Tell me all about Hong Kong

[HKdreaming]

I'm considering a job out there. It's me, 2 kids 10 and 12, plus DH (who would be a SAHD/tradie/volunteer - whatever he can do/get).

What is a good salary for a family of 4 / director level? HKD 1.5m + bonus? Is that a decent salary? As the main breadwinner I have to ensure it would work obviously and know that disrupting the kids now needs to be worth it. It would be a local contract but perhaps I'd be able to negotiate some financial assistance with with schooling.

Talking of which - we are looking at the French International Schools as we're currently in a French speaking country and keen to keep up the kids' French. So I guess Happy Valley or Wan Chai are good areas to live? What kind of budget is realistic?

What life is like there? How is work life balance? What do you do at weekends? How is the weather? Do you jet off elsewhere in Asia or does that not really happen in reality? We're very happy in our current location, though getting complacent so considering a change but it's got to be right.

We have no real intention of going back to the UK at any point (been away over 8 years now) - we've always said we're more likely to go somewhere else, so this could be our next somewhere else and guess we'd probably need to see the kids through the rest of schooling in this next move...

Tell me all about HK please!

who would be a SAHD/tradie/volunteer - whatever he can do/get

an expat from Uk in hong kong? very very little. is he happy twiddling his thumbs?

where are you now?

what is your industry?

Lived there 2009-2015.

Families don’t live in Wan Chai. It’s basically a business, entertainment and red light district.

Happy Valley is OK though.

Didn’t have kids so no direct experience of schools.

What is a tradie?

Work life balance depends on the industry, it’s more or less the same as London.

Life with kids can be easier than the UK as live in help is cheap and the norm, our friends with kids had no problem meeting up for dinner (sans kids) at short notice as there was always a babysitter at home.

Rent is eye-watering. Political situation is delicate and too much mainland influence these days for my liking.

I loved it but would not go back now.

Weather in the summer is boiling and humid

Weather- it has actual seasons, unlike Singapore. Gets cool enough to wear a light coat, but not cold. You wouldn’t swim outside all year round. Apartments not really designed to be heated so can be cold.

Summer very hot and humid but plenty of air con.

Excellent public transport.

Yes, you can fly elsewhere in Asia very easily, airport is efficient and not too far away to get to. Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Myanmar, Shanghai, Beijing, Indonesia all very easy to get to. Even Japan 5 hours away but feels like less. However not much in the way of low cost carriers operate so not massively cheap. Air Asia good and cheap though.

Some people enjoyed hiking in HK at the weekends. Expat dragon boat teams and junk trips fun.

I lived there from 83 to 85. I loved it. Lived in Kowloon Tong. Went back for a holiday five years ago, so much had changed but I still loved it. It’s obviuosly different under Chinese Rule.

Tradie = builder/electrician/carpenter type roles. We know that that is likely to be cheap foreign/local workers...

We are in the middle of Europe now...

Industry would be finance, but not in a front office role.

Oh and what are the best property search websites please?

Not a chance of working in a trade without Cantonese. Non-starter.

It's probably fine if you're an ex-pat, and a bit sheltered from the reality of life there....but I'd be a little concerned about why 120,000 people have emigrated from there to the UK in the past few years.

We've had a bit HK influx here- and the stories aren't great. The main reasons for leaving seem to be because China is making life really hard for normal citizens.

We do have ex-pat friends there who are loving it though!

Yes assumed this would be the case...

i know you have itchy feet op

but if your children are happy and settled, why not just stick there?

well why say it would be an option?

I didn’t, I was trying to see what possibilities exist….

It is not a done deal. I’m exploring to see if it would work.

Be kind, she was just double checking.

To be fair, there may be a market amongst expats (and their non-canto speaking Filipina helpers) for an English speaker to come round and fix their toilet or something, but most expats rent and most repairs are dealt with by the landlord, who will be local. Plus all the equipment/parts supply chain stuff will be in the local community, an expat handyman would get fleeced. Then there are local regulations to understand. I doubt anyone would want a white bloke labouring on a commercial construction site.

Ridiculous though it sounds I think you might struggle on that salary once you factor in rent and school fees. Rent on a very ordinary 3 bed apartment in Happy Valley/ Mid Levels East (the residential part of Wan Chai district) could easily be 50k/month and school fees 200k per year per child. People on that salary would typically either have a working spouse, have children in local school so no fees (relatively easy if you have them in from kindy, very difficult to integrate them higher up) or live in a cheaper district like Mui Wo, Ma O Shan or Lamma.

There is a lot to do in HK if you like sports and outdoors stuff - kids grassroots team sports and squad swimming are well developed. There are amazing hikes and trail running, all accessible by public transport. Beaches are great- surf ski and outrigger /dragon boating are popular. Indoor stuff is there (trampoline park, climbing wall) but is really expensive. Kids sport that isn't a team sport is also really expensive- gymnastics and swimming for example.

Watch Expats. Currently on Netflix with Nicole Kidman and set in HK. Very good.

I thought it was crap apart from the portrayal of the helpers! Also NK and her neighbour are very rarefied, super-rich expats. Plenty on much lower salaries than that.

Nice street scenes though

I would say that’s a low salary if you also need to pay rent and school fees. 50k a month will get you a small apartment. You could be looking at 100k per term per child in school fees too. Everything in HK is expensive too. You are looking at a few hundred dollars per person for a meal. If you want a bottle of beer, it could also cost few hundred dollars. I personally wouldn’t do it on that salary.

Ok good to know on the salary, thank you. Am waiting to hear more in that regard but I guess more like 2m + schooling covered would be better right? We already live somewhere expensive so know all too well about doing the sums (hence the post!)

Yes we do like outdoorsy stuff and that all sounds great. Won’t get too excited until I know more on the package….

Where (other than the polo club) does a beer cost £30 in HK?

That's a great salary. You will have a great time there and get cheap domestic help.

The alarm bell for me is your DH not having a career there. There is a huge risk that he will become a party boy going out a lot- there is SO much social fun to be had out there and because everyone has live in helpers kids don't stop the nightlife- and have an affair with a single professional ex pat, local, or an ex pat wag.

ESPECIALLY if you think 'my DH isn't like that he's a good guy' you're most at risk as you won't spot the warning signs and won't put in place steps to prevent this. If you do go you need to have never clear agreement about how you socialize with and without each other, friendships with he opposite sex etc. affairs and cheating and causal sex are so normalized out there and being so far from home people can lose their moral compass too.

Go into this with your eyes open! (This is all based on experience btw)

Thanks - do you mean 1m or 2m?

DH has been a SAHD in a new country before. It needs to work for us as a family, which includes him and his happiness and his needs. So that is super important too... and whilst he's definitely not "that type" I do take your point about living away from home giving people a different sense of freedom and right/wrong... But the intent would be to create a family life that avoids instigating situations where misjudgment happens - in as much as one can control it anyway...

Shit. Forgot about our 2 cats... We'd need to take them. How does that work in a high-rise apartment??