Moving to Hong Kong? One thing you need to get used to!!!

doctortt · 06-09-2008, 06:52 AM

If you read my recent posts, I was in Hong Kong last week. I was there to plan on my move to HK from NYC and to take care of some personal issues. One thing that you really need to get used to is the WEATHER! It's hot like 75 to 85F; that's pretty much the same as NYC in summer. What really gets you is the humidity. HK is so humid; my sweat was actually dripping on my face. I'm glad that I bought a pack of Tempo tissue. Otherwise, I would looked like as if I came out of the shower. I now understand why people don't play sports outdoor except soccer and swimming. I wasn't used to the weather; my throat was sore and nose was very dry. The cars, trucks and buses added more heat!

carang · 06-09-2008, 07:46 AM

and just think.... this weather lasts from about May-October, perhaps longer!!!!

bring on "winter"!!!!!!!!!!!

Alby · 06-09-2008, 08:20 AM

and no need to go sit in the sauna or steam room. An added bonus of the humidity is it cleans out your pores but you may need to adjust your daily cleansing routine or even develop one if you don't have it.

Humidity survival pack is a small cloth towel like a face cloth - this way you don't have small bits of tissue paper all over your face. Lip balm and hand lotion, water or juice.

Loads of people play sports outdoors from Sep - May like football(soccer), cricket, field hockey, baseball, softball and rugby ... and HIKING which is fabulous in HK considering it's city landscape.

gilleshk · 06-09-2008, 08:57 AM

Indeed the humidity is a killer here. You better make sure you have a dehumidifier in your home unless you want mold growing on your stuff.

I don't think I've ever sweated as much as I have here. When I go for a run, I come back and my shoes are squishy as if I had swam with them. But you get used to it, I can't say it bothers me all that much anymore. I do all kinds of sports all year round here...

MovingIn07 · 06-09-2008, 09:30 AM

I tend to agree. I've only been here a year but the humidity only bothered me for about 2 months this year. And it did not stop us hiking (including climbing all the highest peaks here) over the summer. I find that you get soaked in about 2 minutes and after that you just get used to it! But yes, have to carry a (couple of) small towels for hiking. The other trick for "about town" stuff is just walk slower. I learned this one in KL - which is MUCH worse than HK AND it's all year, expats walk too fast which is why we sweat more than locals!

timklip · 06-09-2008, 09:55 AM

another thing that took a while to get used to is the night heat...yeah in N.A. it gets up to mid 30's in summer, but at night it usually drops to low 20's or lower...here its 30+ highs and just a few deg lower at night...i miss the open windows with a cool breeze

zen_ni · 07-09-2008, 12:28 PM

yo, welcome to such a beautiful city... humidity is a good start! Then u will experience bad air pollution, rude people, nasty and bumpy road construction, traffic congestion all day long unless u keep hiding in MTR ...

HK weather sucks in overall, hope u can get used to one day !

MovingIn07 · 07-09-2008, 10:03 PM

On the other hand you will also enjoy great public transport, excellent hiking easily accessible from home, a great range of restaurants and shops, a wide variety of different nationalities of people to make friends with.... not saying that the negatives do not exist but it was rather a one-sided post!

thursday · 09-09-2008, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by doctortt:

If you read my recent posts, I was in Hong Kong last week. I was there to plan on my move to HK from NYC and to take care of some personal issues. One thing that you really need to get used to is the WEATHER! It's hot like 75 to 85F; that's pretty much the same as NYC in summer. What really gets you is the humidity. HK is so humid; my sweat was actually dripping on my face. I'm glad that I bought a pack of Tempo tissue. Otherwise, I would looked like as if I came out of the shower. I now understand why people don't play sports outdoor except soccer and swimming. I wasn't used to the weather; my throat was sore and nose was very dry. The cars, trucks and buses added more heat!

if you can't stand the heat and humidity, think somewhere else dude. Heat stroke kills people here.

What's 75 to 85F? What is it in real world normal scale?

deleteduser · 09-09-2008, 03:45 PM

The hot weather is one thing, but it's gone before you know it. It is only really hot between mid-June to mid-September (sometimes October).

The other things you may need to adjust to are; inconsiderate public (I don't call them 'rude' since they aren't usually purposefully rude, just inconsiderate), dirty habits from mainlanders and some locals (picking nose, flicking boogers on the train, clipping nails, popping pimples in public, etc), cold weather in the winter - as hot as it gets in the summer, it's just as bad in the winter. Concrete walls and no insulation makes it very expensive to stay warm too.

umm that's about all I can think of after 2.5 years here... I pretty much love it here besides that.