moving with my family to hong kong

[bucky1959]

I will be moving to Hong Kong with my husband and 12 year old daughter within one year. Can you please give me advice on family-friendly areas to live that are close to schools...Also, we have two dogs. Will that be a problem?

Thank you

Fern

[Alby]

Also, suggest you look at www.geokids.com

A start for schools to consider:

English Schools Foundation (ESF)
Hong Kong International School
German Swiss School
Chinese International School
Canada International School
Delia School of Canada
Australian International School
American International School

Students tend to travel 45-60minutes.

Just a start for family friendly areas to consider: Repulse Bay, Discovery Bay, Clearwater Bay, Gold Coast, Happy Valley, Kowloon Tong, Ma On Shan

[Sleuth]

A lot of this will depend on where the job is located and how long of a commute everyone wants to endure.
And then there's the budget issue.

[sallykydd]

Join the AWA - American Women's Association. Even if you're not American, there are 80 women from 40 countries. Check us out www.awa.org.hk. Life here is VERY good, and many people don't want to leave when they arrive. Kids seem also to have a good time with great education. I'm a big fan. We have been here 18 months, and live in a house in the New Territories. Travel is easy from here. Hong Kong is clean, safe, and fascinating.

[ontheroad]

Don't forget the French International School!

I would say half an hour school bus is the norm, up to 45 minutes. Since the roads can be quite winding, a commute longer than 45mn can be difficult on the kids.

Start looking at school quickly because they're difficult to get into. Try to find out if your company already has a debenture in one of the schools, which will make it easier to get into. Ie: American companies- american schools, French companies-french schools, English companies-english schools.

Many expats have dogs, even those who live in buildings and don't have gardens.

The school you chose/your rental budget will determine where you live.

[Sleuth]

Dogs would be a problem where we live, since they aren't allowed. I think once you factor in your budget, desired commute times and the dogs your choices will become apparent.
Alby's living suggestions cover all of HK, so there are some good starting points in there.

[bucky1959]

Join the AWA - American Women's Association. Even if you're not American, there are 80 women from 40 countries. Check us out www.awa.org.hk. Life here is VERY good, and many people don't want to leave when they arrive. Kids seem also to have a good time with great education. I'm a big fan. We have been here 18 months, and live in a house in the New Territories. Travel is easy from here. Hong Kong is clean, safe, and fascinating.

Thanks for all the info! I would like to know what kind of are the New Territories is...We just want to live somewhere safe, clean, many expats, kids, and amenities.....Other than the New Territories are there other areas that you could recommend? All your help is greatly appreciated!

[ontheroad]

The New Territories is nice, if you want to depend on your car and pay toll everytime you drive into HK, and if your daughter goes to school on HK island, she's going to be at the bus stop at 7am. I would only recommend if your daughter goes to school in the NT. It's a great place to live, you can get a house for the price of a tiny HK appartment, but it's less populated and so maybe a bit harder to make expat friends than an heavily populated family expat area such as Pokfulam, Repulse Bay/Stanley or the Midlevels/Happy Valley areas. Also not as safe. But the plus side is you get a garden for your dogs and way more space!

Again, start looking at schools and when you have a school, see where you can afford to live within a 30mn drive from there. Rental budgets for an expat family go from about 40K a month to 200K++, so there is a big difference there too.

Also, everybody in HK will tell you their neighbourhood is the best, because the neighbourhoods are all very different from each other and all have pros and cons.

[timklip]

Gold Coast is prob. the most well known and most expat populated area in the NT, and a fairly easy commute into HK Island/Kowloon, where most of the Int. Schools are...

check it out
http://www.goldcoast.com.hk/

Also, Discovery Bay is prob. the easiest transition into HK, lots of expats and LOTS of kids, new big school, search it here, there's alot about it, or try

www.discoverybayforum.com

[dean-dzai]

Maybe Fairview Park in Yuen Long. It isn't really convenient for public transport (maybe you would prefer Yuen Long itself which is on the KCR West Rail).

Do you want a house or an apartment? Do you want land? Land is hard to come by in Hong Kong, but you get a little in Fairview Park. I stayed there a week when I first came to Hong Kong, I can't believe that was my first impression of Hong Kong, it is so not very typical.

Put your kids in the local system I dare you.