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New to villages - how bad can barking dogs be?

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  1. #31

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    Quote Originally Posted by Elegiaque:

    While we're at it, we know the 1/F has a small child (~1-2 years?), no dog. From your experience, how much does sound like a baby crying travel up through the floor/walls?
    It travels very well, concrete with no insulation plus poorly fitting doors are excellent sound carriers. Will depend how well your building has been constructed......

    Also to consider - does your roof have an illegal structure on it? If it does, good, at least it is useful. If it doesn't and it is in the sun most of the day, welcome to your own person sauna. Your concrete roof will act as a night store heater, soaking up those rays and releasing them into the flat all afternoon and evening. If your air cons are shit, then maybe you can think about taking up hot yoga.
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  2. #32

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    Quote Originally Posted by kimwy66:
    It travels very well, concrete with no insulation plus poorly fitting doors are excellent sound carriers. Will depend how well your building has been constructed......

    Also to consider - does your roof have an illegal structure on it? If it does, good, at least it is useful. If it doesn't and it is in the sun most of the day, welcome to your own person sauna. Your concrete roof will act as a night store heater, soaking up those rays and releasing them into the flat all afternoon and evening. If your air cons are shit, then maybe you can think about taking up hot yoga.
    Will do some rooftop garden (cue DeletedUser), so hope to reduce the heat effect. The air cons are not shit, they're relatively new and we've tested them. Will install a couple of ceiling fans. Not a big concern of mine at this point (and neither is parking, though the overall commute might turn out to be the biggest shock).

    It's down to luck, I think, with the baby. In London (in a new building!) we had a 3 year old below us and she would scream at night directly under our bedroom OR blast children's music at 7:00 am in the bedroom. And we had a wooden-clog wearing upstairs neighbor (or that's what we think she wore). Our fingers are crossed that the child here would be "based" in a room not below our bedroom. AND there is a helper whose job it is, presumably, to deal with a crying child in the night.

  3. #33

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    It's like everything..there are villages and there are villages...

    First of all your luck might be lot lower if you go to villages in less gweilos friendly area (to put it bluntly): ie Tuen Mun (am expecting a nice and mature reaction from Lord here), Yuen Long, Tin Sui wai and the likes.
    Better chances with Clear Water Bay some part of Sai Kung etc etc

    You get the gist.

    Now we have considered at the time and looked at some area around Tai Po and Clear Water Bay - we finally didnt buy for vairous reasons BUT the dogs were one of them. Less so in ClearWater Bay. Big time in Taipo - even in a "gated" village....

    That said, we have firends who live near Razor Hill and it is great, very little dog issue, great neighbors, no issue with car park etc etc. They have 1400 sqf (G/F and 1/F) for around 35K a month (include a car park) so I guess research and multiple visits are needed to nail down the right place. Harder than getting a flat but for some worth the time (especially if you have kids etc).

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  4. #34

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mat:
    It's like everything..there are villages and there are villages...

    First of all your luck might be lot lower if you go to villages in less gweilos friendly area (to put it bluntly): ie Tuen Mun (am expecting a nice and mature reaction from Lord here), Yuen Long, Tin Sui wai and the likes.
    Better chances with Clear Water Bay some part of Sai Kung etc etc
    Indeed, we are 'the only gweilo in the village' here, and it really should be taken as a sign that it might not be the best village to expect the best atmosphere & peace and quiet. There have been one or two come and go over the years - none have extended their lease. I guess we are somewhat thicker skinned. However, with reference to the Tuen Mun / Clearwater Bay issue, I don't believe it makes much difference. We are CWB side, and there are other villages along this side that could be seen as non-westerner-friendly.
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  5. #35

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    I live in a village house for four reasons:

    1.) I'm not an ant. I've never lived in apartments, except very briefly in Sweden, they seem very claustrophobic to me. That said, I totally get why people do (the club house always appeals) and would consider except that...

    2.) I have a dog.

    3.) We have a patio and small garden where my wife grows vegetables. When we have BBQs, we are at our house rather than in the communal area.

