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Weighing up a move to HK

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  1. #31

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    Gold Coast Marina
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    Happy to describe the Gold Coast - I love it here. (DeletedUser hates it, just to put whatever he says later in context).

    In terms of distance - assuming your hubby will be working in Central - there are a number of bus options and the FASTEST bus at the BEST time of day is 30 minutes approx (my record is 28 mins - that excludes walk to/from the bus stop). More normal is 40-45 mins (again, excluding walking) and on a bad day it can be an hour.

    If you take a different bus (the kind Bryant would have access to, not living in the "gold coast proper") then the fastest you are looking at is 45 mins and that's off peak; slowest could be as much as 1.5 hours on a very bad day (snarl up on the freeway etc).

    There is no train here but there are buses and the freeway is about 2km/5 mins drive from the Gold Coast and goes all the way to Central (circa 30km at a guess).

    It's reasonably open for HK (remember, everything is relative!). The marina uses the buses from the Gold Coast Residences, others cannot. We have our own club and a separate country club with fabulous facilities - huge swimming pool, squash courts, tennis courts, gym, restaurants, TV and kids facilities. However many of the developments also have these. Unfortunately though most "developments" mean high rise. If you live in a Village house you get no club facilities - but you can join a club (pretty darn expensive though).

    Our shopping centre is small but has most things you need on a day-to-day basis. Two supermarkets, chemist, 7-11, MacDonalds, a pseudo-English "tea shop", a bunch of other restaurants ranging from a noodle store to a high-end French Bistro (with prices to match); no banks but a couple of ATM's; no Post Office but a post box and 7-11 sells stamps. Crossroads (a charity) has a more "unusual" coffeeshop across the road where the more bohemian types hang out.

    Behind the GOld COast are mountains and a reseviour with excellent hiking and mountain biking. Next to the GC is a nice beach (agree with Bryant on the beach front!) which also has a couple of large public BBQ areas (so you can still have your friends around for a beach-front BBQ!).

    That's about it really. I love my boat, I love living in HK. At weekends and in the evening, the boat is INCREDIBLY peaceful - very quiet and no neighbour noise. That's rare in HK. I don't know about the other places.

    One other comment. You are in residential letting to people who are expats? Talk about a skill that is in demand in HK! I don't think you'd have much trouble getting a job here. Just go to some of the high-end letting agencies who deal mainly with expats. Unfortunately, that means you'd need to get very familiar with all the "high end" letting options - of which the Gold Coast (with the exception of the Beach Houses, which are lovely and out of your budget) is not. Which probably means living on HK island and socializing with that kind of folks as part of your networking for your job. And getting in with the "wong" crowd per Mat's earlier comment. But I wouldn't rule out a job not in Central, but probably much harder to get.

    I hope this helps. Good luck.


  2. #32

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Gold Coast Marina
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    17,934

    In terms of access to the rest of HK - just to give you an accurate picture (from someone who has lived here for 5 years and hikes every weekend in a different spot in HK) you can get almost anywhere from GC with two buses (that is, one change). You may need one more bus to get to the starting point of a hike (typically a remote outlying village).

    You can get a direct (no change) bus to:
    Central and western HK Island through to Causeway Bay;
    Kowloon (most places except eastern Kowloon);
    Tuen Mun/Yuen Long and surrounding areas;
    Airport
    Tsing Yi

    With one change you can get everywhere except the Sai Kung country park (a great hiking destination and somewhere you should look at for living too) and south Lantau (also a great spot for someone who wants low rise living; also great for hiking).

    Obviously you are going to meet plenty of very rich expats who will suggest you "need" to live on HK Island to be happy; "need" a car to be happy (about 5% of HK'ers have to a car, to put that in context!); "need" to be close to the MTR because they have no idea how good the bus system is.

    The best suggestion really is to come out and have a look. What do you have to lose? At worst you have an interesting holiday. At best you get to see what HK has to offer and what the drawbacks will be.

    Last edited by MovingIn07; 10-08-2012 at 09:03 AM.

  3. #33

    Join Date
    Feb 2010
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    7,441

    Haha, the Brit won't let MO7 forget about that one!


  4. #34

    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Posts
    769
    Quote Originally Posted by pepe77:
    Haha, I think we all agree....yet that doesn´t stop us from keeping the thread alive with all sorts of replies...
    HAHA! I was just thinking this exact thing when I got to your post. Classic, classic geoexpat behavior. We constantly see posters pop on here, ask a question or two, and then everyone has at it, often times never hearing back from the OP. It sure does make for some entertaining reading.

  5. #35

    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    HK
    Posts
    14,624

    Can shri keep the last 2 posts of DeletedUser and Moving and uses them for each Thread on "where to live".

    That way we get their love affair out of the way straight from the beginning and can move on to the rela suggestions.?

    Claire ex-ax likes this.

  6. #36

    Honestly, my opinion is that if you are in your *late* 30s (the lady) and you very much want a baby, I would prioritize which is most important to you. Moving to a new place can be tiring, combined with the wait in feeling settled and 'ready', that could add on another year minimum.
    Probably an unpopular / un-PC view but I think it is a consideration, having a baby in HK in your first couple of years without enjoying it first as carefree adults is a shame too, I know having a child doesn't stop you from anything etc etc.
    I just think if you aren't 100% on board as it is, a tad worried financially, with no support network it is going to be rough moving here but obviously depends on personality too!

    Last edited by SiuMaiTaiTai; 10-08-2012 at 10:44 AM.
    TheBrit, pepe77 and MovingIn07 like this.

  7. #37

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Sham Tseng, N.T
    Posts
    599
    Quote Originally Posted by SiuMaiTaiTai:
    Honestly, my opinion is that if you are in your *late* 30s (the lady) and you very much want a baby, I would prioritize which is most important to you. Moving to a new place can be tiring, combined with the wait in feeling settled and 'ready', that could add on another year minimum (we all know how quickly a year goes by!).
    Completely agree....
    I also get a feeling, from the OP´s last post, that she is very happy about her current life style and that the Hong Kong adventure might not be the ideal solution for her in her current situation and under the current terms for husbands possible employment in HK
    But....I could get that all wrong and I will stick by the motto that it is better to do something that you might regret that to do nothing at all.
    Mat and MovingIn07 like this.

  8. #38

    Pepe I agree, the Op's lifestyle sounds great as it is, and yes they might regret not moving here but if they have a kid in Kent and play happy families, I doubt they will even think of HK ! Obviously REALLY depends on how you feel about children, how much you want them. And opportunities of moving abroad may come up later in life (maybe somewhere more family friendly) but chances to have a kid dwindle as you age (NO offense to the OP, it is just something I would be worrying about).


  9. #39

    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Posts
    7,441

    Yes, agree, after the last post by the OP I wouldn't recommend a HK move. Sounds like she is enjoying what she is doing and it's best to keep it that way.


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