downtilimunderground

Thanks for the input. Looks like there's not much to see in Prague. Just scenery. 

 

Going to Austria might be a huge hassle. If I were to cut that out, any other spots that are worth checking out in or around Germany?

 

I have not heard great things about both Munich and Frankfurt. Also thinking about Coppenhagen but I kinda want to leave Norway, Sweden, Coppenhagen for next year.

prague is nice tho: good and cheap beer and food, beautiful women and buildings and quite some interesting cultural offerings off the beaten track (e.g. http://www.dox.cz/en/ there was not a single other visitor when i went last year) 

munich and frankfurt are definitely not that interesting...hamburg is nice for a day or two, but if germany is just not for you, go to schoenefeld airport and fly to any major european city with easyjet or ryanair.

I set aside 7 nights and 8 days in Germany (Berlin)/Austria/Czech.

 

Any thoughts on how to divide it up?

 

The last two nights and first night, I'll stay in Berlin. 

 

2 days in Vienna / 2 days in Prague. 

 

Use train to go Berlin --> Dresden --> Prague --> Vienna

Then fly back to Berlin?

 

Is this feasible?

you can go to prague by bus, its relatively cheap (18-20 euros per ticket) and takes around 5 hours. check meinfernbus.de, i think they have the cheapest tickets

I was at the film museum there, I think that it's one of the best film museum I've ever been to. Contemporary art museum is decent. Town center is charming and the whole city is quite small so you can spend a day there and see most of it. Stuttgart has the Mercedes and Porsche museum if you are into cars, but I've never been there.

if you are into cars and you are in berlin, this is a nice place to see: http://remise.de/Classic-Remise-Berlin-english-summary.php

^ thank you, I had a look around the web to find which could fit me best ... but the easiest way would be to visit them.

 

Another question, does anyone of you already tried to get a Trainee Visa for Hong Kong? How does it work to be sure to get it as an European?

I was a trainee for 2 years in a German fashion company in HK. you can either do it through some programme like i did or apply for trainee positions that are interesting for you. usually its pretty easy to get a training visa for a fixed period of time (other than employees visas that are very difficult to get at the moment if you haven't been working HK for some time or have skills that no local has). if you have found a trainee position in a company there they will arrange the rest for you usually. some people also work with only the 90 days visa-on-arrival and go to shenzhen or macau every now and then to renew it, but i would not recommend that as there are police raids that check on working visas, etc. (very rare, but it happened to me).

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/03/16/japanese-netizens-put-reality-on-hold-for-a-moment-fall-in-love-with-new-attorney-general-of-crimea/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I3vCT9ss5E

i went here quite often. http://www.eurofashionshk.com 

around 250hkd for shirts and 3000hkd for the cheapest suit incl. 2 shirts; quality is alright as well.

Anyone here that can chime in on how often police check/enforce bike safety rules? Was thinking about bringing my fixed gear next time, but from what I understand German law requires you to have 2 brakes.. Which I do not. And Berlin police enforce it pretty harshly apparently? 

I've been living here for some time now and the police never checked on me and my bike...they're pretty busy with other stuff i suppose. if they check on you the first time they will give you a warning, but if they catch you a second time without brakes, etc. they will confiscate the bike. just add a brake on one wheel and you won't get in trouble

another one: https://www.wg-cast.de/ (mostly in German though, but i guess you can figure it out)

damn just arrived, it's cold as fuck out here. still got to find a room, should it be possible to find an apartment in under 6 days? I'm at some airbnb spot so hopefully that's enough time. 

gonna be difficult in 6 days....good luck though!

