Living in Hong Kong

If you intend to live in Hong Kong even for a week, here are some things to make life easier.

1) Get maps: Buy a street directory, or use an online map service like Centamap to show you the way around Hong Kong.

2) Get a prepaid phone card: If you need to call back to your home country, consider the People's IDD Talk Prepaid card. Phone charges are cheap in Hong Kong.

3) Get a Octopus card: This is very useful for travel on the MTR and public transport. You can keep it for your next visit to Hong Kong or refund it 3 months later at no charge.


4) Open a bank account: Open a HSBC Hong Kong dollar savings account and select the "Easy Savers" option. This will exempt the account from minimum account charges. However, you will be charged a fee if you withdraw money from the bank counter.

To open the account, you must bring identification that shows your home address or have a friend who is an existing customer of the bank to vouch for you.

Ensure that you also apply for Internet Banking, since you may need to access your account from your home country.


5) Apply for PPS: With your HSBC bank account, you can top up your phone card every 6 months indefinitely to retain its number over the Internet.

6) Find cheap accomodation: This is a major challenge as even the cheapest hostels charge HK$400 per night. It is best to find a friend who could lend you his or her sofa.


7) Find cheap food: Food prices go for HK$30+ or above for a full meal. To find reasonably priced food, you must walk around and visit the small stalls in hidden in the minor streets. The ability to read handwritten traditional chinese characters is essential since the storeowners usually cater only to locals.

I ordered rice and 2 vegetable within 5 minutes walk from Chueng Sha Wan MTR for HK$17. It was sited next to a noodle stall. [Should be located at the middle of Cheung Fat Street.] To my relief, the stall owner could speak a little Mandarin. The meal was relatively filling for me. I ordered a take-away packet so that I do not have to subsist on bread the next morning.

I also ordered HK$24 fried rice from a small stall hidden in the corner of Landale Street within 10 minutes walk from Wan Chai MTR. The shopkeeper was very friendly and conversed with me in Mandarin. The fried rice was so delicious and the shopkeeper generous with extra servings that I ordered a take-away. The only issue I have are the numerous cockroaches crawling openly around the stall.

Cheap Food in Macau (San Ma Lo)

Scenario: You wish to find cheap food and are near Macau New Central (San Ma Lo), which tends to have more expensive prices.

No problem. The market in Central is a tall 6 floor building near to the Post Office and fountains. In the picture below, this is the view from the street just before you turn right (-->>).

Shortly after you make a turn, you will notice this building on your left.

There are a few floors in the building. On the first floor, you can buy eggs and fruits. The cheapest price for the apples and lemons I got was $10 per 6 units.

Oh, by the way, they don't accept credit cards.

These are samples of apples available from the stalls. I prefer the Fuji apples (the 3 on the left). They don't seem to have nearly as much wax on them.

As you go to the second and third floors, you will be greeted by rows and rows of stalls selling meat. The place is usually very busy in the morning - the photos are taken around 2pm in the afternoon.

You can go up a few more floors where they sell vegetables. You can buy carrots, lettuce, leeks - just look and compare instead of buying from the first few stalls nearest to you. Sometimes stalls with the best business mark up their prices a little bit.

If you are hungry, you can look around for this nice hawker centre on the 5th floor. The prices there are comparable to Singapore, making it a great bargain. You can get a decent meal for MOP$16 instead of MOP$30 elsewhere. The only catch is that they list everything in Traditional Chinese.

After visiting the market, you can look around for other nice things to buy in the roadside stalls, like clothes and accessories.

There is a stall nearby that sells cheap and durable airline cabin size luggage bags (around MOP$120 to MOP$160). Look for the wheels to ensure that they are not made of rubber that can come off, but a single piece of thick plastic.

The ruins of Saint Paul are only 5 to 10 minutes walk away from this area. Follow the signboards if in doubt.

Organic Vegetables in Macao

Global Village Association imports organic vegetables from Hong Kong every Wednesday. Depending on the session, they may contain potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes, long beans, beetroot etc. Each packet costs MOP$60 and requires self-collection. [Update: They no longer offer the service since 2008.]

If you want to eat good vegetarian food (which is not necessarily organic), you can visit the restaurant in front of Kun Lam Tong. This is also near the Macau TV station at Rua de Francisco Xavier Pereira. However, be aware that it is rather difficult to find parking space there.