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Visiting scholar HKU: housing in hall/ Robert Black/ or Airbnb?

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  1. #1

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    Sep 2017
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    Visiting scholar HKU: housing in hall/ Robert Black/ or Airbnb?

    Hi all! I'm new at GeoExpat and I'm hoping to get some advice from you.

    I will move to Hong Kong in Jan to work at Hong Kong University for 4 months. I'm now looking into the housing issue. My budget is not great (around 10/ 15K) and I would like to have some space (knowing HK units can be very small) and stay on the island, preferably the west. What do you think about these options:
    - St. John's college, they have a guest room available in the graduate hall. This is a private en suite for 11.5K. But coming from the Netherlands, I'm not familiar at all with living in halls. Would this be peaceful/ boring/ a party place for students? I.e. is this suitable for a 30s working female?
    - A private room in Robert Black College, the guesthouse of HKU’s overseas visitors. It might be nice to meet other temporary HKU staff, and the pictures of the building look beautiful. However, I cannot find any pictures or info about the rooms there and it is more expensive: 17K. Does anyone know this place? Is it worth the money?
    - A room in someone else's apartment or a very small studio via Airbnb.

    Since I’ve never been to Hong Kong, some inside advice would be very much appreciated!


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Jul 2016
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    Can I just clarify that you are only staying in Hong Kong for 4 months? If you are staying for at least a year you could try looking for a studio/1 bed apartment for around that budget. Otherwise if only 4 months then I'm afraid I'm not too sure on renting rooms inside colleges...


  3. #3

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    Yes, that's right mr22, I will be there only for 4 months. Both St. John's and Robert Black college confirmed that they have a guest room available for that period for the monthly price mentioned above.


  4. #4

    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lonne:
    Hi all! I'm new at GeoExpat and I'm hoping to get some advice from you.

    I will move to Hong Kong in Jan to work at Hong Kong University for 4 months. I'm now looking into the housing issue. My budget is not great (around 10/ 15K) and I would like to have some space (knowing HK units can be very small) and stay on the island, preferably the west. What do you think about these options:
    - St. John's college, they have a guest room available in the graduate hall. This is a private en suite for 11.5K. But coming from the Netherlands, I'm not familiar at all with living in halls. Would this be peaceful/ boring/ a party place for students? I.e. is this suitable for a 30s working female?
    - A private room in Robert Black College, the guesthouse of HKU’s overseas visitors. It might be nice to meet other temporary HKU staff, and the pictures of the building look beautiful. However, I cannot find any pictures or info about the rooms there and it is more expensive: 17K. Does anyone know this place? Is it worth the money?
    - A room in someone else's apartment or a very small studio via Airbnb.

    Since I’ve never been to Hong Kong, some inside advice would be very much appreciated!
    St John's student room

    http://www.stjohns.hk/aggwp2014/wp-c...duate-Wing.jpg

    Call them and ask for photos

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Mar 2009
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    Hong Kong
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    I would suggest living in the Uni halls for convenience and also for your social life as well. As you will be in the postgrad wings or colleges, then it will be a bit quieter and you will meet similar people. The undergrads tend to be more separate in where they hang out and their activities.

    It is nothing like the colleges in the US or UK where they have noisy flat parties and everyone is drunk. They tend to have hall "spirit" in terms of hall activities (mostly sports teams, arts, music etc.) but the most disturbance is occasionally they have their floor songs. As you are working, foreign and only there for a few months, they are unlikely to bother you to join in any hall activities at all.

    The student halls in HK are also stricter than my experience in UK because you have to sign in guests, and guests cannot stay overnight or past a certain time (I am not sure it is the same for grad halls). So i found it a bit restrictive because i was used to having more freedom and being treated like and adult in my UK university.


  6. #6

    You can share a room off campus with other people which should be cheaper for you. Older tong lau buildings with only stairs is the cheapest option in that area. Seem you don't have sharing room option on campus, many undergraduate rooms on campus are shared.

    All undergraduate halls in Hong Kong are noisy. The undergraduate students, not the postgraduates are very noisy and love eating instead of drinking. Their activities are in Cantonese only and they are usually noisy in the middle of the night. HKU and PolyU undergraduate students also love to eat out in mid night because there are mid night eating places in those areas, and Foreign students in HK love to drink and party in Central or have their own fun activities in English in or outside halls. Drinking and partying culture among the locals is not strong.


    Robert Black is right behind the main buildings of HKU and south of the Peak. It is a quiet position but not sure if the people are quiet or not.


  7. #7

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    Thank you all! I received an email back from St. Johns, stating that there is indeed regular noise at night because the undergraduates stay in the next building. :-( The room is around 200 square feet though, the same size as Robert Black's guestrooms. I still find it rather difficult to anticipate on the frequency and severity of the noise, and the extent to which this would influence (ruin?!) my night rest... Anyway, thanks again for your comments and other insights are still welcome!


  8. #8

    Join Date
    Nov 2016
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    193

    Go for Robert black. Much quieter as it's only for visiting research students and academics. Also right on the main campus. Bathrooms should also be in a better condition. Think the only adverse difference is no cooking facilities at Robert black.

    East_coast and JAherbert like this.

  9. #9

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    Mar 2009
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    At St Johns they would be singing hall songs maybe at night, and they tend to be very into their activities. Most would be in several teams and which means they only sleep late at night. They also have some annoying meetings which go on through the night but this rarely affects the postgrads.

    I think it would matter if you are a light sleeper, but it never affected me when i was in the undergrad halls. Like i mentioned, it is nothing compared to the drunken antics and noise you will find at student halls in the UK.


  10. #10

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    Yeah, I am a light sleeper unfortunately. If it wasn't for the substantial price difference (5K), I would definately stay at Robert Black for that reason. Can I just clarify UK/HKboy: you did hear the undergrads while staying there but it wasn't very loud, or do you think that I wouldn't hear it when staying in the next building for postgrads?


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