Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
you can also forget that quiet morning read on the way to work. To work out roughly how
much time a subway commute will take you, calculate three minutes for every station and
add 15 minutes for any interchange. For example, a journey from Wudaokou station (Line
13) to Salitun, which is by Tuanjiehu station (Line 10), is going to take around 50 minutes
and cost RMB2. The same journey in a taxi could potentially take much longer and will
cost around RMB50-60.
Some families prefer to live up close to their children's school and have the adults do
the commuting to the CBD. Others have found it easier to base themselves in the CBD
and have the kids commute happily with their friends on the private buses supplied by the
schools, which ferry them safely from door to door. This system usually works well during
the week. If your kids are involved in extracurricular activities, which they probably will be
if at these schools, this may not work out so well, particularly on weekends when the buses
don't run. You should contact your child's school to find out which housing complexes in
the city its buses service.
If you're coming to Beijing to study, it's likely you'll spend a lot of your time up around
Haidian district, possibly near either Wudaokou subway station for universities such as
Beijing Culture & Language University (BCLU) or Tsinghua University, or Jishuitan sub-
way station if you're headed to Beijing Normal University. If you like to go out at night,
there is a lot around Wudaokou, but nowhere near as much as what's down in Gulou, San-
litun, or Guomao, and regular treks down here can be off-putting. As a compromise, you
could consider Xizhimen. This is a major transport hub and puts you halfway between
school and a fulfilling social life.
After you've pinned down the general area, it's time to do some surveillance work and
zone in on a few actual communities or residential compounds. Visit the area, see what fa-
cilities are there, and walk into the compounds. Get a feel for which ones suit you.
How Much Can I Afford?
When you begin a lease in Beijing you need to consider not only the monthly rent, but how
much you're going to have to fork out up front. Rent here is typically paid on a quarterly
basis, sometimes half yearly, and on the odd occasion yearly. When you sign a lease, it's
fairly standard to pay the equivalent of one or two months' rent as a deposit, plus three
months' rent in advance. So, on a RMB6,000 per month lease, that's at least RMB24,000
you would need to have ready to go when you sign. In some cases, particularly for apart-
ments under RMB5,000, you may also have to pay an additional finder's fee to the agent,
which is also the equivalent of one month's rent.