    4.) We get about 30% more space for the same money as an apartment in the same area....*edit* actually I'm being too conservative...it would be impossible to get any apartment near GC for 9k...even the absolute cheapest would be at least 12k and under 500sqft...

    We've lived in two villages, both in Tuen Mun...the first one was Triadish but this one not so much...and there's not even a village chief.

    It's not perfect by any means but I've read just as many stories on Geo. regarding problems in flats as I have in village houses and that includes dogs barking, people having BBQs on balconies, people leaving their doors open and clattering Mahjong tiles...if you don't like those things, you're in the wrong town..

    By the way, people with dogs/kids/Mahjong/karaoke can all move in after you!

    I think it's pretty easy to spot the 'wrong type of village'...and that said, if you can speak Canto. a bit and are reasonably assertive nobody is going to bother you...In my village, most of us do question strangers wandering through, but one thing about To Yuen Wai, where we first lived, you were never going to get burgled....even delivery people couldn't get in!!

    Last edited by Lord Dashwood; 07-06-2016 at 06:52 PM.
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  6. #36

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    Quote Originally Posted by kimwy66:
    It travels very well, concrete with no insulation plus poorly fitting doors are excellent sound carriers. Will depend how well your building has been constructed......

    Also to consider - does your roof have an illegal structure on it? If it does, good, at least it is useful. If it doesn't and it is in the sun most of the day, welcome to your own person sauna. Your concrete roof will act as a night store heater, soaking up those rays and releasing them into the flat all afternoon and evening. If your air cons are shit, then maybe you can think about taking up hot yoga.
    I've often wondered if you could buy a reflective cover to put on a roof to prevent the heating? Or if anything short of a green roof can prevent the sun from turning your flat into a sauna?

  7. #37

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    Quote Originally Posted by Open Casket:
    I've often wondered if you could buy a reflective cover to put on a roof to prevent the heating? Or if anything short of a green roof can prevent the sun from turning your flat into a sauna?
    We did rig something similar up, and it has improved things. Can't put anything heavier on because the guy beneath us gutted his flat and removed most of the internal walls. Strange cracks have appeared since and hubby doesn't think loading the roof is such a good idea.

    We are finally moving when the lease is up.
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  8. #38

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    Quote Originally Posted by M Khan:
    And at certain times of year your neighbours will probably engage in noisy, night-long entertainments involving the constant clicking and clacking of Mahjong tiles, or absolutely appalling attempts at Karaoke. Little children also appear to have no bedtimes and will run around screaming their lungs out at 1 am. Still, if you can't beat them, join them!
    True, our neighbour pots his plants and does his gardening outside our house at 2-4 am most mornings. Nice to know we have a security guard about! Plus he is very quiet. I like the sound of mahjong tiles ( karaoke during CNY, NO!!!! It is terrible! ) , cows mooing, frogs croaking and even the stray cats bailing each other up. That means there is a system, and if the system runs smoothly then all is well. That is village life. I wish my husband would take the time to learn more about the dynamics in our village without me informing him - like the old guy who tinkers with any piece of tin, wire, electrical goods discarded, the list goes on, to the ladies who collect the cardboard and aliminium cans to recycle, the guy who drives to the airport where he works but offers strangers a lift on the way to TC or airport.
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  9. #39

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    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Dashwood:
    I live in a village house for four reasons:

    2.) I have a dog.
    See, that's the bloody problem. All you people with dogs want to live in villages for the sake of your dogs. But then there can't be any villages for people who want to live there for the sake of the views/tranquility/nature but who don't like dogs. You dog people have ruined all the villages! And now there is no where pleasant and quiet to live in HK... Why can't there be a village for only cats?

  10. #40

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    Quote Originally Posted by Char Siu King:
    Why even call them 'villages'? I mean, are they really that? 3rd world settlements full of yokels and misfits and their dirty dogs aren't they?
    Fuck me judgmental much?
    shri likes this.

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