I am just curious, how different is nightlife in Shanghai compared to Hongkong. Hongkong is known to have a bustling nightlife as well, how are their clubs? drinks? concepts? people?

I heard from a few friends of mine who went to HK that they do have cover charges for their clubs and the drinks there are much more expensive, they too have a place which is similar to our XinTianDi.

Expensive. At least 1000 hk for one time.

Hong Kong offers much more variety, and much better value for money

Quite similar, depending or your demands, you can have Kee Club, or low budget ´Windows´style...

Clubbing in HK is a completely different experience than it is here in SH. They actually have real dancefloors in HK! Where as here all the clubs are rammed full of tables and you have to dance in between them. There are still tables in HK ofcourse, they're usually bigger, on a raised section, more exclusive and the minimum charge will be 3 or 4 bottles maybe more depending where you are.

Clubbing in HK all happens in an area called Lan Kwai Fong, it's a small hill with probably over a hundred bars and clubs all within 15mins walking distance of each other. Best clubs in no particular order are probably: Prive, Dragon-I, Hyde, Billion, Beijing and Volar. These clubs are also the most strict with their door policy and usually require a cover charge, but depending on who you know, how you're dressed and how many hot women you're with.. the charge can easily be avoided.

People out clubbing in HK are usually quite friendly and I'd say it's probably more common to find groups of girls out clubbing there than it is here. Also a lot more English speakers there.

posh spice parties in Hong Kong, ginger spice parties in Shanghai.

Student parties in SH, grown up parties in HK

mahsab wrote:Student parties in SH, grown up parties in HK

LOL, 100%!

i prefer shanghai then, young at heart.

jet5354 wrote:Clubbing in HK is a completely different experience than it is here in SH. They actually have real dancefloors in HK! Where as here all the clubs are rammed full of tables and you have to dance in between them. There are still tables in HK ofcourse, they're usually bigger, on a raised section, more exclusive and the minimum charge will be 3 or 4 bottles maybe more depending where you are.

Clubbing in HK all happens in an area called Lan Kwai Fong, it's a small hill with probably over a hundred bars and clubs all within 15mins walking distance of each other. Best clubs in no particular order are probably: Prive, Dragon-I, Hyde, Billion, Beijing and Volar. These clubs are also the most strict with their door policy and usually require a cover charge, but depending on who you know, how you're dressed and how many hot women you're with.. the charge can easily be avoided.

People out clubbing in HK are usually quite friendly and I'd say it's probably more common to find groups of girls out clubbing there than it is here. Also a lot more English speakers there.

Totally informative and true! what i found out when i was in HK the other time.

Hong Kong and Shanghai offer different experience when it comes to partying, each has pro's and con's.

Like someone said, Lan Kwai Fong has like 100 bars and clubs, but about 95 of them are bars, if holding a beer standing on the streets (because no more space inside) hanging with people is your scene, then good for you, you will like it.

If you want a real dance clubs, there are only a hand full of them, M1NT, Dragon-i, Sugar, Cliq, Billions, Beijing, Volar, Cloud 88 ... etc.
Some are private club, like M1NT, Volar, members only, so forget that if you are not a member.
Most of them, only open Thursday through Saturday, and they have cover charges. Table reservation shall be made in advance. The joints are PACKED inside, yes, unlike Shanghai it has a dance floor, but it will be JAM PACKED where you barely can move around at all.
For the place that does open almost all week long, like Dragon-i, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are pretty much dead, there is no cover charge either.

The crowd in Hong Kong is better, it's diversified and more "real". You often see groups of girls, normal girls, who are just out and about having fun, unlike Shanghai where most of those girls are working girls.

Drink price, well, it's more expensive than Shanghai. At Dragon-i, a normal bottle runs ~1500 HKD. At Sevva, a cocktail is 140 HKD plus 10%. At the local clubs on the Kowloon side, it's cheaper, a bottle is under 1000.

In the nutshell, if you are just making a short visit in Hong Kong on the weekend, you will like the partying there. But if you stay there for long term, it gets old and runs out of places quickly.

^ Well said! What about shanghai? Do you feel old and run out of places staying here long term?

Ip Man wrote:^ Well said! What about shanghai? Do you feel old and run out of places staying here long term?

I have been living here only since June, that's not long, but I will say Shanghai definitely has a lot more to offer than Hong Kong.

I am not saying there is something in Shanghai that they do not have in HK.
I am saying, Shanghai is got everything they have in HK, in 20x quantity. It's also constantly changing, new joints are popping up left and right.

