The handover took place at the offices of our relocation company. Contrary to everything I'd read and heard about so far, our landlord was present. Mr. L. is a gregarious businessman, who, straightaway after we met, started talking eagerly about the U.S. election. He went into great detail about which way individual states voted -- he couldn't pronounce "Pennsylvania," but he knew that it was a big upset for the state to support Obama. As usual, I was embarrassed about my ignorance of the Hong Kong government system, but fortunately he didn't ask me how I felt about local politics.
The flat is on the 20th floor. Well, if you take out the aforementioned 4, 13, and 14th floors, it's really on the 17th. It has three bedrooms, although "bedroom" here means something much smaller than what we're used to in the U.S. The smaller bedrooms are merely 7' x 7', and the master bedroom isn't much bigger. Which is fine, but there are no closets, as is typical of flats in Hong Kong.
The two bathrooms are normal sized, but lack electrical outlets. We learned that Hong Kong law prohibits outlets in bathrooms (except in hotels, which can have one specifically for shavers). So much for keeping a hair dryer in the bathroom!
The flat is listed as having 1,136 sq ft., which sounds like a good-sized place. This figure includes, however, our "share" of the common areas such as the lobby, so the actual square footage is a lot less. Nevertheless, it's a lot more room than I originally thought I would get. I was originally picturing something about half that size.
Our favorite feature of the new place is the amazing, floor-to-ceiling window in the living room, with a balcony. It gives us a view of the mountains, to the right:
And a glimpse of the harbor, to the left:
And what I'm going to call a "city view," right in front of us:
We looked at another flat in this building, a slightly smaller one that faced the mountain, which made it much more quiet. I couldn't decide between the two units. I remarked to our estate agent that I thought the mountain view was very peaceful. She only looked puzzled and said, "But, the mountain is very boring.... It never changes!" A. agrees.
In the end, it was the kitchen that sold me: huge by HK standards, sleekly appointed, with plenty of storage. Also, one blingy item, a wine cellar! I would've preferred an oven instead, but it will be fun to say, "Darling, could you grab another bottle of wine out of the cellar...?"
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