Hideous house huntting....

So i went to look at four more places today, they are all rather dismal.
One of them is basically for a student to live in...its has a loo, a bed and a "living room". no kitchen which is a common theme in Taiwan..(you eat out not in!). The landlord told us he had another place for us to look at that was a lot better and it had a kitchen, one bedroom, two bathrooms, and living room...yeah. i thought ok but was a tad skeptical after seeing this room. I wasn't far just 2 mins up the road, as he led us in i knew that i was right to be skeptical!
Frst he said come look, as he opened what can only be described as a walk in cupboard (ie a tiny space not big enough for even half my clothes) and i see a loo in the back with a slidey door/plastic thing, so i figure this is one of the "bathrooms" (no sink mind just a loo). Then (still in the cupboard) he starts opening a box (a little larger than the side of a cereal packet)...and then i realise that "THIS" is the kitchen! yes, i'm serious... inside the box was a small single stove thing which was a bit smaller than the one we took camping every year as a child. He was so proud of this and tells me this is the kitchen, and there are the windows (the last place had none so i asked before i came here, "does it have windows?" the answer was "of course!"). Well he was right there are windows...in a cupboard/kitchen.... Seriously...seriously!? Needless to say the rest of the "house" was just as crappy.
The next flat, i thought would be it, Grace (my boss/co-worker/friend/helper to help me find a house and nanny) told me that it was really a very beautiful place that the landlord loved, and it was all nicely decorated with three bedrooms,fully furnished, large kitchen, living room dinning room and with in walking distance to the school. Sounded great right, the landlord told Grace that normally she rents for 20,000 but after Grace negotiated got it for 15,000. So we go look...
I walk in and as soon as she opens the door, i smell cigarette smoke. great. how lovely. (i smoked when i was younger and as an ex smoker i hate it even more i think than a non non smoker...plus i have a hyper sensitive nose ..not so good to have if you live in Taiwan, trust me.) So the last tenant was smoker..no doubt there. She was also not very clean...the house was neatish but dirty, really dirty. like oh my this will take me a long time to get clean dirty. Then there is the decor...my Goodness me....where do i start! The 5 wooden peach shapes hanging from the ceiling is a good starting place (kind of like you get at the end of a stair case but hanging from the ceiling...) the ceiling its self was pretty err... "special" . It was a hatched pattern that was made with wood with inlets of greenish plastic. Then as you walk in the living room on your right is a massive glass window, which is too the master bedroom...the window has frosted ugly as flower patterns along the bottom and sides (really classy like...!). The bedroom itself was alright, bar the massive window to the living room...oh but there are curtains...hideous orange/gold curtains, but they match these little/very short curtains that are attached to the top of the door way on every room...they have them here a lot...i can't work out why or what they would be called in English, but i think they are gross (more so as they stank and were dirty..not nice to brush in and out of). Ok so it's three bed rooms, i look next door which is the only door leading off the living room, and in there there is a very strange looking kid bed thing...even though its strange its kind of cool. Its a corner bed that, the landlord tells me two kids (small /short kids) can sleep on. Its a waist high dark wooden structure that i am 100% sure Sarah would fall out off at some point, and the mattress on it was just on one of the sides, and was like a crib mattress, but on a hard wood surface (and was dirty and scabby looking of course!). Behind this bed was a wall with a window...and that was the third bedroom..which really was just a bed in a cupboard, however i really liked that. it was a single bed and that was all, it had a window to the other bedroom but it seemed some how cosy, i could see myself loving that as a bedroom/bed. This almost sold me the place, it was cute. however i can't get past the fact that this lady (the landlord) loves this place and if i was to take down all the hideous things (of which there where too many to mention, including light fittings the look a bit like a candle but not really and were plasticity and hideous) she'd be gutted! she told Grace that if i really love the place as much as her that would be wonderful...she was wearing a gold knitted shimmery top, with dyed permed hair, with lots of make up lots of perfume, and a short (too short for her age) skirt... I think that maybe just have different taste...!
As for the 4 place, it had no windows downstairs, and upstairs was a strange arrangement of bedrooms, and it smelt damp, oh and on the11th floor..(with a lift but still).
So i will carry on looking...not much fun. i wish i could just find a place like my old house in Nottingham, my mate Sarah Zadik owns it and its SO lovely...its a student house (ie shared) but so nice! i miss England.
took this photo of Sarah today as we waited for the bus...very cute.