What I dislike about party scene in HK, is that 1/2 nights out of the week you have nowhere to go, the other 1/2 nights out of the week, everyone and their moms are out and it's simply too crowded.

A tiny island, combined with a huge population, where people have more money to spend leisurely than Shanghai people, that's the problem, very limited resources (all kinds of) are to be shared by way too many people.
This is the same reason, that I think HK is the better city than Shanghai to spend few days in, but I will choose to live in Shanghai.

the living expenses in hk as compared to shanghai is crazy, rent is expensive, not to mention their transportation as well

missfan wrote:the living expenses in hk as compared to shanghai is crazy, rent is expensive, not to mention their transportation as well

When I stayed in Hong Kong for 6+ months, the rent was 7500 USD per month. An equivalent pad in Shanghai (well and central located, with a view, even bigger size) will cost 1/2.

Transportation is actually good in HK, that's the only city in the world I don't mind taking the subway. If you taxi everywhere in HK, it puts a dent in your pocket.

Just came back from HK and was quite an enjoyable stay.

Always take the MRT while I'm there, and the bus as well. Sitting in the front row on the upper deck I love it when we're pulling up behind another bus, I'm asking myself if we're going to stop in time. Sure enough, usually within 2-3 feet of the bus in front.

fWerrF wrote:When I stayed in Hong Kong for 6+ months, the rent was 7500 USD per month. An equivalent pad in Shanghai (well and central located, with a view, even bigger size) will cost 1/2.

Transportation is actually good in HK, that's the only city in the world I don't mind taking the subway. If you taxi everywhere in HK, it puts a dent in your pocket.

I am puzzled, you paid USD 7500 a month for rent and say that taking cabs in HK is putting a dent in your pocket? I thought people who pay that much for rent laugh about any taxi fare, or have their own driver.

Not too long ago I paid HKD 7500 a months in HK for a brand new apartment incl. great facilities. Here I pay slightly more (but in RMB), and yes, the apartment here is bigger, more conveniently located, but the quality is not even half as good, and the few facilities that come with it are basically crap.

MoonOverMiami wrote: Sitting in the front row on the upper deck I love it when we're pulling up behind another bus, I'm asking myself if we're going to stop in time. Sure enough, usually within 2-3 feet of the bus in front.

2-3 feet? He is a bad driver.
2-3 inches is more like it

mjk wrote:HKD 7500 a months in HK

More like if there begin from 10.000 hk for 40m2 in city center.

fWerrF wrote:

MoonOverMiami wrote: Sitting in the front row on the upper deck I love it when we're pulling up behind another bus, I'm asking myself if we're going to stop in time. Sure enough, usually within 2-3 feet of the bus in front.

2-3 feet? He is a bad driver.
2-3 inches is more like it

My sense of distance was most definitely skewed as I'm leaning back against the seat bracing myself for impact.

mjk wrote:I am puzzled, you paid USD 7500 a month for rent and say that taking cabs in HK is putting a dent in your pocket? I thought people who pay that much for rent laugh about any taxi fare, or have their own driver.

I did not say "my" pocket, I said "your" pocket, so I was speaking in general, not on my own behalf.

HK taxi isn't more expensive than NYC, and I cab everywhere in NYC, so it's not about cost.
I don't mind subway in HK, because it's very convenient, stations are located at the bottom of many shopping malls and office buildings, while taxi's on the other hand, most of places you can not just wave them to stop, you need to wait in the queue at the fixed pickup locations.

mjk wrote:Not too long ago I paid HKD 7500 a months in HK for a brand new apartment incl. great facilities. Here I pay slightly more (but in RMB), and yes, the apartment here is bigger, more conveniently located, but the quality is not even half as good, and the few facilities that come with it are basically crap.

Maybe it's a local compound?
The properties they aim to sell to oversea people seem to hold up pretty alright, at least so far so good where I am.

^^ Guys, apart from what you've all mentioned above on rental, transport, nightlife and size of the 2 cities. Would you take into account of better service, nice delicious food, cheaper groceries, cheaper wine, fresh groceries, cheaper shopping, more varieties of brands to choose for shopping, no great firewall of china, freedom of speech and last but not least less chinese barbarian behavior. When all these minor issues put into your balance scale. Would you consider staying in HK over SH?

Ip Man wrote:Would you consider staying in HK over SH?

