must be cake compared to all of the items on your to-do list. But jeesh it doesn't feel like that right now.

    CoolMom


  7. #7

    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    12

    Know it all,

    My husband works for a very large multinational company, and even they seem leary of letting their expats drive. My husband asked another expat from his company who is located in Shanghai about this issue, and he said that he doesn't drive because of the liability issues. Basically, he claims that if you get into an accident with a Chinese person and there is any sort of injury, there is no end to the amount of money one could end up paying, and the party who pays is the party who owns the vehicle. Normally, that's what insurance is for. We can't seem to get any answers. Is there auto insurance to cover these sorts of problems? If a company owns the car we drive, is the company liable for a huge settlement? Is it true that these huge settlements even happen? We are offered $1500 USD per month for a transportation allowance. It is hard to know what that will cover in terms of leasing a vehicle. It just seems so tempting to bring our slightly beat-up Land Cruiser and get a few more dings in it. What would you do?


    Cool Mom,

    Don't sell yourself short. I would rather move with 4 kids 4-12 than with one 18 month old. (Not to discourage you.

    Dogberta


  8. #8

    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    12,383

    I've asked someone I used to work with in China for some information on insurance. Her cousin reportedly runs an insurance agency in Beijing and might have some information for you.


  9. #9

    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    12,383

    What would I do?

    I'd get on the phone with the HR manager handling the transfer and tell her that the move is off if they cannot solve this problem. A large corporation should have transition assistance ... specially into what is considered a hardship posting.

    At the very least, get them to translate a few of the insurance sites...

    http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en can give you a 20-40% accurate translation.

    http://www.cpic.com.cn/index.jsp
    http://www.picc.com.cn/cn/bxcs/cpdq/jdclbx/list.shtml
    (Use the google translation tool on this page for some comic relief)


  10. #10

    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    12

    KIA,

    First of all, I would very much appreciate it if you would pass along any info that you get from the alleged insurance agent in Beijing. Thanks.

    Your comment about getting on the phone with HR has renewed fantasies I've had of calling HR, even though I am "just the wife". I actually know someone who did that. You bring up a good point though. Maybe we should push harder on the relo people to get us the information we want instead of trying to do it all ourselves.

    Have you ever driven in Shenzhen? Is it as bad as what I've read on this website?

    D


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