Observations about Hanoi!

When I move to a new city and am not busy, I tend to observe, think, and write. In other words, I am keeping myself busy with something to do. So I watch and take mental notes as I go around town and here are the goods, bads, and differences of Hanoi, purely from my perspectives.

Goods

People are friendly. Usually, they think I am Vietnamese and speak to me in Vietnamese. When I reply they know immediately I am not because my Vietnamese pronunciation is just not right. When they figure out that I am not Vietnamese, then they think I am from Malaysia. When I reply that I am from Myanmar, then either they go quiet or say something nice about Myanmar. No criticism of Myanmar here about Rohingyas or civil war.

Food is great here. But I see a different noodle soup (Bun cha) shops more than the well known pho eateries in Hanoi. Interesting mix of Vietnamese, Japanese and Western food here. Many cafes and bakeries all around. We live in an area called Tay Ho or West Lake area where many foreigners hang out. Thus we can get all kinds of food. The best part is fresh juice. Khin’s favorite is orange juice and Zey tries different kinds.

Another good thing is having household help. After living five years in DC with monthly cleaning crews, it is so nice to have a housekeeper who cleans and cooks a few times a week. We keep the house organized and do some laundry and she takes care of the rest. It just makes our lives that much easier.

The best thing in Hanoi is undoubtedly massage. You can get good massages from $10 to $40 an hour. Both Rob and I love massage and we are taking advantage of the affordable prices.

Bads

Pollution here may not be as bad as New Delhi or Beijing (I have never been there), but it can get to unhealthy levels in mornings and hard to see far. All  four of us have/ had a little cough and running nose. I pay attention to the Air Quality Index level as I venture outside, not lingering too long if it’s unhealthy. The cause of the air quality is transportation (bikes, cars, buses), construction, and factories. I personally have not seen factories with my own eyes but I believe what I hear from a good source. It will get worse in winter. We will have to travel outside the city often I suppose. Poor us!

Roads are a challenge here as well. There seems to be no rules or rules that are not obvious to foreigners. Drivers/ bikers go through red lights which slow down the other direction. Sidewalks are for everyone. Pedestrians, bikers, cars parking, bike parking, all are welcome at our own risks. You cannot really drive here more than 30km on city roads. There are highways and we can drive faster of course. Roads in our area don’t always have sidewalks thus we juggle for space to walk with bikes, cars and buses while breathing bad air. They honk often to let you know that they are there which regularly startle me. Still!

Differences

In our neighborhood, a man comes daily to collect trash. We just leave our trash bags outside around 3 or 4pm. We seperate recycle like cans and other things which seems to get picked up by someone else who collects and sell those. If there is a pile of leaves, the guy actually picks those up.  

Another difference I notice was the willingness of housekeepers to negotiate for more at the first interview. We hired someone without interviewing based on a recommendation while we were still in the U.S. As we communicated more about start date etc., she wanted higher salary, 2 months additional pay (one month bonus and one month severance) for every year she works for us and 10% salary increase every year before she starts working for us. I bowed out only to find out that most housekeepers were like that. Once I am here, it turns out they also want 21% more to pay for health insurance and social security. My first experience of negotiation like this.

My final observation here is that no may not always mean no. Many embassy folks in our alley have a common gardener who takes care of their small gardens and pools if they have one. We have a tiny front yard and no pool. So when he asked for the gardener job, we said no. There is simply no need. We can do it among the two of us and our housekeeper. Then he asked two or three other neighbors to ask us if we wanted to hire him. Now that becomes too much for my liking and I am stubbornly still saying now. I will update you all if my decision changes in future.

Well that’s my observations so far. Goods and bads are always in tandem of course, and I learn to focus more on the goods, at least for now. Truly yours.