Visitor+Info

Affiliation:
Program participants are encouraged to acknowledge the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study in their publications, for work performed or initiated during their visit.

Program participants are also welcome to list their affiliation with IAS as "Participant of the program on **Cosmology and String Theory** at the Institute for Advanced Study of HKUST".

Lodging:
On Campus: The Staff Apartments in Tower D, although expensive, are extremely convenient and have a great [|view] of the ocean (on the appropriate side of the building). Sheets, towels, a pot, a pan, dishes, glasses, silverware, a kettle, a microwave, a toaster oven and a cutting board are included in addition to the furniture you can see in the pictures at [|Sample Apartment]. The washing machine doubles as a dryer.

You can pay rent by credit card or cash, but you will be charged an additional 3% by HKUST if you use a card (in addition to the fees your credit card may charge you to convert the currency). You will most likely save money if you bring enough cash or traveler's checks to cover the rent.

- Subject to availability, the Uni-Lodge and apartments at the Staff Quarters are available for short-term visitors on campus. Rental ranges from $550 to around $900 per night. Linus See can help you check for their availability.

https://www.ab.ust.hk/cso/accomodation_vs.htm http://ias.ust.hk/ias/Tower_D-Flat_D.htm

- Dan Wohns and Gang Xu, will be visiting from February until July. They have rented an apartment at Tower D on campus and are looking for visitors to share the rental. In case youdon't mind sharing an apartment, you may check with them whether a room would be available during your visit period. [You can reach Dan and Gang at dfw9@cornell.edu, gx26@cornell.edu]

A campus visitor website: https://www.ab.ust.hk/cso/

Off Campus:

Some off campus accommodations where our visitors have chosen to stay include:

Royal Pacific Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon (some agreement with HKUST, offers special rates)

http://www.sino-hotels.com/The_Royal_Pacific_Hotel_and_Towers/en/default.aspx

Harmony Mansion Serviced Apartment (Causeway Bay/Wanchai):

http://www.harmonyservicedapartment.com/

Ibis Hotel (North Point):

http://www.ibishotel.com/gb/hotel-3563-ibis-hong-kong-north-point/index.shtml

Empire Hotel (Causeway Bay/Tin Hau):

http://www.empirehotel.com.hk/en/ehc/overview.aspx

Currency Exchange:
There are three banks on campus. A transaction fee may incur if you don't have a bank account with them. You may ask a local to help you change money if you want this fee to be waived.

Transportation:
Most places can be reached by MTR: (Hong Kong subway system)

The nearest one is Hang Hau, which you can take 11 or 11M (a minibus with 16 seats) to reach. There is usually a line waiting there, but it seems that the bus is frequent enough. The fare is 4.2 HKD. At Hang Hau MTR, there are big malls that have food places, supermarkets and electronic hardware (the adapter is very important to get if your plug does not match the plug in, we suspect that you can get it here.. but we got it from ifc Mall at Central(c.f. restaurant reviews), and on the first floor in ifc Mall, there is one place you can get transformer for your camera if you are from a 100V instead of 200V country. )

From any MTR, it seems that it should be very easy to go anywhere, since all MTRs are somehow connected and the map of MTR is everywhere in the MTR. One thing to be careful is that sometimes two different subway lines may meet at more than one subway station, but it seems that only one of them is actually connected if you want to change lines. The subway has announcement in three languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, and English), so it is very easy to follow.



Get an Octopus Card! It can be used to pay for various transportation in Hong Kong:

http://www.octopus.com.hk/home/en/index.html

It also doubles as a debit card for shopping and food.

Websites written by other HKUST departments can be found, e.g., here: http://ihome.ust.hk/~socholz/directions.html

Restaurants
There are many cafeterias, cafes, restaurants, and bistro on campus.

A useful website with lots of restaurant reviews written by the locals can be found here: http://www.openrice.com/english

Our visitors have contributed several restaurant reviews based on their own experience. Please see http://hkias.wikispaces.com/Restaurant+Guide

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Mobile Connection
If you have a SIM free mobile, it would be nice to purchase prepaid SIM at the airport (or some other place). 3HK has a good connection on the campus and even outside. You may be allowed to use unlimited data connection too (as far as Yoske used). 3HK at the airport locates around the departure gate of terminal 1.

Shopping:
Some visitors like to purchase tea as a souvenir. There are many tea stores in Hong Kong. Among the famous ones are:

http://www.yingkeetea.com/

There are many varieties though can be pricey.

Some visitors have purchased the "Superior Dragon Ball Tea" at the Hong Kong Tea House located at the basement of the Jusco department store in Quarry Bay:

http://www.jusco.com.hk/chi/index.htm



for about $8 per "ball".

Walking/Trails:
There is a website that has plenty information about major trails: [|click here]

Computing:
The IP addresses of the printers are:

Black and White: 143.89.192.246

Color: 143.89.192.247

Hong Kong visa
Citizens of many countries can stay in Hong Kong for up to 90 days as a visitor without a visa. Please visit http://www.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/hkvisas_4.htm for more details.

Those come on an employment basis (i.e., those who are paid a salary, instead of per diem) usually require a visa. The Hong Kong employment visa is claimed to take 6 weeks to obtain, once you obtain the necessary paperwork from HKUST. It can take several weeks for HKUST to process the paperwork to apply for the visa and you should allow for about 2 weeks total for the documents to be delivered via FedEx (3 mailings * 3 business days each). To be safe, begin the process a minimum of 12 weeks before you plan to depart for HK.

Chinese visa
You cannot apply for a China visa from Hong Kong, despite the claims of China Travel Service.

USA visa
If you come to visit here on an expired F-1 visa from USA with a Chinese passport, it is recommended to renew your visa here. All the steps are listed here http://hongkong.usconsulate.gov/niv_apply.html

Info for Employees:
Please see this page for info (written by Gang Xu): http://hkias.wikispaces.com/Info+for+Employees