Hi Bradd,
Opening a bank account here in HK is quite simple although not as simple as it used to be due to the rules now trying to prevent people opening accounts to launder money!
When I first came to open an account I was refused at HSBC (where my wife had her main account) unless I could prove I had been living in HK for 3 months, you know have 3 months of bills, that sort of thing. We went to BEA who could open an account using my UK address although you have to put in a minimum of $HK3000 (just over £200). Make sure you have proof of your UK address, a driving licence should suffice although the more ID you have the easier it is. At the same time I bought a mobile phone here on contact. We had to do this by using my wifes mobile account and putting the new phone in my name. Therefore I started getting bills in my name. After a while I took these bills to BEA and they changed my adddress to my HK one. Eventually opening an account anywhere was ok.
As for money transfer, it is quite easy. I went to Lloyds TSB in the UK and filled out a tranfer form. Within a week the money has been tranferred to HK. When I came here I still had money owed to me, and once that had come through here I sent another form and again it was tranferred within 2 weeks. Updating bank books here is easy, you just walk into a branch and place your book in a machine and it automatically updates it for you, no waiting for a cashier!
So don't worry. As soon as you open your account you will receive your bank book and cashcard while you are there (no waiting weeks for a card and PIN to come through). Get your girlfriend to change your options at a cash machine first though, the cash machines will be in cantonese but this can be changed to English when you first use it. After that it will always show in English.
And I think thats about it! Any other questions just give me a shout!
JK :-)