I've HAD IT with Hong Kong... Advice? Wanna move to Singapore.

[Cho-man]

Singaporean watch boring TVB drama

That too, their tv watching relies on HK production, or at least a substantial chunk of it.

[Mat]

Moving out of Tung Chung would be like taking off a pair of overly tight shoes -- everything in life would seem better as a result. Try that first!

Why?

Tung Chung has dozens and dozens of Trails for example at its doorsteps.

I know you don't like new towns but you can easily live in TC (enjoy convenience of the mall for shopping and all) while enjoying magnificent nature at your doorstep. I know many top trail runners for example who do.

You dont have to live in the woods to enjoy nature.

[Cwbguy]

The area is my ancestral village, so I should know what I'm talking about.

Sounds so Game of Thrones!

[HowardCoombs]

You dont have to live in the woods to enjoy nature.

No, you dont, but it helps A LOT.

[Cho-man]

Why?

Tung Chung has dozens and dozens of Trails for example at its doorsteps.

I know you don't like new towns but you can easily live in TC (enjoy convenience of the mall for shopping and all) while enjoying magnificent nature at your doorstep. I know many top trail runners for example who do.

You dont have to live in the woods to enjoy nature.

Actually, if it weren't for the air pollution (or plane noise from the airport), Tung Chung is a good place to live. I enjoy the greater amount of open space, the parks and tree-lined roads, its a refreshing change from say, Mongkok or Causeway Bay.

[Elegiaque]

I realise this was asked of the OP, but thought I'd answer this anyway.

I run purifiers because I use a particle counter to measure indoor air quality, because as the above post kind of gives away, I beleive in looking at data rather than relying on vague handwaving.

This morning, I checked the counter and air outside my apartment measured worse for particulates than standing directly outside Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Rd, which is famous for burning massive amounts of incense. If you're familiar with the incense-burning shrine that sits just off Lan Kwai Fong on Wo On Lane next to the Taco Truck, the air is within 10% of that.

Edit: I should add that I am running two air purifiers in my living room. Things bring inside air to 5-10% of the reading of outside air.

It's a bit of a catch 22 isn't it? You don't like the pollution, you plug in a machine that makes your immediate situation better, but that sucks up electricity that the power plants in China have to produce. And to even have that purifiers, it has to be made in a factory (in China). It's always seemed a bit ironic to me that Westerners come to HK, become disgusted at the pollution and want to get away from it, but it's, in a large part, the Western lifestyle and all the stuff we have that's made this air pollution mess in the first place..... Buying and running more appliances makes the overall situation worse, not better. (Please, if someone has some data on this, correct me if I'm mistaken...)

[Liked]

Unfortunately, you all seem to be wrong

1. Most pollution in HK is from traffic, and not blown in from China, so if your house is facing a road, you are going to have more pollution outside your window than if your house is facing a park/the sea. Also, if your house is on a low floor facing a road you are going to have more pollution than if your house is on the 25th floor of that same building, facing the same road.

2. Comparing apples with apples: if you face a busy road in Central, Tung Chung, NT, or wherever, you will probably have about the same pollution. It doesn't matter much where you are. Similarly, if you face the sea in Central, Thung Chung, or NT, you are going to have similar levels of pollution. The question with these data: EPD - AQHI and Forecast is: where exactly did they put the thing to measure pollution?


3. In my personal experience, pollution in NT is generally lower than that in Kowloon Tong or the busy roads in Central. But if you go to congested roads in NT you will have the same pollution than in KT and Central. In some roads in Kowlooon Tong I have tears and a sour, vinegary taste in my mouth, so bad is the pollution. In my house (facing the sea, in Ma On Shan), the air is fine. No traffic in front of my flat, and the wind disperses the pollution.

4. If you want less pollution, go to NT (e.g. Ma On Shan) and live in flat that faces the sea. You will probably have 1/2 as much pollution than in Tung Chung.

[Bob Loblaw]

Apologies in advance but this isn't addressing your question.

There is an easier solution - try moving out of Tung Chung which is notorious for its air pollution.

The area around Ma On Shan and Tai Po has good air quality (not based on any official figures, just my experience of living there for over 10 years). May seem far but a lot closer than the Pore.

you've gotten beaten up enough for the inaccuracies, generally, of your post, so i wont' add to that.
i will say that i live btwn Ma On Shan and Tai Po, and think that overall we're better off health-wise here. But that's becuase we are able to spend very little of out time alongside major roads. In Mong Kok, it seems like I'm always walking along Nathan or Argyle or something, breathing in a lot of car exhaust. I feel healthier out here. But I'm not going to raise my son here long-term, because of the air pollution.

[Bob Loblaw]

It's a bit of a catch 22 isn't it? You don't like the pollution, you plug in a machine that makes your immediate situation better, but that sucks up electricity that the power plants in China have to produce. And to even have that purifiers, it has to be made in a factory (in China). It's always seemed a bit ironic to me that Westerners come to HK, become disgusted at the pollution and want to get away from it, but it's, in a large part, the Western lifestyle and all the stuff we have that's made this air pollution mess in the first place..... Buying and running more appliances makes the overall situation worse, not better. (Please, if someone has some data on this, correct me if I'm mistaken...)

there have been a bunch of headlines lately, about how richer countries are outsourcing their pollution - greenhouse, esp - to poorer countries. I suspect that's accurate, though I haven't dug into it too deeply.
the irony is that in HK case, anything we outsource blows right back on us when the wind turns.

[ray98]

you've gotten beaten up enough for the inaccuracies, generally, of your post, so i wont' add to that..

Please do. I'll take on all comers. Debate is healthy, who is right or wrong at the start doesn't matter, that's what a debate is for. I don't get an orgasm from being right or get suicidal depression by being wrong.

My statements on the air quality are based on my personal experience and I stand by them. I have my doubts about a single measuring device accurately measuring the pollution for such a wide area as a town. I also have my doubts about people running for the proverbial gas masks just because a reading increases by 1 to raise the reading from medium to high.

At this moment in time, I have zero qualms about raising my daughter in the area even though I am very mobile and can emigrate to loads of other countries.