Yaya

Hi all! I am having a small dilemma here! I am living in London at present and my boyfriend and I would like to move to either New York or Hong Kong for couple of years with work. Only problem is that we can't make my mind up! We love both but never actually lived and worked in either..
Any views/advise/comments?

thanks guys!!!

Suffolk Bumpkin

Err.....Do either of you speak Chinese? (Mandarin?) That might be a deciding factor in your decision.


BlOOP!

Englishmum

Without a doubt I would go to Hong Kong. It's a fabulous place and sooo many things to do - eg. Hong Kong Sevens rugby which is a great laugh - it's a brilliant place for young couples and singles - there are many options for travel to many other countries in South East Asia eg. Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia (Bali) Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, as well as mainland China, Oz, New Zealand etc. There isn't much of a choice of (culturally interesting) places to travel from New York.

We lived in Singapore for a few years but we loved to visit Hong Kong as it's such a vibrant place...it's not just a city, there is lovely countryside and islands to visit too. You certainly don't need to speak Chinese (they speak Cantonese there anyway although Mandarin is becoming popular there since 1997).

We currently live in New Jersey - husband works for a British company in Times Square... people in NYC are rude and frequently very shallow...this happens in any large city but New York is one of the worst places in the world for this, more so than Hong Kong....in the US typical annual leave would be 2 weeks per year to start off, perhaps 3 weeks and if you're really lucky then possibly 4 weeks (unless you're transferring over with your current employers and able to negotiate annual leave similar to your current entitlement).

I would go back to Asia in a heartbeat.

In a nutshell: you can get to NYC for a weekend trip from the UK...but not from Hong Kong...so I would take the opportunity to go to Honkers and save visits to NYC for when I was back in Blighty....anyway, who says you can't live in both cities?

(I would also post on the 'Far East' messageboard here; Paddy the Pilot lives in Hong Kong and he's sure to give you lots of info).

NC Penguin

A deciding factor about where to move would be to consider the ease (and possibly cost) of obtaining visas to live and work permits to work in either country.

Have you considered this?

If not, this would be important.





NC Penguin

Yaya

thank you so much! that's exactly the kind of stuff that I need people to tell me or remind me of! I will post the add under the Far East too as suggested!

Bob

Aye, big factor there..unless one's a US citizen which would make it easier for that end of things...

Yaya

it's ok - we are both working for the same company and they would sort out all the paperwork for us in either case..

Pharrya

I thought that in Hong Kong it was more Cantonese than mandarin spoken. or maybe not.

Englishmum

Pharrya - yes the main Chinese language in Hong Kong is Cantonese....

To Yaya: I forgot to mention, the income tax in Honkers is very low indeed....I think it is still 15%. I know lots of people who've made a shed-load of money out there.

You also don't get the brutally cold winters that you get over here in New York....it's bitterly cold here right now.

Here's an expat website for Hong Kong....there is a messageboard with different topics under "Ask an Xpat". (It's interesting to read the bios of the maids looking for work...but you would probably want a part-timer coming in once or twice a week to do your cleaning and ironing etc. Much cheaper than in NY).

http://hongkong.asiaxpat.com/

Good Luck!
PS. Are you in banking or a related field?

fatbrit

Er…um…do you want to live in a paranoid country dragged down by a psychotic leadership drowning in their own dogma or do you…never mind! Flick a coin!

Texas Brit

Lived in NYC and have only visited Hong Kong, but I'd go for HK if it is a two year stint. You can use HK as a base to visit loads of great places around asia. NY is a great city but life there can be pretty hard and it is really, really expensive (yes, more so than HK). I wouldn't worry too much about language in HK as there are still a ton of people who speak English (although Mandarin knowledge is increasing rapidly and, to some extent, maybe replacing English as the second language after Cantonese -- still, you aren't going to have too many problems on that front -- if you go up into the mainland, on the other handyou better hui shou a bit of the old putonghua).

ladyofthelake

My vote goes to HK too, but I'm biased I lived there for a year but haven't been to New York. What are the employment packages for each city like? Does it include accomodation? Apartments can be very expensive, but quite a lot of expats in Hong Kong will have that paid for by the company.
To be honest, I found the culture shock of HK very difficult to live with at first. It does take a while to get used to the different sights and sounds. I had to travel around with my toddler in a stroller and it drove me insane that nobody would look behind them as they go through a shop door to see if anyone else is going through and hold it open. I always had to struggle to get through on my own and invariably would have someone stop to watch me too. Evntually I learned that that's the way it is there and to chill After accepting that nothing I could do would change things, I loved the place.
Not being able to speak Cantonese was never a problem for me, most people who you come into contact with will be able to speak English. There are some restaurents who choose not have an English Menu, but most do, so we would just go to those instead. The food is great and there is a huge variety of regional foods and international foods. It's nothing like the pap Chinese takeaways you get in the UK or US. I used to love going to the local market and looking at all the stalls laiden with all sorts of weird stuff, big fish tanks full of fish, live chickens in cages etc. Would never buy there, always went to the supermarket for my groceries, but just enjoyed watching it all happen.
It's a very exotic and exciting place to live, no time to stay in and watch TV (which is just as well as it's crap)

Chandler

I work in NYC but have visited HK numerous times. If you asked me, I prefer NY. There is more to do in NY itself than in HK, and whilst there are lots of great places that you can travel to from HK, you will still only get 25 days a year in which to do it. If you can't fill 25 days in North/South America then there is something wrong.

However, ask me where I would rather earn a wage and pay tax then HK starts looking a lot more enticing....