Moving to Hong Kong with a 4 month old

T

Tanya82

New member
Hello

My Husband and I are moving to Hong Kong next month with a 4 month old baby ... we have never been before and we have so many questions!

Firslty can anyone recommend a nice area for us to start looking for flats? We are concerned about where would be best to live with a baby and if there are mums and other children around the same age in the area etc..

I am also interested in playschool / swimming lessons and any general tips anyone has to offer when moving to Hong Kong for the first time with a young child :)

Thanks!
 
We moved to HK when our son was 5 months old. Where to live depends purely on your budget. There are places for all budgets. Like most large cities, the further you away from Central, the less money on rent. Things to think about when looking for a place here: you or your husband's commute, pollution, and activities for your baby. We live on the southside of Hong Kong Island - less pollution, a ton of families, many ex-pats. But on the other hand, it;s about a 20 minute taxi ride into Central and most activities for 6-12 months are in Central. If you belong to a club like the Hong Kong Country Club or American Club then you have more choices. Of course there are playgroups everywhere, but if you looking for structured play like Gymboree etc..then it's mostly in Central.

From the southside of HK point of view - family living is everywhere, but I would check out: Repulse Bay, Stanley and Tai Tam. They have large ex-pat communities, many buildings have shuttles into Stanley,Chai Wan and Stanley on a regular basis. It will be easier to meet people for you and for your baby in large full serviced buildings that have communal areas for people to meet in - i.e. pool, playground, clubhouse etc...

hope that helps!
 
As PP said, lots of factors, here are some areas to look at and eliminate based on those factors:
sai kung
discovery bay
south side
mid-levels
pok fu lam
kowloon tong

We lived in discovery bay which is a great place to live, especially with children. No private cars allowed, a little more space to run around than area on the Island but it is something like 80% expat.

The focal meeting point is the plaza which has everything you could need for day to day life - supermarket, post office, bank, hairdressers, small department store, baby shop, toy shop, pharmacy/chemist and the like. It also has coffee shops, 7-11, and a variety of restaurants - French, Thai, Kebabs, Japanese, Korean, International, Mexican, Seafood, BBQ, Thai, Chinese and a pub!

After school the plaza is full of children playing with each other and on their bikes, scooters and the like - from babies, toddlers, to older children and I have not seen the atmosphere matched anywhere else yet!

There are a lot of privately run (in home) playgroups (for 2+ years) - as well as Sunshine House and DMK (Discovery Mind Kindergarten). International Schools include Sunshine House and DMK (up to about 5-6 years old). There is also Discovery Bay International School from 3 years to 12 years and Discovery College for the same age group. The schools often have long lists to get into.

Club facilities (buildings do not have their own club facilities, the enclave have several which most people can become a member of). You can chose to become a member of the Residents Club (which includes Club Sienna) or Marina Club, and the last one is Chianti which is for residents of the Chianti Residences.

DB has plenty of playgrounds, every residential development has its own playground.

There's also a beach and each of the Clubs has their own pools too. And a golf course.

There are plenty of playgroups, kidergartens and extra curricular activities for kids.

Good luck with the move!
 
Hey Guys

Thanks for the information, its a great help... my husband will be working in Kowloon ... we are looking within a budget of say 20,000 a month ... and probably keen to get a 3 bedroom place ... not sure if this is realistic or not?

DB sounds great and we will def look at all the places you have listed ... we arrive in early to mid June and will start house hunting :)

One more question - do most places come furnsihed or unfurnished as we were planning on shipping all of our stuff?

Thanks again!
 
Hello,
we have been in HK for 2 months now and when we got here, Mila our daughter was 1 month old.
We decided to live in the south, in Stanley because it is the most convenient place to walk the pram.. It sounds stupid but there are many places where there is no walk path.. In Stanley, you can walk everywhere.. The downside is the fact that it is a bit farer from Central.
The air is also much better here. We really noticed a differnce in brightness too when we visited places.

Basically it depends what you like to do ..

Julie
 
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