Life in Vietnam

There’s a song which begins, ‘There are ten million bicycles in Beijing …’. Well, there must be at least that many mopeds and motorbikes in Hanoi and I’ve seen most of them already. They are everywhere. And the riders all use their horn too. Hanoi is a very noisy place.


Let me tell you a tale of two cities – Hanoi & Torun… You couldn’t really choose two places with more differences but if I were to ask you what the biggest difference between Poland and Vietnam is I reckon you’d struggle.

‘The weather’ could be one I suppose. However, believe it or not, Poland was hotter last summer than it is here at the moment.

‘The food’ is another possible answer. Well, I have seen some snails and what looked like fried sparrows on the streets but most of the food is recognisable and revolves around rice or noodles. Soup is popular (as it is in Poland), but when I tried to order a bowl of the staple, Pho soup, I was surprised to be told that it’s only served for breakfast. Do you pour it over your cornflakes? Apparently not.

Hungry ... ?


No, the main difference is … crossing the road. You couldn’t ask for more of a contrast. In Poland, jaywalking is illegal and I heard stories of people being fined on the spot. This led to a group of us standing at a crossing in the early hours waiting for the little man to turn green with not a car in sight. I soon wised up and learned to look for police cars if I couldn’t stand waiting any longer. In Vietnam there are no such laws – crossing the road requires jaywalking expertise if you want to get anywhere. My first attempts were on the evening of my first day here and I was somewhat daunted to say the least. Stepping out into the path of oncoming traffic goes against all that Tufty and The Green Cross Code Man ever taught me. By Day 2 I was rather pleased with my progress – pick your moment and start walking, but look both ways at all times as there are no guarantees that traffic will come from the ‘obvious’ direction. Walk slowly and stop if necessary – they will go around you. It works! I think it pays to wait until there are no buses or too many cars though. If this blog stops unexpectedly you’ll know I messed up my jaywalking technique.

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My summer went by in a bit of a blur. I reluctantly left Torun at the end of June and had a week to see family & sort out a few things for my move before heading north to work on a summer school near Newcastle. These language summer schools take place during the summer all over the UK. Teenagers from all over the world come to improve their English. The schools lay on a programme of lessons and activities. I chose well – I was working for International House, Newcastle and we were based at Kirkley Hall – about ten miles from the city centre – and our trips included paintballing, go-karting, visits to the major cities nearby and boat trips. It was tough, but I coped. We had a mix of perhaps as many as ten different nationalities from Europe and as far afield as Mexico, China, Korea and Saudi Arabia and they were a cracking bunch of teenagers.

After that I only had a few more days before I flew here so it was more organising and seeing family & friends. On the 18th I caught my plane to Singapore and then to Hanoi.

So, I’m here for the next two years, working for the British Council and will call Hanoi home.

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It feels as though a million things have happened since I got here and so I think I’ll have to spread the news out over a few blogs.

I stayed in a hotel for a few weeks until I got a home sorted. The hotel also happens to be where the school is located so I had a difficult 2-floors-in-a-lift commute each day. The reception staff found out that I was trying to learn Vietnamese and wouldn’t give me my key unless I gave the number in Vietnamese! I also learned how to say things such as ‘good morning’ and that tended to raise a smile with them.









I shared my room with a gecko or two.


Having pointed out that Poland was hotter than Hanoi last summer I must still comment on the fact that it’s incredibly humid here and so I virtually melt wherever I go. I’ve walked around town a fair bit and used to buy water wherever I went. I’ve realised that that’s the expensive way since then though and now take it with me.

In fact, I have a ‘drinking index’, which I can use to work out how much I need to drink for any given activity. It looks like this:

Walking slowly for half an hour – half a litre
Walking quickly for half an hour – a litre
Half day trips – two litres
Playing tennis outside – half a swimming pool

I’m told that winter is approaching and that it actually gets cold here. I’ll believe that when it happens.

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I used to think that Polish was a tricky language but it could just be that Vietnamese is harder. The jury’s out at the mo – I don’t know enough yet. However, most people says it’s in the pronunciation and I can see what they mean – Vietnamese is tonal, like the Chinese languages and so you can say the same word in different ways and they mean completely different things. I’ve learned my numbers so I can at least haggle – an important skill in Asia I believe.

I’ve decided that I WILL learn Vietnamese though and, for that reason, I joined a club that meets on Saturday afternoons. It’s run by University students, who get to practise their English on us so it benefits them too. The club is called ‘Better Life Vietnam’ as it’s also a charity which aims to help the poor around Hanoi e.g. by providing books in rural schools.















No sooner had I attended my first lesson than a trip was announced – the next weekend we headed off to the suburbs for a day, bought our food in a market and prepared a meal together. It was really good day out. I can now make spring rolls like a local…

Buying some food at the market (with a little help from a friend) and then preparing it.

Bikes get everywhere …

My teaching has started and I have taught each class a few times now. I have a good mix of children, teenagers and adults, which is just what I wanted. The British Council has its fingers in many pies and so there may be opportunities to get involved in other work in the future too.


OK, that’s it for now. I’ll add some detail to the above in future blogs. Keep in touch – I’d love to hear from you!