I have done the commute for a few years and it is very tiresome!
After all those long hours spent thrashing ULH on duty you end up in the rear end as SLF, just to be home for a precious day or two, spent trying to recover from it all. Unless you have young kids at home (like I did) I would strongly advise against this. Best try and find things to see and do in Hong Kong, plenty of nice colleagues to socialise with, the city is versatile in many respects and also very proximate to interesting places in South East Asia.
A small crash pad can indeed free up sufficient funds for the commute, as has been said the Headland Hotel can be chocker blocks and unavailable during busy periods. Discovery Bay is an overpriced company compound and Hong Kong Island way too expensive for your purposes. There is a real estate outfit in Mui Wo run by very decent locals, make sure you ask for a town house flat, i.e. in a Chinese fishing village in South Lantau, with just one or two months bond. When you have rented for a years time the contract can be made to roll over on a monthly basis. Do not enter financial commitments which will cause you to jump a window when you fall foul with some of CX’s lovely managers, this happens on a more frequent basis than some people try and make you believe on this forum. By all means be open and positive, but be wary of all the promises and glitzy propaganda, keep your options open! When you think you have finally nailed it along comes the upgrade to JFO, the related roster WILL commit you to Hong Kong.
Some people may be more suited to it, the commute for me effectively was a very damaging and stressful time, you end up being in a constant state of disarray, severely jetlagged and radiated. (Short haul with a decent outfit now, and home in the evenings. Nothing compares!)
