hong lok, beverly hills or goldcoast

[MovingIn07]

Hi Carang, do you know how long it would take from Gold Coast to Hong Lok YUEN? Thanks

Using public transport (green minibus) I did Gold Coast to Fanling (just up the road) in 45 mins on Saturday. The Green Minibuses go slightly slower than cars, but not that much. We had excellent connections with almost zero waiting and a close to efficient route. I'd say, on that basis, 40 mins would be reasonable for a car.

The way I went was across the top (-> Tuen Mun, freeway to Shueng Shui, MTR to Fanling) but you can also go around the bottom (-> Tsuen Wan -> Shing Mun Tunnel -> freeway) which is probably actually a little further but slightly more freeway so may be faster.

I live in the GC, love it and would recommend it to most people.

But honestly - living on the wrong side of the NT from both school AND work? I think you are better looking stuff on the other side. Try Sai Kung or Clearwater bay if you want beaches, countryside etc etc.

For your other question, from GC to CausewayBay in a car, 30 mins. But it's expensive - the cheapest way (Central Harbour Crossing) is the slowest by far. I did it in a taxi from GC to Admiralty (via CHT and Causeway Bay) at 6:30am the other morning and it was 25 mins. You can't get much faster than that, but you can get MUCh slower when the tunnel backs up full of traffic.

[shenwen]

i'm not disputing that they may be nice.... but giving a spot to your kids has nothing to do with being nice.

something I am also not disputing.

[shenwen]

like i said, i never said they weren't nice or helpful.

i've been in hk for 17 years working in the education sector... i like to think i know a little of which i speak.

but why do you feel the need to contradict people's experiences?

look, I don't agree with some of the extreme loveliness being expressed in some of their posts, but I also don't feel the need to start calling people naive. pretty sure they could point out you are tired and cynical. is that helpful?

[carang]

i never contradicted their experiences. i am POSITIVE that people have had a great experience with the "customer service" of the school. that the staff are excellent and actually care about the kids (not saying that isn't the case at other schools as well).

all i'm saying is that thinking it all comes down to a smile and a "pretty please, my kids really need a school" is not doing newcomers any good. that isn't how school admissions work. and i know if i had kids waiting on a list for months and months and then found some newcomer came, said, "please" and got a space... i would be mighty upset.

i'm very HAPPY that everyone seems to be so happy with the school and their service. that's great! but it doesn't mean that everyone coming to hk will encounter the same prospects and be allowed into the classes just because the parents are so charming.

[AmyHubb]

Hi all, We are moving to hong kong in august. My 3 young boys will attend hong lok school which seems to be a great school. My husband will work in causeway bay but we will have a car. How long would it take him to get there? Would Hong Lok be a good place for a family with 3 very active boys? I have also looked at beverly hills and casa marina and goldcoast? It seems to be very fancy in beverly hills but they have good facilities for kids!! Any suggestions or ideas. I will be travelling to HK for a look and see this coming tuesday, appreciate any information. jess

We live at the Gold Coast and my son attends HLYIS. There is a school bus that picks the children up from the club house in the mornings at 7:20. They get back at 15:45, except for Wednesdays which is 14:45.

[AmyHubb]

I should also mention that if you go on the school website they have a list of places that they run a school bus from, so there may be more options for you when looking for somewhere to live.

[LisaD]

My family and I are also moving to HK in August, hoping to live in Beverly Hills. We already visited in April and liked that area the best. My two sons, ages 10 and 5 are already accepted into HLYIS, but now we have a chance to get into the Shatin Jr. ESF school. Does anyone have kids who attend Shatin and live in Beverly Hills? Or does anyone have opinions about Shatin Jr. and HLYIS? Thanks!

[richardintaipo]

LisaD--I know that there are some families here at BH that send their kids to Shatin Jr, as I see the school bus from that school picking up and dropping off. Did you have a chance to visit both schools in April? I really find it helpful to see the school in operation, visit the classes, etc.

As I mentioned previously, my wife and I and our 2 girls (10+7) really like HLYIS. I am sure Shatin Jr. is a good school as well. Shatin Jr. If we didn't find HLYIS by accident and liked it, our girls would have gone there.

[LisaD]

richardintaipo -- we were in HK over spring break, so we could not see the schools in action with kids, but we did visit HLYIS, as well as ESF Beacon Hill and ESF Kowloon Jr. We were given tours and had our questions answered, so it was helpful to speak to someone and to see the facilities and what they had available.

I suppose a big advantage of ESF over HLYIS is that their fees are lower, and with my son going into Year 6, he would be set for Year 7 at Shatin College. I also like how Shatin Jr. has access to many facilities. We are being offered an interview for him only at this time, and not for my younger son going into Year 2, so I am not sure if that means that if the 10 year old gets accepted, they will take the younger one as well. They are a package deal. :-)

But we know we want to live at BH. Really liked the townhomes and the feel for the whole development and neighborhood. We plan to bring our bikes so the kids can ride in the lane.

How do you find getting around without a car? Going to get groceries? Getting to the MTR station?

[richardintaipo]

LisaD

We love it here at BH. We have been doing fine without a car for a few months up until now, but I will probably buy one very soon, in fact I was car shopping today. There is a shuttle bus that goes from the clubhouse to the taipo mtr station every 15 minutes from 7AM until 10:30AM and then 4PM until 10:30PM. Never close to being full. There is also the 74K bus and 20K mini bus that stops right in front of the community where you can go to either taipo central (a lot of shopping) or to the train station. Taxis are plentiful or the clubhouse can call for one that arrives within 5 minutes. The car is mainly for convenience. Today it took me 25 minutes to get to some car dealers located in HK island, borrowing a friends car. It would have taken me more than 1 hour to do the same commute by bus or train.

For shopping, park and shop delivers if you buy more than HK$500, which is easy to do. We buy all our paper products, cleaning products and dry foods there. Also, soft drinks. It is nice to have it delivered as it is bulky and difficult to arrange without a car. For perishable groceries, if it is not too bulky, we can return to BH by bus or minibus, if too bulky, we have to take a taxi.

As for the schools, we received places at statin jr and beacon hill and bradbury--but not one school had places for both of my girls and we also would not split them up. So for us, HLYIS was the only practical choice and it was our favorite campus wise. As for the fees, the last I looked there was not much difference between HLYIS and ESF, my girls are both really happy there. Very diverse group of students from many different countries. At the ESF school we looked at, it was mostly local HK chinese students with a few gwai-los thrown in for some diversity