Home, Sweet, Home - 1. The Room

"Honey, I'm home!" After 7 months of living out of my suitcase, I am finally in a place where I can totally unpack. If/when I move, I will hire a couple of people.

There will be 4 related posts dealing with my move in.

I have overspent. But, I think it will be O.K. I had my choice in this place:

200 sq ft room = $300 + 13% VAT
250 sq ft room = $400 + 13% VAT
300 sq ft room + air conditioning = $600 + 13% VAT

I was leaning toward the middle one. However, he made an offer I decided to take advantage of:

The 300 sq ft room + air conditioning for $550, VAT included. This is a savings of over $100. This area of the town is the U.N. area. You will see how this benefits me in all 4 posts. But, basically, there are 12 apartments here. This size is 5 of them and they are the hardest to rent and the other 4 are empty. The other 7 apartments/rooms are rented. The 3 big ones ($1200 + 13% VAT) are 2 and 3 bedroom apartments and they are rented by U.N people with generous housing allowances. 4 of them are the 2 smaller size studio apartments and they are usually rented on a daily basis ($25 & $30 per night) by U.N. people. I'm the odd one here.

It includes everything, except laundry service. Also, I will have to pay for my cell phone. Laundry will be about $25/month and phone will be less than $5/month. This is about $200 over my budget. However, I still have a couple of dozen Franklins left from my original savings. They will last me a year. By then, I should be back up to least $300/month income from my variants.

Anyway, my Premium Studio Apartment includes a kitchenette with refrigerator, burner, and water boiler. I can request all the pots, pans, plates, silverware, and other utensils I want and they will bring them right up (remember, the U.N. employees are working hard and need all these things (grin)).

I also get a microwave, a jar of good water refilled whenever I want. I will use this for cooking only. I will boil this water first in the water boiler. There is a toaster on top of the microwave.

I also get a flat screen TV with lots of cable channels, although I may never use it.

By the way, my rent includes water, gas, and electric. Also, I pay month-to-month with no deposits or fees of any kind. My apartment in Thailand still has 10,000 baht of mine and I doubt I will ever see that $330 again.

I have a sitting area. This will be my "study Nepali" area two hours every day. To the right is my desk area. It will be my work area for my book and my variants.

This is the other half of the room. I have 2 wardrobes on the left and a bathroom on the right. On the far right where you cannot see is another table for dining. That will be my daily Bible study station, while I drink coffee.

I have a safe to keep my valuables or U.N. secrets in.

Last, I have the typical Asian bathroom with instant heat in the shower. As you can see, it is run on gas rather than electricity - a legacy from when KTM didn't have 24 hour electricity. Can't have U.N workers taking cold showers.

Namaste from The Roof Of The World