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.

Prepaid Phone Cards

This is a follow-up to my previous posting: Macao Phone Tips


Travelers coming to Macau can expect to find 3 types of phone cards:

1) CTM Best Prepaid: 180 day expiry limit, $0.4 per minute airtime

2) SmarTone Prepaid: 30 day expiry limit, $0.225 per minute airtime
(refer below for airtime charge ambiguity)

3) 3 Easy Travel: 180 day expiry limit, $0.4 per minute airtime, $0.25 per SMS


----- Analysis -----

If you are a heavy phone user staying only in Macau continuously, SmarTone Prepaid offers cheaper rates.

If you are a light phone user who comes to Macau for occasionally, Best Prepaid lets you retain your number with a 180 day expiry limit.

Best Prepaid is run by CTM, which has a deal with Yahoo Messenger to allow subscribers to receive free Yahoo messages via SMS for free. SmarTone is not recognized by Yahoo.


----- SmarTone English Translation -----

優惠套裝：$150 (原價 $170)
Special Offer: $ 150 (original price $ 170)

包括 $70智能咭及兩張 $50 增值券
Including $ 70 SIM cards and two $ 50 coupons

本地通話費：每分鐘 $0.405
Local calling rates: $ 0.405 per minute

[Note that there is some ambiguity here. Chinese SmarTone brochures claim the $0.225 charge, and in June 2007 my calls were charged at $0.225. Please inquire before buying the card.]


附加功能
Additional features

本地及國際來電顯示：首月免費，其後每月 $10
Local & International Caller Number Display: first month free, then $ 10 per month

所有來電轉駁：每分鐘 $0.44
All call forwarding: $ 0.44 per minute

留言信箱：每月 $28
Voice mailbox: $ 28 per month

發送本地短訊：每個 $0.25
Send local SMS: $ 0.25 each

發送國際短訊：每個 $1
Send international SMS: $ 1 each

發送國際短訊致菲律賓及印尼，每個 $0.65
International SMS sent to the Philippines and Indonesia, $ 0.65 each


熱點資訊下載：
Hot download information (via SMS):

即時天氣報告、足球消息及指定項目：每個 $0.50
Real-time weather reports, news and football: $ 0.50 each

其他資訊：免費
Other information: Free

收費以每月30日為單位
Charges will be accessed as a unit on the 30th


----- VoIP Services -----

You can also use Voice over IP services such as GTALK to VOIP if you have an Internet connection. My Filipino friends and I use Yahoo Messenger and Chikka to stay in touch.

Beware that Skype and Yahoo expire your phone credits after 180 days, an "obvious" condition stated among the voluminous lines of their user agreements.

After finding to my dismay that Skype has confiscated (some would say steal) over US$15 of my credits and would not give me a second chance to claim them back, I will no longer use their paid services anymore.

Macao Phone Tips

Macau has just recently transitioned to a new phone system where all phone numbers have 8 digits.

To call the old numbers, just add "28" in front of the number if it is 6 digit and "6" if it is 7 digits.

-----

To call Macau from overseas, dial 853 for the country code. Hong Kong is 852. China is 86.

To call overseas from Macau, you can dial 00, or better 050, then enter the country code. Using 050 instead of 00 saves much money. You can also get CTM Bonus Points for all the calls you make.

-----

For travelers staying less than a month who do not intend to keep the same number, SmarTone rechargeable cards offer the best local airtime charges. They can be purchased all over Macau. But be aware of a few things that may not be clear:

1) Your line is probably recycled: You may get many calls looking for unknown people because someone has used the same line number in the past.

2) You will receive Chinese SMS from SmarTone and its roaming partners, including advertisements. Good luck if you can't read Chinese.

3) CallerID will cost you MOP$10 after the first month. [You will receive a Chinese SMS about it.] If you don't like it, turn it off by dialing 1662, then pressing 212.

4) You must top up every month or else your account will expire and all your credit forfeited. Again, the notification will be a Chinese SMS.

5) International Roaming is provided free, but the charges are high. Press *137# to check your remaining value after your call.

6) To call from outside Macau, you must dial *132*phone number# and wait for the SmarTone to connect you. It is inconvenient as you cannot dial your phone address book directly.

7) You are paying overseas charges as soon as you pick up the SmarTone call even if you did not get through to the line you are calling.