Relocating from London to Hong Kong - Advice Needed Please!!

M

Mimi2

Registered User
Hi everyone,

We are potentially relocating to Hong Kong in a couple of months and I wondered if any of you with experience of living there, particularly with small children ( my girls have just turned 4), could give me some advice. I am coming out there next week for a few days to look around and figure out where to live etc. If anyone has any advice of good areas to live with children, what schools to look at, things to do with young kids or general advice about relocation I would really really appreciate it. Not sure where to start!!!

Thanks very much!
 
ummm.. you are asking how long is a piece of string.

give us an idea of budget/type of schooling/lifestyle you are looking for, then we may be able to better help.
 
ps> what schools to look at? (1) depends on what kind of curriculum you are looking for (2) budget
(3) medium of instruction (4) which school has space (this is a MAJOR problem for english-language schools) (5) how far you are willing to have your kids commute

just to name a few things to consider..
 
Hi again,

I guess our accommodation budget will be about 40-50,000 HKD a month. Ideally I would like 3 bedrooms and quite a modern place with facilities and near other English speaking expats. My husband is a lawyer and will be working near Central so ideally no further than 30 mins commute from there. Is it possible to be near a beach and near Central too?

My twin girls ( who have just turned 4) were due to start at a fantastic local state school in London in Sept which was a 2 min walk from our house. Whilst I appreciate that we will probably not have a good school on our doorstep, I would like to live within 10/15 mins from school. I am assuming that private schooling is the only option for us now but even so, will there be any places available for Sept 2012? If not, what are my options?! They are currently at a private Montessori nursery but they are definitely ready to move on to school! They like to have action packed days filled with nursery, swimming, ballet, playball etc and I am a bit worried that when we move I am going to struggle to fill our days.

Thanks for any responses!
 
actually, with the age of your twins, there is no reason why they couldn't go into a cantonese or mandarin kindergarten. there are quite a few of us who have chosen this route instead of the typical expat-english-only route. however, the local schools are a lot more traditional and nothing like montessori at all.

if you want to be near a beach but also not too far from the action, you could look at:

discovery bay
stanley
shek o
repulse bay (although your budget may not be sufficient for repulse bay)
clearwater bay & sai kung (if you don't mind the expense of a car)
clearwater bay (closer to silverstrand, and hang hau mtr, you wouldn't have the same need for a car...but more residential)

why do you think you will struggle to fill your days here? most of us have the total opposite problem.
art
language
music
sports
swimming
science classes
dancing
martial arts

all are readily available in hk.
 
I agree with carang that you won't find a lack of activities here for young children - it's quite a big industry in HK. For English speaking options, check out the YWCA, they have lots of courses. Mid-levels is quite a nice area to live even though it's not close to a beach and it may be a stretch finding a 3 BR with the budget (as a point of reference, we live in a 3 BR for 55,000 and that was on the low end as of last year - we had negotiated it down too, by losing the car space it came with. The building is an old one, very basic, non sparkling amenities, but it IS right in front of the HK zoo and playground).
 
We have a 3br in midlevels for about 52. It can be done but most of the places are like the ones across the street from me, where 3br start at 100k or so and go up.

I think the bigger concern is schooling. If you want to go international, you're already late in the application process. Most schools will have wait-lists so you are going to have a rough go getting into the 'big ones' at this late stage. You can however keep them in a private kindergarden (Tutor Time, Woodlands, etc) for this year and apply for the international schools for next yea (August 2013).

The reason we mention schools is not only because of the difficulty in securing a spot, but also because you kind of want a place that is convenient for both work and school. You don't want a 1-hour commute for your kids at this age, so finding a final place to live might be a bit dependent on where you end up sending them to school.

