How long will you stay in HK?

[jane01]

Fee - you go girl, good on you.

Aussiegal - thanks for the Perth hints. My husband is 'from' Perth but hasn't lived there since he joined the airforce at 17 and has no friends left there ! We will both be starting from scratch. I just couldn't live in Sydney again. Loved it when I lived there. Visit now and hate it. I think it is mostly the traffic/transport system. It is ok if all your friends and family live in one area (eg. lower north shore, eastern suburbs, etc.), but awful if you want to travel and 'god forbid' want to visit someone in the western suburbs.

 

[bekyboo44]

I think there are plenty of expats in HK for whom HK is home.
I came to HK aged 11 (after a childhood spend overseas in other countries) and apart from a few years at Uni in the UK have not left HK since then and HK to me is 'home.' My family are here which I think makes a difference, so my son has at least one grandparent and his uncles here.

Leaving HK to me is leaving 'home,'- even going to the UK (where I am originally from) would be a huge upheaveal, culture shock etc.

However everytime we visit my husbands home country (he has only been in HK four years and still can't bring himself to call it 'home,') I do wonder sometimes if my son is missing out on having an 'outdoor life.' We live in DB and so there are opportunities for my son outside but it's still all a bit 'Hk' and man made; whereas in my husbands home country the outdoor life is fantastic and the whole country is so much more geared towards children and families etc.
I think also education wise there is a real lack of choice in HK.
But it would mean giving up financial benefits and future career opportunities- so it's trying to strike a balance between the two.

HK is definetly home however!

 

[Matty]

Don't think for a second that i am defending HK pollution.
It's just strange that the indexes dropped around the 10th anniversary and are now heading back up again.

You've got to admit, the last few weeks have been crystal clear( when not raining). We have a view from our apartment and it's eay to compare the daily changes.
The index is usually up around 80, and June was down around 14 in Central!
As soon as the anniversary passed it has started heading back up.

What did the govt do? Is this a conincidence, or did China Light and Power stop burning coal for a few weeks?
Why can't the Govt do more the rest of the time.?

 

[bekyboo44]

Hi Matty- agree pollution in HK is shocking but that there has been a diff. recently.

I know that there have been concerns from the intl. community about the horrendous pollution in Beijing and concerns about the athletes who will be there for the 2008 Olympics- so the Chinese govt. has introduced a number of plans to cut the pollution-

a). Reducing the number of cars on the rd, at the moment they are restricting the number of official cars that can be on the rd at any one time and they are considering plans to impose similar restrictions on private cars.
b). I believe they have also relocated a lot of factories etc. out of Beijing and its surrounding areas in the lead up to the Olympics, or ordered them to close!!!!

I'm not sure if measures to reduced pollution in Beijing would have an impact on us here......maybe not....