2 Engineers Retired

Renting a house as opposed to being in a hotel can be fun as we work out what some of the unfamiliar items are used for.  Some are obvious, and clearly a great idea …. but some exude a bit of mystery. Mystery cupboard at first The first thing we noticed in our new home was a cupboard above the kitchen with just a rack type of arrangement at the bottom.   Is this some sort of Asian bread box for produce???   Nope.   It is a very cool rack for draining dishes and letting them dry.   Neat idea eh?   We don’t have that many dishes so for us it is also our dish cupboard.   So far, the only issue is the door height.   While I can walk under it, it seems diabolically set up to catch Bob’s head.  A t least this has not resulted in dishes being only my job. The kitchen sink also has removable, but built in, traps to pick up food scraps that might enter the drain.   I know you can buy something like thi...

We are eager to learn to cook here.   Going out is fun and inexpensive, but it does get old for every meal, every day.   Plus, we enjoy cooking so are heading off to school.   Cooking school that is! We decided on Kumquat BBQ Restaurant and cooking school.   We signed up for a private lesson, just the two of us.   We were able to select 4 items from a shortened menu of food types.   One each of a salad, a soup, a local specialty and a main course.   If one was to join in a group class there are the same number of food items to be made and the menu changes daily.   Our goals were these: -           Understand which of the many greens found in the market were which (and which should be eaten cooked, and which raw) -           Learn to make salad dressing (Vietnamese style) -           Learn to ma...

Hoi An is kind of an interesting place from the perspective of a Canadian, or at least this Canadian.   It was described as a small city (which it is) and peaceful (which it isn’t).   I guess if you are used to Ho Chi Min City (former Saigon) or Hanoi, then Hoi An  is peaceful.   But for us crossing the street remains a challenge and we are gradually getting used to the horn honking. But sort of within the “metro” town there is an island upon which organic herbs and lettuce are grown.   The plots and garden beds are amazingly tidy, about 4 feet wide, with walking paths between them.   The ones we saw were irrigated and held a wide variety of mostly unknown, to us, green plants.   In most fields there was a farmer busy hoeing one of the beds.   It appears that each plot holds a number of actual garden beds of which some seem ready to harvest, some are barely seedlings and some are dirt that is being broken up and turned. A...

View from the upstairs As indicated the plan for our time in Vietnam is to have a place to call home, not a hotel, and to explore the country using that as a base. There are various ways of doing that of course – including Airbnb.   I got fairly lucky and found a Facebook group that focused on Expats and property in Hoi An.   So – I have been monitoring this group for a while to get a sense of what might be available, the costs involved and how to find a place. As a result, it seemed like the best plan was to arrive here and then look.   General consensus was that everything looks great on the internet but you really need to see the place before committing.   The time of year helped too.   There would be plenty of availability when we were set to arrive.   This was a different approach than we took in Spain where I had the place nailed down early, and I think that had worked out very well there. Now – heading to the other side of the w...

So here we are, in a smallish hotel in Hoi An Vietnam, absolutely delirious with jet lag.   However, if we are to live here for the next three months there are things that need to get attended to – namely how to communicate and how to find our way around, and then how to eat (beyond restaurants) and ultimately where shall we sleep.   Basic – yes? First things first – communication.   We brought our smart phones with us with the plan to get a local SIM card.   It turns out that there are counters in the arrivals baggage area to purchase local SIM cards.   It does require your phone to be unlocked, which mine was not, but Bob’s was, so we quickly purchased a SIM card for his phone (very inexpensive, and it included data and even foreign calls apparently, all done before the bags arrived).   The biggest benefits of the internet data access have been Google Translate and Google Maps.   Let me tell you straight off that I have no...

We’re off ! Our 2019 winter adventure is to move to Vietnam for 3 months.   Quite outside of our comfort zone – but that was the general idea.   The goal is to live in a different country, not just tour in hotels.   So – like in Spain, that brings along a number of activities that one would not typically do if touring in another country (groceries, laundry, joining a gym, etc).   Neither Bob or I have ever been to Vietnam, nor the general area, so this seemed like a good fit.   We had heard that the country is beautiful and the people friendly – and frankly if this adventure is a total washout we could always go somewhere else or head home (unlikely). River scene in Hoi An So – heading off on a combined Delta/Korean Air flight from Edmonton to Seattle, Seoul and then to Da Nang airport in Vietnam.   We are planning to stay in a smaller city very near Da Nang called Hoi An.   Hoi An is a UNESCO heritage city, an ancient port, and app...