Advice needed on where to stay.....

Closed Thread
  1. #1

    Smile Advice needed on where to stay.....

    Hi everyone,

    We are a British family, I'm a single mum with two children aged 11 and 12 and we are moving to Hong Kong at the end of this month. I will be working in a school in Tseung Kwan O. My budget for housing is around 20k (25K maximum). I really like the look of Sai Kung - it looks vibrant, fun, lots of opportunities to make friends, nice restaurants etc. However, it will be about 1 hour commute to work and back (my children will also go to the same school I am going to be working in).

    Can anyone offer us any advice on where we should consider living? Is the commute going to become tiresome or is it OK? Are there any suitable places nearer?

    How long does it take usually to find a suitable place to live once you arrive? Do most people stay in hotels initially or Airbnb?

    Thanks


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Posts
    2,711

    Indeed come first for a month and stay in a hotel, hostel or airbnb, then decide from there.
    I would consider tsuen Kwan o itself since it had big developments with good facilities and will be an easy commute.
    I think the only other big question is where your kids go to school


  3. #3

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    12,323
    Quote Originally Posted by cookie09:
    Indeed come first for a month and stay in a hotel, hostel or airbnb, then decide from there.
    I would consider tsuen Kwan o itself since it had big developments with good facilities and will be an easy commute.
    I think the only other big question is where your kids go to school
    Same place as her. Living in t k o makes a lot of sense

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Tuen Mun
    Posts
    2,074

    If I were in your position, I would live in Tseung Kwan O and do weekend excursions to Sai Kung if I wanted to. Some of the developments there have excellent facilities and running-around spaces for kids, even though the flats themselves (specially the bedrooms!) will be a lot smaller than in any other country.

    Even if you have your own car, the commute from Sai Kung would be a headache - you know you will spend most of the commute in a traffic jam, but you never know just how bad it will be ... will you just be stuck behind half a dozen double deck buses trundling along the single lane sections, or will there be an accident or three which block the road completely for a couple of hours? As you are well aware, teaching is different from a lot of other jobs in that you HAVE to be at work on time - you can't just ring in and say that you'll be 10 / 40 minutes late!

    Once you've decided the area/ develoment in which you want to live, you can normally find a place and move in within a week or 10 days (although I know some super-fussy types on these boards will say they had to search for MONTHS...)


  5. #5

    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Manchester, UK
    Posts
    7,790

    Ya dont do the Sai Kung thing, the bad news about Sai Kung: LOL

    1. Traffic during rush hour is horrible
    2. A single fender bender accident will jam up the whole road as the idiots will wait for police to turn up instead of just moving their vehicles to one side.
    3. Road enlargement project undergoing will make traffic even worse
    4. Trying to get on a green mini bus at peak times depends on where in Sai Kung you live or u will have to wait for the double decker bus
    5. Internet speed is snail speed, max you can get in most village houses are 6mbps but u will probably get 2-3 mbps max depending on how far away your house is from the cable box.

    Stick to TKO / Hang Hau etc, join up some FB groups for the area and you can meet lots of new friends, do the sai kung thing on weekends if your adventurous. Summer times traffic on weekends to/fro sai kung is even worse.

    check out VEGA Suites and try to stay there a month or so until u find the correct apartment you want.

    Vega Suites - Boutique Serviced Apartment / Suite Hotel atop MTR Tseung Kwan O Station


  6. #6

    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    6,317

    Sai Kung traffic is horrible !!


  7. #7

    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Posts
    2,112
    Quote Originally Posted by chuckster007:
    A single fender bender accident will jam up the whole road as the idiots will wait for police to turn up instead of just moving their vehicles to one side.
    I questioned this as well but apparently it's the law.

    "Stop if you are involved in a traffic accident when you are driving or riding any vehicle, including a cycle, even if your vehicle is not damaged. You must stop, or remain stationary, if a person is killed or injured or a vehicle or object is damaged. You must stop if any animal ( horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep, pig or goat ) on or near the road is killed or injured."

    Transport Department - Traffic Accidents

  8. #8

    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Posts
    1

    Not going to recommend an AirBnB because they're not licensed hotel in Hong Kong. Perhaps book a hotel (through trivago/agoda/ctrip or the likes) around a mile of your work place to get a feel whether you like it there.

    In rush hour it's likely that the 1 hour trip will become 1.5 or 2 hours....plus, Sai Kung is insanely noisy and crowded during the weekends, locals will travel there for picnic/hiking/barbecue etc.

    <snip>

    Last edited by Editor; 09-02-2018 at 02:01 PM. Reason: Removed borderline/pseudo-advertising