It was nothing really – some brooming and dusting. But only the mere image of the humidity and warmth together, so nice during the day, but so dangerous inside the apartment… The worst enemies are our fear and imagination.

To sum up – if there is something wrong with your head… you will have some cleaning to do.

But, as I said, it wasn’t our worst problem. Some helpful souls from Damian’s work told us two things – there are cockroaches in HK and we need to protect ourselves from them. These protections were the bombs against insects and “painting” the walls with bleach. Another journey started – we had to buy some chemicals for cleaning. The next afternoon was reserved for our new apartment. Our mistake was not using a proper mask… we got a bit high but it was neither nice nor funny.

Next step – bombs… I had never used one, so I stated the obvious. Better more than less. I know that the rooms are tiny, but it should be one bomb per room!

How I thought so I did. I put them around, pressed “on” and went back to the hotel. The next day I came to Ma Wan with sushi for breakfast. The thing that greeted me was… mist! Not the one that the wind brought, but the one in the flat. It had to be vented for a few more hours before I could start cleaning. Then – to work.

After 2 hours, so… not too bright on my part, I thought about switching on the AC. But no… first I will clean it too. This is how I learned another useless? thing. I think that even a professional who takes a few hundred for this would be proud of how I managed. AC was thoroughly vacuumed, washed and cleaned, put back together and switched on. I knew at that moment that she would be my best friend in this country.

The flat was cleaned quite fast. We gave it two more days to vent from these fumes and cool down with AC. In the meantime, we put our things there… and moved in.

10 days after the landing, 20 visited flats later – one was chosen, the agreement signed and people moved in. Finally, on our own, even these empty floors were a blessing. It was great.

I said that the rest would follow…

• Remember about “des-insecting” the flat. Washing the walls with bleach was advised by a Hong Konger – European. The Cantonese were sure that the bomb would be sufficient. Even too much! They usually just use the traps. The cockroach problem is quite funny on Ma Wan. Apparently, they tried to poison them once, when they were still outside. So what did the smart creatures do? They went inside…
• When you search for the flat LOOK EVERYWHERE – especially verify the state of the canalization and the cupboards under the sinks. If you have any doubts be certain that this is not dirty – it is the dust settled by the old mold! And this smell is not caused by not using the flat, but it comes from the pipes. What I found under our sinks! You could have cut them and fry for breakfast (should I mention that I see the same things in the markets, hmmm…). On the other hand, my other half found only smell in the kitchen. And another piece of useless knowledge taken in – my “golden hand” washed everything, sealed well and… it is much better! It smells sometimes… But it is the fault of the building – we hope so. The other explanation is that something died under the cupboard. We don’t know, we don’t want to know, we did what we could. What else can we do – we vent, we clean, put dehumidifiers, etc. No need to think about the places we cannot even look into.