As for other things, what to bring, what to leave, there are dozens of threads on geoexpat.com (a sister site) that will have answers to that and suggestions.
 
as another point of reference: we live out in the boonies (a car is a MUST). we pay $20k and have 5 bedrooms (two of which have ensuite and are roughly 350' each), 4 bathrooms, rooftop and 1000' garden, carpark.... but we live in the middle of nowhere....

so, if you moved closer to sai kung from where we live, you would likely get the same or similar to what we have but pay $45k-50k for it... of course, the closer you get the higher the price.
 
A third and middle point of reference for you - we live in North Point in a 950 square foot 3 bedroom place. It's a little tight but doable. Our building is quite modern (one of the few with ovens) and with a swimming pool and child's playground. We pay $28K. No car necessary, we have fantastic public transport. I'd love to live somewhere like where Carang lives (not that I've been there before) but hubby only has a 25 min commute to work from here (door to door) and we'd rather make do with where we are. I've looked all over Hong Kong and where we live is within our budget (boy I wish our budget was larger though!!) and meets pretty much all our needs.
 
I should mention that my hubby works from home but i have a 45-60 minute commute.

I can drive to IFC in central in 45 minuted exactly.
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Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to post a response. I am a bit overwhelmed by the whole school thing and shocked at how expensive accommodation is!

So basically where we live will be dictated by where we can get a school or kindergarden place. I guess my first priority then is to call and email all the schools asap.

Thanks for all your advice - if you think of anything else please post it!
 
I live in DB (Discovery Bay). Send me a PM separately if you have any specific questions as I am also a lawyer working in Central and have lived in London. Rents vary a lot out in DB but you can check some of the real estate sites like http://www.squarefoot.com.hk/rent/ and http://www.savills.com.hk/ to get an idea of prices. We lived in Midlevels for 5 years and moved to DB when our first child was 2 years old. Best move for us in terms of facilities for kids. Traffic, roadside pollution and general busyness and lack of parks and playgrounds made us move from Midlevels.

DB has two Residents clubs (you have to pay to join) with pools, indoor playroom and outdoor playground. Also parks and playgrounds outside of the clubs. Lots of sports activities, ballet/dance classes, swimming lessons etc for kids all available in DB. Schools same issue as elsewhere in HK - full, full and full. But there is a new primary school opening this summer as an extension of an existing school, DMK, with an already good reputation for their existing kindergarten. Other options for kindergarten include a new Montessori school (at the North Plaza), Sunshine House as well as two international schools DBIS and Discovery College which offer kindergarten (in DBIS only), primary and high school.

Takes me about 50 mins door to door from my apartment to my office in Central. 25 min ferry so commute could be shorter if you lived closer to the ferry pier at either end.

DB is not for everyone but would definitely recommend you take a look while you are here. I was not a fan at all until my kids got older and now it has turned out to be the best choice for us.
 
If you choose to go the international school route, education is definitely going to be your biggest problem. You'll find a place to live, but a school is going to be the issue. You may be fine for the coming year in a preschool but next year will be the main bottle neck. However, if you're children are 2007 born, e.g. your children would start ESF (they have many primary schools all over HKG) Y1 this year ... and there is absolutely very little chance to secure spots for this year. I know people who have been on the waiting lists for more than 18 months.

Also the budget for schools varies from basically free (local, mostly Cantonese schools, few exceptions, correct me if I am wrong), to ESF as kind of middle in the road $63k a year) to well over $150k a child in places like HKIS, Harrow, etc. Are you paying, is the company paying? Does the company have any debentures?

As far as DB goes, correct me if I am wrong, getting into Primaries or through schools (like DBIS / DC) there is a major major problem (no more than elsewhere but fewer options and more isolated), so once you live there and you're unable to secure a spot, your child will be facing long commutes (and possibly a ferry ride) going to school.

