Hong Kong - One of the Most Expensive Cities in the World - or is it?

One of Several Rolls Royce limos wandering Macau's casinos. I waited the extra minute with hopes of landing a sugar momma - hey I'm still single and I don't mind being a kept man.



Down to the Hong Kong stuff:

You often read lists of the most expensive cities - Tokyo, New York, Vancouver, Hong Kong, London etc.

Hong Kong is expensive largely because of the housing costs. The government subsidizes my housing giving me about $1700 per month (after tax) while my rent is $1500. You could of course pay such rents in Vancouver but you probably get a larger apartment than my 618 square feet. I do have nice views and my gym/clubhouse is included. You can get nice decent apartments here for $1000 a month (450 square feet) which is bigger than it sounds but is still small compared to the Canada. Locals living here are also subsidized if they don't earn much - their rents can be as low as $300 a month. But I can't imagine a family of 4 living in these places - but they do.

Setting that aside I decided to run down the costs for average items - there is no sales tax here. Salaries are taxed at a flat 15% which rises to 17% if you make a ridiculous sum of money. There is no tax on low income earners. The pension plan is interesting. I pay 5% of my salary and the government kicks in 5%. When a person retires they give you a lump sum payment of the total amount. Now the 10% that is going into the pension scheme you get to choose to distribute into various high interest high risk or lower interest lower risk schemes. However that big lump sum payment you get when you retire you have to live on for the rest of your life. So save wisely or don't live to 104.

Some prices

Vegetables
About 1/2 to 1/4 what they are in Canada
6 middle sized banana would be about .80 to $1.20
Celery (typical bundle) 0.75
Kiwi (.25 each)
Tomatoes (.25 each for bigger ones)
Romaine Lettuce $1.50 for 2-3

Fast food/junk food/coffee
Big Mac set (med fries/Med drink) $2.50
Pizza Hut supreme ($20 for a Medium - $30 for 2) The cheese I suspect drives the price up
Can of Coke ( .60 -.75 in 7/11)
Starbucks (Americano $3.50 Grande)
Frappuccino ($4.00 - $4.50 Grande)
Starbucks coffee 1lb $22 - $24
Pringles potato chips ($1.50 for the big size)
Godiva chocolates (INSANE - $25 for about 8 pieces) - It's not even that great. Makes me want to buy a Purdy's franchise and open it here - better chocolate by a mile and way cheaper. Even importing it shouldn't drive the price up this much.

Meat is about the same
Salmon (filet $6.00 ) no deal here
Chicken (depends where it's from - can be as low as $2 for 6 boneless skinless pieces)
Bacon $5-$6 for half what you would get in Canada - but the quality is higher - less fat more meat so...
Beef is about the same but not quite as good as Canada - there is Australian beef but it costs more. But it's in the ballpark.

Bread is the same - varies from .80 for white bread (but half a Canadian loaf) to $2 for Multi-grain - but they don't sell the really nice breads here (or I have not found it yet).

Bagels - 4 blueberry $3 (but unlike in Canada they use REAL blueberries in the bagels not the blue sugar candy pretending to be blueberries like Save-On sells).

Cereal
Kellogg's Corn flakes - $2 for a medium sized box (here it is a large box as they don't sell those massive family sizes)
Weetabix $3
Muselix (import from England) $6-7 for 1kg (non brand name $5)
Quaker oatmeal box of 12 ($4)
Eggs ($2.50 to $5 for 12 - depends a bit on organic/brown and size - similar to Canada)

Dairy (eesh)
Cheese (double what it is in Canada)
Milk ($3.50 1 litre) for fresh Milk - and it doesn't taste as good
Cream $4 for SoyMilk cream for coffee - 500ml
Half and half is impossible to find - I get a coffee and mcDonalds and ask for 3-4 half and halfs so I take them home for my coffee - The soy stuff just doesn't quite taste as good.
Yogurt is the same as Canada but for smaller portions.
Ice-cream - $4.50 for 2 litres of Neapolitan ice cream
Hagen-Daaz $8 for 500ml

Classico pasta sauce $3
V8 1.8 Litre $3.80

Typical bottle of wine $6-8 (Australia Yellow Tail)

If you eat vegetables, fruits, pork, chicken, and fish (that isn't salmon) you will save. And many of the Chinese food items and noodles are inexpensive. If you eat dairy or western foods you pay more. Everything is imported here but the prices are not outlandish. Similar to Vancouver.

