Hong Kong life vs NYC

MovingIn07 · 16-08-2008, 11:43 AM

1. You have a decent housing allowance so probably quite a few decent areas for that. You might want to look at the flats over Elements or Olympic city - they look quite nice to me and the Olympic one had good sports facilities when I went there to play squash recently.

If you are happy with abit more of a commute, somewhere like Park Island, DB, Sham Tseng or Gold Coast might suit. You'd really need to go and look around to see.

2. The issue with the electronics is at least the risk of damage in transit - most insurances do not give full cover for this and the risk of loss is quite high (by normal insurance standards, anyway, like about a 1-4% risk of complete loss....). Can't speak to transformer issues.

bxu · 18-08-2008, 04:59 PM

Welcome to HK!

I agree with the other poster that you can find a place either by the Kowloon Station (above the Elements mall) or by the Olympic Station, both places should be close to where you work. Although with a 40K budget I think you will get more for your money Olympic Station than Kowloon Station.

We live at One Silversea by the Olympic Station, a sea view 1,200 sq ft apt is around 40k. Next door there is the Long Beach which has brand new apartments around 700 sq ft but rent is a lot lower, around 15k to 20k I believe. But there are really no parks around these complexes, what you'll get is the nice club facilities.

We know friends who are using transformers for some U.S. appliances but they are all small items, so not sure if an entire entertainment system will work.

Good luck with the move! Let us know where you end up...

Originally Posted by filin:

So, I've made up my mind - Hong Kong, here I come! Of course now I have a zillion questions... I've been browsing the forums, but I thought I'd still throw out a couple of them here in case anyone would like to comment:

1. Will be working in West Kowloon, near the harbour. What's a nice place to live with a short commute for a couple with no kids (~30 years old) on a 40K (plus or minus) monthly housing allowance? What would it take to either (a) get a nice ocean view or (b) live in a nice "green" area, maybe near a park?

2. Many forums keep saying not to bring electronics from US, but we've just bought a complete new entertainment center with carefully chosen components and my company will be covering the shipping costs, so I would rather not sell and buy everything new. Has anyone brought their electronics from US? Would I be ok with a couple of good transformers?

filin · 18-08-2008, 11:35 PM

Thanks, I'll definitely check out Elements and Olympic. I actually noticed Silversea on gohome.hk and they seemed very nice. A few people mentioned Happy Valley to me - how far is that, and what is it like?

bxu · 19-08-2008, 12:41 AM

Happy Valley is on the north side of Hong Kong island, it's where the race track is. I've heard it's a nice area to live, but no MTR goes there, you'd have to take the tram or buses. If you work in West Kowloon, it won't be a very straight forward commute for you.

photo_i · 15-09-2008, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by bxu:

Happy Valley is on the north side of Hong Kong island, it's where the race track is. I've heard it's a nice area to live, but no MTR goes there, you'd have to take the tram or buses.

We moved to HK from US (Seattle) 8 months ago and we live in Happy Valley. And there is a MTR - Causeway Bay.

We lived in Asia 9 years before, so moving here isn't anything new to us. What I dislike so far - heat, humidity, overpopulation, small apartments, homogeneous culture (we lived 6 years in Singapore and it was quite multinational). Oh, and luck of spoken English... The rest I like

carang · 15-09-2008, 04:06 PM

i might not bring the entertainment centre.
it would depend on whether the equipment is multi-system, multi-regional. if they aren't don't bother.

with your housing allowance, you shouldn't have any problems finding suitable housing.

BUT, first, make sure your company will pay for a stay in a serviced apartment so that you can find your feet and THEN look for a place. DO NOT trust the internet to find a place.

ALSO, you can negotiate your rental here. you don't have to just pay what they are asking.

rayw · 15-09-2008, 04:12 PM

Nothing personal against any particular groups or people in HK, it's just my opinion that I can meet up with more intellectual people in NYC who are not just after money, business opportunities, status, etc.

photo_i · 15-09-2008, 04:20 PM

Oh, about the entertainment center - we keep taking ours with us to Asia and back to US and back to Asia again, using transformers. The only problem is the TV which is PAL in Asia versus NTSC in US, but we have a wide-screen LCD monitor instead of regular TV so no problem here either. And if you decide to go the monitor way then buy it in the States - soooooo much cheaper than in HK! The only problem with using monitor (plugged into cable box) that you won't get the local TV channels like Pearl. And it was the only channel in HK that was showing Olympic Games! We had to buy a DVR because of that...