Email interview between Ingmar Jense of Links Relocations (Tel: 2866 6794) and Frazer McGilvray who used their moving services to relocate to Sydney earlier this year (Farewell Ho Down party)

1. Had you heard of Links Relocations before you planned to move? If not, how did you go about sourcing a relocations company?

We had seen an ad for Links somewhere, but didn’t know a great deal about them. We just called up the usual relocation companies of Crown, Santa Fe, Allied Pickfords and added Links in for a quote as well.

2. What did you look for in a relocations company and how did Links Relocations fulfill those needs?

Price was important, but one of the main things was how they said they were going to pack things. We have artwork that is framed glass on glass, and there was a variety of different ways that the different companies said they would pack it. In the end it came down to price between Links and one other, and Links came through on the day as they were able to reduce the price without compromising on the quality of the packing by offering a deal on the insurance premium, not the cubic foot charge. Some companies just quote really high in the first place to make it look like they are dropping their price quite a bit if you ask them to. Maybe they get a lot of mid-levels expat moves that big companies are paying for.

3. How important is personal service to giving you peace of mind when you move?

We had good personal service prior to leaving Hong Kong from Links, and would like to thank Shannon for that. He was very attentive to detail and very co-operative. He is aware of the stresses people are under packing up a household full of belongings and this showed. Post move however, there seems to be other people dealing with your shipment that you have no relation with, and that is not so helpful. One person door to door would be a much better idea.

4. Would you recommend Links Relocations to friends?

I would recommend Links as they are competitive, and have an excellent team of packers, and it is them who are responsible for getting your stuff from A to B undamaged. DO take insurance, as even though we only had 2 items damaged out of 133 boxes (which we thought was very low, and down to the excellent packers), it was still worth the cover. Also, make sure you ad up the value of your house accurately (especially electronics), you would be surprised how much it can add up to.

Ran - ex-Lammaite, moved to Tung Chung a few months ago with Delian, from his Blog, click on May 26:

As some may know, there is a sweating typist about to move apartments. He will leave the sultry confines of Lamma, the cicadas screaming, the mozzies breeding, the lush green leaves laced with ash, for the dizzying heights of Tung Chung. Yup, 51st floor, here we come-

"Tell us more about it, Bob!"

"Guests will stay at the lovely penthouse suite of the Tung Chung Crescent Gardens!" (cue applause) "These 3 year old buildings give a bright view off Lantau Island, which boasts Hong Kong's new and improved airport!"

"But why, Bob? Why?"

"Because our contestants have won the right to use a kitchen designed for people over 4 feet tall! Guests of the Tung Chung Crescent Gardens will enjoy a refrigerator that holds over 3 cubic feet of food, a stovetop range that has more than two propane burners, ample counterspace, and the newest and most luxurious oven!"

Ran: Eulogy to Lamma Ding Dong:

Put yourself in Sheung Wan, in a 300 sqft serviced apartment, 6 duffle-bags, one computer books and CDs, and add to that two traumatised cats who shit themselves after a 27-hour flight.

After renting the place on the 11th floor, go and live among the shark-fins and dried scallops, the garbage and the jack-hammers, the exhaust and the wall-to-wall suits. Live there for two weeks, where AM is PM, where up is down and where breakfast is dumplings cooked on a Teflon hotplate.

OK? Got it? Good. Think about it long enough to be there: two tourists who just moved to HK.

Now take a ferry ride to a place called Lamma, a place you read about from an icy Montreal February, a place that seemed to have music and bars, jungle and piñebo. Take that boat ride, a ride that makes your ringing ears ring, your eyes wide, as Central drifts away like smog in the morning. Ride the waves. Hunt the wake for garbage. Hold hands, as the peak and its high-rises and villas grow smaller. Hold hands, as you point to the Yung Shue Wan pier exclaiming, “Look at that! See, see? I told you there were three smokestacks.”

Find a place with a view of the water, an ubiquitous apartment that boasts 700 sqft, and slowly discover the beauty of waking to birds in the morning, the cicadas, the sun rising as clouds mix overhead. Find that roof and sit a while, have a barbecue, drink some wine, stare at the fishing boat stretching through the beach for yet another run. “I wonder what’s left,” I mutter as I see the nets pulled over and over the same length it netted over just yesterday.

Wake before sunrise and make that coffee. Read that email. Brush those teeth. And with your freshly ironed shirt still warm, walk down to the pier. Get on that boat, hold that coffee and newspaper, greet the same old 7:40 faces, either with a “Morning,” or with a play of the eyes.

And that’s how I was, how you found me when, not two weeks ago.

Now that I’m off, off to a place where the guillotine of the ferry schedule never falls, I laugh at my old kitchen and my open-mouthed misanthropes who lived endlessly with open-mouthed squawking downstairs. “Shitty neighbours? Let me tell you about shitty neighbours.”

Gone are the days of making due with nipple-height refrigerators, no more stooping to chop onions, and enough already with the lukewarm single tap kitchen sink. Fokedat.

Like a pot of new tea on a Lazy Susan, it tastes good at first, feels a little bitter next, and leaves you a little empty last.

And truly, not to leave the analogy incomplete, it always leaves you with a want, “I need to take a piss…”

So that was the lover's lament.

And here's where you're now:

Yesyes, very good, I know - 51st floor in Tung Chung, waaaaaay out on Lantau, where it's so far. On the other hand, what it is that makes the new digs so fresh is that it feel open -in a way the Lamma roof did - but the Lamma apartment did not.

Open kitchen to open dining room to open living room to windowed view of a mountain and hundreds of little apartments below. I like that at night I can watch the traffic, noiselessly run far and wide; meditative, like staring at fish through glass. The walls are cream, the floor is white, the bathroom has marble and a tub.

As we continue to expand as a company, we ensure our investment in people, technology, equipment and facilities also expands in line with our growth. The core reason behind our success is our ability to maintain our integrity in the level of service delivered and dedication to the personalization of the moving experience.

"GreenHouse"
For Sale:

Unique and idyllic island hideaway

Rare gem in Hong Kong…detached peaceful and secluded house yet with easy access to the city from its own pontoon, via Aberdeen. Must be seen! For more information and appointments to view:

Email greenhouselamma@yahoo.co.uk or Tel. 9103 8995, Stephen. Click for more photos & info!

John Newson - Director, Headlong Publishing Ltd

Some years ago I shared a Cornish valley with five or six of these little fellers. They never caused offence, always looked cool, and were at their best on the rare occasions when we had a sea-fog and a wind, at which times they would chuff away privately in their secret rooms in the mist, endlessly pouring out rich golden power. Ah, but in a storm though, you'd see them at their most spectacular, whirling and skirling and banging around in the great fists of air until it all gets too violent and they automatically feather their vanes like birds hunkering down in a thunderstorm.

We called them the Wind-Giants. They were our friends, they held the gate.