The housing search begins

My hunt for housing in Bangalore began today. At 10am I met up with Samantha, who volunteered to help me. She knew a man named Nicky who was supposed to show apartments to us. Nicky pushed our appointment to 1pm, and subsequently dumped us onto his friend, David. David met us at 2pm and called his friend, who knew a woman, and that woman owns an apartment that she wants to rent out. I finally saw the apartment around 3:00pm.

Let's recap: Samantha + Nicky + David + male friend + female friend + 5 hours = 1 apartment visited.

To be honest, I enjoyed the experience immensely. I got a tour of Bangalore as we drove around the city and I got India tips from Samantha. I had a delicious Vietnamese lunch. And the apartment that we finally saw was amazing. It's a 7th floor penthouse done entirely in marble, with modern furniture. The master bathroom is enormous and has a tiled-in tub, and the bedroom has a wall of windows that overlook the city. The 2nd floor opens out onto a rooftop terrace and a view to die for. They offered to remodel (move walls, paint, etc.) to suit whatever I wanted.

The downside is that it's not in a hip / fun neighborhood (it's 30mins from anywhere), and it's a little too expensive ($500 too much). But I felt good about my search today. Sure, it wasn't very efficient. But after seeing the place that I saw today, I know I'm on the right track.