More apartments - Kowloon & Central

March 13 – Tuesday & I had to go to the bank this morning on Cadmus business. I like doing this because it is an interesting part of the city. I like the little markets on the street that mostly sell fruits & veggies. Just colorful and classic HK.

I have more apartments to visit today. This time it is an area I know fairly well. The main drag in Kowloon-side is Nathan Road. This is a large road lined with nothing but stores. The stores range from every highest end name brand store you can think of & probably some you’ve not heard of because they are that expensive us “normal” people wouldn’t have any reason to know about them to very inexpensive knock off shops. The lower mile of this road (nearest the harbor) is known as the Golden Mile because of all the high priced stores. If you’ve spent any time in HK, you’ve spent time on Nathan Road. I think I’ve walked the entire length of it several times from Tsim Sha Tsui (by the harbor) at one end up to the Night Market & Mong Kok at the other end.

The apartments I had on the list for today were right off Nathan Road, but up from the Golden Mile. I already knew this would be a good area and the ladies at the office would approve. The only question was going to be were the buildings decent & the apartments acceptable. With the budget they gave me to work with, I’m at the low end, so I’m not expecting much. This is one of the 3 most expensive cities in the world for housing costs.

The first building looked promising. Less than a 2 minute walk from the MTR station & nice looking building. There was even a sales office at the bottom. I was shown an apartment and it was terrific. I couldn’t believe it. Very modern furniture, nice view, clean & new looking. This one gets 4 stars. The next one was a few blocks away & quite the opposite. It looked really run down and even I would not stay there (so you know it must be bad). Good reason this one was so cheap (for Hong Kong). This one got scratched off the list.

Next I headed across the harbor to look at a few places in Central, near where we live. One of them nobody answered the bell, so it got scratched, but getting there was interesting. It was on a street with a Chinese name, but under the Chinese it says “Ginseng and Bird’s Nest Street”. Every single store on the street sold ginseng and bird’s nest. People here love bird’s nest, it is supposed to be very healthy & good for your skin. If I haven’t described it before, these literally are bird’s nests. People collect swallow’s nests (I think a very special kind) from caves. The stuff is ridiculously expensive, like several hundred dollars an ounce (that’s US dollars). The nest is made from the bird’s saliva, so it is soft & gelatinous when cooked. They like to make soup from it that is served for dessert. I’ve had it & it is a very delicate taste, nothing special in my opinion.

I looked at one other apartment in this area that was really nice. It had a great workout room. They had a piece of equipment that looks like a saddle for a horse. It was like a small bull ride. I guess it rocks back & forth & the lady said that the women like this one because it helps their waist & hips stay slim. I’d just never seen one in a workout room. Maybe I’ll have to get me one of those contraptions & get my waist in shape!! Long day, but at least there are some viable options & my search may be over soon.