Hanoi Apartments vs Hẻm living

bloomboy wrote:

Hi I am moving to Hanoi in a few months, I am from the UK but work in Sao Paulo. I am not a fan of new apartment blocks, air conditioning, 24hr security etc and prefer to live in a neighbourhood that is more part of a local community, I like the look of the old hẻm's and wonder what kind of accomodation i could find along such a street? What are the areas you recommend that I look towards for something like this? Somewhere a little quiet if possible! (I will be living beside Quang An and the West Lake). Thanks!

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bloomboy wrote:

Hi I am moving to Hanoi in a few months, I am from the UK but work in Sao Paulo. I am not a fan of new apartment blocks, air conditioning, 24hr security etc and prefer to live in a neighbourhood that is more part of a local community, I like the look of the old hẻm's and wonder what kind of accomodation i could find along such a street? What are the areas you recommend that I look towards for something like this? Somewhere a little quiet if possible! (I will be living beside Quang An and the West Lake). Thanks!

That's going to make it less likely that you're going to find sufficient air conditioning to survive.

Maybe not impossible, but the more modern the building, the more likely you'll have sufficient air conditioning.

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

bloomboy wrote:

Hi I am moving to Hanoi in a few months, I am from the UK but work in Sao Paulo. I am not a fan of new apartment blocks, air conditioning, 24hr security etc and prefer to live in a neighbourhood that is more part of a local community, I like the look of the old hẻm's and wonder what kind of accomodation i could find along such a street? What are the areas you recommend that I look towards for something like this? Somewhere a little quiet if possible! (I will be living beside Quang An and the West Lake). Thanks!

That's going to make it less likely that you're going to find sufficient air conditioning to survive.

Maybe not impossible, but the more modern the building, the more likely you'll have sufficient air conditioning.

I lived in a alley st with a old house, not all bedrooms had aircon, many we looked at and have looked at since moving from there had the wire & pipes with the head and compressor removed and taken so is just a case of getting a secondhand/new unit to put in our secondhand units were only 7mill and we got back 5mill when we sold them.
All our neighbours and relitives who live in small bike alley streets ALL have aircon it's one thing they do not miss out on even if they have no fridge, washing machine or TV - fans and aircon are definatly way ahead of all the rest.
If it  doesnt have aircon it's easy to get them put in as your not dealing with apartment buildings management teams, etc.
Ours was done in a couple of hours.

Ive lived in hems for all of my 14-years here. The difference between an apartment and a house in a hem is noise. Viets are not the quietest of people. The house I currently rent is in a dead-end hem, so no traffic noise. The downside is the constant building, it never stops and they dont cease work at 5-pm, they can be cutting tiles or pouring concrete at 9 pm at night. If you want quiet, rent an apartment.

colinoscapee wrote:

Ive lived in hems for all of my 14-years here. The difference between an apartment and a house in a hem is noise. Viets are not the quietest of people. The house I currently rent is in a dead-end hem, so no traffic noise. The downside is the constant building, it never stops and they dont cease work at 5-pm, they can be cutting tiles or pouring concrete at 9 pm at night. If you want quiet, rent an apartment.

My experiance............no where is quiet in Vietnam even in the sticks where I lived for 8+ years & in houses.
I left the apartment I own here in HCMC because of screaming kids, karaoke in the houses round about the apartment block, neighbours shouting conversations to each other from their flat doors in the lobby, constant renditions & repetitions of  Western Nursery Rhymes from kids toys.
Here at Celadon City its a lot better but even here each block has like BBQ areas & even although there is a ban on karaoke inside the complex 50 pissed Vietnamese shouting một hai ba Yo can be noisy even for some of the other Vietnamese residents, lucky the double glazing & sound proofing here is good

bloomboy wrote:

Hi I am moving to Hanoi in a few months, I am from the UK but work in Sao Paulo. I am not a fan of new apartment blocks, air conditioning, 24hr security etc and prefer to live in a neighbourhood that is more part of a local community, I like the look of the old hẻm's and wonder what kind of accomodation i could find along such a street? What are the areas you recommend that I look towards for something like this? Somewhere a little quiet if possible! (I will be living beside Quang An and the West Lake). Thanks!

