We are moving from Oz to Hong Kong in a few months with my Wifes Job. We are XPats from the UK and Have been in Sydney for nearly 5 years.
Discovery Bay appeals to us as we have a 2 year old and a Dog.
Could someone tell me the best complexes to be looking at in DB for rental? We are looking for relatively modern and our budget is between 30 - 40. with 3 Bedrooms. My wife will be commuting to Central everyday and i will be doing the carreer break with the young fella for a while so closer to ferry the better. is there any info on day care in DB and is any other suburbs on the island also an option?
You read so many mixed reports about DB and people say they either love it or hate it but hopefully us coming from Sydney will give you the idea that we like space and greenery not crazy city living. Nice to visit though!
Any help greatly appreciated.
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We lived in Discovery Bay for 5 years, and after visiting many places in hK I think we made the right choice.
Although we had grown up children living elsewhere, we had a dog and cat. There are many places to walk your dog, and DB is very pet and child friendly.
Most places within DB are within 5 mins of the ferry pier from DB to Central, there are bus's to each part of DB, mostly 4 hkd a trip, so very cheap.
There are plenty of play areas for young children, and a few kindergartens and schools in DB itself, although I don't profess to know what their capacity is for new comers, lots of DB kids of school age also commute to other schools outside of DB.
All HK property is smaller than you would expect, unless you have a very large budget, I would suggest you google properties in Discovery Bay HK, their are many agents, and I am not allowed by the editor of this forum to put them on. The websites are good, and you can put in your max. price and see what would he available.
Whilst your budget may only allow you to live in an apartment, there are many nice outdoor areas to exercise, hills to walk etc, and a lovely park at Siena, also many well stocked shops, obviously isles are smaller in HK shops to get the most in the space.
Many other services in DB itself-Restaurants(over 22),Doctors, dentist, vets surgery etc.
Db is a private car free area, so public transport-the bus's, are frequent and cheap, less cars less pollution.
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Susie1 thanks for the great info.
I am checking the usual agents listed by other search engines for accomodation and the selection within our budget isnt great but we are quite happy to try it out for a while. We know we are not going to get what we have here in Oz but thats fine. If needs be we can push up to 45,000 but we will just see how we manage first.
The young man wont be in school so dont need to worry about that for a couple of years but will def check daycare for places a couple of days and would love to get him into classes for learning Mandarin or Cantonese. Whichever is going to be more beneficial for him in later life.
in terms of Transport thats great the my wife can commute so easily to central or the airport. After experiencing the worst public transport system in the western world in Sydney,(objective opinion), it will be great not to have to depend on a car and use PT.
My only concern would be the fact that my wife will be travelling overseas 50% of the time. Not working is a new thing to me so just hope theres a few other stay at home dads to have a bit of craic with. I must say Its been hard to fit into the Gym class i take the young fella to on a thursday here. 15 women and then me!!! Haha. Just as they are slowly accepting me into the fold we are off!
Really appreciate your advice and i think in this instance it will be DB for us. Looking forward to another little adventure! Cheers. Slán go fóill
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You're right. People either love or hate DB. The people that love DB, usually do so because they can get away from a lot of the perceived annoyances of HK living. Loud, noisy, polluted dense living. DB is low density (by hk standards) and they don't allow vehicles. You can actually walk down the street without people bumping into you. There are less queues at the stores, and if you go into a restaurant it is not filled with people loitering or camping out all day and you can easily find a seat.
On the other hand, some people would say that you are missing out on the 'real' hong kong culture and that DB is void of character.
Personally, I don't live there, but I have many friends that do, and I like it. If you need a taste of Hong Kong life, you can get on a 30 minute ferry and you will have it. It is a nice, relatively peaceful place to live with very diverse and friendly residents.
40k per month will do fine for a 3 bedroom. contact an agent and have a look around. if you wife is going to be gone 50% of the time, I would look into getting a helper. budget 5k less for housing, and add a helper...you will thank for that advice later:)
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unattendedbag,
Thanks for the great reply. This will most def help in calming the nerves before taking the plunge again. Before we had the kid we spent may years travelling and living in different Citys. Now that we are older and with a 2 year old and pet the whole affair seems too much bother to even contemplate. The fact that we can now say DB is where we are going to stay means we can concentrate on other stuff.
I agree that the city hustle and bustle is great for just visiting in our case. Every weekend can be spent checking all the different places out. 30 mins is a breeze. We left Sydney 2 years ago to move to the Central Coast and both of us commute 1.5 to 2 hours each day each way so that is like paradise!
We will look into getting a helper then on your advice as long as they can live in their own place. not too sure what i would want them to do though. I pretty much can take care of everything house wise. Minding Conor for a couple of days a week would be good to free me up to work part time though.
Anyhow, thanks so much again! Slán go fóill
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There is only one thing I have to say, and that is under HK imm rules a helper must live in your home, and preferably have her own room, there a big fines for allowing them to live out, and allowing them to work anywhere other than the contracted employers home.
