Moving to Hong Kong, where to live?
I received the following email from someone moving to Hong Kong and wondering were to live. My response is posted below (personal details removed).
If readers of the Park Island Blog want to post a comment (either on the initial email enquiry, or on my response, feel free to do so!)
Hi, I will be moving to Hong Kong some time next month. I've just started looking for accommodation and trying to speak to people who have experience of living in Hong Kong.
We're a small family - myself, my wife and our 3 months old baby girl. Not quite into the city night life to be honest. So we prefer to live away from hustle bustle in a community setting where we will hopefully make family friends. I really don't mind 30-40 mins of commute each way. Office is in Olympic MTR area. First 3 months, however, I'll work in Central.
Your blog provided a lot of good info on Park Island. I am hoping to get your views on how you think the construction quality and facilities in PI compare to estates in Tung Chung or Discovery Bay? Apparently, "every" estate has "tremendous" club facilities and is "very accessible"....... and that's where I think some comparative view will be better. Look forward to your views.
[name and email deleted]
Reply from the Park Island Blogger:
Hi - the construction standard in Park Island is excellent - probably in the top 5% in terms of quality of Hong Kong.
Given what you are after in terms of location, lifestyle and your daughter Park Island really would be perfect.
DB is similar, but older, more expensive and more Western ex-pats. DB has around 50% Westerners, PI around 15% (but growing).
Facilities on PI are AWESOME. No matter what block you are in, you get to use all the facilities - 5 pools, 2 gyms, 3 child play rooms, etc, etc. DB does not compare in terms of facilities.
In terms of transport to Central, is faster from PI, and PI also has road access for busses/cars/airport shuttle (DB does not).
And PI is way cheaper than DB.
Do let me know Ali if you have any more questions.
The Park Island Blogger
If readers of the Park Island Blog want to post a comment (either on the initial email enquiry, or on my response, feel free to do so!)
Hi, I will be moving to Hong Kong some time next month. I've just started looking for accommodation and trying to speak to people who have experience of living in Hong Kong.
We're a small family - myself, my wife and our 3 months old baby girl. Not quite into the city night life to be honest. So we prefer to live away from hustle bustle in a community setting where we will hopefully make family friends. I really don't mind 30-40 mins of commute each way. Office is in Olympic MTR area. First 3 months, however, I'll work in Central.
Your blog provided a lot of good info on Park Island. I am hoping to get your views on how you think the construction quality and facilities in PI compare to estates in Tung Chung or Discovery Bay? Apparently, "every" estate has "tremendous" club facilities and is "very accessible"....... and that's where I think some comparative view will be better. Look forward to your views.
[name and email deleted]
Reply from the Park Island Blogger:
Hi - the construction standard in Park Island is excellent - probably in the top 5% in terms of quality of Hong Kong.
Given what you are after in terms of location, lifestyle and your daughter Park Island really would be perfect.
DB is similar, but older, more expensive and more Western ex-pats. DB has around 50% Westerners, PI around 15% (but growing).
Facilities on PI are AWESOME. No matter what block you are in, you get to use all the facilities - 5 pools, 2 gyms, 3 child play rooms, etc, etc. DB does not compare in terms of facilities.
In terms of transport to Central, is faster from PI, and PI also has road access for busses/cars/airport shuttle (DB does not).
And PI is way cheaper than DB.
Do let me know Ali if you have any more questions.
The Park Island Blogger
100% agree with your comments. Park Island has the edge over DB for sure, in terms of quality and shear livability.
ReplyDeleteTake note that under emergency you might be isotated ... there is a car restriction in ma wan island (there is not only PI ).
ReplyDelete. no private car.
. limited access to taxi (only late evening and overnight )
Public emergency vehicles (ambulance ...) can come ... need quite some time though.
Local transportation bus and ferry dont entertain emergency.
Park island management services has some registered cars to drive emergency ... yet they are not guaranteed. i am not aware that Village houses has such service.
