(1094) Letting out AB&B apartments

A few days ago my daughter and I ate mix rice near my house. It is a stall selling white rice with a wide choice of meat, fish and vegetables in a coffee shop.

I chose a piece of ikan kurau (local name for a sea fish, Chinese call it ma yau) with lots of cooked melon. The price of my lunch came up to $9.00. It is considered expensive hereabouts. A young lady sat down with us as all the tables were occupied. She smiled sweetly before she sat down. I commented that she smiled like one of our friends. My daughter, who is vey friendly, asked if she is from Sabah or Sarawak. It turned out that she is from Ranau, Sabah.

We chatted as we ate lunch, she revealed that she studied and practised as an accountant. Actually she lives in Serdang, quite a distance away. Once a week, her accountant company sent her to audit the accounts of a management company nearby. By the way, it was her last time visiting my neighbourhood as she has resigned. We asked if she has found a new job. No, she owns a little firm letting out homestay apartments.

I ended up telling her that after AB&B became popular, I came across three households infected with bed bugs. One of the families brought in pest control twice, the second ended up spending about $15,000 renovating upstairs as the bed bugs multiplied exponentially and inhabit the ceiling and the beams. The third bought bed bug sprays from on-line sources and diligently killed the bugs nightly and every morning by spray and by hand for months before they declared I could safely sleep in their bed whenever I house sit.

Sometimes, the steps of a person could be ordained by God, this sort of lunch time conversation does not come often. You may think it a co-incidence. But I suggest it is meant to be. If she sat anywhere else, or if my daughter was not there, we may not have had the interesting conversation. She learnt something new from me that may save her thousands in the long run. We talked about cat flea whose eggs could survive a few years in any building. It never occur to her that local visitors would or could smuggle in cats when they stay in AB&B.