Share your HK knowledge!!!

[the2hepburns]

Hi, I need your help.... may (depends if we get the job!!!) be moving to HK later this summer and would be based in Shatin. Can anyone (please.. my mum taught good manners!) tell me what it's like, its resources, scenery, shops, restaurants, are there any other new mum's out there (baby is 5 mths old!) who meet up regularly? My hub would be the hard worker and I would stay at home ( ) with the babe! So i don't really want to be stuck in the A*** end of nowhere! I know that sounds silly as Shatin is a huge city, but is it nice to live in for example! Is it quite green compared to HK island? And if so which area of Shatin would be the best to live - the river, racecourse areas....? Is there a river? Not quite sure but its sounds good!
Hope someone out there can help!
love,
A brit living in the US (well for 13 more days then I get to live in the UK again and go to a country pub for a nice cold pint and a packet of salt & vinegar! Yippee!)
P.S. Talking of pints, is the beer in HK better than the US?

[deleteduser]

I've never lived out there, but I've been out that way, and can tell you that if you don't mind the commute, I think it's much preferrable to live there than on the island or even KLN. Actually I would personally will never live on the island, and I rarely go there, but I still need to be in KLN because that's where everything is

It really depends on you though.. If you prefer to live somewhere that is catered to foreigners, and don't want to actually feel like you're in a foreign place (some people find that to be the only comfortable way to live here) then you will not like it out there, and should consider the island.

But Sha Tin has nice scenery, clean(er) air, and all the shopping and resources you could need.

The best way to go is find a serviced apartment with weekly rates, and check out various areas, and go from there.

[KnowItAll]

>> is the beer in HK better than the US?

Absolutely.

Shatin is a bit of a neo-designer sort of township. Its been designed from scratch, which means that it has very little soul, in my opinion. The plus side is that it is a well laid out township. Its not as expensive and overrated as Mid levels for sure.

There are a fair number of Shatin mums on GeoBaby.Com (our parenting website...) you may want to take a look in there. I know many of them organize a fair number of baby / playgroups.

[chanwingyau]

Hi friends,

I lived in shatin more than 20 years! Shatin is a good place, if you like shopping, you may go to New City Plaza, you may walk around from Hilltion Plaza to Wo Che......New city plaza is the central point in Shatin. Shatin plaza, Shatin Centre, New city plaza Phase I, II and III are also near of them. If you like a fresh air, you may ride a bicycle through the Shing Mun River, if you have more energy, you also, ride from Tai Wai to Tai Po.........Just take 45-60 mins..........Moreover, if you like swimming, you may go to Shatin Swimming pool in Lei Yuen near the New City Plaza. Actually, i don't know your living place exactly, but i think Shatin is better than Hong Kong Island and Kowloon side. if you would like to get more details, you may e-mail to me to [email protected]

Wing

[goodfood]

Hi

I work in Sha Tin so here's my list of local attractions

* The racecourse on a Sunday afternoon
* Riverside walks
* Dim sum on the floating restaurant ( Star seafood). Other great dimsum places in New Town Plaza and City One
* Hundreds of Cantonese restaurants of all shapes, sizes, flavours and price categories. Some remarkable ones like the joints specialising in pigeon and congee
* The stress-busting scenery - hills, river, lots of green
* The cycling track by the river
* Ten Thousand Buddhas monastery
* Hiking in nearby Ma On Shan
* A rickety old English pub called The Railway Tavern in nearby Tai Wai
* The restaurant inside Ikea - one of the few places in HK where you can have swedish favourites like gravlax, meatballs. Their swedish rack of lamb is mouthwatering

Negatives: longish commute to HK island, no major pub/entertainment scene, slight language problem in shops and taxis

[Graham]

I've previously lived in Shatin for several years and it's not a bad place to live.

The Shatin New Town Plaza is a pretty good shopping center, right on the KCR rail line, with lots of shops, a fairly decent department store (Seiyu) and a Toys R Us for the kids. There's also a 10 screen cinema and for Brits there's even a Marks & Spencers

There's not a huge choice of Western restaurants, but there's a Ruby Tuesday (American) and a fairly good Indian restaurant as well. As mentioned above, the Swedish restaurant in the big Ikea serves very tasty meatballs. There's also lots of Western fast food places (McDonalds, Deli France, Olivers, Pizza Hut, KFC, Spaghetti House etc).

The Shatin library has a pretty good selection of English books and both the Shatin Central Park and the Penfold Park (inside Racecourse) are nice for walks with small kids.

The only thing Shatin really lacks IMO is nightlife, but it's only a short journey to TST, Wanchai or Lan Kwai Fong for a good cold beer if that's your thing. And yes, there is lots of British, Australian and German beer served in pubs and restaurants in HK as well as that watery stuff that Americans call beer, so getting a good beer is not difficult

Personally, I far prefer living in the New Territories for the fresher air to either the island or Kowloon.

Graham