A very normal Sunday

Today was our 8th Sunday in Hong Kong. After two Sundays in the luxurious Two MacDonnell Road apartment with the amazing views, four Sundays in the lovely shoebox that was our Shama Fortress Hill apartment and one Sunday in our new home unpacking boxes, this was the first Sunday here that was just normal. Boringly normal. And just what I was craving. Our second week in, our new home is starting to feel just like that: home.

So what is a boringly normal Sunday in Hong Kong? A good hour in the gym, including pool and sauna visit for W. A lovely French lunch down the road. A visit to the flower market. And grocery shopping.

Just like in London, Honkers restaurants offer very good lunch deals. For around €10-12 you should be able to get two courses or a main and a coffee. This bistro was no exception. Crabmeat with some salad and a super tasty pork chop for me and steak for Wilko. For HK$ 60 you could add free flow wine (free flow booze, a normal menu item on HK restaurants in the weekend), but having wine straight after a gym session just didn't quite feel right. And unlike in Dutch restaurants, it's completely fine here to just drink tap water with your meal.

Though we finished most of our furniture shopping, we still needed a few bits and bobs for the bathroom. Google told me Portland Street was the place to go. And indeed, tens of shops for tiles, wallpaper and bathroom stuff. A few minutes down, we found the flower market that I'd been keen to visit. Flowers are expensive here, but the Mongkok flower market is an exception. Not as cheap and as good as at home, but pretty decent. And a house is so much more a home with flowers, at least to me.

And finally: grocery shopping. Supermarkets here are odd.  There are five or six within a ten minute radius, which is good. And necessary. Items can be stocked one week, but not the other. Writing a shopping list and doing all your shopping in one place just isn't an option here. Prices can also vary a lot, both between shops and over time. So what is a very basic thing at home, becomes slightly more adventurous here. I'm sure we'll get used to it. And if not: we have dozens of cheap local restos on our doorstep. And a gym in our building, luckily!

Home

Finally, a place to call home. Our stuff was delivered on Thursday, and we've been sleeping in our own bed since. And oh, the joy of being able to cook a proper meal on Friday night. We're mostly done, just waiting for two of the four legs of a storage rack (thank you Ikea), a rail for our wardrobe (thank you, Ikea) and the sideboard we ordered from Muji last weekend and we should be able to unpack the last few boxes. Pretty happy with the stuff we found to make this place home.

When our agent negotiated the lease, one of the things she managed to get for us were ceiling lamps. With the clear agreement we could choose from a number of options. Tonight a handyman came to install it all. The one above the dining table is totally our taste. The ones in the bedrooms, not so much, but doable. The one in the living room: hidious!! When the landlady sent us a pic, and we carefully suggested something simpler would fit better, her response was 'You will both absolutely love it'. Uhm. No. But it's so awful, it's funny.

And the view. Oh, the views. Such an amazing thing to see the bay from the couch. Skyline of HK island and some small islands. We barely notice the construction site and it's such a luxury in this city to have a view of any sorts.

Another thing to get used to is all the staff working here. When we went to the clubhouse to use the gym on Sunday, three people were standing behind a desk waiting for customers. I counted ten of those in the entire clubhouse. Every entrance (from the street or the tube station) to the compound has a security person. Once I've unlocked the door with my resident pass, a guard immediately opens the gate. In our building (one of the four towers of this compound) the girl behind the desks sprints to the door to open it for you, and then sprints again to the doors to the lifts. It feels a bit uncomfortable but that's Honkers I guess.

And after less than a week in my own bed, I already have to leave it for two nights as I'm off to Singapore tomorrow. Loads of meetings, drinks with friend M and dinner with friend E and back on Friday night. Should be a good trip.