American family considering Hong Kong

[Titus]

In that case, perhaps the triads were right to interfere to prevent yet another cinematic atrocity from gracing our screens. But alas, the triads are no match against the power of Hollywood.

[Titus]

well, depends which part, nanshan/shekhou is nicely developed and less people, has a small expat community as well, travelling to hk is not bad if you going to yuen long/tin shui wai commuting via that bridge, immigration is not too bad or busy, but to kowloon is doable, but hk island is a bit long

on the other side, Yantian District is sleep and quite scenic, via bus ( 3 minute journey) across the border is painless and very few people cross this border, then bus to 78k to fanling on hk side is a bit crowded and slow

note, after 9-10pm, these borders crossing are closed and it's a bloody nightmare to go through the busy crossing then commute to these places ( Yantian District is worse, nanshan//shekou is ok-ish but a bit long)

Yea I use Shenzhen Bay bridge for getting to our factory and it's generally much quieter than the Lok Ma Chau and Lowu crossings. But commute once you're on Shenzhen side can be long; if we beat rush hour it can take as little as 20mins and on bad days it can turn into 1 hour.

On that note the rate they are adding new stations to the Shenzhen metro is crazy; there are now some suppliers I can visit just by taking the metro from Lowu and walk and never have to take a cab

[wacpol]

Let me just clarify a couple of points. It's not that we don't want to learn the language. It's mainly my wife, and I think she's mainly just worried she won't be able to do it, so she's reluctant to try. If you recall, one of my biggest reasons for wanting to relocate to HK is so the kids would learn Chinese, which I think is going to be a really big deal as they get older. Someone mentioned Spanish; no offense to any Spanish speakers, but I see a lot less serious commercial utility in that, even living in the US, than Canto and/or Mandarin.

It's also not that we want to live in an expat enclave long-term, I just thought it might lessen the cultural shock if we lived in a place with a lot of other Westerners and that had some familiar Western brands and shops. There's not much point in trying to give my kids the cultural experience of a place like HK if we just cloister up with the Americans, so it's not a long-term plan.

Regarding schools, I may be interested in just seeing if there's an option to homeschool. I read an article on that which says that while the HK government doesn't wish to encourage it by creating an official process for registering for homeschooling, they usually don't have a problem with expats doing it. I don't want my kids to have 2+ hours of homework every day and I don't want them to go to an English-speaking school with only Western expat peers and minimal exposure to Cantonese.

I do understand now that it's going to take 3-4x more money to live in HK than we spend in the US. To be fair, I think this is more just about population density than anything else, because HK looks about the same cost of living as New York City, which is just to say there are equally expensive areas in the US. I will consider the situation and decide whether it's worth the expense. I'm already well-paid in the US and it seems like it'd be difficult to get a job that pays more in HK, especially with the added constraint that visa sponsorship would probably be necessary. Most job listings seem to require pre-existing fluency in both English and Cantonese, and many also list Mandarin.

I'm somewhat open to considering Shenzhen but I'm worried about it being China China. I'm a lot less comfortable with that. I haven't done much research into that option, tbh.

[Claire ex-ax]

Let me just clarify a couple of points. It's not that we don't want to learn the language. It's mainly my wife, and I think she's mainly just worried she won't be able to do it, so she's reluctant to try. If you recall, one of my biggest reasons for wanting to relocate to HK is so the kids would learn Chinese, which I think is going to be a really big deal as they get older. Someone mentioned Spanish; no offense to any Spanish speakers, but I see a lot less serious commercial utility in that, even living in the US, than Canto and/or Mandarin.

It's also not that we want to live in an expat enclave long-term, I just thought it might lessen the cultural shock if we lived in a place with a lot of other Westerners and that had some familiar Western brands and shops. There's not much point in trying to give my kids the cultural experience of a place like HK if we just cloister up with the Americans, so it's not a long-term plan.

Regarding schools, I may be interested in just seeing if there's an option to homeschool. I read an article on that which says that while the HK government doesn't wish to encourage it by creating an official process for registering for homeschooling, they usually don't have a problem with expats doing it. I don't want my kids to have 2+ hours of homework every day and I don't want them to go to an English-speaking school with only Western expat peers and minimal exposure to Cantonese.

I do understand now that it's going to take 3-4x more money to live in HK than we spend in the US. To be fair, I think this is more just about population density than anything else, because HK looks about the same cost of living as New York City, which is just to say there are equally expensive areas in the US. I will consider the situation and decide whether it's worth the expense. I'm already well-paid in the US and it seems like it'd be difficult to get a job that pays more in HK, especially with the added constraint that visa sponsorship would probably be necessary. Most job listings seem to require pre-existing fluency in both English and Cantonese, and many also list Mandarin.

