We’ve moved. We’re still in Hà Nội, along with 7 million other folks. It’s been the capital of Vietnam since the 7th century. From the outside, it looks like a jumble of chaos, noise and modern sophistication. We know it’s much, much more than that.
Our home for the next 3 months is a studio apartment on a lake. Hồ Trùc Bạch. (Sounds like “chuck bok”). We have the 2nd floor of the 5 floor building. That is our balcony with the blue and white striped awning. It’s an airy, spacious, high-ceilinged room. Comfortable.
Looking across the street:
Looking south:
We’re getting settled in and acclimated. Today we looked for and found some useful things. A shower curtain. A kitchen knife. Real honey. We even found baking soda and vinegar, my hair cleaning regime for the past 2 years, a’la the ShamPhree method. It’s the little things, right?
During the day, we duck and dive our way through the twisting streets. At night we play fiddle, then study the language. People have been kind and helpful as we practice our new words. We’ve found a cooking school and will soon suss out language courses. We’re part-time tourists, part-time job seekers, and full-time explorers here in the City of the Soaring Dragon.
Can’t forget dinner… cõm tấm sũờm (broken rice with pork chop), nộm xoài banh (green papaya salad) and bia hà nội.
This is so much fun to read. How’s your guy faring? I need to remember to point Ted to this site. And to load Whatsapp. The food photos have made me hungry. Love you both.
Miss you, and Ted, too! Doug is his usual self, only elevated to a new level of pun-iness. And bossy 🙂 We were lucky enough to be part of a music-making party last night and someone brought along a guitar, so he played it. Fun time!
Beth, why is the For Rent sign in front of your apartment in English? Do you often see stuff posted in English?
Also, you’re using Vietnamese characters. Does that mean you have a Vietnamese keyboard, or do you have Vietnamese characters added to your English keyboard, or how does that work?
Hi Marjorie, we don’t see many signs in English at all, actually. We were recently in a nice-ish restaurant and noticed that it had an EXIT sign posted and how odd that was, since nothing else inside had any English. Other places don’t have exit signs. The exit is probably assumed. Evidence of less regulating agencies? Isn’t that why the US has so many signs? And thinking about it, most signs here are advertising and labeling, not regulating. Well, except traffic signs. And they are suggestions. Truly. Drivers and walkers self-govern. They’re super alert and seem to rely on forward movement and flow, rather than rules. Enforcement would be impossible, too. It’s interesting. We still have “new eyes” so this observation may change.
This big rental sign is from one of the many rental agencies. I think in an attempt to cast a wide net, English is included. This particular sign might actually live there permanently, despite the lack of vacancies in our building. It’s on a nice boulevard that many people travel down, so it’s visible. We haven’t been to the expat area yet, but I would expect to see a lot more English signage there.
A side note: This lake that we live on is the one that John McCain crashed into in 1967. Crazy.
Before we moved here I found the Vietnamese keyboard on my computer under Keyboard Preferences. You can add any keyboard, actually. Pretty cool. Then on the upper toolbar you can toggle between keyboards (using cute little flags) It’s a little cumbersome but it’s helping me learn the vowels and the tones.
Done with my morning coffee and ready for the day. Happy Sunday! xoxo
Fascinating – all of it! Thanks for the reply.
The McCain connection is aback-taking. Makes you think about how places are only so much inherently; largely, they come to be about the experiences we associate with them.