Batgung

Hello,

You write:h

"*husband will be working in kawloon, kids have to go to french school in happy valley, but flats in HV is too expensive. flat allowance not more then 20k,

*we prefer hang around with locals that do not hate foreiners,

*with 24 hours local coffee shops and food around,

* quiet but safe hiking life in new territory or outlaying island.

*company might provide a car but hate to drive in hk.

* unfortunately my husband is at 24 hrs on call basis, fast accessibility to kowloon is important,

* prefer to buy food from local market, but worry most of the food r imported from china which is bad reputated causing cancer, read your comparisons of cost of food, is it silly pay high price for the so called organic food that might not organic? how do we know? sorry , but it really worries me since i hav 2 kids".

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Well, there's no easy answer.  Better question to ask - who should have the longer commute, kids or husband?

If you think, "husband" then you need to find a flat near Happy Valley area. Have you looked at "Go Home Com?" http://www.gohome.com.hk/english/

I typed in a rent range of 15-25K and location Happy valley and there are some flats between 600 sq. feet and 1000 sq feet for that type of rent.

If you want quiet hiking & peaceful - then you'll have to endure a horribly long commute on the weekdays for both husband and kids PLUS - no 24-hour shops and coffee shops.

Quarry Bay might be a good alternative (Taikoo Shing, has OK shopping & there are some nice parks for young children to play in). ~ 800 sq ft. flats in Taikoo Shing & Kornhill Plaza are definitely in your price range. In a location like Tin Hau or North Point, you'll get more space for less $.

If you think "kids will commute" - then there are places in Tai Wai & Shatin that may meet your requirements for decent transporartion for your husband and kids and are also fairly quiet.

Personally, I would prefer to have the kids have a shorter commute.  Will your husband's office pay for taxis instead of a car? Often you can come to an arrangement w/ a taxi driver to regularly take your husband to work each day.

re: food & 2 kids

I have 2 kids too. Born and raised in HK and eat local food and drink local water. It's a bad idea to consider moving to a place where you are afraid to eat the local food and afraid of the water. Use common sense and live like a local (wash vegetables thoroughly; wash and peel fruit; filter and boil drinking water). I don't think that the fresh food in the wet markets is that much more dangerous than fresh food in markets in other parts of the world.

re: "locals who do not hate foreigners"

- I have never met a local HK person who hated foreigners on principle. I think what would more likely be a problem is not being able to share a common language. Most of my neighbors speak *some* English, just like I speak *some* Cantonese. So, if you move into a neighborhood where Anglophones are few and Francophones even scarcer, then you may feel more isolated until you learn some Cantonese.

 Good Luck!

hello skmama,
thank you so much for the instant response. i think also the same to have the kids have a shorter commute.will head on searching flats in tai wan or sha tin. think my husband could get a taxi fare package from the company.it will be cheaper to send the kids together at the same time in a taxi i believe.but isn't it very traffical in hong kong at such moment? can i hav more advice on this?
trust me, i have no prejudice on food in hong kong, it is just a bit scary when reading so much bad comments about the food from china and the pollution. i travelled and lived in singapore, malaysia, thailand for 10 years with my husband and ate local food everywhere without worries until i got 2 kids.
also, have no prejudice on chinese in hong kong,but just want to make sure to have friendly living environment.becos in some small villages in malaysia and thailand, some r still conservative and look at u angrily,prohibit their kids to play with my kids. it took us years to break the ice by showing ourselves very humble and sincere.
for the language, we speak a bit mandarin and contonese, should not be a problem to mingle around.
can i have more information about flats in sha tin or tai wan? prefer a condominium type for safety,sharing swimming pool and playground. cos i am not going to hire a helper, with 2 kids, think i will not have time to take care of a house with priverb pool, by the way, we can't afford one.
once again, thank you very much!
warmest regards

Hello Loir,

One other idea for your children is to contact the school and ask if there is a school bus service. Most schools have an arrangement with a bus company to provide a morning pick-up / evening drop-off service between home and school.

You'll likely pay a monthly fee to the bus company. It's door-to-door, so it's convenient, and also a good way to meet other children. On the downside, it can mean a long (eg 1-hour) commute if you happen to be the first child on the bus in the morning.

So, when you have narrowed down to two or three places to live, you could ask the school to give an idea of cost & journey times for the school bus from each of those places. That will give you a more realistic idea of the different commute times.

I'll also echo Skmama's advice about the gohome website and eating food from local markets.

Good luck with your move, MrB

hi MrB,

many thks for the advises on the kids' transportation to school. it is a good idea for the children to mix around,as u said.

thanks to all and wish u all a merry christmas and a happy new year.

Hi,

I'm thinking of moving out HK with my wife in the next couple of months to work for 2-3 years for an international company with a big office there. I've seen your note about rent rises, and the "cost of moving" at 50,000HK$ - that's about 3,200GBP, in London money. Is that really what it costs to move from one 2 bed flat to another one? The rental increases are for continuing the contract I presume - or are prices on gohome typicaly rising at that kind of rate at the moment?

Rental agreements here are typically 1 year - from reading a number of the posts here, I get the feeling that a 2 year rental contract is more typical, is that right? And what level are deposits typically?

Thanks,
Ross

Thanks, grover. 4,000 HKD sounds much more reasonable, and I can't imagine we'll have that much, and certainly no antiques.

We're coming out to Hong Kong for a week next week to check the place out, so thank you for putting my mind to rest on this. I'm pretty excited!

Ross