ZeroDefect

An overseas assignment is perceived with varying degrees of excitement – it may be exciting, saddening, worrysome, liberating, promising and any of the gerunds that you could probably associate with emotions. I was excited because this was my first ever assignment and sad because I was to be away from my family and would soon be stepping into a mysterious island. I was also worried because there is, surprisingly, very little information available for somebody moving from India to Hong Kong. Sure, there are innumerable guides and expats-exchange forums but almost all of these are good for a tourist. I was relocating here and wanted more comprehensive information than where to go and what to see. I set out to write this blog as a guide for someone from India moving to Hong Kong and I hope to make it as detailed as possible.

Before You Travel

A. What you pack obviously depends on how long you are planning to stay. However, there are a few essentials one must carry in order to ease in to the new city.

1. Ready-to-eat foods – MTR and Aashirvad have a range of ready to eat foods. Be sure to carry 10 to 12 packs of rice, subji and rotis. You could open the packs and leave out the cartons back in order to save a few grams on the baggage weight. Being a vegetarian can be quite a challenge in Hong Kong. More on where to eat in Hong Kong later….

2. Pickles, puliyogare paste, maggi noodles, soups, etc.

3. Home made delicacies – ask your mom or granny to prepare laddoos, mithais, khara etc… you will find that you might have to survive on these for the first few days unless you are ok with eating non-vegetarian or vegetarian food in a non-vegetarian restaurant.

B. It would be necessary to carry enough cash in the form of a cash card (Citi Bank has one of those international cash cards) and some currency notes (usually US dollar bills).

C. If you know your place of stay in Hong Kong, be sure to carry both the English and Chinese versions of the address, neatly printed in large bold letters on a piece of paper. Most taxi drivers understand basic English but may not comprehend your pronunciation.

D. I found the travellers packing list available at http://www.travellerspoint.com/packing-list.cfm to be quite helpful in packing my luggage. There is a link to download the list in Excel or Word at the bottom of the page. Take a print of this list and check against each item as you pack them.

E. The electricity in Hong Kong is transmitted at 230 V/50 Hz – the same as India. Electrical outlets in Hong Kong take a three-pronged plug. Make sure to buy an adapter for your electrical appliances before you leave India.

F. A good English-Mandarin-English dictionary with words written in Mandarin against their equivalent in English would be of help when you transact with street vendors and the locals. Though English is widely spoken, people generally tend to respond better when you at least make an attempt to converse in the local language.

The maximum luggage you can check in is 25 kgs if you are travelling by Economy class. Your hand baggage could weigh upto 8 kgs. If you are carrying a laptop, you could have that as an additional piece of hand baggage.

During Travel

As far as I know, there are no direct flights between India and Hong Kong. Be prepared to spend at least three to four hours in Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur airports depending on where your stop for transit. I had to spend 4 hours at the Kuala Lumpur airport. The place is wi-fied and there was no problem with the connectivity. There are a number of duty free shops that are open thru the night. There is also a Starbucks Cafe, a Burger King and other eateries. You could convert some of your money into the local currency if you plan on buying something or sipping a cup of coffee.

On Arrival

Hong Kong International Airport is one of the best airports in the world. The airport staff are very helpful and there are signs in English everywhere to help you with directions. The first thing to do on arrival is covert some of your money into Hong Kong Dollars. There are shops in the airport that sell SIM cards. Its a good idea to buy one of them – 3 Mobile or CSL – and insert it into your mobile just to give a call back home, informing your safe arrival. The cellular network in Hong Kong operates on quad-band GSM and if your mobile works in India, chances are that it works in HK too. Head next to the immigration counters and get your passport stamped. The process should not take more than five minutes and you should be speeding to the baggage claim counters. Be sure to check the counter number for your baggage on your way to the immigration counter to get to the right baggage claim belt.

There are various ways of commuting from the Hong Kong International Airport to your destination. You could take a bus or hire a taxi. But the easiest and cheapest option is to take the Airport Express – a train that runs from the airport to various parts of the city. Hong Kong has a very fast, clean and efficient railway system known as MTR (Mass Transport Railway). There is a MTR customer service counter right next to where you collect your baggage. Purchase an Octopus card by paying HKD 100 and refill it with HKD 200 for your journey. As you will know later, the Octopus card can be used at a lot of places in Hong Kong. You could push your trolley all the way to the station which is about a minute or two from the baggage counter. The Airport Express operates from 0550 to 0048 hours and there is a train which runs every twelve minutes. It takes 24 minutes to reach downtown Hong Kong. Click here for a detailed map of the MTR which also shows you the route the Airport Express takes.

You will hear announcements in English right from the time you step into the train informing you of the next arriving station and the names are displayed clearly in the screens inside the carriage as you arrive at each station. You will most probably get down at Kowloon or Hong Kong depending on where your hotel/apartment/guest house is. There would be taxis waiting just outside each of these stations to cover the distance between there and your destination. The drivers are very cooperative; they do not over charge and take you by the shortest route possible. There is no need to tip them.

In my second part, I will write about getting around in Hong Kong.