Jan 18, 20192 min read

Residency Cards, Pottery, Avocado and Mango!

Dear Friends,

We are thrilled to have received news that we have been granted three-year Temporary Residency Cards, which means that we no-longer need visas to enter Vietnam! The photographs are slightly interesting, as the lady we visited to have them taken (in the front room of her family home) spent a long time ‘improving’ our faces which has resulted in weirdly plastic looking versions of ourselves, but we have them, and are delighted! We’ve also collected our Visa debit cards from the bank, and are really beginning to feel like we live here!

A photograph of a mural in Hoi An with four people painted onto the wall with mobile phones in their hands. The mural reads 'so much internet, so little time.'

We celebrated in style with a visit to ‘Avos & Mango‘ – a fantastically quirky cafe with bamboo straws and beautifully served drinks. Most importantly, we were able to enjoy some avocado on toast! As avocados are out of season here, we have not been able to order any from the wonderful vegetable delivery company, so thoroughly enjoyed the delectable flavour for its rarity!

A photograph of Vietnamese coffee in a glass bottle on a wooden tray. The ice-cubes are also coffee and it is served with fresh-milk and a coconut cake!

Whilst there, we scoped out the ‘Avos & Mango’ pre-loved pottery collection. We have been keeping an eye out for some crockery to compliment the pieces on order (currently being made in a village in Northern Vietnam – more details to follow!) and picked out a gorgeous selection, only to find out at the till that despite there being a range of pottery from across Asia, all of the pieces we had chosen were crafted in Vietnam.

Stunning pre-loved blue and white crockery artfully placed on stepping stones over a pond.

On the way back to the bank to collect our bikes, we serendipitously ran into Cyril Quynhon from ‘The Help‘, and arranged to move our belongings to our new (and more permanent!) home on Tuesday.

In sustainability news, we have arranged a meeting with ‘Yardstick‘, a UK based firm recommended by Jo Hendrickx of ‘Travel Without Plastic‘. Yardstick provides a fabulous service which will enable us to track and report on our carbon-footprint, energy consumption and community involvement, and will ultimately enable us to provide the required evidence to gain certification of sustainable tourism from Travelife.

We look forward to updating you with more exciting news next week, but in the meantime, hope you have a lovely weekend!

With gratitude and love,