I’ve had this dream since 2006, or maybe even before that. I remember 2006 because my friend Maya and I, roommates at that time, were walking down the street and looking up at a newly built condo, wishing that someday, we would each get to be able to live by ourselves in our own flat.
Well it took us both over a decade, but we finally got to fulfil those dreams, Maya doing it just a year before me.
In case you missed it, I moved from Singapore to Hong Kong in the middle of a pandemic. I stayed 6 weeks in a hotel before finally moving into a one bedroom flat last June 27. The place has a roomy bedroom (for HK standards) with a living room, dining room, kitchen, and bathroom. It was actually my friend Jeff’s former flat. He happened to be moving away from Hong Kong when I arrived – a coincidence which was both good and bad for me. Good because I had the perfect flat which came with his free furniture, bad because I was losing my only friend in the city.
Another coincidence was that the flat happened to be less than a 20-minute walk from my office. And as if that wasn’t enough to convince me that it was meant to be, the landlord agreed to lower the rent to fit my budget. Covid-19 has its pros, too.
Since the flat was mostly furnished, I only had to buy a few bulky items, like a television and laptop table for the living room.
That laptop table is extremely handy for eating meals while watching TV, too. One of the best things I ever bought, I highly recommend it!
I also bought my dream vanity table for many years now – the Linnmon and Alex table combo from Ikea. It pairs really well with the Tossberg chair, which is soft and comfy enough to make do as an office chair. I’m really glad I bought these because when the number of Covid-19 cases rose in HK recently, I have had to work from home and this has made for a comfy work desk.
I bought a bunch of dividers in Muji and organised the shelves. Marie Kondo would be so proud of me.
I also chanced upon a purple Modal comforter and bedsheet set at the Esprit section in Sogo. Modal is my favourite bedsheet material because it’s so soft! I also highly recommend you try it if you’ve never done so; my former teammates and I agree on this.
I had a few virtual housewarming parties with several groups of friends over Zoom, but I also had an actual one with Jeff where we ordered Nene’s chicken and tteokbokki and paired our meal with a bottle of Rioja wine which Jeff had brought from Spain and left for me along with his furniture and other useful stuff.
Jeff, by the way, is following his dreams and moving to Barcelona to study culinary arts. For future Chef Jeff, I had a present:
It’s a professional chef’s apron that I bought from Chefworks, along with a DJI Osmo Mobile 3 gimbal that he can use for vlogging about his new adventures in Spain.
Also: no, that pan isn’t purple, it’s grey – it’s Tefal and I love having a nonstick pan for the first time ever, it is quite life-changing and cooking is easier with it, I find.
Overall, I would say that I really do love my new home, which also happens to be in a nice neighbourhood close to a lot of restaurants, malls, and shops.
And as for the title, well, that’s actually what I named my wifi. 😆
Ahh, how lovely moving somewhere your friend was. Hope he left you all the good foodie recs and that settling in is going well x
Yes, he did, but unfortunately due to the Pandemic situation I haven’t been too keen on going out. Hopefully when all this blows over… whenever that may be.