Moving to Mid levels with 11 month boy?

B

beautifulday

Registered User
Hi there,

So happy I found this site. Our family is moving to Hong kong later in the year. We want to live in an area that has playgroups, supermarket,doctor, pharmacy , is fun and lots of mums wanting to meet. We live in Paddington Brisbane and I'm nervous about moving to Hong Kong with a baby. Looking for a nice community with things to do. Im 30 and my husband is 27, and we like modern living.
Can anyone recommend good places to live in mid central that are safe with a baby, ( no balconys)?
Or is there another area that is recommended. My busband will be working in Shenzen but he is willing to travel a bit as long as we live in a good area.
Any advise will be appreciated, Thank you
 
Wow, mid-levels is quite a trudge to Shenzhen. Will your husband be commuting everyday? Will he be driven to Shenzhen or will he be taking the train? You are really lucky to have such a considerate husband. Lots of people who have to commute to Shenzhen live close to train stations. There are many nice areas which are near to train stations. There are lots of nice communities in HK, both on HK island and Kowloon. Good luck with your move!
 
we have decided mot to live in mid levels, sounds like too much of a pain. Can anyone else recommend a place to live in hong kong where travelling to shenzhen wont be too much of a pain. I still want to live in a nice place with a lots of expat mums and an area that has everything there..
 
How about the Gold coast? We looked at living there originally but the commute was too much for my husband to Central. I know there are a few Gold coast mums on this site, they may hopefully help you. You can also do a google search and find it.

We live in Cyberport at Bel air which I absolutely love. It is a big commute to Shenzhen but two of my best friends here have husbands who work there. Both have company drivers who take them up though and they also usually stay up there a few nights per week. Yhey both say that the commute is worth it though as they wouldn't want to live anywhere else. It is an awesome community of expat mums out here and there is always something going on. Sometimes I can't keep up with all the social activities. Good luck with your search.
 
Hi fellow Aussies

hi beautifulday,

I'm an Aussie, 31, originally from Yamba, NSW, but lived in Brisbane for a few years in the late 1990's. (Paddington at one stage!) and just wanted to say that I live in the Mid Levels and I have a 2 1/2 year old daughter and an 11 month old daughter and I'm due again next year.
Living here in Mid Levels with small children is pretty hard-going. Looking back on when we first moved here a few months ago, I would have chosen a more kid friendly place, like Discovery Bay (even though it would have sucked for me and my hubby because we like to eat out quite a bit and enjoy the vibrant nightlife (when I'm not pregnant!). Our building is called Tavistock II, it's in Tregunter Path, it doesn't have balconies. It has great play areas for the kids and a beautiful pool. But the hardest thing about living here is getting out and about. We don't have a car, so we rely on taxis. You have to load up the taxi's with your strollers and bags and kids, and they don't have child/baby safety seats. And then when you have to get home, you have to hail a taxi down in the middle of Hong Kong where hundreds of other people want the same taxi and believe me, it's not fun. We're thinking about hiring a car and a driver but it will be very expensive.
It won't be like living in Paddington where you can put your little one in the stroller and stroll down the street to a cafe and have a quiet cuppa with friends etc. It just doesn't have that vibe here, even though alot of mums do attempt to get out with the stroller and go for quiet cuppas, usually there are stairs everywhere just to piss you off even more, and you will most likely have to take a taxi to that cafe in the first place.
I really don't mean to be so negative, I guess I'm just trying to explain the differences between Brissie and here.
When are you coming out to Hong Kong? Are you already here?
My husband is from Saudi Arabia and we lived in Bahrain for 7 years before moving out here in July.
 
From what you are looking for DB sounds ideal for you! Am not sure how long would take to get from DB to Shenzen (prob quite awhile) but DB is has a very large expat community- with more children and babies than adults (or so it seems like).

There are playgrounds, grassy places to play and the beach. Supermarket, doctor, pharmacy, restaurants, coffee shops, bank, kindergartens, schools- the lot! Some weeks I don't make it into Central at all, because have no need to!

