[mrcheese321]

oh yes, toiltries...I second bringing it with you as well. Some of your home brands you will find here, but most likely you won't be able to find everything. Especially if you are a salon product user, you aren't going to find the same stuff here.

[discobay]

If you're a hayfever sufferer get stocked up as the variety here is very limited.

[penguinsix]

Originally Posted by annica

These are great postings, from both a practical and emotional view. I'm especially interested in the VoIP thing...Does anyone know if I can transfer a cell-phone number to vonage?

Not entirely sure. I used vonage while i was in HK with so-so results (I had i-cable which I DO NOT recommend). When people called from the US, the signal was pretty clean. But when I called out, it usually took a bit to get over the lag.

I ended up using a calling card to talk to the US most of the time, and used Skype for incoming calls (voice mails mostly).

[wahansa]

Discobay:
Hayfever? Do people get hayfever in Hong Kong?
I developed hayfever and pollen allergy when I moved from Hong Kong to the States many many years ago. But I went back to HK for some years and during those years I did not suffer from allergy at all. Now I am considering moving back again from Europe partly because I suffer so severely from pollen allergy up here in the North (4 months out of a year, I can't breathe properly). I am just wondering if those of you who used to have pollen allergy suffer from that in HK as well.

[larac]

I came to HK with Asthma and allergies and thought things would be bad because of the pollution but I've found breathing in hk a whole lot easier and can even go jogging now - very weird but I guess in part it comes form the complete lack of grass here.

As for the 5 things - totally agree on the clothes, I'm not that tall or that big and can't fit anything here - seems our body shapes are totally different - complete generalisation but it seems asians don't have hips or a bum - very depressing, heading to Australia on Monday and can't wait to go shopping.

[discobay]

Well if you suffer from hayfever chances are that you are over sensitive to other triggers such as dust mites, mould and air pollutants. I find that on days with high API and humidity I am as sick as I was during the summer in the UK.

[TOOTS]

hey, I second Larac's comment about asthma - I don't even use my inhaler anymore, it's so weird.

here's my 2 pennies worth

1. your own stock of prescribed medication
2. a stock of your fave clothes, shoes, and undies
3. copies/originals of documents you'll need for opening accounts etc
4. UK sweeties / candy
5. something to remind u of home

Cheers
T

[punk]

Bring shoes. Aside from athletic ones, they're a bit conservative...

[penguinsix]

Originally Posted by TOOTS

here's my 2 pennies worth

3. copies/originals of documents you'll need for opening accounts etc

Good point there.

Remember you are out in HK for 3 years and there will be a number of documents that you may need for accounts and / or visas to certain countries. You never really know. But it would probably be smart to bring a copy of certain things with you (we took our marriage license, birth certificate, some banking and financial papers with us).

If you are under special medical treatment, that paperwork would also be helpful.

Oh, I found plenty of UK candy (and even some US candy) while I was in HK. :-)

[stephinpdx]

These are great postings, from both a practical and emotional view. I'm especially interested in the VoIP thing...Does anyone know if I can transfer a cell-phone number to vonage?

Vonage will do you for you... it's a part of the process when you sign up for the service. We transfered our home number to Vonage and use that as our main US line.. then we transfered our cell phone numbers to Vonage to "save" them for when we return to the US. We've had the numbers forever and are quite attached to them