My Pad

Welcome to Hong Kong! This was the lovely welcome basket I received when arriving to my Shama apartment. It includes some bottled water, cookies, soup noodles, corn flakes, milk (in the juice boxes, and Twix! My apartment is in the North Point area of Hong Kong. This area is closest to the office I will work out of 3 days a week. Everyone has referred to it as very 'local' haha, but that's the fun and cultural adventure I'm looking forward to! Local just means it may not seem as westernized and there may not be as many people speaking English or speaking it well. Coincidentally, there is a McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks, and 7-11 all right next to my apartment building in my 'local' neighborhood :)

The apartment itself is a super cozy and comfortable 530 SF studio. The picture to the right shows my front door - kitchen with two burners, sink, fridge and microwave are on the right and bathroom is across from that.

BTW, I can only see the top half of my face in the bathroom mirror. I think they were trying to accommodate the taller foreigners that come through these corporate apartments! The pictures to the left and below show the living/dining space once you walk through the hallway. Check out the plasma, yay! There is a channel that shows US and UK programming, but I also get HBO and Cinemax. This setup is complete with DVD player and Bose sound system, very nice! Then, past the living/dining area is a sliding door partition leading to the bedroom that literally fits just the bed and two small bedside tables.

I've noticed that mattresses are typically stiffer here. Someone here commented that American beds are too smushy and soft. Although it's a small space, there are three AC units all operated by remote control.

Most of the time it's pretty hot and humid in Hong Kong so AC units are definitely a must. As you can see, one entire wall of my apartment is a giant window. I get plenty of light (and noise!) and I look out right onto a busy street in front of the MTR stop.

The services at Shama apartments are wonderful! There is maid service 6 days a week, but I only requested it 5 days/week. I mean, really, 6 days is just a little excessive :) In addition they have laundry and dry clean service, or you can do your own in the laundry room (left). No coins necessary! Next to the laundry room are the business center (right), billiards room, and gym. OK, all this info is pretty basic and possibly boring stuff, but there is one really cool feature. Although we need a key to open our apt. door, the building operates on a keyless entry using a fob. So, we just have to scan it to get into the building and scan it in the elevator to take us to our floor. The manager said this is especially useful when you've had too much to drink - just wave your key in front of the scanner as you stumble in!