This is a random post that I decided to put in when I remembered some of the little things when we came to Hong Kong. Having been in the region for a long time, settling down in HK wasnt that big a deal. It helps that it is a pretty organized place, people generally don’t cheat and English is fairly prevalent in all walks of life barring some interior places.
Housing : Finding an house wasn’t much of a problem as we had shortlisted a few places based on where our friends stayed. Expatriates from different countries have their own preferred clusters. If you are like us – Indians, middle management, working professionals; maybe, with kids, then some of our options may be useful in your consideration. There are three major areas in HK
- Hong Kong Island : Midlevels – crowded and expensive, Taikoo – moderately crowded, Happy Valley – residential are. There are the Stanley and Repulse Bay area which are not generally preferred by Indians.
- Kowloon : Areas around Jordan, Olympic, Laguna Verde. There are some who have chosen to be on the far-side of Kowloon but if you are a newcomer, I highly recommend you to stay closer to the MTR and buus lines. Later over years, you can move based on your developed taste
- Lantau Island : One of the areas in Lantau Island is Tung Chung. It was once supposed to be a cheaper and less favoured location and is neither of it now. It boasts of a lot of space, newer housing estates and most of all MTR connectivity. There is a vibrant expat community and sizable Indian population. The places are relatively affordable and well maintained. There is another popular place in Lantau – Discovery Bay. Beautiful beach side living especially patronized by the westerners. I have seen a few Indians around. The only challenge is the connectivity.
Food : Food has been the highlight of our stay in HK. HK is fairly cosmopolitan and that includes food also. If you dig Chinese food, go nowhere else. We were pleasantly surprised with the amoun of vegetarian options in HK. Many chinese restaurants have a clear veg menus. If your tongue is rigidly stuck to the Indian food, there are fairly good number of options. Most of the restaurants are Mughalai cuisine. I will list them separately in another blog
Commuting : Do ensure that public transport is conveniently available near your place of living and the office. MTR , feeder mini buses and public buses are the main modes of transport in HK. Private vehicles are slightly difficult to maintain because of the parking costs. Buy an Octopus prepaid card. It is a convenient stored value card which in some estates doubles up as access card.
Indian stores : There are a few options for Indian stores in the Tsim Sha Tsui area in Chung King and Mirador mansions. The vegetables you are looking for are generally avaiable in the supermarket or wet markets in your locality except for some exotic items like dhania, pudina etc.
Phone connection: There are the obvious options like – Hutch (3), CSL and PCCW. The choice of these connections would possibly depend on your company policy as you might get bulk/ corporate discounts on the connection. There are few who also go for some MVNO connections which give discounted call rates to India. You may check for these options in TST especially Chung King mansion.
Internet connection: Best to go for NoWTV and PCCW broadband connection. They generally come bundled. NowTV is a IP based service provider. There are a limited desi channel options.It is encouraging to see them adding more Indian channels especially the Hindi ones. Call 1000 on your mobile and the IVR takes over smoothly and directs you till the end on getting the subscription.
