[TheBulldozer]

I've recently been presented with the offer to live and work in Hong Kong.

The salary would be considered excellent nearly anywhere in the world. Given Hong Kong's cost of living and it's competitive business environment, it would be considered average for an expatriate single man in his 30's whose company purposely moved him out to Hong Kong. Overall, it's an impressive offer that would allow me to enjoy a solid quality of life there.

I have been to HK, but more importantly I would be interested in hearing from those who have either lived in HK or spent considerable time there about neighborhoods, quality of life, and hidden pros and cons to living in HK. As a note, I already live in Asia and quite enjoy my life here, so things like leaving home or entering an unfamiliar environment are moot.

Thanks in advance.

[worldtraveler3]

It would depend on what your job would be like.
Most people work insane hours so there won't be much leisure time so the quality of life is pretty much not important when you don't have much time.
I have also received a job offer there recently but I'm hesitating to take. International company,good prospects etc.
The way most people do it is live in HK island,save as much as possible and get out. I don't see how quality of life comes into equation. I mean unless you wanna get a penthouse on the peak, quality of life is pretty much similar: hang out in lkf, work, hang out in wanchai, work...

[Laner]

Tough call. Knowing your position somewhat I will advise on the following:

HK is a global powerhouse packed into a small place. And while I know its glory has not faded, as a city it has somewhat. Its feeling dated, the people overworked, and the shiny optimism of other growing cities in Asia just is not there to me.

Personally, I would not live in HK for any length of time. I like the hustle of growing cities, the idea that the men who I need to connect with are within reach, and that people are genuinely interested in making connections. I don't think that HK (or Tokyo, Shanghai do for that matter). HK is too stressful compared even to a place like Tokyo.

It could be interesting though, perhaps the idea your employer has for you is to send you to HK, make some bank and use your hustle and social skills to move your brand into the upper crust of Chinese minds. In which case, adventure awaits.

[Brosemite]

These are some good reads right here:

thread-47662...pid1026272

thread-49565...pid1080933

[nmmoooreland20]

I lived in Hong Kong for a few months, and it is my favorite city worldwide, but not sure exactly what you're asking for here. I stayed in Kowloon Tong, but if you live anywhere near the MTR, it shouldn't be a problem. A lot of expats, particularly single people, live on the island in Mid Levels or Wanchai.

Hong Kong's unique value proposition really is choice and variety. You can mix and match NYC/London style nights out and social circles with East Asian style nights out and social circles.

Also, there is an amazing palette of natural settings (beaches, mountains, forests, urban jungle), all super accessible via and first class infrastructure. Not to mention all the travel destinations within a couple hour's flight time.

Any specific questions, I am happy to answer.

[TheBulldozer]

^

I just want to listen to experiences from other men who have spent considerable time in HK. As we know living in a place is a different beast than visiting it. I love HK as a visitor but appreciate the insight of those who have been citizens there.

Thanks to those who've already responded.

[dogthom]

HK is just a city, like any other city. It's what you make of it and your own background and perspective that make the city what it is.

Very expensive real estate, low taxes, great subway system, very humid, women are no where near as cute as Taiwan or Korea.

However, if you're big in Filipina DH's (most are fugly, frankly) you can't go wrong on Sundays... they're everywhere.

[TheBulldozer]

A bit of an update:

I did not take the job in HK.

I was there in late November for a few conversations about the offer, and some recreation and here are some observations:

-Hong Kong is insanely expensive. Lodging, food, drinks. Everything. I joke that London and NYC are vacuums on my wallet, but it's worse here. I was spending $100-150/day and I couldn't explain where I spent it.

-People work too hard here. Working hard is good. Working six or seven days a week as a drone is not healthy.

-There is an endless supply of slightly above average looking women who have a deep desire for any type of male interaction. I got talking to a French girl on a bus who had just moved there a month ago. She noted that I was the first stranger who initiated a conversation with her since she moved there.

-HK girls are so busy that it is easy to have a half-dozen girlfriends and easily manage it.

-I do not like LKF. I was in HK solo and went over to LKF on a Friday night. I wandered for ten minutes before deciding that doing something else, anything else was more appealing than standing on a hill outside of a 7-11 picking up scraps.

-The food is insanely good. Great Cantonese food, but food from any region of China is available and it. is. damn. good. I also ran into the best cup of coffee in my life at 'The Cupping Room' - near Sheung Wan MTR. Worth going out of your way for a cup.

Overall Hong Kong is a great place to live provided you are making good money and have time to actually enjoy it. I love the outdoors of the southern part of HK island as well as the New Territiories. You may say to yourself that you won't work 6-7 days a week, but you'll quickly realize that you will work that much because it is so normal there. If you can get there and live on good money, it is truly one of the world's great cities.

