[Dionysus]

Hi,

I've been offered a job in HK which I plan to accept in the next couple of days so need to get my act together and start thinking about the practicalities!

Part of the offer is a housing allowance of $11k which judging by gohome listings is probably good for a modest 1 bed or small 2 bed.

I'm hoping to get some recommendations on where a good place to live would be for commuting to Quarry Bay? I'll be living with my wife (no kids), we're in our 20s, like to party and be in the thick of things so good for transport after midnight would definitely be a requirement. Ideally I'd like a reasonably modern building.

Laguna City / Cove crop up on my web searches a lot but I've no idea what they're like to get to at 4am from Wan Chai or LKF (spent most of my time on the island when I visited).

Any tips greatly appreciated!

Dionysus

[Crocodile]

Although your housing allowance is only $11k, what do you want to spend? I would suggest somewhere around $15-20k. For that, you could look anywhere from North Point through to Sai Wan Ho. Depending on your preferences, Taikoo/Kornhill area might suit you.

[AndyFitz]

I can recommend the taikoo/kornhill area for people working in Quarry bay. But only if you work alot.
the justco is convenient for cooking at home or a cheap meal and the proximity to other services make walking to work easy.

My partner works in quarry bay also but we're currently looking around discovery bay and trying out the morning commute of ferry then mtr from central. (may be a killer)

[gilleshk]

I'd say Tin Hau to Quarry Bay would get you a fairly nice place, it'll be convenient to work and you get crawl home in a cab fairly cheaply 30-50$) from your nights out in LKF or WC.

You could also find a 1-2 bdrm in WC for that price but often in an older building. A friend of mine got a place for about 8K on Stone Nullah st(next to MTR) Renovated 1 bdrm and about 500sq ft in a moderately new building but right in the wet market area

[Dionysus]

Thanks for the advice all. Croc, I had hoped to stay within the allowance but there seems to be a disproportianate jump in quality between $10/11 and $12/13 so might be tempted by the right place. Will definitely check out Taikoo, I think that's the name of the development where my office will be.

[Hamton]

Are you working in Taikoo or Taikoo Place?

Taikoo is a slightly different area, next to Taikoo Cityplaza and Taikoo MTR.

Taikoo Place is a big bunch of offices right next to Quarry Bay MTR, 5-10 minutes walk (or one MTR stop) from Taikoo.

I just moved apartment from Taikoo to... Taikoo. Rent has gone up shockingly in the last year or so, about 15-30% by the looks of it, some of the places we were looking at were up by around 50%. It's a nice area though, and after apartment hunting over the last month I felt we were already living in one of the best areas of HK. Great transport links, nice mix of residential/city/shops, moderately expensive but not stupidly so like the Mid Levels. You could probably get somewhere as nice for half the price in Tung Chung or elsewhere on the Islands or NT but you'd be miles away then, whereas Taikoo/QB is a 12 minute MTR or $35 taxi to Causeway Bay.

Also Taikoo Place has a few nices bars and restaurants, and Taikoo has two very decent shopping centres selling pretty much everything under the sun.

[Hamton]

Though if you do move to Taikoo, you'll be literally one of a handful of westerners in the area. That's not a bad thing mind. But until this year I rarely saw any gweilos walking the streets here, it was about a once or twice a week occurrence.

[AndyFitz]

Originally Posted by Hamton

Though if you do move to Taikoo, you'll be literally one of a handful of westerners in the area. That's not a bad thing mind. But until this year I rarely saw any gweilos walking the streets here, it was about a once or twice a week occurrence.

I'm walking around Taikoo every day.
I've noticed a healthy mix of people during mornings and evenings.

But I think that's because of the large number of serviced apartments on Kornhil.

Taikoo Place is where my other half works and its a short walk in the morning to get there from Kornhill apartments (above the justco in taikoo)

[Hamton]

Originally Posted by AndyFitz

I'm walking around Taikoo every day.
I've noticed a healthy mix of people during mornings and evenings.

Yeh there's office workers there during the day. Which is when I'm not usually there admittedly...

During evenings and weekends though, there are very very few westerners. A few more recently, but last year if I saw another gweilo it was rare enough that I made a mental note, because none seem to live in the area. A few more moved in recently, but you still don't see many.

Taikoo Place is a little different, Eastend Brewery's there so it's a hub for westerners and quite a few annoying, loud Australians when the Ozzy Rules or whatever it is happens to be on. Plus all the offices obviously.

Not that any of this matters. But if you see too many gweilos moving into the area it's probably bad for your rent

Edit - Oops, just realised AndyFitz is Australian...

[squid]

Originally Posted by Hamton

Taikoo Place is a little different, Eastend Brewery's there so it's a hub for westerners and quite a few annoying, loud Australians when the Ozzy Rules or whatever it is happens to be on. Plus all the offices obviously.

A hub is an accurate description for that area!

Too many evenings spent watching EPL football and pounding Pale Ale at East End...

cheers.