Other items

Cell Phone - my phone - albeit a cheap Nokia with no camera was $25. $12 pay as you go lasts me 3 months - And that receiving several phone calls from Canada for 45 minutes to an hour numerous texts and phone calls here anytime. And I still have $6 left. In other words dirt cheap.

Cable TV/High Speed Internet/HBO - 6 channels 2 in HD/National Geographic/History/Scyfy network - combined is $30 a month.

Water bill - 3 months - $1.20 (I mean why even bother sending me the bill - the paper work has to cost more)

Electricity is about $30 a month but I should imagine this goes way up in the summer so we'll see)

Gas bill is about $25 for 2 months. Gas is used to heat the water for a hot shower and for cooking.

Mailing a letter to Canada/US is less than .50. It would be about .25 in Hong Kong

Taxis about 1/10 the price of Canada.

Buses are about .50 cents anytime.
MTR train $1.50 each way pretty much anywhere.

There is a quarterly government tax/bill on the apartment that the landlord has to pay - just under $100. So perhaps $350 a year.

To buy this apartment would run close to $370,000 Canadian ($2.9 million HKD - asking price) - foreigners have to come up with virtually the entire amount in cash I believe so yikes.

TVs and appliances are about the same price - Laptops are about the same price - There is a computer market that sells for a bit less but buy at your own risk. Cameras seems to be the same price. You do save by not paying tax but that's about all you save.

Some more photos
They need to put these signs up in Wenzhou, China. But I am impressed with how clean Hong Kong is considering the amount of people. They make an effort to clean all the time. There are attendants in all the public washrooms that are standing around cleaning sinks and stalls almost all the time.
Chinese New Year golden money tree from what I can tell. Money may not grow on trees but Gold Coins do.

Many people have asked the question - "What is Love? " Well Hong Kong has the answer

That's right. Time is Love. Maybe it doesn't translate.

Because there aren't enough billboards, posters, commercials and watch stores - just in case you missed the endless onslaught to buy a watch - here is a nice cable car in pink to remind you that you need to buy a watch. I refuse - I bought 5 watches for $12 total - 4 of them have failed. My favorite one is still hanging on - I refuse to succumb to the watch ads. From Swatch to Seiko ro Rolex to Omega to the truly insane Breitling (a watch maker for Bentley car owners) and Patek Philippe to who knows what else - they're everywhere.

I did some digging on the watch insanity. Apparently they're used to bribe people without a traceable cash flow. A businessman will spend $50,000US on a watch. Then when he wants to sway a purchasing agent from some company to buy his product he simply gives the guy his watch. Nice little business. No cash is changing hands. How true this is - I don't know but it makes some sense.

How to Train Your Dragons

Well the rumour going around is that teachers here in Hong Kong will be getting a raise. Apparently they give civil servants a cost of living increase combined with some sort of private sector calculation - if the private sector shows an increase the public sector is given one as well to keep parity. Seems like a nice system but I won't count the Dragons until they hatch.

Chinese New Year is probably the biggest holiday here and some stores actually shut down. Not the bigger stores mind you. Apparently, the rents are so high that they can't close for more than a day or two.

The people were everywhere. Hong Kong is a busy place - with a population of 7 million and an area that only takes about 2.5 hours to drive from one end to the other there are not a lot of instances where you can look 360 without seeing a person. Chinese New Years seems to double the population? See the following picture.

Granted this is in the heart of the city near Victoria Park. Ahead is the park where there is a flower market and toys and balloons for the kids. The fair area had about 3 times the number of people packed together. So my advice - stay home. The mainland Chinese visit Hong Kong on holidays which accounts for the numbers.

To be fair this area was about three minutes walk away and was not crowded. One fellow brought his remote powered toy boat and was racing it around to the delight of the kids - and me - a big kid.

There really is nature here in Hong Kong - it reminds me of a very very crowded Vancouver. Vancouver is a ghost town in comparison.

This is the park near my house and these tangerine trees are everywhere. You can buy them for your house but I didn't this year. Next year I will - they come in all sorts of sizes and they're only about $25-$30. And yes you can eat them.

Over the holiday - which is 10 days - I went to Macau. Macau is the gambling capitol of the world. They take in more money that Las Vegas. It's not as big or as grand to look at but the money going through here is incredible. I saw guys at the cash counters putting stacks of cash while their employee was holding the bag as the placed tens of thousands of dollars into the bag. Slot machines that would be over $1,000US per spin.

