As mentioned, we moved into a new home at the beginning of November (well, I missed the move as I was in South Africa, but Ivan and the kids moved house).

Our lease was up in our apartment and we had been looking for a while for a new apartment. Unfortunately, due to the number of expats in Tay Ho the rentals have become quite expensive and the pickings are slim in term of good apartments available so we ventured slightly out of the main hub (only about 5 kilometres) and were able to find a really nice house at a reasonable rental.

 

The red cross indicates our new location and the blue circle our previous home with West Lake (Tay Ho) below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We technically still live in Tay Ho area but in a quieter residential area with no other expats. I am definitely putting my limited Vietnamese to the test. The man who sells airtime now knows me and when I approach his shop he simply takes out the right recharge card for me, the veggie lady knows that I buy normal onions not spring onions, and the lady at the general store is helping with my Vietnamese language fluency by teaching me new words when I go there.

We are in an alley off a lane off the main road – I know this sounds complicated but lanes off the main roads and then alley ways off those – so your address is a certain number on the main road but prefixed by the lane number and then of course your house number – and if you get the order wrong don’t hold your breath for any delivery.

Our house is huge – it is on 4 storeys with the bottom being the lounge kitchen/dining room (and fortunately a toilet) there is also a “reception/shoe” room we don’t wear shoes inside so there is a mountain of shoes in this area – as well as our bicycles.

Up the first two flights of stairs is the first bedroom with a good sized balcony, the working people have the use of this room there is also a full bathroom at this level.

Up the next two flights of stairs is our bedroom – we don’t have a balcony – tut tut – but we alos have our own full bathroom. At our level there is also a third bedroom with a study attached. The amount of natural light in our bedroom is marvelous after our apartment.

The top floor has a prayer room and a balcony with the washing machine and washing line.

The view from the laundry over the river

Needless to say you plan your life very well so that you don’t forget anything wither upstairs or down for that matter and we have invested in a kettle for our room so that we at least get a cup of coffee before starting the descent in the mornings.

We walk across the road and sit and have sundowners on the pavement overlooking the Red River – we have often seen local families doing the same thing but, to be fair, they are probably drinking tea or coffee.

We can already tell that we are really going to enjoy living in this quieter local neighbourhood.

The view from our sundowner seat on the pavement at the river.