Good morning from Tai Wai! What can I tell you about the place?
Well Tai Wai is mainly a Chinese area although there are quite a few ex-pats that live here. You find that you have to talk to them though as most people pretend they haven't even seen you here! You can live Tai Wai Village / Mei Lam side or over on Sun Chui side. Tai Wai Village mainly has older style apartments, as does Mei Lam but they are building new apartments slightly south. Sun Chui side has a mix of apartments such as Green View Gardens and Golden Lion Gardens and spanish style villa apartments in places such as Sun Tin Village and Kak Tin.
Transport links here are excellent. You are right on the KCR line which in one stop has you at Kowloon Tong, less than 5 mins. Mongkok is 2 stops, Hung Hom 3 and TST East 4 stops. It's just over 10 mins to TST East. Obviously you can change to MTR at Kowloon Tong and go direct to Central. I can usually make it to Wan Chai or Causeway bay in just over 30 mins by train. Northwards you can take the Lo Wu train up to places like Tai Po and all the way upto the border. The Ma on Shan line also goes from Tai Wai station. Bus links are also excellent. 89c takes you down through Kowloon Tong down past Prince Edward on to Yai Ma Tei, Jordan and TST. Other buses such as 184 take you down into Central. We use a local taxi driver if we are down in Central to the early hours who always charges us £HK100 only to get back to Tai Wai including the tolls! Oh and it's about 45 minutes by bus to the airport.
Drinking here is mainly local, there are quite a few bars. Shatin central is nearby as are places like the Riverside hotel. My main drinking hole is in Jordan though which again is a locals bar, although I have many chinese friends who showed me. I actually prefer the local bars as the chinese are so friendly when they know you. Eating here is fine, lots of local eateries, all your usual McD's, Pizza Huts etc. Up in New Town Plaza you have Ruby Tuesdays and a mix of Sushi bars, Thai food, lots of low end and high end Chinese restaurants. We often eat in TST, Mongkok and Kowloon Tong as well. For grocery shopping you have the usual Park n Shop and Wellcome stores. There is a Park n Shop superstore near to New Town Plaza, and of course Taste in Kowloon Tong where you can buy lots of western foods and is my favourite supermarket in HK by far! There are also Gyms and Swimming Pools nearby.
From here you can go hiking up in Lion Rock Country Park, or hire a bike and take the river route up to Ma On Shan or Tai Po. Makes a great day out. Shatin Park and the Hong Kong Heratige Museum is close by to.
Moving from HK island you will find things quite different although you will be experiencing the real HK. It is much quieter here and of course cheaper. If you want a car you can have one although to be honest you wont need it because transport is so good. If you want to take a day out to look around give let us know and you would be more than welcome.
Best of Luck
Jk