Cool vs. Cold

As we entered the new year the temperature had fallen and we began to experience Hanoi's winter.  Temperature wise it doesn't sound too bad.  Like today, it was a high of 61 and a low of 51.  In Illinois, that would be great at this time of year - but here we shiver.  You ask, why?  We use hot water bottles (that we can just plug in), blankets, sweatshirts, warm things for our feet - all this for inside.  The reason is - our inside temperature in our bedroom has been around 56 F when we wake up and climbs to around 57 F.

We are thankful for a space heater and for being able to warm a room up with our two way air conditioners/heaters.  We don't use them often, besides really increasing the electric bill, they really dry out the air.  Exercise is also a good warmer upper.

We marvel at some of the young people we know who live further north, who have no indoor heating, unless they start a fire, with temperatures dropping into the low 40's.  We see a lot fires on the street here in Hanoi when the temperature drops to the low 50's.  There are many people whose work is outside, like Xe Om drivers (motorcycle taxi), who wait in the cold for their next passenger.

A little fun comparison

                                                      Winter

Our Home in Illinois                             Our home here
House w/ central heat - 68 F         vs.  Little heat 54 F - 61F
Car w/ heater                                 vs.  motorbike in all weather, including cold rain (no snow)
Warm clothes                                 vs.  warm clothes
Heated stores, restaurants              vs.  not heated stores, shops, cafes
Crazy winter traffic                        vs.  Crazy car and motorbike traffic rain or shine

                                          If there is a power outage
Frozen water pipes                         vs.  Darker
Danger of freezing to death           vs.  More shivering, as body heat is the only source

Until the last line, our home in Illinois looked better.  Stay warm and dry, enjoy the snow and be thankful for a warm house, warm car, warm clothes and if the power goes out - come visit us.    

Water is almost out and the home phone isn't working, again.

Earlier this week we noticed the water pressure was going down in the house, even though the water pump had been working for 3 hours.  A quick description of how our water system works.  First, water from the city goes into a tank that sits below our courtyard.  There is another water tank on our roof and when the mechanism lets the water pump know (under our stairway), that it is low in water, it pumps the water from the outside tank to the tank on top of the roof.  Our water is then gravity fed to the whole house. 

As the lunar new year is approaching when no one works, and having no water is never a good situation, we contacted our landlord and he sent someone within a couple of hours.  The repairman was able to fix the problem, yea!

Our phone line seems to be going out on a semi regular basis and we are not sure why.  Fortunately we have cell phones to call our landlord about the water and the phone.  What did people do before?  Neighbors did you say?  We thought that was old technology.  Just kidding - I guess that is one advantage/disadvantage of new technology - not needing to ask neighbors for help. 

The repairman came today and was able to fix the phone line again.  After checking the phone, he climbs out our kitchen window, standing on the wall that separates our house from our neighbor's courtyard, then he borrows our ladder to check the phone connection on the pole in the alley and then he tries the phone again.  If it still does not work, he repeats the process.  Today it only took one time at each place.   We are thankful. 

We hope all your utilities are working - ready for any cold weather or household emergency.