The Landlord Strikes Back

Now that Thanksgiving has passed, all of my turkey has either been consumed or stored away in the freezer to make soup. So back to landlords. If you missed the first post, check out Lords of the Land 先sin1.

After the interesting meeting with James, I was back to stalking housing websites, looking for just one, small flat, preferably in Wan Chai. Was that too much to ask? I found something that was small, cheap, and in Wan Chai. Again, right up my alley. I picked up the phone and dialed. 

"Hello? Helloooo?"

I gripped the phone and sighed. I had thought that those cartoon-character curtains in the ad looked familiar. I told James hello and asked him about the flat. 

"Yes, that's a good one! Very good. You will like it. You come tonight?" 

Not wanting another hurried, night-time adventure, I arranged to meet him the next day in front of the building. I put down the phone, wondering if James owned all of Wan Chai. 

The next day found me walking up to the building just on time with minimal jay-walking and running to make it. My mother came along for moral support (although I think she really just wanted to see what James was like after hearing my report). This time, it was our turn to wait. And wait, and wait. 

I was just reaching for my phone to call when James marched up. I fought my urge to bellow, "Jaaaames! Jaaaaames! Jaaaaaaaaaaames!" at him. 

"Oh, your mother too. Good, good, good. Let's go." He led us into a shadowy building and up the stairs to the lift. It was lower than the other flat, but not by too much. Other than being dark and slightly musty, the hall wasn't too bad. Looked kind of like hotel room doors, kind of like the last place. 

We walked up to the first door, and James started pounding loudly on the door. 

"Henry! Henryyyyy! It's James, your landlord! Open the door!"

There was silence, for a few seconds, and a groggy voice yelled back, "Just a minute." 

Mom and I started at each other. Surely he hadn't just showed up to a tenants place unannounced to bring strangers in to take a look.....had he?  We waited in an uncomfortable silence. 

A few minutes later, the door opened and a man in basketball shorts and a white t-shirt nodded to us. 

"I got my clothes on. I was just sleeping." His shot a look at James that went uncaught. "If I had known you were coming I could have prepared a little."

"Good, good, you're up. Come see, Laura. Come on!" James pushed in and waved at us to follow. Reluctantly, we stepped into the dark apartment. There were clothes strewn around the couch and floor. James proudly pointed out the tiny kitchen. It was a kitchen, although there were dishes in need of a good scrub in the sink. 

"Sorry for the mess," Basketball Shorts Man said, running his hand through his hair. "If I'd known you were coming I would've cleaned up a bit. Anyway, I'm moving soon so it's a bit messy anyway." The pointed look he sent our way was definitely caught. 

I told him thanks for showing us the place and apologized for interrupting his nap. Mom wished him good luck with his move. Then we followed James out into the hall. The door seemed to be shut a bit more loudly than necessary. I didn't blame Basketball Shorts Man. 

As we walked to the lift, James spun around.

"Wait, wait! There's another flat you can see on this hall. Another girl lives here but she might leave soon. We can take a look." He whipped out a humongous key ring and started trying keys on the door near the elevator. 

My mouth flopped open. I told James it's ok, we didn't need to see another one. Maybe we should wait for her to come back. 

"No, no, no need to worry," he replied, trying another key. "She always goes to Shanghai, never here during the week." I started worrying more. 

Thankfully for my nerves, James could never find the right key. It's no wonder with the hundreds of different keys all jangling from the same ring. Mom and I quickly stepped into the lift and held the door for him until he finally got in too. 

We emerged into the sunshine, not entirely sure what had just happened. James was launching back into his spiel about how houses go fast in Hong Kong and I needed to choose quickly. I thanked him, once again, and walked out of his life. Hopefully for good. The last thing I wanted for my first flat in Hong Kong was a landlord waking me up with a group of strangers ready to troop through my uncleaned house. Tempting, but no. 

On the other hand, I might have had some more interesting fodder for this blog had I gone with one of those flats. But some things are just not worth it. 

So remember this when you are looking for flats in Hong Kong. If you see cartoon-character curtains, run! Don't look back, don't call, don't consider, just run! Take your naps in peace.