I spent 5 hours playing the slots and lost about $20 - so I can live with that.

The Sands hotel and casino. I didn't care for this place too much. Not as friendly to someone on my tax bracket.

The MGM was brighter and nicer inside and the food in their restaurants was reasonably priced and quite good.


Inside the MGM casino for the Year of the Dragon.

Below the dragon is a garden maze for people to walk through. I naturally thought of Jack Nicholson carrying an axe.

Christmas in Hong Kong

The big central mall Christmas centerpiece.

Christmas came and went and you would not have known it was Christmas Day - nothing closed. I mean nothing. The malls were open all the shops were open. There were Christmas Day sales. No one takes a day off. Oh well.

Here are some Holiday shots around Hong Kong

My local mall put up this display - a Robotic Santa and his robot snowman elves - I dunno - it is very work oriented but I suppose he would need flying cars and a massive workforce - I hope they have a good union - doubtful.

Not to be left out.

I went up to Victoria Peak. Had a nice chat with some American teachers. One is a High School Principal and his wife a University professor. Both can make more and have less stress teaching in Hong Kong - so they are considering the move. Met a nice couple from Ireland up here as well. Took the double decker up the mountain and the very steep tram ride down.

A popular restaurant at the Peak is the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant. Prices seemed quite reasonable and they have their own gift shop next door where you can buy Gump hats and shirts or glasses. Hong Kong is liiiiiiike a booox of chooocolates when you walk around you nevah knooow what youer gonna get.

Ocean Park

One of the big attractions in Hong Kong is Disney Land - err no - just kidding - yes there is a Disney Land but if you have been to the others you will be sorely disappointed by the one here. Fortunately, for about the same price $35Cad or $100 for a year pass there is Ocean Park. Big rides for the teens and Dolphin shows, and sea-life and panda and parrot centers. And the food isn't outrageous. The cable cars for me is worth the whole price of entry. Try to go on non Mainland China holiday days and before 11:am as they come to Ocean Park for vacation and it gets insanely busy. They do not understand Hong Kong systems of cuing and waiting your turn so while the line is roped off everyone pushes and shoves to get that one spot ahead. I am reminded of the drivers in Wenzhou except the people want to fit 9 in a space that is fit for only 2.

Still there is lots of space when not trying to line-up for anything so you'll be fine - and oddly some of the rides had very little wait times - Perhaps because there is no lesson to be taught to your 4 year old when on a ride but you can teach kids about Pandas and Sharks. No time for idle chit chat and fun when one has to get their 4 year old into the prestigious school of KinderBrainiacCollege institute. I am amazed more 12 year olds in Asia aren't taking ulcer medication - maybe they are and it's the secret ingredient in Milk Tea.

Anyway - here are some photos

From the cable car going up to the rides at the top of the mountain. The ocean part of the park is at the bottom.

A view of a couple of the rides - the one on the left is that ride that goes up and then drops really fast. Don't eat the churro until after you go on this ride.


Towards dusk and from the other side of the mountain top - another roller coaster on the left that juts over the ocean - don't look down. Oh wait - I looked down - eesh - why did I do that?

An advertisement in the subway. Yes if you don't have a 3D bust you need Bust Medicare.

This one is not Ocean Park. This mountain is right by my place - about a 45 minute hike up the mountain behind my building. This is the Tsing Ma bridge - yes it's bigger than the Golden Gate Bridge. It's the longest suspension bridge in the world.

Food...

So the Food in Hong Kong can be terrific. Aside from the Indian restaurant I already mentioned there is food here for every desire and budget.

This is a lovely Lobster Bisque Soup with puffed pastry keeping it warm - beats crackers. This soup followed by a main course (lobster/shrimp pasta or rice - or regular meat pasta) along with a salad and very nice coffee is under $10. It's really hard not to want to eat out all the time.


The local Thai restaurant serves this seafood dish with prawns, squid, mussels and shrimp in a coconut baked coconut. They have a big pineapple one with Thai rice raisins and chicken.


Just another view from the seawall by my place. The buildings are right on top of the Tsing Yi subway (MTR) station and three floor shopping center. The food above comes from restaurants in this mall. I am getting hungry as I type this so I might keep this short.

Unlike Wenzhou, China - there are rules here to keep the parks clean and kept well. I have actually seen the odd police officer around so someone is on duty to actually follow through. And the parks are clean and tidy. They have separate "pet" lanes around to let them do their business and you have to carry the little bags if you own dogs here.

