Life in Hong Kong

[Philip]

Hi guys,

haven't posted for a while. Have just got broadband internet installed at home.
So much has happened, I could write a book. Will probably post all in good time.
Synopsis first.

My wife is not here yet, but she should arrive on October 15th. I will meet her in Shenzhen, we will spend the weekend together and then come to Hong Kong. Because China doesn't want to let her go, and because Hong Kong doesn't particularly want her to come, she can only come on a 90 day tourist visa, while every other spouse from every other country can get a dependancy visa based on my working visa. Long story.

Hong Kong is hot and occasionally rainy. I commute to Kowloon every day from an apartment in Sai Kung (35 minutes by minibus and metro). My apartment has a view to die for over a beautiful bay. I am 2 minutes away from a beach where I can swim in the South China sea.

My new job is fantastic. I have a great class of 4 year-olds, who are bilingual in Cantonese and English and I co-teach with a Cantonese-speaking teacher.

The metro is the best in the world, fast, clean, cheap with air-con. Shopping isn't cheap like China, but is pretty good as long as you are not dependent upon dairy products. Swimming, canoeing, hiking, cycling, mountain-climbing, they are all minutes away from me.

So far, the only fly in the ointment has been the visa problems with my wife but we've got good at waiting, so we can endure. I did go and see her for a weekend in Changsha last month, which was great.
I am getting a 6-month multi-entry visa next week, so we can go back and forth to China whenever we want.
Regrets? Sorry, what did you say? I was distracted by the view. David E once said to me, 'Run Forrest, run', but I misunderstood his instruction. Instead of running away from my wife, I ran away with her. Whoops!

[Philip]

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[Philip]

some views from my apartment at different times of the day. [attachimg=1]

[Philip]

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[Philip]

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[RobertBfrom aust]

Great news Philip , and so close to a bikini beach , beaut photo's , will await the next installment , regards Sujuan and Robert .

[Paul Todd]

Good to hear from you Philip

Sounds a long way from London!!!! I'm pleased that everything is going well for you, I always liked HK. The visa situation is crazy but I'm sure you'll find your way round it! Best of luck 

[David E]

Believe me Forest...I am soooooo glad you ran the right way.

Does my heart good to be wrong in such happy circumstances.

Delighted for you both

Cheers....DavidE

[ttwjr32]

It sounds terrific for you with the exception of the visa issues. I hope that in the future
the two of you will be able to get that sorted out for the best.

and such terrific views from your apartment. best of luck with everything.

[Philip]

Thanks David and guys.
Hong Kong is strange. In some ways it is like the anti-China. People wait for the lights before they cross the road. They stub out their cigarettes in the ubiquitous cigarette bins. The law is the law here. There are also many British leftovers, not just driving on the left. Other things are very Chinese - eating habits and saving face. But it is remarkably easy to get used to this place. It is so unalien to me. I can't quite believe my daily commute is from a sleepy seaside village to thye most densely-populated city on earth.

[Arnold]

Your living 75% of a wonderful dream , just have to get the other 25% to Hong Kong . Your Wife .

I look at my HK calendar everyday and I miss that beautiful City .

[Scottish_Rob]

Breathtaking, simply breathtaking........

[Philip]

The estate agent who found my flat has a conspiracy theory that China and Hong Kong have a secret agreement to prevent Chinese prostitutes from flooding the clean streets of Hong Kong. At first, I didn't believe him. Now I'm starting to.

I came to Hong Kong convinced that my wife would be able to get a dependency visa based on my working visa. The Human Resources department at my school in Hong Kong told me it would just be a formality. But it is not true. For any other country in the world (apart from Afghanistan, Korea, Cuba and Mainland China), it would have been a formality. But I only found out when I arrived. The HRD have been useless and unsympathetic. They said they would find out for me when I expressed my worries, but they did nothing. I had to find out by asking other people. Turns out there are many people, even parents of children in my school, where the father has Hong Kong ID, so do the children, because they were born here, but the mother is from mainland China, she can only have a 90 day toursit visa. So every 90 days, she takes the kids out of school, usually in term-time, to go to China for a week and reapply. How long will they do this? For ever? I call the HRD inhuman resources. They have not apologized for their multiple errors, or shown any reget on my behalf.
So, my wife has been trying to get a 90 day visa. Last week, it seemed she wouldn't even get that. She has been dealing with a particularly unhelpful person at her local office, and, as we all know, she can't apply anywhere else. We were seriously considering living and commuting from Shenzhen, and after I had signed a year's contract on my Hong Kong flat.
In order for her to apply for the 90 day visa the local office needed a copy of my Hong Kong ID card and a return home certificate. I explained to my wife that no such thing exists in Britain. Britain couldn't care less if I ever return home. But I sent a copy of my working visa, which is for 12 months, then renewable.
Hong Kong does not want my wife to come. China does not want her to leave. But I want her to come and she wants to come, and we are both very determined people. So, finally, today, China caved in to my wife's constant questions and let her have the 90 day visa. I will visit her in Changsha in my school half-term on the 16th - we will stay in Changsha until the 24th, her birthday, when we will come together to Hong Kong. Well, barring any more problems.
Well, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

[shaun]

I am sorry to hear you are having such difficulty but that it appears you have SOME kind of solution.  I hope you will be able to work things out in time so that you and your wife do not have to deal with these kind of issues any more.

[Rhonald]

Its a tough haul when dealing with red tape and BureaucRats

My wife can only always get a 2 time entry visa thus my reason this time to do the more arduous route of Vancover, Beijing, Shenzhen. She gets to save one entry for after passing the interview in order to collect her visa. Of course having the government involved doesn't mean we will even pass this final hurdle.

I hope you get some sympathy from the government agency involved, but even having to reapply every 3 months gets to be tiring.