Our Hong Kong Home

Well, after a few trips with a wonderful real estate agent, we decided on a place to live and last weekend moved in.  The process of deciding where to live is difficult when you have no idea what different areas are like, you hear a variety of people's opinions and you do not fully know how long travel (also known as 'Jeff's commute) will be from where.  Where would you start? (or where have you started when you have done this type of move?)

We started with an area or two based on some advice from locals.  Very nice apartments, good view, and yet seemed to be far away from the core of the city.  Next we headed to locations closer to Jeff's work.  These had small apartments that catered to Asians, so no ovens and very small rooms. We were told by our real estate agent that the stores cater to the Japanese and Korean community that lives there. The third time out we headed to a few areas closer to the core of the city and where more expats (like ourselves) hung out.  There we found a perfect apartment.  We mulled over the distance for Jeff's commute (15 minutes down escalators, 45 minutes by MTR, then shuttle) verses the great view and layout of the apartment, and being in the core of the city.

Graciously, Jeff is dealing with a longer commute to allow us to be in our new home.  The view is away from the city and right at the peak...and not bad on the 45th floor!  This was the only apartment we saw like this, and after a day of the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong, this is an amazing and refreshing break.


looking to the left



looking to the right - on a clear day
you can see the harbour!

looking straight out - ah, greenery, rocks
and hawks flying by

Besides the location and view, the other thing we love about our new home is that every room has a window that opens....that means the living/dining room, our bedroom, your bedroom (when you come visit), both bathrooms, the kitchen and the laundry/maid's room!  The fresh air sooths our souls!

The apartment was unfurnished, like all of them in Hong Kong.  The apartments in Manila were all furnished, so we pretended we were first married and furnished our new home!  We are very thankful for IKEA (see earlier post).  We ordered so much that it was all delivered on Sunday and we paid a little extra to have IKEA people put together the couch, chair, tv stand, two bookcases, coffee table, side tables, dining room table (chairs on back order), bed and two night stands.  We know ourselves well enough to accept if we tried to put all of that together, we would be finishing up around the time we were leaving Hong Kong! 

So - move weekend (just read this and remember your own past moves....and appreciate the organization of Hong Kong like we do!).  Saturday - movers who had our shipment from Manila came to our temporary home to get our suitcases and other stuff at 1:30 (well, they arrived at 12:30....), got the key for the apartment 2 pm, shipment of our belongings from Manila and from Hong Kong arrived at 2 pm.  During the course of the afternoon cable/Internet/phone guy came, tv and sound system were delivered, guy putting together the tv and sound system arrived, and gas man came.  Jeff and I unpacked 35 boxes from Manila, and headed out for supper by 8 pm, very tired, very hungry and happy.  Sunday - IKEA stuff was delivered and set up (took a few hours) and then we started our extensive list of what we still needed.  We slept well Sunday night in our new home....

Here is your own personal tour:


entrance way - what you
see when you arrive






dining room at your left
as you walk in the door
(chairs to come)



left hand side
of kitchen

right hand side of kitchen

The kitchen is to the right as soon as you walk in the door.  It is very western, with gas stove, oven, microwave and tiny fridge (once again dishwashers do not exist).   It is very large by Asian standards. The laundry room is behind it, and has a washer/dryer combination machine.  Who knew such wonderful space-saving thing existed!

 Then as you head left and stand in the dining room you see the living room with its spectacular view:



Left side of living room, with
Jeff relaxing.  The doorway to
our bedroom is on the left hand
side of the picture




Right side of the living room, with
Jeff's new tv!  The doorway to
your room is on the right hand
side of the picture





 



Our room...with the same spectacular view.  Our closet area and bathroom are to the left of this picture:

Your room...with the same spectacular view.  Your bathroom, with full tub and shower, is off the living room. (don't worry, we will have something for you to sleep on by the time you get here)

So, our home....for the next little while.  We have two grocery stores within a three minute walk, and our main commute is up the escalators (Google that and enjoy!).  We are in an area called Mid-Levels. 

We are settling in well, and feeling pretty good.  Yesterday I even ran into someone I knew just a block from home! (Marian, wife of one of the pastors at our new home church...more on that next blog).  We appreciate all your thoughts and prayers as we have made this transition.  With these pictures you can now picture us relaxing, making meals, looking at nature and just hanging out.

Even Cookie is settled, as he enjoyed watching the sun set over the harbour last evening. 

 Now it feels like we can start really settling in...so many more discoveries to share!

As usual, we love you all, and look forward to having you visit us in person in our new home!

Linda and Jeff