New house

Wednesday March 1, 2006

Met Candice and Phil for breakfast at a street food stall just down from the hotel (the street is more like a winding alley with stores of all varieties down either side, rather than a traditional western street – and the stall is really just where a person has set up a few pots and pans with a burner and something to put the ingredients, right on the footpath).

Had my first Pho for breakfast. Not bad – ate the noodles, the soup was delicious – kept it veggie though. I’m thinking of returning to a vegetarian diet actually (funny bout that). Hopefully an interesting sign of things to come, the man we sat opposite was a Vietnamese freelance journalist working for Time magazine. Nice man, he could speak a little English but a bit difficult to understand at times. But what a chance meeting eh!

After breakfast we went straight to the house to pick up the keys. To get to our place, you need to look carefully to see a small alley-way entrance between two jeans stores (we live on “jean street”). You wind your way through until you come to a gate on the left – which is our place! We are living in the heart of the Vietnamese old quarter – the city centre where anything goes. We are right near Hanoi Towers – two large towers that are comprised of a hotel and office blocks and shops. Very expensive.

Our new home is FANTASTIC – while the style is Vietnamese, I’m told its actual layout is more spacious than the traditional Vietnamese homes. From what I’ve seen from the outside, most houses here are very tall and thin.

Given that Candice found the house, I gave her the option of choosing which bedroom she wanted. Both had their plus and minuses. The bedroom on the side of the house is a little lighters and airier, with nice furniture. The other bedroom is smaller, but is the access area to the terrace, and it also has another space with all the wardrobes. Candice chose the second bedroom, something about liking the "challenge" of that bedroom. Not really sure what she meant, but all the same, I'm glad I gave her the option. Saved any ill feeling about bedrooms.

The place, while still 4 levels, has actually got a lot of room on each level. So here’s a brief description and some photos:

Entrance to alley from Tho Nhuom street:


Entrance to our house

Level 1: kitchen and bathroom (door on left)

Level 2: lounge room and spare room/study space

Level 3: Our bedrooms and another bathroom.

Here's my bedroom.

View of level three from my bedroom. Candice's bedroom faces the window.

Level 4: The terrace – a great place to contemplate (complete with pot plants, a few goldfish and a small shrine).

When we arrived at the house there were people everywhere. The two parents of the couple who own the place (the parents also live across the alley from us - probably one or two steps from our gate to their front door), two cleaners and a couple of other people. They were still cleaning up the place.

So Candice and I grabbed the keys and went shopping. We wet bargaining for 8 plates, 8 bowls and 8 side plates, as well as a tea pot and cups. That totalled less than $50 australian. Not bad eh! They are pretty nice too. Plain, but functional.

We then went manchester shopping – one mattress, 2 quilts, 3 sheet sets and four pillows was just over $2 million dong. $181 Australian. There was only a thin foam mattress in the second bedroom (Candice's) and she wanted to get a normal mattress, so I offered to go halves with her, given mine already had one and it wasn't an unfair expense for her. We then got some towels etc. Sure, it was money I didn’t expect to pay, but I’m just thankful the outlay was so relatively cheap. We stopped bargaining after the bowls and cups – it takes it out of you!

Went back to the hotel and picked up all our gear – then went back to the house. We’ve arrived! Candice was clearly pleased to be out of the hotel and while I would have liked to have been a part of the process of choosing the place, Candice and the Real Estate agents recommended by CECI/Austraining did extremely well and we’re both happy to be able to set up and get organised.

I then had a language lesson at 2pm. So Le came to our place and we spent 2 hours working while Candice went and got some more supplies for dinner. Phil was staying with us until the weekend and she was desperate for a home cooked meal, so she went to our local markets and then moved furniture and got the spare room organised.

Before we knew it Phil arrived back from work and their Paula also came for dinner. So it was pasta and a few bottles of red to welcome in the new home!

Went to another restaurant later on in the night for going away drinks for an Italian volunteer who was returning home. Phil knew her, so we all went there and drank some rice wine and beers. Salut! The restaurant’s cat befriended me and made my lap its home for a while. It had a crooked tail, poor thing. I wonder what happened to it. Cool restaurant as well – sat on lots of cushions on the floor and the walls were full of interesting art work.

Mental note: will buy some Vietnamese art while here.