Park Island, Ma Wan, Hong Kong

I got this article below from a property magazine in HK called Square Foot. It was published in 2008. I have made some additions of my own ( in bold italics). Background In the early days, most Park Island purchasers were investors looking to make a quick profit, but today 90 percent are buying for their own use. The property market is still behind that of other parts of Hong Kong but it is moving up slowly. My observation is that this is as correct in 2010 as it was in 2008.    By way of an introduction, for those not familiar with it, Park Island Estate on Ma Wan is best described as Discovery Bay's baby brother. It has also been described as "Like DB but more Chinese" and "Like DB but classier and cleaner". Brought into being by Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd in 2002, it covers over 1.3 million square feet, and is now into its 31st phase. The final phase of apartments is due to be launched in Q1 or Q2 of 2011. After that, no further supply of apartments will be

Park Island is connected by an excellent modern highway that connects to the Hong Kong Airport on Lantau Island, and to Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. See below Park Island on Google maps: To get to Park Island, you can use public transport such as a buses or ferries. Private busses also drive to Park Island (eg for school groups, or tours visiting the Noah's Arc). And service vehicles are also allowed (eg for furniture and goods deliveries). Originally, as part of Park Island's eco-friendly clean air policy, taxis were banned from the island. However on 3 July 2008, the Goverment made changes to the policy and decided to allows taxis are now permitted to enter from 8pm to 7am in the morning. Any resident living on Park Island has the phone number of a "discount taxi" that offers 15-20% off normal rates. Park Island does have the space for private parking, and so there is often speculation as to when (or whether) private cars will be allowed on Ma Wan. Many Park I

For anyone considering buying property on Park Island, here is a website that the developer Sun Hung Kai used when they first launched the development. http://parkisland.com.hk/ The Park Island website shows the Park Island Club Houses, photos of views, information on transport to Park Island, and communmity actvities on Ma Wan island.

After my morning coffee, I went down to the beach, and had a sleep for an hour or so. Then I went for another swim. Then I went back to my apartment and did a few emails. Had pizza and a few beers for a late afternoon brunch/early dinner. Now chilling with a cold beer on my balcony. Here's a pic of the sun setting over the ocean: View of Hong Kong Ocean from Ma Wan Nice huh? In the distance you can see the ocean and the setting sun shining down. Then, closer to the  bottom of the picture you can see some shrimp farms, and at the bottom are the houses of the Ma Wan village (in that area you can go and eat nice local sea food). Have a great week ahead everyone! Good night from Park Island!

- Got up at 6am, and saw the sun slowly rising from my balcony. (No hangover from drinks the German Restaurant last night, thanks to good quality German dark beer). - Went for a beach run, a swim, and then a hike around the back of Ma Wan island. - Got back, showered, made a fruit smoothie and had some cereal. - The weather is perfect right now. Around 25 degrees is my guess, nice sunshine, and clear sky. I am about to go the cafe on the beach for a morning coffee, and to read the papar.

Still quite calm on park island, but a whole crane apparently was blown over on Tsing Yi, whcih is very close to here. I saw some clips on the news. Amazing how wind can do that.

A typhoon is heading towards Hong Kong, and so this will be my first typhoon on Park Island. The building here seem very solid and well constucted, but still it will be interesting to see how windy it really gets here. In each building lobby, the security guards put up signs warning about the typhoon. It was a level 1, now its a 3. Apparently it will hit a level 8 by tonight (or Signal 8 typhoon as the local people refer to it as). I will be watching from my window. Much of Hong Kong closes when we have a typhoon, but I think all the facilities on park island will be kept open (expect perhaps for the outdoor pools - lucky we still have indoor pools we can use!) Here is a link where you can get Hong Kong typhoon updates: http://www.hko.gov.hk/contente.htm  and you can track the typhoon's progress here: http://www.hko.gov.hk/wxinfo/currwx/tc_pos.htm