So I live outside the city. My address is SaiKung, but I am actually closer to MaOnShan. Why is this a big deal? It’s all about public transportation and getting places. My village house is spacious, homey and cheap, but it is not convenient to get to. Therefore I say it is a mixed bag. In Hong Kong many people will not even consider a place if it isn’t close to an MTR station. The MTR (Mass Transit Railway) connects Hong Kong together and makes it pretty convenient to go places. From my apartment in TinLiu I have to walk about 10 minutes to get to a bus stop to go into town to go to work or to go to the MTR to go somewhere else.
Nature and More Living Space
So what are the advantages of living outside of MaOnShan in a small village house community called TinLiu? Well, I think they are many. I have 700 square feet and my flat actually looks like something you might find in the US once you are inside. I still need to put some pictures on the walls :). It is much harder to get something this large in the city and if you do you will pay at least 1000 US dollars more for it. So space and price are both big pluses and on top of that there is the environment. It just feels more homey. Personally, I like being able to create some space between myself and the busy city life when I go home. I love hearing the birds chirping, seeing the green landscape, and of course seeing the mountains.
Road Construction
But as you have probably already guessed convenience isn’t the only disadvantage of living in SaiKung. Another disadvantage is road construction. I think I would label road construction an annoyance. There was road construction going on when I moved in, in January. I know that the construction crews have done there best to minimize the disturbance caused, but still there has been a lot of dust, noise, re-routing of traffic, etc… This week marks a milestone in their progress. They opened the new road and closed off the old one. Even if I tried really hard to write in detail about what the road project looks like I would not be able to do it justice, so with that I mind I decided to give you two perspectives on the road construction, one from my bicycle and the other from my motorcycle. The bicycle one is probably a little bit more enjoyable to watch. It looks a little bit like an adventure as I weave around the pedestrian path. From this vantage point you can see that there is still a lot more work left to do with the walk ways and bridges. There is wind noise, but it is tolerable. I haven’t experimented with any kind of windscreen for my GoPro8 yet. I have to admit I am impressed with the quality and this is pretty much unedited out of the camera. The trip is from home to school and takes 20 minutes.
