Where can I find a quiet or private place to Skype in Hong Kong?
January 9, 2013 4:05 PM Subscribe
Asking for a friend: I'm traveling in Hong Kong, near Causeway Bay, for the next few days, and I need to find a place where I can Skype/videoconference with a few people in New York during regular business hours -- meaning, 11pm - midnight, Hong Kong time.
The place where I'm staying doesn't have any privacy (it's a hostel). While I'm not talking about anything very confidential, I'll be discussing budgets and large money figures for about an hour and a half, and need relative quiet and privacy. Ideally it'd be a small room or something, but the quiet lobby of a hotel, or an empty-ish cafe with wifi would all work okay for me.
However, since the call has to be so late, I'm not sure what places would be open --- and it would also have to be within reasonable walking or taxi distance to Causeway Bay as the MTR would be closed, right? I'm willing to pay a little if it's necessary for some reason, but would like to avoid having to get a hotel room just for this purpose. Any ideas? Thanks, AskMe!
The place where I'm staying doesn't have any privacy (it's a hostel). While I'm not talking about anything very confidential, I'll be discussing budgets and large money figures for about an hour and a half, and need relative quiet and privacy. Ideally it'd be a small room or something, but the quiet lobby of a hotel, or an empty-ish cafe with wifi would all work okay for me.
However, since the call has to be so late, I'm not sure what places would be open --- and it would also have to be within reasonable walking or taxi distance to Causeway Bay as the MTR would be closed, right? I'm willing to pay a little if it's necessary for some reason, but would like to avoid having to get a hotel room just for this purpose. Any ideas? Thanks, AskMe!
Best answer: The MTR lines all have different closing times, but generally they run from 0530 to 0100 every day, so if you're quick about it you wouldn't have to worry about transport (and in a pinch, taxis are cheapish [20HKD first 2km, 1.50HKD every 200m after]).
There aren't many internet cafes in Hong Kong, most of the few that exist are going to be for gaming or quick internet access, and the ones that are open late probably aren't going to be quiet or private. Your best bet is either going to be asking one of the hotels if you could use their business centre at night (the Holiday Inn on Sharp Street has a business centre) or renting a day office from a place like Regus - they've a bunch of locations around Causeway Bay.
Those are likely to be more expensive, so if your budget's tight and you're willing to sacrifice privacy, any local Pacific Coffee has free wifi (with a drink purchase) and computer terminals to use.
posted by zennish at 4:45 PM on January 9, 2013
There aren't many internet cafes in Hong Kong, most of the few that exist are going to be for gaming or quick internet access, and the ones that are open late probably aren't going to be quiet or private. Your best bet is either going to be asking one of the hotels if you could use their business centre at night (the Holiday Inn on Sharp Street has a business centre) or renting a day office from a place like Regus - they've a bunch of locations around Causeway Bay.
Those are likely to be more expensive, so if your budget's tight and you're willing to sacrifice privacy, any local Pacific Coffee has free wifi (with a drink purchase) and computer terminals to use.
posted by zennish at 4:45 PM on January 9, 2013
Caffe Habitu has reliable wifi that's unlimited - I've used it for hours at a stretch FaceTime-ing with people. Some outlets close quite late - around 11:00 pm - so if you can move your call a bit earlier that might work.
posted by mdonley at 3:34 AM on January 11, 2013
posted by mdonley at 3:34 AM on January 11, 2013
Best answer: Also, though it's cold right now and you wouldn't want to be sitting in, say, Victoria Park at midnight, if you could find a sheltered/indoor place the HK government's GovWiFi scheme might work for you - here's where you can find it near Wan Chai/Causeway Bay.
posted by mdonley at 3:38 AM on January 11, 2013
posted by mdonley at 3:38 AM on January 11, 2013
Response by poster: From the friend: "In the end, the call ended up being postponed. I think the most ideal solution would have been to a) just get a cheap hotel room, or b) find a fancy hotel, use their lobby, and take a taxi home afterwards. The GovWifi suggestion sounds great, also. Thanks everyone!"
posted by nemutdero at 5:19 PM on January 21, 2013
posted by nemutdero at 5:19 PM on January 21, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
(have stayed at this hotel recently)
posted by Kruger5 at 4:41 PM on January 9, 2013