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Travel outside Hong Kong?

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  1. #31

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    Quote Originally Posted by ByeByeEngland:
    I don’t know how to multiquote so where to start?

    Ive been out of the country for about 6 weeks of the current situation, with the last 2 weeks passed in quarantine. I think I’ve seen enough of Covid measures to be able to comment.

    min answer to other comments directed at my response I’d just say, seriously????

    in tha last few months I’ve found places like Grass Island, Yim Tin Tsai, a wander round an old village has led me to an impromptu afternoon speaking to someone that’s lived there fir 40 years.

    Further afield I’ve ticked off so many places. Wetland park, too many trails to name all over HK, back to places I’ve been before but doing something different.

    Life is what you make life. You can either sit around and feel sorry for yourself (or spend your time trolling on the internet) or you can find ways to adapt.

    Unless Covid restrictions are here for years the original OP has not nothing to worry about. I’m confident that I’m not the only person that has been here years and still finds new ways to amuse myself and new places to visit.
    It took me a couple of years to hike all 'official' trails in HK, incl. going to all the outlying islands where there is a ferry to go to. So I guess the OP is going to be fine for a couple of years, although it gets a bit same same after a while.
    It gets more interesting if you can go out in groups, do water sports...but those are supposedly prohibited now?

    Also, probably by the time you get here, the stream hiking season would have started..

    OP: try it. Worst case, you get bored and go back. Nothing to lose.
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  2. #32

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    Just for reference, we haven't traveled out of Hong Kong since August 2019. We wouldn't leave now because of the 3 week quarantine in a hotel rule (we have pets), which we don't see going away in the near future. Vaccines aren't really coming either. I've missed an important family wedding. Thank goodness no deaths.

    It's true, there is a LOT to do and discover, even after being here a long time. But it also takes a psychological toll when you know you can't travel from your home/base and are in such a small space with a particular culture. (Many of the posters here are outside of Hong Kong and have got that mental break.) Whether that's harder or easier for someone newly arrived, I don't know. But if you're used to traveling and used to "going home", you may find these circumstances quite hard and need to seriously consider if you want to set up here right now

    It's a bit extreme, but there are concerns about how power is being used by an authoritarian under the excuse of the pandemic.


  3. #33

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    Quote Originally Posted by Elegiaque:
    But it also takes a psychological toll when you know you can't travel from your home/base and are in such a small space with a particular culture. (Many of the posters here are outside of Hong Kong and have got that mental break.) Whether that's harder or easier for someone newly arrived, I don't know. But if you're used to traveling and used to "going home", you may find these circumstances quite hard and need to seriously consider if you want to set up here right now

    It's a bit extreme, but there are concerns about how power is being used by an authoritarian under the excuse of the pandemic.
    Yep, I just cannot disagree with your post above.


    So, in a nutshell, you're basically stuck in a 1106km geographic fishbowl. Hong Kong is fine when one could jet off internationally to more pleasing environs, whenever one felt like it, but not so great with various travel/ quarantine restrictions.

    So, I do sympathise with those who are affected by what has transpired over the last 12 months, especially parents who have school aged children in the HKG.
    Last edited by Skyhook; 05-02-2021 at 09:54 AM.
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  4. #34

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    Yes, @Skyhook. I should say, even though I'm negative about the situation, we are making a choice to stay, too, because of jobs. We do have the freedom to leave (and not come back, for now). But I really do wonder how our lives might change as a result of this. It ages you and your relationships around you...

    I'm just incredulous when I talk to people, say, in the states, and they say how they went of to Hawaii... why? Because they had holiday and already got the vaccine.

    We're simply not a geographical country here. (Gosh, my point is simple, but have to really check how I phrase that!)

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  5. #35

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    Quote Originally Posted by Elegiaque:
    Yes, @Skyhook. I should say, even though I'm negative about the situation, we are making a choice to stay, too, because of jobs. We do have the freedom to leave (and not come back, for now). But I really do wonder how our lives might change as a result of this. It ages you and your relationships around you...

    I'm just incredulous when I talk to people, say, in the states, and they say how they went of to Hawaii... why? Because they had holiday and already got the vaccine.

    We're simply not a geographical country here. (Gosh, my point is simple, but have to really check how I phrase that!)
    Yes, I didn't realize how constrained I felt until I arrived in TW (and after TW quarantine). The freedom to take a train trip a couple of hours outside Taipei, into the mountains, was pretty exciting.

    When I get out of quarantine again, over Lunar New Year, will just hop on the train and go...anywhere, I don't even care, just get off wherever it looks interesting.

    So while I will now be confined to the country of Taiwan for the foreseeable future, it's pretty big (after HK) and will be interested in exploring-mostly day trips, weekends are Mandarin classes...
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  6. #36

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    Quote Originally Posted by bdw:
    Yeah nah sorry HK is a pretty shit place to be trapped in compared to other places around the world. Take a look at Australia's "Holiday here this year" campaign.

    https://www.australia.com/en/travel-...this-year.html
    why would you compare Australia to HK?

    HK is not small if you know how to walk up a hill. I bet most of the people saying it's small don't even hike. On Lantau there are basically hundreds of hikes, a lot of them are not on the map. That's the heatmap of my photos on gmap, and I still barely saw the new territories

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  7. #37
    Quote Originally Posted by ByeByeEngland:
    well I’ve been here 9 years and been all over HK and the NTs and still I’m finding new places to visit, some surprisingly close to me. International travel issues won’t prevent you have endless places to visit
    After 20+ years in Saikung only now I discovered Campers Bay and Razor Hill. And I feel I only scratched the surface.

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  8. #38

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    Quote Originally Posted by Plutark:
    why would you compare Australia to HK?
    Because the topic of this thread was not originally about hiking or things to do in Hong Kong, its "Are there any places outside of HK I can travel to right now?" and the answer is no, the whole world has stopped international travel and moved to domestic travel and HK doesnt have this possibility.

    Also the poster who started this thread is moving from US to HK, so maybe I should have compared US to HK rather than Aus to HK, but I am more familiar with Aus and in any case in the context of this thread I think both US and Aus are very similar (both maintain domestic travel with lots of options available whilst international travel has been cut off).

    So HK is a shit place to move to if any kind of travel in 2021 is high on your priority list. It will be hopefully better in a few years, but not now. Granted, you are correct there are other things to keep you busy on weekends like hiking, great places to eat, strolling through some old villages, etc. So sure, you can change the topic of the thread to this if you want to try and help ease the concerns that the original poster might have. But this is not travel, its things to do in HK within 30 minutes of your home. So don't give them false information, HK will be a challenge for someone moving from US to HK soon. If they are moving for career and money, then great, focus on that. But they better not be moving for lifestyle and family options, or at least they better be clear its gonna take a year or so before these things start to get better.
    Last edited by bdw; 05-02-2021 at 12:46 PM.
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  9. #39

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    Quote Originally Posted by happy_camper:
    After 20+ years in Saikung only now I discovered Campers Bay and Razor Hill. And I feel I only scratched the surface.



    Won’t stop the doom and gloom merchants. You know the ones. Either they’ve left HK and have got no friends where they have relocated or they’re here and spend their entire time griping about it.

    So yes if you want international travel in 2021 then HK will be almost impossible but some of us are trying to point out that is not the end of the world if coming to HK

  10. #40

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    Quote Originally Posted by Morrison:
    What fascinates me about Tai O and probably also Peng Chau is that’s more expensive to have a meal than in the middle of HK island
    Tai O gentrified rapidly after it was featured on Netflix. Within a year or two it has managed to become the new Lamma (sans gweilo, so far, due to the poor transport connections)