An uncertain, gray day today, with fleeting bits o…
An uncertain, gray day today, with fleeting bits o’ blue in the sky. It’s almost alarming how much the weather influences my mood. Doesn’t bode well for me living in the city, I suppose, but then again, if I were to be in a more natural environment, perhaps I would be even more at the mercy of the elements. Unless I had a really nice place.
Speaking of places, if not really nice ones, I finally met the landlord of the Chungking Mansions Taipei last night. Or rather, I met his son, who handles all the rent-affiliated matters. He seemed to have no problem with me moving in, or with my questions about re-installing the air conditioner or adsl transferral. Well, the only problem he had was that he didn’t know much, but besides that, he didn’t seem to have any problem. The girl who lives there now showed me the mailbox downstairs, and I decided I probably shouldn’t avoid using it if I can. There’s a post office next door; that might be a better bet. The mailbox is on the first floor and is consequently stuffed with all kinds of junk mail. I think it might be better if I limit my approach to the building to the southwestern side, as that seems to be the cleanest and quietest portion. The absolute worst thing about the place is that everyone’s cooking fans empty out into the hallway, which makes for a rather noxious experience during mealtimes. I can handle the age of the place and the stairs, but I might have to seal the door better to keep the cooking odors out.
All the time I was there, of course, I was wondering if it is the right thing to do, moving there instead of finding a place outside the city, but it seems that, even outside of the city (along the MRT lines, of course) it’s hard to find an independent apartment to call one’s own for a reasonable amount of money. This is a nasty place, but the location is convenient and it’s cheap. Actually, I’m rather surprised, due to the great location, that more people haven’t moved in and rennovated the little apartments into nice places. I suppose you could say the same thing about the original Chungking Mansions, though.
In any case, I’ll give it a shot. If it turns out to be intolerable, I will start looking for a place outside the city, which shouldn’t be too much of a problem as there is no deposit to lose. I’m not quite ready for the hermetically sealed life just yet.
I met up with Mindcrime, Graham and Dean last night at My Other Place. They laughed when I ordered fried rice and poked fun at my Amazon.com choices. Silly pictures were taken and much hilarity was shared before we said our goodnights.