Expat Housing in Shenyang

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One of the first things I think you’ll need to know when moving to China is where you’re going to stay once you get here. If you’re coming with a large international company, they’ll likely take care of booking this for you. If you’re contracting or working for a Chinese company, you may have to negotiate this part for yourself. Here is an outline of basic housing options in Shenyang that are most commonly used by expats and foreigners.

1. Hotels
2. Serviced Apartments
3. Gated Communities & Apartment Complexes

1. Hotels:

The easiest and most popular option for short-term housing are the large international hotels. Shenyang has several options for international hotel chains and there are several more under construction right now. All are well-located near restaurants and shopping, and are well-known by most taxi drivers. These have at least a few English-speaking staff (although you shouldn’t expect many workers to speak English. Or to speak it well. This is still China.)

When moving to China, most people start out at one of the hotels for a few weeks until they settle on long-term housing. Even if you’ve already picked out your future apartment (on a look-and-see visit, maybe), you’ll still likely want to arrange a hotel stay to give you time to get settled and set up house. Remember it will take a minimum of 5 weeks and could be up to 8-10 weeks for an air shipment to get through customs and be delivered.

The international hotels can also be a good option for long-term housing as well. They have full-size serviced apartments. Many singles and couples without children like this option because meals are easy and having a dedicated staff can be very helpful. Currently, the serviced hotel apartments are around 20,000 RMB per month which is slightly negotiable based on the services you choose.

Pros of hotel living:

  • Housekeeping & Laundry Services
  • In-house Fitness facilities (several have pools)
  • In-house Restaurants & Room Service
  • Breakfast Included (Some also include a VIP happy hour that supplies a light dinner as well.)
  • Concierge & English-speaking staff can be helpful for translations and helping you around the city
  • Fully furnished including linens & bedding

Cons of hotel living:

  • Smaller square footage
  • Most have small kitchens which can make it a little harder to cook your own meals.
  • Less privacy
  • Most expensive option
  • Very little space & freedom for personalizing your home with furniture and decorations
  • Revolving “neighbors” who come and go often

The most-popular international hotels in Shenyang are:
Sheraton
Crowne Plaza (There are two Crowne Plaza hotels in Shenyang. The one near Zhong Shan Park is the better location. It used to be known as the Intercontinental Hotel.)
Traders
Kempinski
Lexington Plaza Rich Gate

The Double-Tree by Hilton and a new Hyatt hotel are currently under construction as well.

2. Serviced Apartments:

Another very good option for both short- or long-term housing that has recently become available in Shenyang is the serviced apartment. It is sort of a combination of a hotel and apartment. The only one I’m currently aware of in Shenyang is Somerset Serviced Residences.

They are located at Taiyuan Jie which is a busy shopping street surrounded by restaurants and malls. Somerset is a building of fully furnished one, two, or three-bedroom apartments. It offers the convenience of a hotel, including maid service, breakfast, and a fantastic fitness facility with the space of an apartment. They do tend to be smaller than apartments at the gated communities but they do have a fully equipped (albeit small) kitchen and English-speaking staff. This is in a very crowded area of town which may not be appealing to those with children and sometimes makes it difficult to find a taxi (although the new Shenyang subway is only a short walk). They can be booked for a short stay by the night or you can arrange for a long-term lease. They are also in the neighborhood of 20,000 RMB per month.

3. Gated Community – Apartment Complex

The last option is a gated community. These are the most common for families and for expats who will be in Shenyang for a year or longer. I’ll give you a tour of our place and a list the most common complexes in another post.

What sort of questions do you have about the housing in China? If you’re already an expat here, where have you lived and what was your experience?

Traditional Chinese Massage in Shenyang

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One of the things I miss most when I’m away from China is this little massage place. I am a little (ok, a lot) spoiled because the massages here are so cheap and so wonderful. I usually go once a week!

A friend discovered this little massage place just walking down the street one day and raved about it so I gave it a try a few days after she found it. That was over a year ago and I’ve been going religiously since then. Fortunately for me, it’s just across the main street and a very quick walk.

It’s on Wenan Rd. (The street just behind the Sheraton Hotel.) Take a right at the “Mushroom Girl” restaurant, just past the Jiujiang Hotel down the little walking street. It’s at the end of that row of buildings on the left.

