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Living in Hong Kong

The island that yossarian lives on is absolutely lovely - cheung chau. i'd recommend that if you want to get away from the crowds a bit.

also, this is a good book to get if you fancy walking around a bit. about 70% of HK is actually green so there's some awesome hikes to be done.

http://books.google.com/books/about/Above_The_City.html?id=jih1-2wZ9Q0C

dont really know kowloon that well, but the jade market in mong kok over there is pretty cool.

if you fancy a posh drink with an astonishing view, then try a bar called Sevva (on the island). massive rooftop and lovely cocktails.

theres a lot to see and do here, ill give it that.
 
Thanks a lot.

You seem a bit pissed off with the place. Is that because of the shitty situation at work and long hours?
 
Hmm... yes, mainly the long hours and the fact that I regularly get ambushed by my new boss. It's pretty stressful. My advice would be for you and your partner to really lock down the hours you're expected to do before making the move. All contracts say 9-5.30 but what they mean is 9am-8pm with conference calls from home as well (i have one with the US at 3am tonight).

Also the fact that all my mates are in London - ive made a few friendships here but its not quite the same. I would've gone mental if I hadn't got a good other half and the lovely little dog we got from the rescue centre here.

It's definitely been an experience and I don't regret giving it a shot. But I think we will give up by the time the UK summer kicks in. There's more to life than work, something which seriously does not compute with the locals.
 
Have totally given up now. I'm resigned (so to speak) to giving up on the place. I really can't see any advantage with living here over living in London. Even the low tax-rate doesnt make it worth it imo.

We're making plans to move back to London in June. Have been advised by friends not to resign until after my year's contract is up though as they can make me repay my relocation costs. So i have to stick it out till then.

I got really really unlucky though as my Aussie boss was sacked and replaced by a local. I'm sure your experience will be better. There are other expats in my company who absolutely love the place, but yes - that's down to the fact they work in ex-pat managed teams. At my wit's end. Gave it a shot though.
 
Thanks :). Good luck to you too.

My wife is there since Saturday and I'm following out on Wednesday. I'm really looking forward to it.

Unless it's somewhere that I really fucking hate, somewhere like Kharkiv in the Ukraine for example :D, then we'll indicate we'd be up for the move. After that it all depends on the package.
 
Well I'll be checking back to see how you get on.

To be honest I am wondering if it's time for a change in my life so if I get this summer job, I will see how I like life over there and may think about a more permanent move. In Hong Kong, I can make in a week what I earn in a month here in Turkey.
 
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Hah I'm not the latest newbie to hk then!

Arrived Sunday, first day at work today which was pretty full on. But even though to really early to say, there's something about the place that pulls you in! I'm excited to see where it all takes me

I'm not excited about the fact I have an early start tomorrow but jet lag means I'm still wide awake at 3.11am
 
You started work on the coldest day i've yet to see here. 10 degrees! When I got here in May my glasses would fog up every time i went outside due to the humidity.

Anyway.. Update on our situation. We spent CNY out on one of the islands and really saw another side of HK. We've decided to give it another push, however move out to Lamma or Lantau. Rents are more than half what we're paying and you can actually move without bumping into someone every few mins. I think its quite a common progression for the expat to make, give the bladerunner chaos thing a go for a year or so then downsize to the islands (or upsize, apartments are twice as big there).

Glad you're enjoyin it so far :)
 
miss direct said:
Well I'll be checking back to see how you get on.

To be honest I am wondering if it's time for a change in my life so if I get this summer job, I will see how I like life over there and may think about a more permanent move. In Hong Kong, I can make in a week what I earn in a month here in Turkey.
Click to expand...

How will it work with your visa? They're not that easy to get.
 
gabi said:
You started work on the coldest day i've yet to see here. 10 degrees! When I got here in May my glasses would fog up every time i went outside due to the humidity.

Anyway.. Update on our situation. We spent CNY out on one of the islands and really saw another side of HK. We've decided to give it another push, however move out to Lamma or Lantau. Rents are more than half what we're paying and you can actually move without bumping into someone every few mins. I think its quite a common progression for the expat to make, give the bladerunner chaos thing a go for a year or so then downsize to the islands (or upsize, apartments are twice as big there).

Glad you're enjoyin it so far :)
Click to expand...
Hope this move improves things for you gabi. :)
 
Thanks man. I'm sure it will. Might as well experience island living now we've come all this way. Commuting by boat will be interesting too. And the dog can actually be off the leash too. She loved it there. There's someone poisoning dogs in our area so its impossible to let her off.
 
Oh ok - it takes about 6 weeks tho if there are no 'issues'. I had 'issues' so mine was a hassle but luckily my firm employed a lawyer to sort it.

I imagine the British Council will have no probs tho.
 
Yeah I mean the application process is now but the job isn't till August, so should be all right. Flights and rent are very high, but the salary makes up for it. We could have a Hong Kong u75 meet up :)
 
gabi said:
You started work on the coldest day i've yet to see here. 10 degrees! When I got here in May my glasses would fog up every time i went outside due to the humidity.

Anyway.. Update on our situation. We spent CNY out on one of the islands and really saw another side of HK. We've decided to give it another push, however move out to Lamma or Lantau. Rents are more than half what we're paying and you can actually move without bumping into someone every few mins. I think its quite a common progression for the expat to make, give the bladerunner chaos thing a go for a year or so then downsize to the islands (or upsize, apartments are twice as big there).

