February - March 2008
hong kong - a rm's heaven
By Skip Downey, Interim Building Management
My wife and I traveled to Asia this spring and visited Taipei, Hong Kong, Beijing and Saigon, Vietnam. This article is about our Hong Kong stay.
Being a General Manager of a 41 story, 151 unit building, I found Hong Kong a virtual RM’s paradise. Hong Kong sits on a portion of mainland China and an several islands. China has seen fit to allow Hong Kong residents to be a separately administered state.
The first thing one notices when arriving in Hong Kong is its fabulous airport, which is located on a “man-made” island adjacent to Lanatau Island. about 30 kilometers from Hong Kong proper. The airport is exceptional, well planned and user friendly. Once through customs you can travel to Hong Kong by bus, taxi or rail. The most convenient is the “high speed” subway that makes only 3 stops from airport to Hong Kong.
The train is modern, clean, and, in our case, almost empty.
Once
we arrived on the Kowloon side, we were transported from the train station
via a small bus that took us directly to our hotel, the Sheraton hotel.
On the Kowloon side is the bustling Nathan Road with its shops and street
vendors selling everything from fake to real Rolex watches and all varieties
of camera’s and electronic goodies.
If you stay on the Hong Kong Island side, you are directly across the bay from Kowloon. Hong Kong Island side is the “business center” for the city and has many fine hotels and places to visit.
Once you are settled in, you definitely should go on a harbor cruise. This is where you will have the opportunity to see hundreds of residential buildings, like you probably will never see anywhere. Numerous high rises of 40-50 stories are duplicated and have four, five or more twin buildings. Most of what you can see from the harbor are less than 20 years old.
The Chinese Government houses Hong Kong residents in these building, most of which are refugee’s who fled mainland China decades ago, or immigrated to Hong Kong for employment. It is estimated that over 50 percent of the residents are un-employed or retirees.
I am not sure how these buildings are managed, but most probably they are owned and operated by the Government under close supervision of managers. As we traveled the harbor, it was absolutely amazing what we saw and encountered. Thousands of units that, for the most part, looked similar.
The third area of Hong Kong is called the “new territory” and is sandwiched between Kowloon and mainland China. These areas were more recently developed and are communal cities, with homes more like what you might see in our country. Cities were planned and set up by the government and have all the amenities their citizens need.
We continued our travels on to Beijing, China and Saigon, Vietnam (another story). However, my wife and I can tell you it was great to get back home to our wonderful island paradise.
