I live in a complex of apartment towers. My tower has twenty-four-hour reception and a doorman who opens the door every time I walk in or out. I’m on the second floor, but here they call it the first floor. (The lobby is on level “0” and the elevator has a “-1” button for the basement.)
Apartment from the Outside
View from Inside
(with local kids playing cricket!)
It is a lot like a hotel in that I get a room cleaning – bed made, towels replaced, even dishes washed! Luxurious, but sort of overkill. I’m determined to do the majority of my own dishes. I even have hot water in all my faucets, which wasn’t even true in Japan. The only things I don’t have are a water filter (I’m provided with a fresh bottle of water every day… but that is a lot of bottles. I might look for an alternative.) and a washing machine. There is a laundry service, but it is expensive. Not sure if I will end up using it or do a lot of washing by hand.
Bed and Wardrobe
Living Room
(with cable, not too slow of a LAN connection, and hotel art!)
I also get free breakfast with this deal! I’m actually not sure what it costs yet, but it will be interesting to find out since it essentially staying at a hotel for a year, though with assumedly a long-term rate. It is located in Indirapuram which is a sort of sought-after neighborhood for its proximity to both Noida and New Delhi, though it does not appear to be in either…
Kitchen
Bathroom (and bidet)
I’ve never tried to regularly use a bidet (or health faucet) before… but maybe I will, since one is only supposed to put a minimum of toilet paper down the toilet. This I read in at least one of my books. (I was never given any instruction on this by the hotel. I think it doesn’t occur to the service industries in many countries just how much TP an American will put down the toilet if given the chance.) In any case, it makes sense. Give yourself a wash, then you can dry off with just one bit of toilet paper and put that in the wastebasket. Using the bidet at work seems like another step. Bidet sharing.
As for the lights, I have seen some flickering, but have not actually lost power for any significant amount of time yet. I can’t tell if that is because the hotel has a generator or I just haven’t seen it happen yet. The restaurant I went to lunch at with my co-worker did lose partial power while we were there, and it delayed our check.