The British Taxi-Cab pimped out. This was just an older fellow dropping off his wife (presumably). You never know what you will see from day to day here - so carry a camera at all times.

The Typical Day...

So what about the job?

So far the teaching job is going well. I leave my flat at 7:30 and arrive at school about 7:40. At 8:00 a song is played for about 5 minutes about love and starting a new day in a soft elevator muzak way that makes me think of "A Clockwork Orange" (I don't know why).

All the students line up in their designated locations based on their home room. The school Priest usually walks them through a morning prayer (usually on Mondays) and the kids give that criss cross amen at the end - they're forced to do this whether they are Catholic or not. Then the principal or another teacher will give them some sort of message. The kids stand at attention (more or less) for about 15-20 minutes. I have two strong English students who translate this for me. Sometimes I wonder if I'd rather them not - sometimes it's nice not to know what is going on so I can get surprised - like when I am sitting in my class wondering when my students will arrive - oh wait they are having an assembly? Oh okay there goes that lesson. Ha - I love the surprises.

8:30 classes begin. 40 minutes for each block. There are three 40 minute blocks before recess. Recess is 20 minutes. Then three more 40 minute blocks before lunch. Then three more 40 minute blocks after lunch. School ends at 3:40. I teach 5 blocks on Monday and Friday, 6 on Tuesday and Thursday and 7 on Wednesday. So I get at least 80 minutes of prep time each day.

Except...there are no substitute teachers here. If a teacher is sick other teachers have to pick up the block. Usually I have to sub a block on Monday. But it is different here. In Canada a sub is expected to cover the day's material. In Hong Kong you basically sit at the desk and let the kids talk or go to sleep. If the teacher is away the kids get a day to do nothing. I talk to them and give them some English conversation.

Fridays are shorter. The blocks are 35 minutes and the day starts at 9:05. I'd rather get off earlier than start the day later but so be it. Usually there is an assembly from 3-3:45.

Each class after a break is cut short. At the end of recess - a song is played the students line up and teachers stand at the microphone and give the student body more info. Then the teacher leads his/her students to the classroom. This also happens after Lunch. A lot of lining up and follow the leader. This happens more at my school because it is a band 3 school and we get more thugs. It's meant for discipline and consistent routine which makes sense. They need continual reminding of what is happening through the day. My 80 minute double blocks are usually 70 minutes by the time they get to class and books open. So be it.

Teachers are all expected to do extra-curricular activities - it is not a choice. You get some choice as to what you want to do but you have to do it. I am teaching choral speaking for a competition in November. Students are expected to show up and memorize a poem. The best students were hand picked for me - 42 students. 11 show up and only 3 pay any attention. Usually these things kids sign up and want to do. Here they're forced to do it. They have to come at Lunch time from 1:25 - 1:45. Usually the ones who come get there at 1:35. So ten minutes of practice! Oh well. the other teachers simply tell me not to panic that this is what all the schools are like. Still teachers will know how I feel. You have your class on stage to present a poem to an audience and you only get 1/4 of the students showing up to practice. At least with Drama - you generally get students who WANT to take drama. What's worse I am told is that many of them won't even show up on the day of the event. Oh well.

Classroom discipline is not really a problem in the violence department but most classes are noisy as kids talk throughout the lessons - they do this to their Chinese teachers as well. You don't send kids to the VP for discipline but a discipline teacher. One teacher is assigned to be the discipline teacher for given age group of students. You let them do the discipline/punishment for you. There is no punishment of course - just like in Canada/US/UK. I give them lines - at least they get some writing practice since they do nothing in the class. I give them the lines at the end of the day.

Still in general they're docile compared to the schools on the north island. No giant infants to deal with on a daily basis. Here I see one class for 80 minutes once per week. So a bad class or two I can handle since I am not seeing them daily. Unfortunately, the great classes I want to do more with and can actually teach some English to, I only see them once a week as well.

Teaching staff is easy to get along with and they've been nice to me.

Some more pictures

At the immigration center - this is presumably an immigration officer to avoid the lines. Skynet is real - just give it time.

The field near my place. To the left out of view is the high jump and long jump. My school will be here for their sports day on November 11 and 14th. I am running High Jump. I hate it when they give me the one kids can get seriously hurt doing. Why can't I get badminton? Figures.

