Apartment

(Our luncheon discussion continued.)

"Although you may think our friends in mainland have much research money, the amount is actually trivial - if you compare to that of the price of any apartment in the Mid-Level." one of us pointed out.

I considered for a while, and added, "Nonetheless, it is still entirely right to look north for research money. You know, our local grants are so small that it is not enough even for the premium of an apartment in the Home Ownership Scheme (居屋) - maybe its only good for buying a house in Monopoly !"

We all laughed, though not without a sense of bitterness.

WY remarked, "The Monopoly game suffers inflation as well. You know what, the new version has marked up all the price."

"Maybe, even for Monopoly, our grant money is only good for an old house that is about to fall apart." I say to myself.

PS. To be exact, monetary values were multiplied by 10,000 in the 2006 US version.