Under typhoon transportation is delayed but still can go through
cheers
Just to clarify, the taxi service has now been relaxed. Taxi access is now permitted every weekday, from 10am to 7am (ie only 7am-10am are taxi drivers barred, presumably to encourage use of public transport).
DeleteFor emergencies, there is both a fire station and a police station on the island.
As for ambulances, I have known a number of women who were pregnant on Park Island and called an ambulance when they started to give birth. Ambulances came within 5-8 minutes, and the nearest hospital is around 10 minutes away). I an remember the name - Queen Mary Hospital or Princess Margaret perhaps?
Aside my earlier comment on emergency transportation, park island is great with toddlers and childs. Wide areas are car free. Great for walking cycling. several playgrounds (indoor or outdoor ) with plenty games. swimming pools. sports areas (real bowling, squash volley ... plenty tennis ...
ReplyDeleteThe village area has also some playgrounds walking path, beaches . small hills for walks (say in 3 hours you do the round of the island ).
Quite a number of restaurants.
And still a feeling of country side . village.
Agree with the above comments. Build quality is far superior than those of other developers. Commuting time fits well within your estimates. Less than half an hour to Central and even less to Olympic MTR station. Ideal for young family also.
ReplyDeleteWe took a look at Park Island after first hearing about it on GeoExpat.com in the moving to HK section, and then also exploring the information about Park Island on this blog. After seeing a number of places in HK Park Island is without the best choice for us and I think for anyone who wants to live a quality life at a reasonable and affordable cost in Hong Kong. Thank you so much for all the helpful comments and photos on this website.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear Angela. I am sure you will enjoying living on Park Island. Please do feel free to let us know how you are getting on.
DeleteThe nearest hospitals to Ma Wan Island are Yan Chai Hospital in Tsuen Wan, Kwai Chung hospital and Princess Margaret hospital, all are about 15 minutes away.
ReplyDeletedear PI blogger, good job on the blog! :) i was wondering if you've blogged about schools in/near PI. my son will be attending kindergarten (first year) from next month and if we'll be buying our second property next year, the first priority would be the school network so appreciate if you could kindly point me to the right direction or even better - blog about it, if you already haven't done so.
ReplyDeletecheers!
Park Island is indeed a wonderful place to live. The typhoon brought down a number of trees which shows that Park Island has quite a few trees within the vicinity to make the place greener and more livable.
ReplyDeleteFROM MIDLEVELS TO PARK ISLAND?
ReplyDeleteHi, I've been following the posts on this blogspot for a couple of weeks and its extremely informative. We're a family with 2 young kids who've been living in mid-levels for the past 3 years. We're seriously contemplating a move to Park Island given the obvious benefits of space + facilities for kids. Would love to hear your views on the below:
1. For those people/couples working in Central, how inconvenient/ expensive is the daily commute to/from Park Island?
2. Is there a long queue for the shuttle buses to Tsing Yi MTR during peak hours?
3. Other than the Tsing Yi ESF Kindergarten, what other preschool options are there? Is it as competitive as mid-levels/peak to secure a place for your kid?
Thanks in advance for any tips/advice :)
Hi again,
ReplyDeleteNot sure if my last post went through, so thought I'd drop in another quick note. I'm looking for any words of advice for an expat family with 2 young kids looking to move from mid-levels to Park Island. Our concerns are around the commute time to Central (since we both work there) plus preschool options for our little girl.
Cheers :)
Hi, Daily commute by ferry is $18.8 per journey for residents. Kids go half price. Ferry is very convenient, peak hour ferry leaves every 15 minutes (Every 20 minutes in the evening from Central). Bus at peak hour would be busy but they put on extra service when full (especially if you get on at the 2nd or 3rd stop)so the waiting time would be limited.
ReplyDeleteFor kndergarten, there is a Creative Kindergarten in Park Island. One expat teacher I understand but as Sophia said earlier there is ESF at Tsing Yi.
For facilities there are plenty. They are reputed to be very well maintained. To my pleasant surprise, I was turned away from using the Blue Blue pool on Monday morning for deep cleaning. They certainly keep it clean.
