For anyone else interested in duplicating @Royski's setup, I did a search on eBay/AliExpress/GearBest/Banggood for the cheapest price on the Xiaomi Mijia Gateway (model: DGNWG02LM) - the same unit described above by Roy.
The cheapest I found was on AliExpress, at the Mi smartHome Store. The base unit (fits Chinese wall-socket) is $21.40. With any other socket adapter (EU/UK/AU/US), it is $22.30.
That particular AliExpress store accepts PayPal, with a surcharge of $0.90. So my total checkout price was $23.20.
Once again, @Royski - thanks so much!
And @fison67 - for making this possible!
