Batgung

As Mr T describes, life in a high-rise can be a shock for us small-town folk, and the side-effects take a bit of getting used to. All at once you live much closer to a bunch of families than you ever have before, but you have no idea who they are. The previous flat we lived in had an especially lively assortment of characters in the neighborhood.

Beans ! Every morning at around 8am we'd hear a rattling noise on the aircon and window panes. By chance the source of the rattling bounced in through the window one morning -- an uncooked red bean. So every morning, someone on a higher floor would reach out of their bedroom window and set free a handful of red beans. If you have any idea what significance this has, please share -- is there a local god that is particularly fond of red bean offerings? Read more »

There's something unnatural about living on the 46th floor of a building. This is, however, the location of the Tall's current home.

In a previous article, I've described how precious space is in most Hong Kong people's flats. Here I'd like to discuss of few more consequences of high-rise living. Read more »

Mr and Mrs Tall are currently immersed in planning the decoration of their new flat. Design magazines are piled high at the old Tall homestead, and several expeditions to furniture and materials shops have already been made.

It’s fun, of course, but as always with life in Hong Kong, there’s a special challenge to it. You could say that when decorating any house or flat, you’ve got to reach a balance amongst a number often-competing elements: style, function, and price are all important, of course. But in Hong Kong, a fourth element almost always dominates the mix: space.

Almost everybody in Hong Kong could use more space at home. Flats here (very nearly no one lives in actual detached houses) are small. For expatriates, this almost always means adjusting to living somewhere that’s quite a bit cozier than you’re used to. The only exceptions are those granted very generous ‘expat packages’ providing ‘home country-style’ housing, which generally means the company pays for a townhouse or a very large flat. These days, though, the declining economy in Hong Kong means fewer and fewer expats are granted such perks. Read more »

If you want to be a player in the Hong Kong property market, you'd best read what follows carefully, because it's a crazy game.

Here's the first problem: property in Hong Kong is grossly expensive.

That's fine, you say -- once you can afford some, it'll appreciate in value, and you'll have a nice safe fat investment on your lucre-dripping hands.

Well, maybe in normal places, but not here.

First off, we've had a little property market crash/recession problem. This too shall pass -- we hope -- but the days of buying a flat for HKD500,000 and selling it ten years later for 5 million are gone, and simply won't be back. Read more »