Schools first, then the rest ...
 
my son goes to a local school. it has an english stream and a cantonese stream (designated school for non-chinese speaking students). it is located on the waterfront of sai kung. there are mixed (chinese/cauasian/filipino/african), western kids, african kids, nepalese kids, overseas chinese and local chinese kids attending the school.

are there some issues with the school? yes, i'm not fond of the homework or the way they teach english. but i figure, i had homework and it didn't kill me, so it is unlikely to kill my kids. as for english? well, my kids get that all the time at home , so not a big deal. my son is in the cantonese stream. as such, we have put him into homework help classes (offered for free 5x/week) but he takes it 3x. he also does violin, soccer (with brazilian soccer school), putonghua and tae kwan doe.

the school is right beside the swimming pool, so as soon as he gets the cast off of his broken foot, he'll be doing swimming classes, too.


oh yeah... it's free.

so, depending on what you want for your kids (i want my kids to be bi-literate and bi-lingual).... there are options out there.
 
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Mommyto3 - good point about debentures, if you can organise that with your company then great but would have thought unlikely for a law firm unless your husband is coming out as a partner. Worth a shot though.

In terms of DB, I don't think it is any worse there than anywhere else for getting kids into school. My friend in Tin Hau has had a stressful wait getting her child into an ESF primary for August this year. I have heard that if you are at an ESF kindergarten then you get an interview for an ESF school but that may just be rumour. A number of little kids from DB catch the bus to the ESF kindergarten in Tsing Yi in order to try and get an interview for Discovery College (DC). 40 mins or so is a long way on a bus at 2.5 years - 4 years just to try and get an interview and not even a guaranteed place. Having said that, a friend just got her child a place at DC for P1 in August and he did not go to an ESF kindergarten. It is difficult to get into DBIS and DC in DB that is for sure. We've been on the wait list 2 years for DBIS and no luck getting in this August. Wait lists are crazy but you can fast track if you pay the debenture (which we have not done as its something like $400K). BUT with the new DMK primary school opening in August and the fact that the existing DMK school takes kids for 2 years of kindergarten and two years of primary school-like classes (K3A and K3B) - this does help with the backlog. And there are other options out there for up to about 6 years old with Montessori and Sunshine House. Also a local Chinese primary school which has good reviews. The ESF catchment primary school for DB is Bradbury which is massively oversubscribed and is a 45 min bus ride away on HK Island. DC is a quasi international/ESF so does not have a catchment and, I understand, is difficult to get into.

I do agree though that it is best to look for school places first then consider whether they are in an area you'd like to live in.
 
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Hi,
We relocated last year from London, my girl was in all the lessons you mentioned in one of your posts ie ; ballet, swimming, gymnastics.......... in Uk I was paying max 7 pounds per hour, please be prepare for the shock of the prices in HK, most of the lessons are only 45 minutes and around ?20 per session! Yes ?20/25 I paid for ballet! Play groups for my toddler in London ?2 in HK ? 15 to ? 22 per 1.5 hours! And don't expect a super venue/ activities/ teachers....... No, most of them much better in UK, if want a bitbofnextra info feel free to email, [email protected] By the way we are loving HK is a great place for children, live in a lovely place, meeting lovely people, you will love it
 
yes, things are more expensive... so are rents, salaries etc... so pretty much what you would expect.

i run two playgroup centres. i know that i couldn't/wouldn't charge "back home" what i charge here...BUT "back home", my rent would be 1/10 of what it is, staff would cost me 1/8-1/10 of what it costs me here....

you are earning HKD here, so you need to remember you are paying HKD. if you continue to compare to what stuff costs "at home" you won't do anything.
 
I think on schools if you like Montessori and are interested in Mandarin for your girls then IMS would be an interesting option and goes up older than many of the traditional kindergartens so would buy you some time on primary options. I think they also have a relatively new campus in Tin Hau which would be close to some nice/affordable places to live. If I was looking I would definitely consider Happy Valley as I think it's a really nice family area and although no MTR with the buses and trams still extremely convenient. I agree with other posters that prices here are a shock, but it is an extremely nice quality of life, particularly given the affordability of childcare with many many expats having live in domestic helpers. Good luck!
 
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