Hong Kong is an expensive city. Constant reports about world’s most expensive cities always include Hong Kong in their top 10. But different than other expensive cities in the world, such as Boston, it is very easy to move around and avoid spending much money. I have spent a lot less in my abroad semester than any other traditional semester at Boston. The biggest saving at Hong Kong happens as HKU’s dorms are way cheaper than Northeastern’s ones. In total for five months of rent I paid around $1,300 USD, which would be more less $260 per month. The other big saving at Hong Kong happens with the food prices of the university. Since the university is public it has a significant subsidy. Each meal costs around $4 USD, and even the coffees at the university–including Starbucks–have discounts.
Besides the university restaurants, there are many good local restaurants around Hong Kong with accessible prices. In terms of shopping clothe and personal items, Hong Kong can be extremely expensive, much more than Boston. However, just two hours from Hong Kong there is a city in China called Shenzhen that it is famous because of its cheap prices. Based on what locals have told me, most Hong Kongers do the majority of their shopping in China. There is a train that goes from Hong Kong to Shenzhen and it takes only around two hours. Next weekend I am going for the first time.
Another very cheap service that Hong Kong offers are the flights around East and Southeast Asia. If bought with time, flights around the region to places like Taiwan, Singapore, Manilla and Hanoi can cost less than $160 USD the roundtrip. On my first trips every time I got to a new place I was always very confused about the currency exchange. With time I have become more used to dealing with different exchange rates and currencies. Something that I have learned is that ATMs, despite the fact that most charge fees to withdraw money, are way cheaper than exchange offices. ATMs do the exchange at the real market price and make money through small percentage fees of the total amount obtained. Exchange offices, on the other hand, make money through manipulating the exchange rates on their benefit. In the end, almost every time, it is more costly to get local currency through exchange offices than ATMs, especially in those located at the airports.
There was no need for me to open a local bank account. The process of opening a local bank account can be overwhelming as banks request a lot of forms and there is no real need to do so. With a regular debit card from an American bank anyone can withdraw money from the ATMs around Hong Kong by just paying very low, or none, fees.
