Apartment Hunt - take one

Well, I ventured out to Lamma Island today (promised haven of bookshops, veggie restaurants, beaches, and bargainous properties). Thanks to the hotel receptionist providing me with a map the size of a postage stamp, it took me 45 minutes to locate the metro only 500metres from here - Hong Kong appears to be one of those frustrating places that only bothers to signpost things when you can see them anyway. Metro spat me out in Central, again with a decided lack of signage that left me wandering for another 45 minutes instead of the 5 required to find the ferry terminal. It wasn't possible to see more than a few dozen metres at most courtesy of the smog/cloud/mist that appears to be a fairly standard feature of this city, resulting in ships appearing somewhat eerily out of the gloom mere inches from our sputtering ferry.

Within ten minutes of arriving I was checking out my first apartment. At least now I have a benchmark I suppose... The 'green view' I was promised turned out to be a banana tree battling to get in at the window in the living room (the estate agent tried to sell me the idea of reaching out and plucking a banana for breakfast), the rooms were horrendously filthy, and the fridge and stove conceivably harked back to the very earliest examples. Features included a wicker wardrobe and an external clothes drying rack. I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting, but something which represents a slight upgrade on this particular pad is certainly required.

Four estate agents proved to have remarkably little of interest - one point blank refused to show me one of the apartments, I think on the basis it is at the top of a 'large hill' (mild slope even by my standards) and they honestly couldn't be bothered to lug their carcass up there.

The plan is to head back again tomorrow, either hoping that I somehow missed an estate agent's window or that new places magically appear overnight. Right now, I think I need to focus on turning my Negative Energy into Positive Energy... As an aside, it is poll day on Hong Kong. The lady who was elected last time on Lamma wins again, basically because not a single person stood against her. I don't think this was much to do with any particular brilliance on her part, rather the general overall laid back nature of the residents. I'm exhausted. Anyone who knows a shop that sells new leases on life, do let me know.