ReplyDeleteReport from estate agent said that the Park Island transaction volume for July was very good, beating many well established and larger housing estates. The start of August also looking promising. A lot of new rental deals including those from ex-pats. Reasons quoted were all of the above.
ReplyDeletewhat are prices for appt like ? i.e. 2 Bedroom 500 square foot ?
ReplyDeletehow long is the commute to Tsing Yi via bus ?
am considering Ma Wan now
We have just signed our tenancy agreement today for Park Island woohoo!! We looked at DB and Bramaer Hill, Grand promenade,Tung Chung Kowloon Tong, TST and quite a few others and none compared to PI in terms of lifestyle, apartment build and apartment value for money.
ReplyDeleteWe have the most fabulous 4 bedroom fully furnished penthouse with a huge roof terrace overlooking the south china sea for about the same as an unfurnished 3 bedroom apartment with not such good views elsewhere. Lovely landlord too!
The facilities are just tremendous, I though Caribbean Club in Tung Chung was good until I seen Blue Blue and Chic Chic(saving Green Green for another time!). The whole place is really clean and beautifully landscaped and it just has a good vibe.
We have 2 daughters, one starts Discovery College tommorrow- the other still has no place but we are waitlisted in several schools so fingers crossed! She is only 6 so its not a big issue.
In summary having looked at many, many places and none come close to what Park Island offers and I am looking forward very much to moving there!
Park island is an excellent choice for a person moving to hong kong. We started on Sai Kung but after we visited park island to dine with friends there we shortly thereafter decided to break our lease. Is super comfortable, clean, quiet, private beach and great free facilities. I would say world class living standard here, and ideal for HK.
ReplyDeleteHaiko,
ReplyDeleteThe prices for 500 sq ft apartment should be around $3m. Check with websites of centaline or midland realty.
The bus ride to Tsing Yi is about 10 mins, a couple of minutes longer to Kwai Fong and Tsuen Wan.
As a PI resdent here myself I feel fro direct experience that Park Island is for HK a really nice place for anyone who really values things like quality living, lack of air pollution and no cars and traffic but who still wants all the convienience of supermarket and facilities.
ReplyDeleteNo place in HK is perfect, and neither is Park Island, but all things taken into account we are exteremly happy here and we did look extensively before deciding if best suited our living circumstances. Presently we are a couple, with a kitten, and possible an infant on the horizon so for us this life is ideal. We can earn a good living in HK, save, live very nicely and have a relaxed healthy lifestyle. Central and other parts of HK are very accessible as whilst its an island, we actually have a bridge, busses, shuttle and ferry access.
It's great to see all the comments here Pfrom ark Island Blog readers. Please keep your comments coming! Any discussion or comments related to Park Island are most welcome.
ReplyDeleteSo we finally went and looked at PI over the weekend and we were plesently suprised. Very clean, well disigned, and very livable. Transport remains our one doubt, but we actually found the ferry trip very quick and we know the bus connection and taxi access works well also. As everyone says, the facilities are great, and the absence of car traffic and greenery is a very welcome change from most parks of HK. With the market for property in HK starting to heat and and showing no sign of slowing we think Park Island is going to be a good investment for us as well as actually a place to live. We are not 100% certain, but very likely to make the move depending one what prices we can get a 3 brm place at. Keep up your blog by the way, as it encouraged us to come take a look at Park Islnd in the first place.
ReplyDeleteNo amount of words can beat witnessing for yourself the place, convenience, general maintenance and facilities. The management company is also promoting healthy living by recommending a jogging track (see sign post on trees on the promenade). While the place is well maintained, the management fees have not been raised for years which is a good sign of good financial management as well as good service.
ReplyDelete3 bedroom units would keep its value since there is relatively short supply at Park Island.
You really need to be acquainted on the place first if you plan on moving to Hong Kong. Thanks a lot for the information that you have shared.
ReplyDelete