Hi Armahir, a warm welcome to your soon to be arrival!
I would suggest to stay at a serviced apartment for the first couple of weeks and travel to the places you have in mind to experience how it is in person.
Personally this is my view on the places you have mentioned:
Discovery Bay
- You will have to strongly rely on the ferry and don't forget to factor in the costs that are involved in every ferry ride. I believe it is HK$40 for a single ride and residents can get a small discount.
- Its base consists of a large expat community, not much local life there as it is very westernized. You mentioned that you would like to experience a different culture and local life, I reckon that is not the place to be.
- You will get a larger sized apartment, you will be surrounded by nice greenery and you will be close to a beach.
- Also there is basically one supermarket where you can buy your groceries.
Aberdeen
- Very local. Not much of an expat community there and communicating with the locals might be a challenge.
- It is easy to travel from there to Lamma Island (ferry) and to Happy Valley, Wan Chai, Causeway Bay (bus).
- The fishermen canteen at the fishing market used to be open for public to enjoy their fresh seafood, but has recently been shut down. The canteen that is.
- A bit dull as there seems not to be much of nightlife and bars where you might want to hang out occasionally for a drink.
Kennedy Town
- A really nice mix of local and expats. The local crowd seems to be consisting of local residents who have been living here for some time and the western crowd are young professionals and young families.
- Western and local shops and restaurants all mingled together into a melting pot of cultures.
- Very convenient public transport system, many busses and minibusses to all directions and the MTR is scheduled to be operating on December 28, which will make it all more convenient to travel to Central and beyond
- Really good starting point for a regular weekend hike to the Peak.
If you would like to know more, feel free to PM me
Good luck!