Tung Chung /DB commute?

Hi,guys, I'm a newbie, will be moving to HK in July. Considering living in either DB or Tung Chung. I'll be working on HK island at Bradbury School. Wondering how long the commute will be from door to door from both Tung CHung and DB???

WOuld appreciate your advice...

Thankyou Vantastic, that's huge amount of info. Excuse my ignorance but what/where is So Kwun Wat?? Is it a buiding or area? THe name i must admit made me chuckle. Plenty of jokes to made there.

12k is around the budget as i have a young family and will be surviving on one wage for a while.

Your insights on Tung Chung and DB are helpful, as I was leaning toward DB at this stage.

Cheers

I have to chime in here. Vantastic, i respect your opinions about areas to live in, however, i just don't think you have the complete picture about Tung Chung.


Before i bought my house, i looked at Gold Coast as well and it wasn't the idyllic paradise that it may market itself as. The towers are relatively old, paper thin walls, poor construction (i walked into an apartment and the floor had completely warped up! - even the GC estate agent was a bit embarassed) - and the facilities and management aren't really up to par with where i'm living now.


As for the noise issue, i can guarantee that we have less noise here with "planes flying by every 12 mins" than in my old house on Conduit Road. I just spoke to a friend who is a sound engineer about this and basically the gist is that as it is a wide open space, there is hardly anything for the sound waves to reverberate off, which means that the sound dissipates much faster and so unless you were right under the plane, you wouldn't really be able to hear much. At the old airport the sound was intolerable as the flight path was directly over very densely populated areas and the sound waves echoed and amplified due to the structures on the ground (or something to that effect - i didn't really understand this bit!).


My flat has a great view of the airport, Tsing Ma Bridge, and the mountains - and this view will never go away...


My wife works in IFC and she's at work exactly 40 mins. after leaving home every morning - including a pit stop at Pacific Coffee.


Also, Discovery Bay isn't paradise found either. One just has to visit the DB forums to read about the many problems that one faces in DB - from inconvenient transport, safety and security concerns, juvenile drug use and vandalism, to a Park'n'Shop that sells rotten meat and vegetables as it has a monopoly!!!


Bottom line, is that every place has it's ups and downs - however, until you live in a place, you won't know what you're getting in to. So whilst you may be an authority on Gold Coast living, your lack of first hand experiences of Tung Chung prevent you from offering a complete and balanced picture.


To the OP who is looking at moving to Hong Kong shortly, my advise would be to get a serviced apartment for a month or two before deciding on a place to live. During that time, go out to all the different areas and get a feel for where you think you and your family would be most comfortable in. Also, there are many serviced apartments which are very reasonably priced - you just have to search a little harder to find them. Since you'll be at Bradbury - there are great serviced apartments in Happy Valley which are also close to your school.


Good Luck!

Very interesting you guys. Everyone has lots to say, albeit somewhat conflicting! THanks for the insights. I might take ilovecs advice of getting a serviced apartment for a bit to suss out the scene.