Well, here are some shots from the balcony of our new pad. The view is of the common pool area in the complex, taken from the balcony adjoining the master bedroom. Obviously the pool (above, left) isn’t quite ready to be used yet!
Behind the pool is a four storey (!) community (estate) recreation hall which houses ping pong tables, dance halls (for traditional dance and Tai Chi) as well as meeting rooms and a tea house. Next to the hall is a play area for kids and some gardens and a nice old fashioned Chinese bridge.
Lastly, an evening shot taken from the study balcony. You can see a shared (common) mahjong hall on the right (lit up with tracer lights). At night, the frogs living in the large pond croak, which is actually a great thing. Those who know me well enough know that (after living in big cities) I find it hard to sleep with no ambient noise. In fact for the past few years we’ve always had a fan on in the bedroom to create some noise – the frogs are doing me a service!
As you can see, there is a decent amount of separation between our block and the others. It is really quite serene at night, even though we are nearby two major roads (Gudon and Wen’Er).