Meetingother Mums is very easy- all you have to do is take baby down to playground, plaza, playroom, swimming pool and you will soon meet friends for your children and you!

You might want to also consider Hong Lok Yuen, which is in Tai Po- and so a lot closer to Shenzhen (15-20 mins on the train) and which is also a large self contained expat. community.
 
We've moved to HK for 3 months with 2 kids, my daughter is going to be 3 and my son is going to be 2 and now we are living in Kowloon Station, we found here so convenient, there is the new shopping mall call Elements, there is supermarket (Three sixty), check this link, http://www.elementshk.com/
You can go to Central (with many doctors) and go to IFC with one stop with the MTR, if we go for holiday, we can check in downstairs where the station is, and my husband goes to China quite often, he takes the taxi to Hung Hom only about HK$20, then take the KCR train directly to China !!! Check it out and good luck!
 
living in kowloon station

Hi,

are you still living in kowloon station. it sounds like a very convenient place to live. is the pollution really bad there?
Are there many expats there, mothers groups, english supermarket and the rest?
i really want to live somewhere where i can walk my baby and have agoof life style.
Do you feel safe living there?

Can you recommend any nice places to rent?
 
Hi there,
Yes, we are living in Kowloon Station now, we are really happy with the area we found, especially here all the buildings are quite new, very good secuity, services, there is the International school, lots of expats around, a nice western style supermarket downstairs call Three Sixty and there is one call Citysuper in Harbour City (TST) and in IFC mall which are really close. Sorry if I am too hardsell this area, but my husband and I like here a lot coz so easy to go around without having a car and with kids.
To be honest, the air in HK is not so good anyway, sometimes you can have a clear day but sometimes not, depends on the weather. if you perfer to live in the place with better air, maybe you may need to find South side of HK or some Islands in HK, but somehow you need to travel quite a lot with the public transportation or driving.
Please check the building around the Kln Staton :
-The Waterfront
-Sorrento
-The Harbourside
-The Arch
take a look!!
 
Thanks so much for your help!
I'll have a look in November. Ill email you once I move and maybe we can have a coffee. You sound cool.
 
Hi, you should definetly check out Hong Lok Yuen. We have friends there and it's a great place. (If my hubby wouldn't work in Central we would move there imediately). There is a large expat community. You can get a house with garden there for less rent than a flat in many expat-area on Hong Kong Island. They have a club with pool, playground, a large ParkNShop supermarket (on of the two large chains in HK, selling also many int'l products), a very good int'l pre-school and school, all in walking distance. It takes about 35-45 min to Central and not long to Shenzen. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks everyone for your advise. We are thinking that Kowloon Tong might be the go. We're in Hong Kong on the 31st Oct do I'll have a good look around.
 
Discovery Bay sounds sooo nice, I wish it wasn't so far from Sheko Shenzhen. I'm going to have a look there too. I know its a bit of a hike for my husband but the air quality sounds better. I want to be able to go for a walk every morning.. without all the city life.
 
Hi!
We love it here at the GC. You'll understand why if you live here.
You can get the Shenzhen bus from Tuen Mun/Tin Shui Wai. But we usually take the mini bus to Sheng Shui then the KCR into Shenzhen (1 stop away). It's a HKD30 cab ride to the mini bus to Sheng Shui. All up it takes 45-60 minutes from the GC.
If you can afford the cab ride to Sheng Shui KCR (HKD180) then it's even faster (about half an hour to the border of Shenzhen). We have a regular cab driver who takes us around the NT for 20 per cent less whenever we need a cab so it always works out cheaper and very convenient.
Good Luck with your decision.
 
Ok. we're in hong kong now and we are pretty much convinced that midlevels soho is the place for us. I went to the gold coast and almost made my self sick with how boring it looked.
we had a look at an apartment block called centerstage and have been told that 80 robinson st is very nice.
can anyone recommend an apartment in this area for a 3 bedroom with a budget of 46k?
 
Many buildings in Robinson Road, Conduit Road will fit your budget. Just get an agent in one these streets and they can show u around
 
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