A few days in HK so far and I hate it. Tell me I'm being ridiculous.

[Char Siu King]

While it may be harder to move from London to HK than to Sydney or Washington, HK is one of the easiest place in outside the West to settle in with hardly any language problem .

You must be joking. The level of Chinglish sorry I mean English in HK is atrocious. But yeah there are less language problems here than say Tokyo....or Kabul or Turkmenistan.

[Char Siu King]

This thread has run its course, but your observations are spot on and these things won't change ( in fact they will get worse as development & population increase ), but can be managed.

The vast majority of expats are indeed here for the money. Save up, travel, and make the best of it. At 200k a month you can do a lot to avoid the annoying aspects of this city.
I only spend about 180 - 200 days here ( full disclosure), that helps. I don't think I could do 365 days in this overcrowded, polluted, rat race anymore

Live far away from any train line and hire a driver (sai kung, DB or Repulse Bay) Hire a helper to do all your shopping & cooking & cleaning. Do your shopping on Amazon. Buy healthy imported food ( check out iHerb.com) Buy a few IQ Air , air purifiers. Travel often. Leave Hong Kong all together for the months of June, July and August.




Most of your complaints can be managed with money and ignoring the issues.

200k a month does help a lot.

[closedcasket]

200k a month does help a lot.

Exactly, if you can't be happy making 200k a month in Hong Kong PM me and I will draw you the blueprint. Hong Kong is good at some things, and catering to the wealthy is certainly one of them.

[closedcasket]

You must be joking. The level of Chinglish sorry I mean English in HK is atrocious. But yeah there are less language problems here than say Tokyo....or Kabul or Turkmenistan.

It literally pains me to defend Swannie, but I have to agree with him/her. As someone who travels extensively through Asia, Hong Kong is easy to adjust to for an expat. My friends and I jokingly refer to Hong Kong as "Asia light" because one can move to Hong Kong and keep their western lifestyle.

[Swannie]

You must be joking. The level of Chinglish sorry I mean English in HK is atrocious. But yeah there are less language problems here than say Tokyo....or Kabul or Turkmenistan.

You won't find too many cities that are not English speaking even in the western world where you can function much better than in HK. Apart from Scandinavia and Holland, the level of English in Europe is no better than here and often worse. In Asia, there's Singapore and arguably KL where the level of English is better or comparable. Meanwhile, if we were to rank the competency of expats to express themselves in the local language in HK vs those who live in other countries, I'd bet HK expat would be very close to the bottom.

[hullexile]

You won't find too many cities that are not English speaking even in the western world where you can function much better than in HK. Apart from Scandinavia and Holland, the level of English in Europe is no better than here and often worse. In Asia, there's Singapore and arguably KL where the level of English is better or comparable. Meanwhile, if we were to rank the competency of expats to express themselves in the local language in HK vs those who live in other countries, I'd bet HK expat would be very close to the bottom.

Manila? Arguably India?

[karen09]

Me and my hubby are trying to find new things to do at the moment. Can anyone suggest anything (No rude remarks thank you:0)

We do go walking when the weather is cool, sometimes we even go fishing; but when it's hot and humid, that's not an option; and there is only so much shopping and eating a person can do.

[Trance Omega]

You won't find too many cities that are not English speaking even in the western world where you can function much better than in HK. Apart from Scandinavia and Holland, the level of English in Europe is no better than here and often worse. In Asia, there's Singapore and arguably KL where the level of English is better or comparable. Meanwhile, if we were to rank the competency of expats to express themselves in the local language in HK vs those who live in other countries, I'd bet HK expat would be very close to the bottom.

Couldn't agree more. Even the supermarket check out ladies generally speak English. Try finding that in Calais which is only 22 miles away from England or try in Miami.
Hong Kong ranks with Dubai and Singapore for top cities which are easy to settle into.

[jimbo]

Me and my hubby are trying to find new things to do at the moment. Can anyone suggest anything (No rude remarks thank you:0)

We do go walking when the weather is cool, sometimes we even go fishing; but when it's hot and humid, that's not an option; and there is only so much shopping and eating a person can do.

Helps if we know what your interests are.

Lots of activities to do.

Cooking classes
Wine tasting
Exploring and heading to one of the outlying islands
Foodie tours

Etc etc

Get hk timeout magazine and HK magazine for details of what's going in HK.

[bibbju]

Couldn't agree more. Even the supermarket check out ladies generally speak English. Try finding that in Calais which is only 22 miles away from England or try in Miami.
Hong Kong ranks with Dubai and Singapore for top cities which are easy to settle into.

Eh? Most of Calais speaks pretty good English ESPECIALLY the supermarket check-out ladies. Go to any Calais hypermarket on a Sat and you'll find more Brits than Frenchies!!!

Have we all forgotten that English is an official language in HK?