Glad you're enjoyin it so far :)
Click to expand...

Good news all round!

A friend of mine spent some time on the islands and loved it. I think working with locals (as I do) they understand why I may want to live in wan chai but are giving me lots of info about other places, especially Eastern HK Island. I'd quite like the islands but I think it would suit a couple more than me as a single bloke. My friend lives at DB on Lantau but it sounds a bit stepford wives to me :hmm: that said you can get a place with ... a... garden :eek::eek::eek:

I actually quite liked the weather today! nice a chilly, as it should be. I'm annoyed it's going to warm up again next week. The people in my office were acting like they was faced with the artic at lunchtime :facepalm:

Will drop you a PM about meeting for a beer, perhaps weekend after next? (and before you become an outlying island dweller!)
 
Gotta say Gabi, it doesn't seem to be your living arrangements that cause you so much stress that you suffer debilitating physical symptoms, it's your job. A nicer house is nice, but a longer commute to the same horrible working conditions isn't going to make things any better IMO. Good luck with it all, but please be careful with your health.
 
That's the spirit ;)

My health has got better since my last episode. Touch wood. I'm feeling a bit better about things, and leaving work at 6.30 every night now. I've accepted I work in a Cantonese speaking team and while it's not ideal I just go into my own world now. I think I can beat this, but keeping an eye on LinkedIn anyway.
 
Well we got back last night and we had a really great time. A few bits of info if anybody gives a fuck what I think:

We spent most of our time just walking around and exploring. It's exciting and fun just doing that, though it's so incredibly busy in some areas that if you had to live with it, it wouldn't be fun and exciting at all. Favorite areas were the restaurants around the Mission area of Kowloon and around the escalator in mid levels.

No matter how much people tell you, it's much smaller and much greener than you are ready for. It's a city of real contrasts. You can go from packed manic polluted Central to quiet serene beautiful Stanley in a 30 minute public bus journey that costs about 70p.

Public transport is excellent and so incredibly cheap you don't even need to budget for it. Taxis are also very cheap compared to what we are used to in Europe.

The best part of the trip though for me was the Cantonese food, or as they call it in Hong Kong - food. It's simply stunning, subtle and delicious and varied. Because the local food is so good other food has to be too so we also had brilliant Korean and Vietnamese food. It doesn't need to be expensive though it can be eye watering: I paid both the most I've ever paid for a dinner but also the least.

Lastly the city is fucking spotless. That was cool and impressive until I realised its because lots of old people have to work to make ends meet. Many of these jobs are sweeping the streets and it's heartbreaking to see these tiny little bent over proud people having to do this.

It's another contrast to the place and I guess that's a debate about Hong Kong gabi and Yossarian are more qualified to have than me. A city awash with money where its old people have to sweep the streets. Maids being paid about £350 a month living in a house waiting on people who can be making £35,000 a month.

But as a tourist a great place. We have to discuss now if we want to go out there for a few years and be residents. Interesting times :)
 
Hey man, yeh.. Those old folk toiling away do my head in too. Our cleaner in my workplace must be 80 years plus. I don't know what the pension system is like here, but she should be sitting with her feet up.

One of the other good things about HK is the fact there is virtually zero crime. You'd struggle to have your bag lifted in a pub.

I'm enjoying it more as time goes on. Worth giving it a go I reckon.
 
According to my mate who has been out there a while , before SARS in the 90s (?) it was a pretty dirty city but then they decided to clean it up for public health reasons. No idea if that is true or urban myth.

It is remarkably clean.
 
Don't think that there is a government pension as such. I've heard of something called 生果金 which sort of translates to fruit gold ie money to buy fruit which I think is about £100 a month or less. So it's a nominal amount. HK and China don't really provide much of a welfare system.
 
another recently arrived urb, devit, sent me this... :D

https://ihatehongkong2.wordpress.com/

i dont hate hong kong, but i can certainly recognise a lot of the characters this blogger is talking about. i know theres lycra clad middle aged blokes riding from clapham to their desk jobs in the city in london, but hong kongers take it to a new level. they'll wear lycra to walk to the shops up a slight hill.

and the fucking decision making... it can take weeks to make a decision at work. ive actually started laughing openly at them, but they're too thick to even realise what im laughing at. they do things slooooooowly here. you can pay your bills on ATMs so a handy hint for anyone moving here - dont get in the queue behind ANYONE holding pieces of paper, you'll be there all day while they grapple with the marvels of 'buttons'.
 
its not superiority. just observations of someone who has clearly been here far too long. a lot of expats here talk about similar irritations.

i wouldnt write a blog about it but anyone who has lived and worked here would surely have encountered very similar issues.

ive been here nearly a year. i genuinely am still quite clueless as to whether my colleagues are fucking rude to gwailohs in general and are completely useless or thats just the way they treat everybody. either way its immensely frustrating. i dont know.
 
There's a difference between encountering things which you find difficult and strange, and writing a blog which drips with contempt. Lots of expats do talk like that, you're right. A lot of expats on the mainland like to repeat the refrain 'Only in China!'. I avoid them.

It just sounds like 'It's not fair! I don't like it! They're doing it wrong!'. :D
 
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