The apartment is small, living/dining room, kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms - so the housework doesn't take long to do. That is kind of nice, it's good to feel on top of it, that it's something that's easy. Not like at home where housework tends to be something dreaded, endured.

We live simply, few possessions, not many gadgets, we brought mainly clothes in our 23kg baggage allowance. Shopping on foot and just a two burner stovetop means we eat simply too.

I've set myself a challenge to come up with variety in creating two pot wonders - to break the pattern of stir-fry and rice. So far I've managed a (sort of) Spanish omelette, brown stew and leek and potato soup – leeks and potatoes both currently selling by the truckload on the side of the road. Owen did a pretty good spag bol imitation with mutton mince and egg noodles. I've even managed to make "wok-roasted" lamb and potatoes. (That involves suspending the meat on a metal plate and putting the lid on the wok). I bought a bag of flour and discovered instant yeast in the supermarket – next up bread rolls, though I fear that may be too much of a challenge. It's not that we don't like Chinese food, we love it. It's just that my expertise is limited to chopping everything up and throwing it into the wok. That’s fine, and sometimes it’s tastes great, but I don't want us to eat it constantly till we get sick of it. We're going to be here a while after all. Besides, there are heaps of places to eat fabulous authentic local food – it’d be silly to try to emulate that myself.

Living simply also means labour intensive. I've used more hand cream in my few weeks here than I would in a year at home (mind, I'm not one much for cosmetics at the best of times - or using gloves either for that matter). Washing dishes by hand, sweeping using one of those scoops on a long handle and mopping with a “hairy” mop. I never thought I'd say it, but I'd love a good old western style broom. I'm even thinking fondly of my vacuum cleaner at home.

As I manoeuvre round my tiny kitchen, I'm amused to think what a good challenge it would make for Masterchef contestants, or imagine Nigella flouncing around being beautiful in there.