In Search of a Place to Call Home

Today is the one week marker of my return to Taipei and I am still... homeless! But to be honest, I only started viewing apartments since Monday. I have been to 5 apartments so far. One was in a miserable neighborhood far from any transportation. One had almost no electrical outlets and required the renter to make a 3 month deposit AND pay an agent fee. The third had tiny rooms crammed with ugly furniture (One room had no room for a bed). The fourth required you to walk through one of the bedrooms to get to the kitchen. The fifth was the best so far, but had the same problems as the others (listed below

I had forgotten how hard it is to find a suitable place in Asia. My troubles are mostly connected to the fact that windows are small and scarce and the kitchens are tiny, mostly unsuited for any form of Western cooking with no appliances or... a 2 burner gas deal placed under antiquated grease-clogged and encrusted fans.I can just imagine switching on the lights in the morning to find cockroaches glued to the big silver tubes interlacing between the fan and the wall. And if you plan to purchase appliances, your refridgerator may have to go in the living room... along with your microwave!

On the upside... the floors are mostly tiled (much better than carpeting) and many of the apartments have 3, rather than 2 bedrooms. Some of the things that worry most Taiwanese home-seekers do not bother me... so that is another benefit. (Mainly, I don't mind walking up 3 or 4 flights of stairs in an apartment with no elevator). And I don't care if the apartment is older if the building is clean.

On today's lunch break, I will go to another rental agency to get them started on the search. And in the evening I will visit a couple of places belonging to a coworker's Auntie. Wish me luck.