Product Description

Hong Kong has an unashamed reputation for hardcore materialism and freewheeling capitalism. But money is not the only reason that many people go there. Hong Kong offers a fantastic living and working experience.You may be a young single expat going there to work and play; or a couple with a young family needing to address safety, health and education issues on top of everyday living; or you are looking to put away savings for their retirement.Whatever your reasons for planning to live and work in Hong Kong, this comprehensive guide will tell you all you need to know to make the most of your time in this vibrant and challenging city. It is organised into three main sections: Living, Working, and Leisure, and each chapter includes up-to-date information, and well-informed opinion and comment. Quotes drawn from interviews with a broad cross-section of the expatriate community provide useful insights into life there, and invest the book with the colour and authenticity of personal experience.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59877 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 300 pages

Review
'Wright's guide will more than pay for itself in time saved.' South China Morning Post

From the Inside Flap
Sunday Morning Post, Sunday March 6, 2005

In the expat fantasy, every day is an adventure, and dealing with a new language and culture a joy. After living in Hong Kong for five years, Rachel Wright begins with a reality check for those tempted by exotic dreams and seemingly generous expat packages." Foreign talent and expertise is still in demand, but the extravagant salaries of the 1980s and 1990s are no longer common and many expats are now being offered local contracts."
On the cost of living "Life is not fun if you are living on the breadline, the pleasures of dining out, drinking and dancing don't come cheap. Singles should aim to earn $30,000 - $35,000 a month before tax to live in reasonable comfort." On accommodation, she says "If you don't want to live in an apartment don't come to Hong Kong."
With unrealistic expectations out of the way, she offers comprehensive advice to newcomers, covering everything from arriving at the airport to getting around, finding accommodation, socialising, finding schools, starting a business and traveling further afield.
"Driving" she says, is "reasonably safe", although there are frequent complaints about reckless drivers. She quotes Automotive magazine: "The common mistakes by Hong Kong drivers are related to signaling. The main one is turning with no signal. Next one is signaling without turning. Third is signaling half-way around the turn."
Wright is clearly a fan of the local lifestyle. She recommends Chinese restaurants for dining lower down the price chain, and praises the ubiquitous lunchbox: " They usually cost around $25 and are extremely good value and tasty." Mooncakes also get the thumbs-up:" A meal-in-a-cake, it's built like a fortress. Once you breach the heavy brown pastry walls and wade through the viscous melon paste, you are rewarded with the golden treasure-a hard boiled, salty egg yolk. Irresistible."
Wright urges taking care with cooked food or snacks from street stalls, and says that anyone who lives in Hong Kong for any length of time is bound to succumb to at least one bout of food poisoning.
There's advice for trailing spouses who may find it hard to settle. Getting involved in volunteer work is one solution. Another is to invest in your own personal development. One expat wife took courses in Pilates instruction and sports nutrition when she couldn't find work, and says that "Hong Kong is a great place to reinvent yourself."
Wright finishes with a candid chapter on sex in the city. Not all expat marriages survive the strain of "the rising executive in the oriental sweetie shop" syndrome, and spouses are advised not to spend long periods apart. The dating scene for expat women is limited, especially if they are not interested in Chinese men: Once you've cut out the local men, the gay men, the married men, the men only interested in Asian women, you've pared the field down quite a bit."
Although most new arrivals will figure this stuff out by themselves eventually, Wright's guide will pay for itself in the time saved.

About the Author
Rachel Wright lived and worked in Hong Kong for many years, and has also enjoyed living and working in Beijing. She has written on education and social issues for the South China Morning Post.

Customer Reviews

Living and Working in Hong Kong is a superb guide
This book is packed full of useful information in an easy to digest format and covers all aspects of living and working in Hong Kong; from where to shop, eat and visit, to places to live and work, even how to set up your own business there - in essence a complete guide book and expat 'encyclopaedia' rolled into one! It is THE most up-to-date guide, as it has just been published so all the information is current. The only Hong Kong guide to buy!

Excellent guide
I have found this guide really comprehensive and has so much in it. There is loads of 'insider knowledge'which has proved really useful. I would personally recommend it to anyone interested in visiting or moving to Hong Kong. I found it invaluable.

Fabulous Photos!!!
The first impression to this book is the fabulous photos, especially those taken by Stanley Ng. Those photo are hardly seen from other books describing Hong Kong. I am sure he is a real Hong Kong people which is able to discover the real Hong Kong image. Unlike photos from other guide books with non-Hongkong photographers producing general harbour views and skycrapers shots, of course this book includes such shots, but it also has some photos about fabulous natural landscape of HK which seems no people knows even the pilot guide doesn't!!! I was shocked by the photos esp. Lin Au village, Lung Yeuk Tau and Shing Mun Reservoir. You can never imagine such landscapes can appear in Hong Kong the "Asian World City". Those landscapes I even cannot find in HK Tourist Association's homepage!!! I think many people like me who never see that side of Hong Kong.