Thanks for the tips so far. Any good places to get drinks? Any good pastries?

for drinks just check out the famous areas around ubahnhof goerlitzer bahnhof, schlesisches tor, warschauer strasse, eberswalder strasse or sonnenallee. 

plenty of cool, small bars there

for burger try schillerburger in schoenleinstrasse (kreuzkoelln)

try dolores burritos in rosa luxemburg strasse (mitte)

for "currywurst" (so german) go to konopkes imbiss at U bahnhof eberswalder strasse (prenzlauer berg)

Also, about tattoos / tattoo shops, is there anyone doing work in the vein of AKA Berlin in Hong Kong? 

none that i know of but you might want to check out star crossed in tst, theyre pretty good at what they do

Hey does anyone living in HK work in the fashion industry? Design, buying etc? I have a few questions about the industry over there and hoping someone can help out!

worked in a fashion trading company for the past 2 years over there, probably not exactly what youre talking about but if i can help, let me know!

one of the best dim sum places in HKG in my opinion is lin heung kui dim sum in sheung wan: orignal style always freshly-made sim sum served from carts (like its supposed to be) and the atmosphere is great, especially if you get there early in the morning..

http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=31507

try and go out in shenzhen for a night if youre sick of the same old boring LKF nights

Well after like 2 years on and off looking, I managed to get myself a job in HK. Will be moving there around the end of August.

Looks like a few other SFers are moving there too. Lets meet up sometime for a drink!

 

My job is in Kwai Hing and initially i'll be staying in Tuen Mun, but looking to find my own apartment after a couple of months. Recommendations on which locations to look in?

if you wanna live close to where you work id suggest the cheung sha wan/lai king area ... very big and relatively new property developments at "reasonable" prices

the sheung wan / soho area of course is great when it comes to restaurants, bars, galleries, etc. but if you work in kwai hing it would take quite long to get to work

i lived in yuen long before and worked in tsuen wan and i also found it quite convenient! low rent, cheap food and very quiet and green in some areas & if you live close to the MTR station it only takes you 30mins to TST

what i cannot recommend for a not chinese person is to move to these villages in the NT, made some pretty bad experiences there myself. as a "gweilo" u better live in the urban areas

Moving there next week. 

moving back to germany end of this month

okay, confirmed to spend my NYE in HK again this year..

also gonna tee up some interviews to try get a job.. wish me luck

good luck! but take care when having an interview in companies over here.

I assume that you dont have a working visa for HKG and usually they dont accept any job applications if you dont have one. the policy here is that the employer needs to explain why they want to hire a foreigner and not a local (the immigration dept assumes that you steal a job from a local person) and it can be quite difficult to get a working visa. if you apply in HKG directly you will usually be treated like a HKG Chinese employee - that means:

same salary

same working conditions (annual leave days available, overtime working hours not paid, no housing allowance, no free flights back home, etc.)

my advice is, in case you are not a HK resident, try to find a job in your homecountry that requires you to be sent to HKG. the conditions are much better, you get more money and you dont even have to pay any rent usually. HKG is not a nice place to live if youre broke.

Hi and thank you for your reply - I just talk to my programme leader and there is a different way I can take - spend just one semester in HK (at Poly U) and then find an internship/work experience in HK for a year. So we talk now about going in 2014 (early for at least maybe a year and half). That's early but as you said if it is so expensive I prefer to be sure about every cost + Poly U wants application in advance!

I want definitely share a flat or a house, thanks a lot for your website i'll have a look!

I wanted to not spend more than HKD 6000 (without bills - maybe I could go up to 8000? If we share I think it's enough to find something no?)

if you share a flat and u dont let some agent make a fool out of you, you definitely wont pay more than 6000hkd incl. bills.

when i came here i shared a flat in Mong Kok and paid 4200hkd each month incl all bills. there are numerous flats throughout hkg where you can just rent a room itself from a company and share the flat with other people ... no contract over a fixed rent period is needed and you are not responsible for anything except your room (they also have a maid that cleans the flat twice a week). its not the cheapest thing you can get, but definitely the easiest. i remember some friends who lived in a place like this before paid around 5000hkd/month. if you move to hkg check websites like craigslist hkg or the ones i noted before, there will be many offers like this.

Next year I'm planning to go to the HK poly university - I may not have a room from the uni so I'm starting browsing plans to get a sharing flat/house there, do you have any plan, because I'm totally lost. Thanks a lot!

how long will you stay here?

if you wanna live close to the university get ready to pay a lot! mainland china students pay the rent for 1 - 2 years in advance. its pretty much impossible to find accomodation in the poly u area at a reasonable price therefore.

definitely check

http://www.easyroommate.com.hk/

http://hongkong.geoexpat.com/

i might be able to help you out...roommates are always needed over here. let me know!