Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Hong Kong Apartment

We finally found an apartment – yay. It’s small and very different from anywhere I’ve ever lived, but at least we’re more settled and not living in a hotel anymore. The bathroom is small and everything’s all in one room. There’s no bathtub. The shower is just a corner of the room. We didn’t see many bathtubs during our apartment hunt. Most of the bathrooms we saw were even smaller than ours. The kitchen is just a sink & stove against the wall. There is practically no counter space at all. There’s also no oven. We didn’t see a single oven during the hunt. There’s a tiny balcony with a washing machine. All apartments have washing machines, but nobody has a dryer. Everybody just hangs their clothes out to dry on the laundry balcony. I don’t know how safe that is, but I guess they’ll dry faster outdoors than indoors.

The building looks ugly & dirty on the outside, but everything’s nice & clean on the inside. All of the apartments around here look ugly, except the really expensive buildings. Someone told me that the Chinese don’t care what the outside looks like – they just clean the inside. Looking around, it’s easy to believe. All the good architecture is reserved for large skyscrapers and old temples. Most of the places where people live all look the same – just a bunch of dirty rectangles.

We don’t have the internet hooked up yet, so I’m still going to internet cafes. I found one near our apartment that’s cheap compared to the first one I used, but it’s still a lot more expensive than just having the internet at home. When we get hooked up I’ll upload some pictures of Hong Kong. I’ve got a ton already.

10 comments:

  1. hailey how much you paying rent im going to work in hong kong next month and wondered what sort of price i would need to pay
    cheers
    kevin

    kmellinuk28@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi hailey,
    great to read ur blog!
    i am thinking of auditioning for disney but am finding it impossible to get a even general answers about payrates and length of contracts. i dont want to spend $500 plus to fly to an audition without knowing if i could even afford to live in HK on the pay?
    any help wld b much appreciated!!
    thanx!!!! =D
    kursh2@bigpond.net.au

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  3. It's interesting to see your comments about Hong Kong where I was born and grew up. Your honest observation can be something valuable that many people should read. It's like looking at something from a complete different angle. I agree and disagree with some viewpoints about people do not care about the outside, but they care about the inside. The ugly buildings are probably due to the age of the buildings and the design for an over-populated city. The humid weather mixing with the polluted air is another factor why the building easily looks old and dirty. On the other hand, some people here care a lot about how people look at them. Brand name items are something people desire here although not everyone is like this. What should I say about this phenomenon?

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  4. @Kevin
    We're paying HKD 9,000 for a 1bedroom/1 bathroom. From what I've seen it really makes a big difference where you are and how big the apartment is.

    @anonymous
    Contracts & pay really depend on what you're doing. My bf & I are both in entertainment and there's a huge difference in our pay. This website might help -
    http://dimension.jobsdb.com/career/Default.asp?PID=2&AC=hkdl&EC=HKDL&GC=&LID=1&SP=2&HKB299552553892136

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  5. @Jessica
    The buildings only look ugly for people like me who are used to single houses that people try to make as beautiful on the outside as inside. In Hong Kong everyone lives in apartments and most of them all look the same - except the really expensive ones. I'm sure the weather & humidity play a huge part.

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  6. HKD 9000 is a very good deal for 1 bed/1 bath in HK. My husband and I used to live in NYC and we are paying more for rent in HK.

    I think it is really cool that you work at Disney, I have an annual pass. :)

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  7. We did a lot of looking around before we found our apartment. We saw plenty of even smaller places for more money. We never cared about being near all the expat communities so we're saving a fortune.

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  8. are you still living there??
    cause 9000 for 1 bed room and 1 bathroom is way too expensive!!
    is the shower room in ur room ??
    i got a friend who share an apartment with 2 of his friends, its with 2 rooms, a toilet with shower area, a livingroom and a kitchen, and its total 9000 sth per month.

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  9. Prices vary wildly depending on neighborhood. Even different buildings in the same neighborhood can have an enormous price difference.

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No hate, please. There's enough of that in the world already.