Currently, the place that I am staying at is considered one of the more upscale condominiums for young families and professionals, and the sewa (rent) is a little steep.

One of my colleagues recommended us to visit his accommodation, which was a short walk away from the workplace. At first glance I was rather optimistic because it was a terrace house after all. However it was a book that was only as good as its cover, the interior was dismal. There were 4-5 rooms available for rent in the whole terrace house, but each room was cramped and tiny, and the entire layout of the house haphazard and primitive.

What do you expect? At a really cheap rental of 600,000rp bulanan (per month) for nothing more than a tiny cramped room with barely a space for a bed and an TV and a tiny cupboard and nothing much else, not even a desk, the place where I spend most of my time at!

The room is so small that the door will hit the TV or the cupboard and will not open fully. The lighting is dim and ventilation is nearly non-existent (save for one energy-saving bulb). To go up to the rooms you have to climb up a ridiculously tiny, narrow and 50-degree angle steep metal staircase with every step banging on your shin, and in inclement weather there is a potential for rain to seep in and wet the floor. There’s literally no space to do laundry or hang clothing, don’t even bother mentioning about cooking and storage.

It's impressive that he managed to survive here for the past 3 years, sure I could probably endure about a month or two, considering I've lived in worse conditions before, but for half a year? I don’t think so, whilst I am looking out for a bargain accommodation, I don't think I want to subject myself to living conditions 30 years behind present time at the cost of saving another hundred dollars.

There is no privacy going in and out of the room (other tenants can see) especially when you go in and out of the house, the toilet has no flush and interior space is too cramped. It’s like staying in a 1960’s slum area. The other houses that we visited were more or less the same living conditions, there was even another house where the room is almost the size of a store-room! It stank of a long forgotten stench and the mattress was absolutely disgusting to even touch. There was one promising house though, it was slightly more spacious, the owner speaks fluent mandarin and is very pleasant, cooking and laundry can easily be done but the room walls are so thin and visible there’s absolutely no privacy either.

Yes, I went to view two condominiums as well, they were absolutely gorgeous, and so is the rental. Almost double what I am currently paying now, well I don't really need 45m^2 of space, a swimming pool and a tennis court do I?

So there are two extreme ends of the spectrum, it all boils down to basic economics again, pay more, get more; pay less, get a lot less. At least you could live here for 600,000rp (~S$89), it's a real bargain though. But do I really want to subject myself to that kind of living conditions for 5 months?

After viewing 4 different houses, each with more or less comparable conditions, I was feeling rather drained, looks like I'll have to rely on some favors.