[CodyB]

(12-13-2015 03:50 AM)MaleDefined Wrote:  

A bit of an update:

I did not take the job in HK.

I was there in late November for a few conversations about the offer, and some recreation and here are some observations:

-Hong Kong is insanely expensive. Lodging, food, drinks. Everything. I joke that London and NYC are vacuums on my wallet, but it's worse here. I was spending $100-150/day and I couldn't explain where I spent it.

-People work too hard here. Working hard is good. Working six or seven days a week as a drone is not healthy.

The inflation of every day goods in HK is insane. My wife moved to Australia from HK back in 2011 and she still thinks in 2011 prices. I went over expecting cheap everything except lodging. Food(sans Chinese food), Drinking and even shopping is more expensive than Australia, especially with the exchange rate.

And you're right about the 6-7 day weeks, but don't be fooled by the 'work hard' part. There's a reason why Hk and Singapore continue to pull in so many expats, (despite an oversupply of graduates from the local population), and it's because the locals aren't very good at working. They will kiss ass, commit treachery and hang around in the office for 14 hours a day but they are far less effective then those who have grown up i Western countries.

[Suits]

Some great insights on this thread.

[Cyclone]

Ouch, as someone who lived in HK for 1 year (in 2009) I'm sorry you turned down the offer and all.. certainly you wouldn't be blowing $150 a day once you've gotten a handle on things. I've been to 25 countries and Hong Kong is still one of my top 3 cities on the planet. There's excitement at every turn, the girls are still some of my favorite and miss them dearly, and several friends of mine extended their stay to several years.

BUT if you legitimately dislike LKF (seems like you didn't give it much of a shot..), aren't into East Asians, and feel that your peers would be working too hard, then those are legit reasons to be averse. You should take the lack of women interacting with men to your advantage though Just out of curiousity, which Asian city are you living in now ? I'd move to HK if was offered $5000 month.

Quote:

There's a reason why Hk and Singapore continue to pull in so many expats, (despite an oversupply of graduates from the local population), and it's because the locals aren't very good at working. They will kiss ass, commit treachery and hang around in the office for 14 hours a day

Also, this. But they'll still "act exhausted" and hard to convince them to go on a date on a Wednesday evening. They need the creative input of white people. But there are still enough rebel girls off the hamster wheel and when they're out, they *really* have fun.
.

[Global_Cocksman]

$150 HKD a day or USD?

If you wanted to play the frugal game, you could've lived off of 7-11 microwave chicken legs and fresh fruit cups for around 40-50 HKD a day. Maybe occasionally splurging on the weekends.

You passed up a good opportunity, IMO.

[atlant]

I, too, find it pretty bizarre to write off the entirety of LKF after standing at 7/11 for 10 minutes. But different strokes and all that.

[Brosemite]

(12-17-2015 08:06 AM)atlant Wrote:  

I, too, find it pretty bizarre to write off the entirety of LKF after standing at 7/11 for 10 minutes. But different strokes and all that.

I'm sure there are good pull opportunities there, but I think OP referred to the cheesiness & lack of soul in LKF. I'd wholeheartedly agree with that.

And maybe OP turned down the "offer" as the means didn't justify the end of leading a stressful life in HK.

[Il Bersagliere]

I don't hear a lot about the local (read - Cantonese) women on here. I saw a ton of them in HK and they were pretty sexy, but many of them couldn't speak a lick of English when I tried opening them. Does anyone have any experience with them?

[Laner]

(12-17-2015 10:00 PM)Il Bersagliere Wrote:  

I don't hear a lot about the local (read - Cantonese) women on here. I saw a ton of them in HK and they were pretty sexy, but many of them couldn't speak a lick of English when I tried opening them. Does anyone have any experience with them?

Thats because HK is the worst city in the region in regards to looks for Asian women, but the best for English. Shit, nearly all are bilingual.

The upside is they have excellent curves (waist to hip ratios!) and tinder can be a wrecking ball. I dropped a late night hail mary on my last night there and had my dick in a fairly attractive chicks ass 45 minutes later.

[Suits]

(12-17-2015 11:48 PM)Laner Wrote:  

The upside is they have excellent curves (waist to hip ratios!) and tinder can be a wrecking ball. I dropped a late night hail mary on my last night there and had my dick in a fairly attractive chicks ass 45 minutes later.

It's unfair how handsome you are.

[TheBulldozer]

(12-17-2015 07:07 AM)Global_Cocksman Wrote:  

$150 HKD a day or USD?

If you wanted to play the frugal game, you could've lived off of 7-11 microwave chicken legs and fresh fruit cups for around 40-50 HKD a day. Maybe occasionally splurging on the weekends.