Those massive apartment buildings are right on top of the MTR (subway) station and a 3 story shopping mall. All of this is about 6 minutes from my flat. Between the field and the MTR there is a big swimming pool.

Yes they were protesting here as well. New York was not alone. You can't see it too well but all the people are looking at other protesters in the distance. Lots of camera crews and Police just standing around. This is the difference between Hong Kong and China.

This is a daytime view out my bedroom window. Nina Tower is at far left. The bridge carries cars and the MTR train I can take to central Hong Kong or to the Airport. I am pretty much in the middle. People are out fishing in the water here and they're still alive. It actually looks not too bad. Air pollution is still so-so. There are 7 million people in Hong Kong which will create pollution but it's better than cities in Mainland China or places like Bangkok or Manilla. But not as good as Vancouver or Fukuoka. This photo is on a good day. Today it was considerably more yellowy but you can see the mountains. In Wenzhou most of the time you would not be able to see across the water.

Okay - I'm a guy. A couch and a TV. Give me time. I am going to get a giant plant to put by the window. I need a chair beside the couch so I can swivel the TV strait on. Still waiting for my next payment so I can afford stuff. I finally have my black leather couch. It is so comfy - It beats my bed in Canada.

The New Place

Moved into my new place October 6th. Bought furniture and the guys came and delivered the bed, put it all together in about 12 minutes - accepted no tip and left. Love it.

To the left is my dining room area - small but large enough for 4 chairs. It would be a good area for a stereo as well as it has corners. Where is Audio Note in Hong Kong? (hi-fi friends will get it). The right is my living room looks a bit larger than this photo. Straight ahead is my bedroom and second bedroom on the right, with the bathroom on the left. kitchen is behind me to the left. The ceilings are all nice and high maybe 11 feet.

To my Wenzhou teaching friends - look closely. Yes that is a Mattress! You can get them in Hong Kong. Sure beats the box spring we had to sleep on in Wenzhou. And it's very comfy. I lie back in bed and look out the window to see the boats going by, the MTR and airport express trains going by and of course the famous Nina Tower which has a lot of back story of intrigue behind it.

From my bedroom window with head on pillow. The Nina Tower with light display goes until about 11pm and then it's normal lighting after that. The colours change often with various designs.

My bathroom - it's so nice to have space. to the right is a full size bathtub. Yes yes put the toilet seat down - I know I know.

This is a view from the elevator. There are two elevators. This one is from the promenade to the second floor which takes you to the 6 apartment buildings. You then walk to your building where you take a normal non view lift to your floor. There is a faster route but I like this one.

GYM
To my P.E. Teacher friends. You would love the included Gym facilities. Yes it's free and so I have no excuse not to go. There are 11 nautilus machines, 5 treadmills, 6 stair masters, a rowing machine and 2 bikes. And full free weight sets up to about 200kg all look practically brand new and I believe we get a free trainer.

What else is part of the club. A games room for young children to play in with their parents that is really quite nice. A full size large air-hockey table and those quarter rides for kids. A study room, a gym that has 2 volleyball courts shared with basketball courts and fully padded walls (good for when I finally go off the beam), a squash court, sauna (free), billiards room and outside picnic tables with chessboards layouts imprinted into the table. There is also a lounge with newspapers to read or just relax. There is a fee to rent the squash courts and other rooms which is fair enough since people would book it and not show up. The fee is $10HKD which is $1.25 for half hour on the squash court. Can't really complain about that. The swimming pool is $10HKD and $30HKD for guests.

The pool is closed for the season because it's too cold. I have to laugh - it seems like a Vancouver summer here and it's too cold? Oh well it opens back up in March or April.

Also, for my PE teacher friends. Just outside my building is an outdoor mini-track with exercise bars and instructions on what to do. Within 5 minutes walk from my building is a football field and full track with long jump facilities in premium condition and stands. There is a public swimming pool right beside it with twisty water slides. The mini-track outside heads right into the stadium with the big track. Not far from all of this is a large outdoor tennis facility with about 12-15 tennis courts which are all in immaculate condition. It's nice when you don't have a bunch of people that make it their business to destroy public property because it's "fun."

And Tsing Yi MTR station is about 8 min walk from my place. This station is home to Maritime Square shopping mall with around 200 shops and is one of the bigger shopping malls. It has a full movie theater and of course Starbucks.

I shall take some pictures for a future blog but you can google "Tsing Yi" for better pictures of the area. My building is right on the promenade.