It is ilegal to employ part-time foreign domestic helpers, only full HK residents can be employed Part-time, there are agencies such as Merry maids, and sparkle maids who advertise on this forum, they will supply part-time local HK staff legally.
As I have had past experience of having a live in helper, I personally found it difficult with the helper we had, in our space. Some helpers are better than others, and ours was not a good example of how a helper should behave, things went missing and our privacy was hindered by her presence, and that fact she let friends and relatives stay, and lent them our stuff while we were on vacation.
Some people never have a problem with their honest helpers, there are good and not so good ones about, and you never know them properly until you have signed a two year contract with them. As an employer of a helper, you either have to give food, or food allowance and provide all their medical care(medical insurance) as well as wage and accommodation, plus the flight at the beginning and end of each two year contract.
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PS-- there are kindergartens around DB, but they attend usually half a day, daily, not all day until they are older than your little boy.
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Hi Eoin,
I'll just weigh in on the schooling for your son. Put his name on waiting lists NOW for DBIS, DMK, Sunshine House, ESF kindy, etc. It is easier to win the lottery than secure your child a spot in school in HK. Happy move and welcome to DB!
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Eoin. I'm in the category that dislikes DB. Firstly, it is run by a grasping management company that overcharges for everything like the ferries, club membership (debentures in DB whereas HKD 10 only in Park Island which has much better quality amenities). Secondly, the ferry is a pain and a significant expense. If you live in DB, your life is usually centred around DB as it's so hard to get back to. This means you miss out on a lot of HK and basically give up on any kind of assimilation. This is a plus for some people, but I think it's a bit of shame to come all this way and then hang out on what is not far short of a ghetto. Also, it must be a strange upbringing for kids who are brought up there.
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Eoin,
Try Park Island but check out for yourself on :
http://parkislandhongkong.blogspot.hk/
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or http://www.parkisland.com.hk for the official web-site. Having said that, I still think you may want to consider living in an urban area. You just have to write down all the things you want in your ideal living environment on a piece of paper - and then throw it in the bin. This is Hong Kong and living like HK people is tough but more fun in the long run. You just have to put up with the small flats. Trying to live a western lifestyle here is self-defeating unless you have about US$3 million.
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Thanks for all the reponses.
We are very open to other suggestions. I can see that like all big cites, the people who live there are passionate about it . All advice welcome.
We are always going to return to Oz as we are now citizens there so will only be in HK for a few years at most. Wherever we stay we will surely make the most of our time there and try to experience all that it has to offer.
We have both lived in big Metropolis's all over the world with my partners job so are very well clued into life in urban areas. We do know the limitations that you have when living on the periphery or the commuter belt. As I said before, regardless of the negative points of DB, we do not want to live in the city anymore and are happy to commute and see the sights at the weekends or on holidays.
Much appreciated for all the comments with regards to the Schools and also Park island.
Slán go fóill
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loyd, not even sure what that means? I know a lot of "HK people" who don't live in small flats. I know a lot of locals who live in entire village houses, 2,000+ sq ft flats, and live in lower density areas. Not everyone lives in central/wan chai/causeway bay.
You might consider it fun to live in a tiny flat, but I don't, and there are plenty of other alternatives to that lifestyle in HK.
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Take a look at Braemar Hill on HK island and a bit further to the east. There are more green spaces there, though more expensive than DB. If you go down the lifestyle route, then Park Island's facilities and transport links are better quality and faster. DB is a rip off. One huge overpowering management company that rips off users on the ferry. This is why land transport links are so poor there. They use the ferry as a cash cow.
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Hi E Brennan,
There are many places in Hong Kong which are much closer to the city than D Bay, and still give you the "away from city" appeal. You might want to consider Beacon Hill in Kowloon Tong. Try the following:
1) Mount Beacon
2) One Beacon Hill
Both of these are walking distance to Kowloon Tong Station MTR... and about 15 minutes to Central. You can find a 3 bedroom unit in your price range there.
You can also try:
3) Beacon Heights
4) Dynasty Heights
Both of these offer a 5 minute private mini bus trip to Kowloon Tong MTR. You'll find even larger apartments in your budget here.
Incase you're not familiar with Kowloon Tong/Beacon Hill, its situated in Kowloon, about 5km from Tsimshatsui. Its up on the mountain with many apartments offering ocean and city views.. low density living with low rise apartments and many houses, clean air and quiet... it also has a renowned school network (probably 2nd best school network in HK) with many international schools and kindergartens. PM me if you need more help.
Cheers.
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PS> Here are some links:
Dynasty Heights: http://www.sino.com/eng/default.asp?xid=hkp_pp_r_k_dh
Mount Beacon: http://www.mountbeacon.com.hk/
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Rob / Loyd,
Thanks for the great info. will def check this out. cheers
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