>> |
Anonymous
Unless you have an American Express card or live in HK, don't use a credit card. AmEx gives you the best exchange rate and they don't charge you an exchange fee.
Don't bother with pre-paid cards either. Most of them have a per-use charge that deducts from the total amount after each use. I got a $25 Visa pre-paid on my last birthday and they charged me $5 per use. I used it mostly for coffee and wound up wasting more money using it than I spent.
Don't bother withdrawing funds either because of the same exchange catches. The exchange fee is usually pretty steep. If you use Bank of America, there's a BofA building on the Hong Kong side that will give you a pretty good exchange rate.
My parents opened an account for me at Hang Sheng to help me get my resident card when I was a kid and they're pretty good about doing the exchange for me. I usually bring cash from the US and have the exchange done for me by a teller.
My suggestion is to do you all your cash exchange at once. It's just easier that way, less hassle of having to go back to a bank every day. Also if you don't have a driver go to any MTR station and get an Octopus card. It's great. You just put money on it and it's good for any transportation you need and also good in some convenience stores.
I'm guessing that about 1/3 of the people there know enough English for you to be able to communicate so don't fret too much about the language barrier.
In terms of what to do, that all really depends on what you want to do and how long you're there. There is a whole lot you can do there. In all honesty, Hong Kong is the best city in the world.
tl;dr
Use cash Get an Octopus card
|