Both are overrated. Sh1t hole and Black hole, there you will throw your money.

HK. Thought about it my last night in HK and wondered why I was so much more comfortable there than Shanghai. Though HK is a bit more Westernized and I would definitely consider it more International than Shanghai (look at all the walks of life walking around HK compared to Shanghai), the underlying factor is civility and order. HK'ers knows there are laws, and for the most part follow it. Shangers know there are laws, but more or less apply them when it suits their need.

When I was standing in front of the HK Frequent Visitor line last night, a couple of mainlanders in the next line over saw the FV line was open, so they ran to it without asking. The immigrations officer told them to go back, and the mainlanders were just bewildered as to why.

BTW, was so nice to get onto Facebook, access email, etc without using a VPN while I was in HK. And the connection speed was quite fast.

leshkos wrote:

Ip Man wrote:Would you consider staying in HK over SH?

Both are overrated. Sh1t hole and Black hole, there you will throw your money.

WTF?!

Ip Man wrote:^^ Guys, apart from what you've all mentioned above on rental, transport, nightlife and size of the 2 cities. Would you take into account of better service, nice delicious food, cheaper groceries, cheaper wine, fresh groceries, cheaper shopping, more varieties of brands to choose for shopping, no great firewall of china, freedom of speech and last but not least less chinese barbarian behavior. When all these minor issues put into your balance scale. Would you consider staying in HK over SH?

Strictly my personal opinion.

better service: highend to highend, SH isn't noticeably worse than HK. HK wins on the low-mid end, if one does not frequent the low-mid end places, it makes little difference to them.

nice delicious food: no question, HK is better. Shanghai is blooming, give it several more years it will have more to offer. That being said, size still matters, I ran out of places to eat in HK after few months, here in Shanghai I didn't even get outside of Luwan and Huangpu district.

cheaper groceries fresh groceries: i don't hook at all, so that's of no concern to me, although I would assume Shanghai has fresh groceries too.

cheaper wine: eliminating taxes on wine is one of the good things HK government did but from what I could tell, at restaurants, that saving did not really get passed onto customers. it's only cheaper if you buy it from liquor store, again i don't hook so i don't really drink at home.

cheaper shopping: no doubt, designer brands are tax free. HK is one of the best shopping cities in the world.

more varieties of brands for shopping: hmm, i think SH is got every brand there is in HK, no?

no great firewall: i don't do any of the online networking site, so facebook and etc don't matter to me. it does suck though that i can't get on youporn.com

freedom of speech: those are big talks not that i am ever eager to exercise that rights outside of china. in china so far i feel no need to say anything i am not allowed to.

chinese barbarian behavior: you mean like someone once said here a kid was taking a sh1t in a restaurant? what can i say? don't go to lowend places then you don't have problems.

The above being said, It really depends on the individual, what stage in life he/she is in, what his/her priorities are .... if i were to have a family, eat most of meals at home, don't go out much, hk and singapore will be looking pretty good to me.

fWerrF wrote:

Ip Man wrote:^^ Guys, apart from what you've all mentioned above on rental, transport, nightlife and size of the 2 cities. Would you take into account of better service, nice delicious food, cheaper groceries, cheaper wine, fresh groceries, cheaper shopping, more varieties of brands to choose for shopping, no great firewall of china, freedom of speech and last but not least less chinese barbarian behavior. When all these minor issues put into your balance scale. Would you consider staying in HK over SH?

Strictly my personal opinion.




more varieties of brands for shopping: hmm, i think SH is got every brand there is in HK, no?

No

GoingMad wrote:

fWerrF wrote:
Strictly my personal opinion.

more varieties of brands for shopping: hmm, i think SH is got every brand there is in HK, no?

No

ok, can you name some brands that are in HK but aren't available in SH?

While the brand might be here it doesn't mean the sizes or selection is. They seem to bring over the stock they can't sell in other countries. EG walk into the Hugo Boss store in Gang Hui, it's a joke. They'll have like 3 small multi colored polo shirts with giant logos on it. Shanghai shopping is arguably the worst in the world.

huaidan wrote:While the brand might be here it doesn't mean the sizes or selection is. They seem to bring over the stock they can't sell in other countries. EG walk into the Hugo Boss store in Gang Hui, it's a joke. They'll have like 3 small multi colored polo shirts with giant logos on it. Shanghai shopping is arguably the worst in the world.

i wouldn't agree with that, shanghai do have some nice shopping places like superbrands mall, people's square.