I'm somewhat open to considering Shenzhen but I'm worried about it being China China. I'm a lot less comfortable with that. I haven't done much research into that option, tbh.

I would be concerned about your wife feeling isolated. There are groups such as the American Women's Association, but if she's homeschooling... if she's not living the 'expat life' (seen that expectation break up marriages)... if she's not able to build a support system here because of distance...

[huja]

well, depends which part, nanshan/shekhou is nicely developed and less people, has a small expat community as well, travelling to hk is not bad if you going to yuen long/tin shui wai commuting via that bridge, immigration is not too bad or busy, but to kowloon is doable, but hk island is a bit long

on the other side, Yantian District is sleep and quite scenic, via bus ( 3 minute journey) across the border is painless and very few people cross this border, then bus to 78k to fanling on hk side is a bit crowded and slow

note, after 9-10pm, these borders crossing are closed and it's a bloody nightmare to go through the busy crossing then commute to these places ( Yantian District is worse, nanshan//shekou is ok-ish but a bit long)

Lived in Shekou, up the hill from Sea World. About as good as it's going to get and still not something I'd advise anyone doing.

[Mamba]

@wacpol there is an active homeschooling community here, before anyone jumps in and says it's illegal, it's not. Most expat families who HS are scattered around HK and the NT but there's a big concentration in DB, Sai Kung and Tuen Mun, your wife wouldn't be on her own.

[huja]

Let me just clarify a couple of points. It's not that we don't want to learn the language. It's mainly my wife, and I think she's mainly just worried she won't be able to do it, so she's reluctant to try. If you recall, one of my biggest reasons for wanting to relocate to HK is so the kids would learn Chinese, which I think is going to be a really big deal as they get older. Someone mentioned Spanish; no offense to any Spanish speakers, but I see a lot less serious commercial utility in that, even living in the US, than Canto and/or Mandarin.

It's also not that we want to live in an expat enclave long-term, I just thought it might lessen the cultural shock if we lived in a place with a lot of other Westerners and that had some familiar Western brands and shops. There's not much point in trying to give my kids the cultural experience of a place like HK if we just cloister up with the Americans, so it's not a long-term plan.

Regarding schools, I may be interested in just seeing if there's an option to homeschool. I read an article on that which says that while the HK government doesn't wish to encourage it by creating an official process for registering for homeschooling, they usually don't have a problem with expats doing it. I don't want my kids to have 2+ hours of homework every day and I don't want them to go to an English-speaking school with only Western expat peers and minimal exposure to Cantonese.

I do understand now that it's going to take 3-4x more money to live in HK than we spend in the US. To be fair, I think this is more just about population density than anything else, because HK looks about the same cost of living as New York City, which is just to say there are equally expensive areas in the US. I will consider the situation and decide whether it's worth the expense. I'm already well-paid in the US and it seems like it'd be difficult to get a job that pays more in HK, especially with the added constraint that visa sponsorship would probably be necessary. Most job listings seem to require pre-existing fluency in both English and Cantonese, and many also list Mandarin.

I'm somewhat open to considering Shenzhen but I'm worried about it being China China. I'm a lot less comfortable with that. I haven't done much research into that option, tbh.

No offense, but you don't seem to know what you want yet . . .

[shannonC]

Theres plenty of fat germans, brits, aussies in HK. Move to Discovery Bay. Plus i guarantee u will lose a ton living in Hong Kong.

[mrgoodkat]

If you recall, one of my biggest reasons for wanting to relocate to HK is so the kids would learn Chinese, which I think is going to be a really big deal as they get older.

Almost nobody in HK speaks the kind of Chinese that might be a *big deal* for anyone. You might try it across the border.

[imparanoic]

Yea I use Shenzhen Bay bridge for getting to our factory and it's generally much quieter than the Lok Ma Chau and Lowu crossings. But commute once you're on Shenzhen side can be long; if we beat rush hour it can take as little as 20mins and on bad days it can turn into 1 hour.

On that note the rate they are adding new stations to the Shenzhen metro is crazy; there are now some suppliers I can visit just by taking the metro from Lowu and walk and never have to take a cab

if you think Shenzhen Bay bridge/shekou is quiet, then come to sha tau kok crossing, even more quiet, foreign passport queue is non existent , but don't expect the mainland border control understand your english cos very very few westerners use this border crossing

I have been all 5 of hk border cross, lowu is a dump and worse for being gritty, dirty, crime ridden and not so nice place to go ( aka a bit of a $hit h0le)