It’s easy to spot from the English “Traditional Massage” on the outside. It’s simple and clean. Continue reading →

Nanhu Park Flower Market

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Now that Spring has officially arrived in Shenyang, as evidenced by the enormous amounts of construction, dust storms, and ladies with scarves wrapped around their heads, my friend and I decided to head out and look for some plants and flowers to bring some green and life into our apartments.

We weren’t sure exactly where to find them, as usual. This is the one of the biggest struggles as an expat. At home, I know exactly where to go if I want to buy flowers (or lightbulbs, or shoe strings). Or if I don’t want to make a special trip to the nursery, I can just pick up a couple pots while I’m at the grocery store and kill 2 birds with 1 stone. You can’t really do that in China. The “superstores” and “one-stop-shops” aren’t the same. When you move to another country, it’s all those little things you have to relearn that you don’t really think about.

Now, I’d heard from a friend that there was a flower market near Nanhu Park. Unfortunately, that’s all I knew. And Nanhu Park is pretty big. Normally I’d take a bus over since it’s not too far, but in this case, we decided to take a cab.

First I told him to take us to the park, but then he wanted to know which gate. I really had no idea, but thankfully, I have just enough Chinese to explain that we wanted to buy flowers. He understood and drove us right to the place and even pointed the direction we should walk to get there. Having even limited communication skills really makes this life so much easier. I’m not even sure we’d have found it otherwise.

I seriously can’t believe how huge, and awesome, and green this place is! I don’t know about you, but early Spring plants just make me so happy! I miss my yard and my grass a lot, and this was a little dose of home.

They have nearly any type of plant you could want. Potted, blooming cherry blossom trees, roses, azaleas, and plenty of others that I’d never seen before. From huge trees to teeny tiny baby plants. Most of the small pots run about $1.50 and the trees, as low as $20 USD.

They even have fish to go with your flowers. The ones for decoration, not for dinner.

After we browsed and shopped all afternoon, we ended up having to call another friend to come rescue us. We had so much stuff. That’s one of the best parts of being an expat. Friendships take on a whole new level because you have to depend on each other so much. No one has family nearby, so we become family for each other.

And it was a good thing she was available to come help. I don’t know how we’d have gotten home otherwise!

My living room window looks so much more cozy with that touch of green, don’t ya think?

Hope the ayi isn’t too annoyed she has more plants to nurse back to life after my brown thumb destroys them.

Guess what?

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I need to tell you a secret. I’m working on something. Finally. I just about, pretty much, almost decided to make this happen. It’s something we’ve talked about it since before we moved to China, since this blog was just beginning, and I’ve had friends and readers suggest it many times. But I was unconvinced.

I have had many reasons why I can’t couldn’t do it.

A book.

It’s just too… Continue reading →

Pocketcam

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This is a perfect example of what we’ve dubbed “pocketcam moments”… after the thousandth time I called and told my husband I needed one. (Seriously, it was on my Christmas list the first December after we moved here.) This kind of thing happens every day. I really should start posting “Random Daily Photos” because I have hundreds that you wouldn’t believe!

Instead of a pocket-cam, I got an iPhone. And now I’m really good at stealth photos. (Or sometimes, I don’t even bother with stealth.) All my friends here know to watch out if I’ve got my phone out. Even if I look like I’m texting, or listening to music.

I’m probably videoing. Or snapping photos.

I purposely keep my sound off so you can’t hear the camera sound. (BTW, does anyone know how to turn that off without putting your phone on silent? That would be really helpful.)

But sometimes the phone camera is just too slow.

I’m telling you… we need a Pocket-Cam!

Naptime at Ikea in China

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The following set of photos are what I used to call “pocketcam” moments. That was before I lived in China long enough to lose all shame about pulling out my camera and snapping a photo whenever and of whoever I feel like. It’s happened to me so many times at this point that I’ve lost all of the need to be discreet.

Actually, in the taxi on the way to Ikea this very day we had a group of Chinese men yelling at us from the car next to us at a redlight. Two had their phones out snapping photos. I waved. All you need is a white face and light colored hair to have paparazzi in China.

And so, I don’t feel bad at all anymore for walking right up and snapping a photo when I see things like this.

At first glance this just looks like a nice couple enjoying some time together, right?

But back it up a little… Continue reading →