Day to day life in Hanoi. That's what I want to share as I share some snap shots with you of typical moments in the details of living life here.

Here is the street our apartment complex is on. We have been able to basically master our address...not sure we always get the tones on the words correct.

Looking down our road- Vo Chi Cong. See the arches?
They are over a bridge that crosses the Red River. We travel this road as we head out of Hanoi and go to the Noi Bai airport.
The arches are lit up in various colors at night...a beautiful sight.

Our bikes....a major mode of local transportation for us. We also take taxis,Grab cars, and the local buses.

Google Maps is a great help to us!

Here is the apartment garage where we park our bikes. When friends come to visit we meet them either in the garage or first floor. We have to use our pass card to scan a device in the elevator that allows people to access the floors (a security tool).

Our washing machine. It is located on our balcony. The cover helps protect it from the sun rays.

Our drying system.
We hang our clothes on a bar that is secured on our balcony up above everything. A challenging feat when you are short like me.

Our shower and bathroom area. One of the differences in Asia bathrooms is they are one room. We have a shower curtain that helps us create a shower area so the water is more contained. It is common to step into an Asian bathroom, have the floor wet, and slip on plastic sandals that are used just for the bathroom.

Another look at the shower area. We do have hot water for showers. There is a switch that turns on the hot water heater for the bathroom water. When the weather is cooler we make sure we wait a few minutes or we will have a cold shower...brrrr.

Our cooking system.
We have a one burner hot plate; a toaster oven; a drip coffee maker; a microwave;an electric hot water kettle; and a crock-pot (not seen). We have to make sure we don't plug in too much at one time. It took some adjustment to learn to be content with this style of kitchen, but now the simplicity is a nice advantage for us. What kind of meals do I cook? Well, I still stay with my American flavors and ways mostly.

Our dish washing system.
One big sink; a tub; and a drainer. We heat hot water in our electric water kettle to mix in with our washing and rinsing water. Usually the sink is for washing and the tub is for rinsing. Then we stack the dishes up in the drainer to let them drip dry. Then we are done until the next supply fills up the sink.

The last snap shots are of our drinking water system.
We typically have 3 bottles of filtered water. We found out that LaVie is the most trusted brand here. We either call in an order about every 10 days or make a bike ride to the store that supplies this to us. We have the bottles delivered to our apartment. So happy we don't have to figure out how to transport these bottles on our bikes!

This is our water cooler where we place our filtered water.

Life has its differences here. We have adjusted and enjoy our new life here. We are flexible!