You passed up a good opportunity, IMO.

Sorry but I like to eat food prepared in a kitchen and sit down for a drink.

I suppose LKF would be fun with a wingman or if I were 8-10 years younger.

[Chengiz88]

Nothing special about LKF. Agree with an earlier comment here. HK seems jaded and the people def overworked and stressed. The local women are average at best IMHO. For buzz and vibe can think of numerous better global cities

[worldtraveler3]

I think HK would still be a good place to be in finance. At least in Asia. In terms of equity markets, its by far the largest ex Japan.

Its also a good place for sourcing arena.

LKF should be fun if you are younger than 35. 35-40 you could probably swing it too, as there are a lot of older expats as well. A lot of girls in the 20-35 age range.

If you are above 40, i would say LKF might be very boring and unfulfilling. Still there are bars around Wanchai you could chill out in. You probably would want to be more involved in social circle stuff and outdoor activities.

Obviously you cant compare with cities like Bangkok for nightlife, social life, and quality of life, provided you have similar level of position.

[brianmark]

(12-20-2015 12:40 PM)MaleDefined Wrote:  

(12-17-2015 07:07 AM)Global_Cocksman Wrote:  

$150 HKD a day or USD?

If you wanted to play the frugal game, you could've lived off of 7-11 microwave chicken legs and fresh fruit cups for around 40-50 HKD a day. Maybe occasionally splurging on the weekends.

You passed up a good opportunity, IMO.

Sorry but I like to eat food prepared in a kitchen and sit down for a drink.

I suppose LKF would be fun with a wingman or if I were 8-10 years younger.

I can understand not taking a job that expects you to work 6 - 7 days of week. Being in college or not working and living in a city is not the same as working in a stressful job there. I work in a job in the USA with workaholic bosses who prefer work than anything else. This constant working will cut into the quality of your life. I once left an expat job, that was starting to expect me to work weekends. Why be overseas if you can't enjoy it?

[ball dont lie]

I moved from Guangdong to North China - not Beijing. In my experience Guangdong girls were more DTF than northern girls. Southern culture is more private. For example if a girl comes back late at night to the dormitory the other girls are not going to give her the 3rd degree asking who she was with, etc. In the north, its much more common for people to ask where she was, who she was with.

I had a girl from Hainan that was a friend with benefits, she was a student while I was a teacher and was totally cool with it. Still friends with her many years later, send messages back and forth. She was with a married guy for a while. Much less common in north, though obviously still happens. But when I worked in south China I regularly saw Audis and BMWs dropping off girls late at night on Saturday to the university gates. Don't see that here ever.

**Edit*

Lots of people in HK are of Guangdong decent, moved over there. So lots of cultural overlap. Back and forth, of course more from HK to Guangdong, but goes the other way too.

[elcidcampeador]

(12-26-2015 07:14 AM)ball dont lie Wrote:  

I moved from Guangdong to North China - not Beijing. In my experience Guangdong girls were more DTF than northern girls. Southern culture is more private.

Completely depends on the city and the girl, but this is often the case. Beijing is the big exception.

[Laserspewpew]

Unless there has been major changes in the last 9 months HK gets a ridiculously harsh rep for being expensive. If you do any sort of shopping around you can get a 3.5-4 star hotel in central HK for €100-120. You can't get that in Dublin, never mind London! For eating it's the cheapest first world city to eat out in, if you do a bit of research. You can eat ridiculously good Cantonese food for less than €10. Going out is cheaper than in the vast majority of big European cities, maybe for Americans it seems expensive but you guys get great prices for alcohol compared to the rest of the developed world. The subway is somewhere between 3 and 5 times cheaper than the tube in London.

When you take everything into account HK is probably the best city in the world for a single guy. It's a first world city, with first world medical care, it's got arguably the best transport system in the world, has the 2nd best airport in the world with some of the most attractive locations (Manila, Hanoi, BKK, Jakarta) a short and cheap flight away. Shenzhen is a subway trip away, Macau a one hour boat ride and Guangzhou a one hour train ride. It's got a tropical climate, the girls are hot and MUCH more accessible than in the west. The food is unbelievable and the night life is 7 days a week (24 hours on the weekend). There is essentially no tax. While its stricter than the west it doesn't have the archaic drug laws that the rest of Asia enforces (as far as I know HK is the only "country" to even have a discussion about legalizing weed).

[worldtraveler3]

I think if you are thinking about living a lavish expat lifestyle on the island it can be expensive. I.e. 20,000 hkd a month rent for apartments on mid levels, dining out at expat restaurants, etc. flights to Thailand or Philippines once every 2 weeks...
Girls maybe the downside of HK, as the locals aren't very good looking and the ones who don't speak well English might be traditional.