Living in Hong Kong

Has anyone experience of living in Hong Kong. I've been a couple of times and really liked it, but slightly freaked by the idea of living there.

Interested in the thoughts of those who have done it.

Would be a work related move.

I lived there for some time. Make the most of what it has to offer. Its different, so unless you take advantage of those differences you will miss out and want to leave.

For me I enjoyed the contrasts between the Rich and Poor, Vibrant crazy city and peacefull tranquil Islands and New Territories. Its also close to other cool places which you can visit for short holidays – like the Philippines, Borneo, China, etc.

You wont go mountain biking, but I did lots of diving, sailing and watersking.

Proper Chinese food was good – but now I dont eat it here in the UK as its not as good as the real thing I got used to.

Its a multicultural place with lots of opportunities. Enjoy it but have a bail out plan incase it goes wront.

There are a couple of *cracking* bike shops in Honkers. Flying Ball remains my favourite of all time, so I reckon you'd find some biking there too.

I would leap at the chance of living in Hong Kong for a bit. It's a tremendous place – love the contrasts.

Good luck

My Gf lived there for years, the work contract had better be a good one, as housing/healthcare are expensive, but other than that, do it, it's awesome!

Was worried about the cost of housing, so that's fair comment.

Just need to see if the idea goes anywhere.

Spent two years living and working there and loved it. I had my family with me (who also loved it) so chose to live in a quiet area called Discovery Bay which had a fantastic commute by boat through the harbour to Central where my office was.

Is it possible to save money while there? I think it's low tax, no?

Obviously would depend on the package, but if I could get subsidised housing it might make it possible to put some cash by, like everyone that goes to Dubai tries to do.

Most people live in small flats. Space is at a premium.
When I was there, Hong Kong operated a two-system tax. One was tiered and the other was a pure flat rate. For most people it works out as the 13th month salary (its normal in Hong Kong to get 1 month salary as bonus) – which then goes to paying your year's tax.

Mountain biking is not permitted in the national parks. Check out the Hong Kong Mountain Biking Association website.

Trail walking is popular tho.

Mosquitos aplenty. Cockroaches too.

McDonalds everywhere.

Some nice bike shops in the New Territories.

Very little consumer rights.

35 degrees and 90% humidity in summer.

Fantastic public transport.

Crowded streets and shops open till late.

Low crime rate.

I think it depends on your 'deal'. I (and it seems one or two other posters above) was out there on full expat terms living the high life at someone elses expense. Had a fantstic time and would heartily recommend it.

However, would I go out on local terms and live in pokey flat somewhere up in the NT and get the MTR in every day…? Not on your nellie. I did have some mates living out there on local terms. they rented a house out in the sticks (Lamma I think) and had a ball. But they didn't have 'ordinary' jobs so could do pretty much as they pleased.

As with most places, there's a massive gap between the have's and the have nots and HK is an Fing expensive place to live and play.

😯

Actually if you live on local terms you might gain some valuable real world experiences, meet real people and engage fully with the culture.
You might also learn whilst there is poverty in Hong Kong (epitomized in Hong Kong by the boat people in Aberdeen harbour), it is also possible to live on a salary provided for in local terms – a 7 million population says I'm right.

Actually if you live on local terms you might gain some valuable real world experiences, meet real people and engage fully with the culture.

Yep, you could do that. I suppose I should now give everything away, buy a shell suit and move to Moss Side (or some other hell hole) to fill those gaps in my 'real world experience'.

As for you 'being right because 7m people manage to get by'…. Not sure. There are millions (billions?)of people getting by around the world and personally I don't feel any compunction in emulating them to fill the apparent(according to you)gaps in my edumacation.

Perversely HTTP404, your view is as polarised as my original post, just from the other side of the discussion.

ditto what boblo said. I grew up in Hong Kong, admittedly some years ago now. It was a charmed life. HTT… well done 'for keeping it real', man. Those 7 million don't really 'get by' as a huge chunk of the population live in government housing, you know the ones, those massive blocks of one room flats where three generations of a family live…but I woudn't know about that being the son of a privileged gweilo.

but I woudn't know about that being the son of a privileged gweilo.

Yeah shame on you… Private school, hot and cold running Amah's attending to your every whimsy, club membership, a box at Happy Valley races. Tut tut.

You'd have to have been in a 20m2 flat on the 30th floor of a Govt Housing project out in Sha Tin to really 'know' HK. Everything else you think you may know is irrelevent…..

Fairly accurate: no amahs (at my mother's request), but I'm a life member of the Royal HK Yacht Club 😉

Trimix – Member

I lived there for some time. Make the most of what it has to offer. Its different, so unless you take advantage of those differences you will miss out and want to leave.

For me I enjoyed the contrasts between the Rich and Poor,

I've been a few times, and I don't enjoy the contrast between the rich and poor. What is there to enjoy in that?

However, would I go out on local terms and live in pokey flat somewhere up in the NT and get the MTR in every day…? Not on your nellie

Sorry boblo, I was just responding to your comment above and not endorsing your purchase of a shell suit.

incidently headfirst, gweilo literally means "white devil", i think the locals probably intended it to mean something else.

thanks http for telling me the meaning of gweilo

can you tell me what 'sik nei ma ma wai sun gun' means?

you're bit of a 'sup gau jai' aren't you?

I was out there as an IT contractor, which was I suppose similar in many respects to being there on expat terms. I did have to pay for my own housing though. We started off with a small (750 square foot) 3-bedroomed place in a nice, but not desperately expensive, area (Discovery Bay on Lantau Island) but if I recall correctly even that was something like £1500 a month. We eventually moved to a much bigger ground floor place with a small garden and a lovely view over the harbour to HK island but that was over £3000 per month initially, although we negotiated it down by quite a bit after the HK rents started dropping.

The really cheap (by HK standard) areas weren't places I'd have wanted to live, given I had my wife and kids along. Some single colleagues lived in places like Aberdeen or up in the New Territories and it sounded reasonably ok though. If I'd been there as a contractor and single I'd have stayed somewhere in the mid-levels I think.

Lots of good hillwalking where I lived on Lantau island, plus great sailing and the like. No idea about the mountain biking as I wasn't into that at the time, however I can't recall seeing anyone doing it there. Night life is fantastic and exceptionally safe. We had an Amah so were able to go out a as a couple a lot more often than anywhere else we lived. There are also some excellent English language schools there – my daughter did a year of primary there and my wife also did some teaching.

Shopping varies – some things are very cheap compared to the UK (e.g. electronics), some very expensive (e.g. booze). The overall tax rate is much lower though – no VAT, low income tax (I paid well under 10%), no NI etc. – which helps. Despite paying a lot for housing and eating out a lot we found that we actually saved more during our stints there than we did anywhere else.

You'd have to have been in a 20m2 flat on the 30th floor of a Govt Housing project out in Sha Tin to really 'know' HK. Everything else you think you may know is irrelevent…..

Luxury compared to the people living in cages, the Amah's living in shanty towns (there was one just outside Discovery Bay) or the villages on stilts like Tai O.

Interesting. Sounds like it'd be a good thing to do. Just need to see if it comes off – breath is not held!