So the following day we moved hostels, the hostel we were at was more like a low star hotel, so we had booked into a hostel in Hong Kong island. Now as most of you who know me know, I have always wanted to back pack around the world, well when I was 16, so the thought of a real hostel was scary, but kind of exciting.
We arrived at the building, up a lift to goodness know's what floor. (the last one was floor 18) so we arrive in the reception area, if thast what you can call it!! two small rooms joined into one, with a grumpy man on the desk, Mr Sam ( trip adviser had said he was grumpy) There were young people with dread locks all on the internet in the shared lounge. This was a real hostel, the one I had once dreamed of going to. but now def feeling to old, and out of place, but I was prepard to stay and was looking forward to it, Mr Sam said you booked, yes, we agreed and he looked at our luggage, not a back pack in sight ( well the hand luggange could be put on our backs, but we might have fallen over.)
So he said you booked twin room, you need double, trying to expain that yes we wanted twins, he said " you follow my man he show you rooms, you see u need the double, as it will be more room for luggage".
The man showed us around leaving our cases in the reception ( I am really being kind saying that lol ) So the double was on a different floor, clean, space, ok. then he showed us the twin, in a not such clean place, washing machines by the room, the room was clean , and small , ok bathroon, we arrived to the desk and accounced to his discuss, that we will have the twin, but double nicer he replyed, away from noise, yes we are aware of this but thats what we want,
So even more grumpy he threw another key at his man, ( at this point I should say the man is in his 80's if not a day older).
You follow my man, he take you to another building, you trust Mr Sam, I am good to you, we opened our mouths to question where he was sending us, as he was getting more annoyed. So he shouts, just go take luggage, go now, and he keeps shaking his head, well you can imagine, in intrepadation we followed the man, who by now was taking us across the street and had taken one of the suitcases off Dean, the case has 30k of luggage in it and he had a job to walk, we tried to be nice and take it back, but he would not hear of it .So we go into this rather nice block, we go up five floors, and a large corridor which I have to say was a bit smelly.
We arrive at a door, and unlock it, where we are confonted with the most lovely shared lounge with a shared kitchen area. wow wow nothing like the otherside, as we entered our very nice, non smelling, clean room, with a dressing table and wardrobe, we had been upgraded, I have to say it was so lovely, but a bit disappointed coz i was prepared to stay at the otherside. Who's going to argue with God for an upgrade , not me.!
We spent four nights there, just of the causeway, Hong Kong Island. it was busy, but nice. We liked this area very much, lots of shops on the door step, like the one in Mong Kok, but more useful ones like Ikea, yes Ikea, on a busy high street under ground. have to say not as big as the ones we are used to , but everything you need. apart from the fish and chips, oh well u can't have up grades and fish and chips!!!
After one night we prayed and decided that we prob need to rent somewhere as the hostels are soooo expensive, so we decided that to get good value home, well you know what we are going to say, we thought Sai Kng was best place to start. As we had internet in our room, which was amazing, we recieved lots of emails from church people, offering us places to stay for short periods.. Also we recieved an email from a lady from church who worked is an estate agent. Knowing she spoke english we thought this was a great place to start..
We jumped on th mtr ( yes i mean jumped, going up and down the escalators, with just no hands, but walking up and down them in the fast queue) so we get the mtr to Hung hou, then we jumped in a taxi as we didnt know which bus, ect ect..theres no mtr to Sai kung, bus or taxi, as we travelled into Sai kung we saw the estate agent that the girl had emailed us from. so we stopped the taxi and popped into see her, well she was lovely, and we arranged to view properties the following day with her. So we had a slow walk into town, and had a nice lunch in the Thai resturant. Dean had duck, and I had the most lovely roast pork soup, the pork had crackling on, and lots of noodles it was yummy.
The next day we set off to look at apartments on our own steam, it was a failure, so we made our way to Sai Kung, Arrived at the agents, and off we went, they take you around the homes, in there car, it's so refreshing to get a service.
So in Sai Kung you get your normal large apartment blocks, the rest are village houses, and depending how well of u are depends what you get.
So top of the money is the whole house :)
then 2 floors
then top floor
then ground floor
then last but least is middle floor, only because as a rule u have no out side space, but rules are ment to be broken, and this week I have seen a second floor with our side space :)
We looked at five apartments, all with different things to offer, so it really came down to three, one was way, way to expensive, but boy it was nice lol
The second was a ground floor apartment, it was spacious, with a small garden.
third and forth was way to small, one with no real daylight, apart from when you opened the door.
fifth was a bit of a tease, mid level, view of the sea, two bedroom with both ensuite, and a bit of a balcony. but the lounge/diner were smaller than the other we had seen.
I have always always wanted a seaview, always always. but Dean didnt like it, I even tried walking out of the appartment closing his eyes then making his open them again lol.
But I have to say we do like our outside space, especially me. The second and fifth house were priced the same, so there was no contest.
We asked the agent to try and get the price down on the second appartment, and later that day they came back with it knocked down, to $500 less, as it had alreaded had the price dropped. so we said ty and we would think about it, so that evening we prayed about it and set a figure of what we were willing to pay including bills. We would see in the morning..what we should do.
That night while I skyped Jenny and the kids, having lovely chats with them all. Connor who is 12 Hi Connor x... realised the time diffrence and announced "what's the time there Aunt kathy, as i think it's late and you should be in bed" so i told him it was midnight. In his strickest voice I have ever herd "you best say goodbye and go to sleep, it's late and you need to sleep" bless him, so I obediantly did as I was told and went to sleep. Well an hour later of tossing and turning I got up and did fb. suddenly a chat box came up "go to bed now !!!!!"
lol he then skyped me to say was I ok, he was worried, Elizabeth who doesnt understand these things could see it was all dark and shouted "wake up athy wake up "lol. with Jenny and Connor, saying nooo. kathy has to sleep..
Well the following day we have a call from the agent, did we want to proceed, so we told them a figure we would go to and no more. put the phone down and thought that was that ..
Moving in day !
Cleaning the kitchen by candle light.We have been told that you never, hardly ever get a 6 month contract, and the Chinese would rather not rent a place than drop the price, we got both. Don't we have a great Dad.
We will have to send more photos later of the apartment. if you want to be in contact by mail or phone, please email us, for the details xx
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