Out and About is the column in which we talk to people who nowadays live abroad, or who had been living and working abroad. This week we talk to Janus de Villiers, who lives in Hong Kong.
From where in South Africa are you and why did you decide to live abroad?
I was born in Pretoria, matriculated there and then studied in Potchefstroom. In 2013, I decided to pursue adventure and financial independence abroad and took up a teaching position at an after-school learning centre in China.
After three rough months in a relatively small town in Zhejiang Province, with almost no Westerners or English speakers, I moved to Beijing, hoping to have a better chance of making friends and joining a community in a larger city.
It was the best decision of my life and I had a wonderful year there. Although I lived and worked in South Africa for a short time after that, my desire to travel was too great and I decided to move abroad again. In 2017, I returned to Asia and started teaching in Hong Kong.
I love travelling, and it is much easier and more affordable for me to see the world while living abroad and earning a salary in a stronger currency.
I meanwhile also taught at a school in Seoul for a year but returned to Hong Kong earlier this year. The required three-week hotel quarantine over Christmas was no joke, but I am grateful to be back and live here again.
You are an avid traveller. Tell us more about the countries you have visited.
I am indeed an avid traveller. Travelling as much and as often as possible is a personal priority for me. I enjoy researching destinations and planning a tour almost as much as the actual trip! So, I don’t return to places quickly but rather challenge myself to enjoy as many countries as possible.
I have visited about 40 countries and seen most of Asia, toured New Zealand with only a backpack, spent a few months in hostels in South America, and recently experienced Europe’s lockdown during the pandemic for half a year.
Some of my favourite countries include Peru, England, Mozambique, Russia and Malaysia.
Do you still have contact with South Africa and will you ever return?
My family still lives in South Africa, but I am engaged to an Englishman I met here in Hong Kong. We have a nomadic lifestyle and currently have no desire to settle permanently anywhere.
If we do decide to settle permanently in the future, it may very well be South Africa. But this will only be one of our many options – the world is a huge place!
What was the strangest thing to get used to in Hong Kong?
Of course, there are cultural differences wherever one goes, especially in the workplace. In China and South Korea, I struggled with the language as very little information is available in English.
Hong Kong is administratively part of China, but it has its own borders, currency, passports, political system and mannerisms. It really is a city where West and East meet and the culture feels much more Western and familiar than in China (or as they call it here: “on the continent”).
Different languages are spoken on the streets, and restaurants offer a mix of international dishes. Although Cantonese is the official language, I have not experienced communication barriers at all. All road signs, street names, public announcements, menus and so on always include English translations.
Probably the hardest to get used to in Hong Kong is how incredibly busy, densely populated and noisy the city is.
Yet, when city life becomes too overwhelming, there are many parks, hiking trails, beaches and even tropical islands to which one can escape – all within an hour by bus or ferry from the city centre. Public transport is very reliable and affordable and there is basically no crime here. So, it is safe to embark on an adventure at any time of the day or night.
Is it expensive to live there?
Unfortunately, yes! As far as I know, Hong Kong is one of the three most expensive cities globally; the other two are Tokyo and Zurich. A takeaway coffee costs on average R65, a meal in a standard restaurant R300, the cheapest beer at least R100.
Housing is also annually indicated as the most expensive in the world. A single bedroom in a shared apartment is rented for about R12 000 and the average rent for a standard one-bedroom apartment easily costs you R25 000 per month.
Of course, everything sounds more expensive in rand, but a comfortable lifestyle is affordable if you earn Hong Kong dollars. (Although a larger budget only offers a more modern apartment, not a larger one. Everyone is tiny!)
Was it easy to make new friends and get involved in the community?
Hong Kong is truly an international city in every sense of the word and packed with different cultures and foreigners.
You can meet people on websites and social media, but since almost all the locals can speak English, it’s easy to strike up a conversation and make friends.
There are also pubs, beer gardens and other areas known as places of gathering where travellers and foreigners gather.
How does life here differ most from life in South Africa?
I live in the bustling Mong Kok District, which means “busy corner” in Cantonese. It is the most densely populated neighbourhood globally and is worlds apart from the space we are used to in South Africa!
The lifestyle is much more rushed than we are used to in South Africa and the constant rush can be overwhelming. The small apartments, crowded streets, skyscrapers and cramped supermarkets sometimes make me feel claustrophobic!
Still, I love the city and what it has to offer. It’s hard to think of something that one can’t buy, eat or do here. The many options, coupled with how much there is to experience, the safety and fantastic public transport, and the fact that most shops and restaurants are open all day and night, give one a wonderful feeling of freedom.
When I do get homesick, I have many South African (and Afrikaans-speaking) friends here. There is an excellent South African restaurant on Lantau Island and quite a few shops that sell anything from biltong to rusks and rooibos tea and will deliver to my front door.
What does a typical day in your life look like?
I teach at an after-school learning centre and work typical office hours. Every day, I take the subway and teach five or six hour-long classes to learners between three and ten years old.
Schoolchildren in Asia are busy and under terrible pressure. It is the norm here for children to be enrolled in multiple learning centres which they attend after school, on weekends and during school holidays. It’s almost unreal to think that I teach four-year-olds grammar and writing in their second (or sometimes third) language and that this is just one of the many private classes they attend daily!
Thanks to the excellent public transport system, it is easy to explore the city after work. Enjoyable leisure activities include watching the sunset from a rooftop garden, enjoying cocktails in or on a skyscraper (the highest bar in town is also the highest globally and is on the 118th floor) or strolling through the traditional night markets.
Do you live abroad, or have you recently returned to South Africa? We want to hear from you. Please send us an email to wereldwyd@afriforum.co.za.
