Hanoi for expats - living guide
Better than teaching English!
Around 40 years ago, the only foreigners living in Hanoi were locked up in the ‘Hanoi Hilton’, or Hoa Lo Prison, during the Vietnam War. Things have changed radically since then and with the city’s economy growing faster than almost anywhere else in Southeast Asia, it now attracts Europeans and Americans looking for an exotic place to relocate.
The weather is another plus for anyone coming from a country with a temperate climate, as the cool (sometimes cold) winters are more familiar to them than the year-round heat and humidity of cities like Saigon, Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur.
It is not only the fast-growing economy that attracts foreigners to move here, but also the generally low cost of living when compared to what is generally experienced in most Western countries. Plus the standard of street food is better than many fine dining eateries in the West.
The Vietnamese currency, the dong, may give newcomers a few headaches with a current exchange rate of around 19,000 to the dollar, but this is something that does not take long to get used to, and on the plus side, it means you only need around $50 to become a dong millionaire.
Living in Hanoi
While setting up a home in Hanoi is a considerable challenge to newcomers without any Vietnamese friends or language skills, there are more and more agencies these days that specialise in finding the kind of accommodation that appeals to Western tastes. If you’re lucky, you might find a small apartment in a popular part of town for around US$300 a month, though for somewhere a bit flashy you’re looking at more like US$1,000.
Keeping a house clean can be a problem anywhere, but in Hanoi there are several serviced apartments, for which you’ll obviously pay more, but the convenience of having no housework frees up a lot of time for you. It is also not expensive to hire a maid to come in every day or a few days a week, and apartment owners can often fix you up with one.
For expats arriving to live in Hanoi without any experience of exotic places, culture shock is something to watch out for. This usually kicks in after being in town around three to six months, when the initial novelty of the culture has worn of, and things like the constant honking of traffic horns begins to irritate.
That’s the time to explore the culture even further – take up language classes, learn how to cook Vietnamese cuisine, pay a visit to local art galleries or cinemas, and start networking with other expats in some of the city’s lively bars. Language skills come slowly, but friendships are easy to establish with the gregarious, curious Vietnamese. For more on living in Hanoi.
Working in Hanoi
The great majority of Westerners working in Hanoi are English teachers. Education is valued highly and plenty of parents are willing to put their kids in language schools or international schools. Therefore there is a constant demand for well-qualified EFL or ESL teachers in particular.
Teaching, however, requires a particular type of personality, and many who see it as an easy way to make a living give up within a few months. It’s not highly paid except for at the top levels, but job satisfaction is generally much higher than in the West, since students are genuinely appreciative of a teacher’s efforts to impart knowledge.
The best-paid expats living in Hanoi are those that are posted here by international companies such as hotel chains or tour operators. These may reside in quaint mansion within the French Quarter.
Joint ventures between Vietnamese and foreign companies are on the rise as the country is gripped by investment fever, but there are plenty of tales of foreign investors getting burned in elaborate scams, so be wary if you are considering such a venture.
As in Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City, there is no shortage of foreigners who think that opening a restaurant or bar is the way to go, but the success rate is staggeringly low. Perhaps the best advice if you’re keen on making this millennia-year old city your new home is to spend a few months here, networking with people in your line of business, or the line you’d like to be in, then start selling yourself.
