Loiter 1,
I'm sure you are feeling as sad as I do. A sincere question to explore better lifestyle turned into mud slinging by some idiots especially Kurtis! I hope someone earning half his pay could derail him from his job,soon!
Here is an option for you. Try explore Kota Kinabalu,Sabah, in Malaysia.(WBKK or BKI). It is 3hours fly to the south from HKG. Dragon Air,MAS,Transasia(TPE/KHH)etc serves once daily if I'm not wrong. There are like 20 flights to Kuala Lumpur a day, 2~3 times to Singapore.
Town by the sea, 30mins boat ride to 4 islands for the beaches and looking back at the town with Mt.Kinabalu sitting at 13000ft at the back.Sunset by the beach is something money can't buy. A drive up to the 5500ft mountain national park is 2hrs. Climbing the peak is a bit of an effort though.
Food is reasonably cheap if you learn to avoid Scandinavian tourist come all the way to eat Canadian lobster! Many expates family live here. Some hubby work in Singapore,Brunei....I knew an American golf course consultant work in China and put the family there. Family never want to go back to te States! There are also some locals girls working as CX cabin crew shuttle up to HKG.
There are some very good privite schools. Security wise,it is safe foreigners. Have a walk in the town at 2am, no bad guy dare to rob the 'whiteman'.
Plenty of drinking places as the Sabahans drink like Aussies! Yes, this part of Malaysia is very much like Phuket. It is a favourite place for Korean to have their honey moon.Some times, 400+ Korean couples would arrive in 2 chartered B744s 10mins apart, bong for a week (Wife or golf)then head back.
It is also current being propel into a regional (BIMP EGA?-Brunei-Idonesia-Malaysia-Phillipies Economic Growth Area?)shopping hub by the Malaysia Government. Many hotels,golf courses,etcs are coming up. As it is, there are enough golf courses to keep you happy.
PM me if you want to know more.
Flightleader