Hi - I live in Quang An in Hanoi. Its a very popular area for foreigners. It still has something of a community feel and certainly isn't a gated community. Having said that, my Vietnamese colleagues say it doesn't feel anything like the rest of Vietnam.

I wouldn't think of accommodation as a stark choice between modern apartment or old hem. There are a few modern towers with apartments that are similar to your description, but there are also a lot of smaller buildings that have been divided in to apartments and have plenty of character as well as modern comforts. There are plenty of accommodation agencies in Tay Ho who will show you round a range of accommodation options and help you find something you like.

I live in a small apartment block, and one of the real benefits is having a building manager/security guard who can help out with interactions with Vietnam that would be difficult otherwise (e.g. connecting to utilities, taking deliveries, repairing the washing machine etc).

Good luck with your move!

If you like peace and quiet. I've never seen such discreet people in the VN as at the ""Villas An Phú Dong"", in An Phú Dong. District 12. Saïgon. A beautiful swimming pool, a few children, very few adults, tennis court. Just a pity far from the center.
PS. Ah, for karaoke, once a month???  But it only lasts a maximum of 35 minutes

dan nhacca wrote:

If you like peace and quiet. I've never seen such discreet people in the VN as at the ""Villas An Phú Dong"", in An Phú Dong. District 12. Saïgon. A beautiful swimming pool, a few children, very few adults, tennis court. Just a pity far from the center.
PS. Ah, for karaoke, once a month???  But it only lasts a maximum of 35 minutes

Yeah, that seems close to Ha Noi.

Indeed, distance only of 1596.2 km.

It's just because there are people who notice, in this post and elsewhere, the lack of civility of some Vietnamese in certain areas of Saigon.
I simply relate the experience of an acquaintance of An Phú Dong where some Vietnamese live, for those looking for calm and tranquility, and courtesy 🤗.

Hi. I lived in a wonderful little Hem just by West Lake in the Tay Ho District for about 1.5 years or so. Down my street was the guy selling fresh chickens, the corner store with the cold Saigon and Hanoi beers, the popular fruit vendors with the sweetest mangos, and a wonderful Bun Cha place on the corner. I only rented a room and found the neighborhood to be very nice although mornings started early. It was also at the most 5 minutes walk to West Lake. I only rented a room and our house had a very nice mix of residents. Mostly Vietnamese but a few expats now and again. I really enjoyed the life along the Hem, finding the little cafes to have morning coffee, Banh Mi, and evening beers. Best regards and Xin Chao to Mystic Cafe along West Lake! Hope you find a Hem to your liking. I loved living there.

While living in a hem is more likely to give you a sense of living in the "real Vietnam" you are more secure in most apartments.  I began life in HCMC (not Hanoi but I think the case is comparable) living in a small house in a narrow alleyway.   Not long after we moved in, my wife told me that I could not accompany her to the very nearby wet market because she would have to pay higher prices.    I laughed and told her that every woman at that market already knew who she was married to.  Gossip travels fast in that type of place.  Life was OK there but once after a four day weekend in Ben Tre, we returned to find one of the padlocks on our outer metal grate door to be damaged by an attempted break-in.   Although the thieves had not gotten in, we had to get a locksmith ourselves to open the lock.   I expect that the would be burglars knew exactly where the westerner lived.   If they had gotten in they would have been surprised as we didn't even own a TV at that time.  Once we moved to an apartment we had no such incidents.   It's not that the security guards were not taking a nap at 2 AM but at least they were there.   

Once when they were napping, someone broke off the side mirror of the Bentley that one absentee apartment owner parked there along with a Honda 4 cylinder Gold Wing bike and a mistress.   This resulted in a change in the security contract but did not have much effect on the rest of the tenants.

When I lived for a few months in a hem in Danang, with a girlfriend & her children, she told me that one secret is to rent in one of the older neighborhoods at a place with a landlord who is from that neighborhood and who actually lives in the building.

My GF flatly turned down a couple of very promising places because they were in newer neighborhoods with absentee landlords.

I suspect there is a similar dynamic in Hanoi.