Visa run to HK

[Nate M]

Hey everyone,

Sorry I haven't had a lot of time to post recently. I'm in Hong Kong right now switching my visa over to a Z visa. All in all it has been a pretty painless process, taking me about 3 hours and costing aroun d 650 HKD to do. Now my biggest problem is figuring out if I want to stay until Saturday and take the soft sleeper to Beijing or wait until Monday for the hard sleeper, which is about 400 HKD cheaper. Next time I'm definately flying down here. Hong Kong's a pretty neat place, and you can get by pretty cheaply if you want to. I'll post a more thorough review of the place while I have more time. Until then, take care back on the mainland, (or wherever you happen to be reading this from). Ciao, punks.

[solongtinik]

NATE, what was uy orig'l visa?

i NEED to extend my F visa again but that would cost me a fortune and it would be a pain in the ass if i go back to my country...

can i change my F to Z in hongkong?

[Raoul Duke]

We'll see what Nate's been up to, but I think you still gotta have an invitation letter etc. to get a Z...

I luuuuv Hong Kong!
I hope I have the time and money to get down there soon again myself. I'd love to live there (I think, anyway...I may just have the rose-colored glasses of the visitor...) but it's not easy to find real jobs down there. By "real jobs" I mean "jobs that pay well enough to allow to live well in this incredibly expensive city"...

However, I don't mind the train down there and back at all...in fact I often rather enjoy it.
It doesn't hurt a bit that I always buy soft-sleeper tickets, or that I tend to buy a lot of drugs in Hong Kong.

[Mr Nobody]

I love HK too.


so many friends there.


I have a job there for me and Mrs N if I want

Sigh, she doesn't want to leave. Yet.

I am working on it.

[Noodles]

I love HK too.
But i'd hate to live there. Maybe just being 40 mins away has tainted it for me. Its definatly a cool place and good for a lot of fun but i dont find it as friendly and welcoming as the mainland.
Its erks me as well that whilst it is 40 mins away it is also about 40 times more expensive.
Okay maybe thats an exaggeration but not far from the truth.

[Raoul Duke]

But not too far at all. HK really is insanely expensive.

It IS a big modern city, and I don't know of any big modern cities I'd characterize as friendly and welcoming. So I agree it does have a thicker shell than most of the mainland.

But then HK also doesn't have 10,000 gawking morons squatting outside its train stations staring at you. (It does have a few, but these are invariably travellers from the mainland...) I find HKers a little cooler (in the "not warm" sense) at first but friendly enough when you talk to them. I'm a little cool with strangers myself and this is a tradeoff I'd happily make.