Hello everyone,

When I signed off my first newsletter about 3 weeks ago , I promised that I would talk about the traffic in Hanoi in my next edition. But before I get to that, I'd better point out that I've done exactly what most accountants do when they are planning something; I've made a list. The list covers all the aspects of life here that I think are worth sharing. It grows every day , and I keep having to give myself reminders to add something everytime I think of a new topic. I've only been here 6 weeks and there are already about 30 topics on my list. Some are big issues, others are amusing trifles (at least to me), whilst some are just questions.
So to the traffic. There are actually several aspects to this so I'll re-visit the theme in future blogs. But first I have to cover the volume of traffic, how you cross the road , and why you don't see hundreds of accidents. In a city of 6-8 million people , there are apparently 3 million scooters/small motorbikes. There are a huge number of taxis, comparitevly few cars , no trains, no trams, a good smattering of bicycles, and some buses ( I have seen far more of these parked up at the Bus Station than carrying customers). My guess is that the city is 10 miles across.

Unless you travel in the dead of night , you will face either permanent or patchy chaos. That is the only word for it. So, to drive a car or ride a scooter you do the following;

--Honk your horn all the time; not aggressively, but just to say 'I am here/I am coming'

--Use every available square foot of space in front of you or next to you. Don't worry about whether there is an exit from the space you are going into; just get into it.

-- Don't worry if you are on the wrong side of the road. Those white lines are just suggestions.

-- Go around obstacles (people, parked cars, other vehicles etc) using the shortest route. The convention here is 'The Shortest Route'.

-- Expect the unexpected; at all times. Do not daydream, look at shop windows, admire the buildings, rubberneck, or look at the streetstalls. Concentrate and use that '6th sense'.

The skill levels displayed here just in terms of awareness of things around you is a sight to behold. So are either Karen or I going to drive a car ? (In terms of cost this is a non starter anyway which I will revisit). No way! What about a scooter? Well very possibly yes; we will hire one for a month to see how we get on. But it will be local journeys only. I will not be joining the revving snake of scooters going to work, which every now and then just leaves the road for a pavement or park just because there is a 'Shorter Route' beckoning.

So it is fascinating just to watch how the traffic keeps moving forward. Because the traffic relies on itself , rather than signs/rules/traffic lights/conventions, it seems to me that it constantly sorts out all of its' problems as they happen. I think I have seen some Press in the UK about a town that has removed all of it's road signs. Well I reckon that they might be onto something..........

Crossing the road then? If you wait for a gap in the traffic, you'll be there a mighty long time. So you just walk out into the road ( making sure that you are not going to be struck down by the nearest vehicle), then you walk at a consistent pace, keeping your wits about you, and what happens is that they just drive/ride around you. The first time is pretty scary , then you just realise how to do it. And drivers/riders follow pretty much the same rule when joining the traffic; they just do it and seamlessly merge into the flow.

That's enough about the traffic, but I will revisit some other related themes in newsletters to come. So to finish, something a little less important. We are just about to move out of our serviced apartment, into a house. The apartment block has a small lake in front of it , with the access roads running either side. And on another side there is the terrace area of a posh restaurant. Fairly early on, in the evening and at night , we were mesmerised by a constant echoey noise which seemed to bounce around all sides of the lake. We thought it was a sophisticated electrical noise system, maybe to keep birds away from the lake or something like that. Anyway, we asked one of the security staff the other night what it is. It's the toads mating in the lake. So now we know.

Some photos are attatched. These are;

- The only thing I've seen that appears to be a reminder of the war here . And it's in a really posh area.

- Walking down the road with the scooters near the office.

- Shall I buy one of these peacocks which are on sale round the corner from my office?

Next time I'll look at the cost of cars and a complete contradiction .

Cheers all

Kevin

3 weeks in.......

Greetings from Hanoi

Hello everyone,

Well we arrived into Hanoi very early on Saturday 3^rd March; grey and raining and so feeling very much like Manchester , but there any similarity with the North West of England ended.

Our first day and night was spent at the Sofitel  Metropole Hotel which we had read to be one of the top hotels in SE Asia. So it was a bit of a treat after a long flight. And what a beautiful hotel it is.  The  recurring thought though is that every single member of staff is an ambassador for the hotel; polite, friendly ,bright  but never unctuous. The hotel is expensive but not offputting. A good experience.

Another learning experience or realization for me has been about Branding. As with anywhere in the world we say ‘Manchester’ and someone says ‘Manchester United’. But I then say ‘ah but I support Brighton and Hove Albion; they play in the Championship’ , and the person says ‘ oh you mean the Coca Cola Championship’.  And one person said ‘ I support the Emirates’. Didn’t mention Arsenal. I guess  that’s the power of Branding.

You wouldn’t  guess that this is a Socialist country. Yes I go past the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and a statue of Lenin on my way to work, but the spirit of enterprise here , at least on the surface, overrides  everything.. There are a lot of well off people here, I’m sure that as a percentage of the total population it’s a tiny proportion , but here in Hanoi it’s a clearly visible element. And if the Government make tax revenues from this , then that must help the country.

There are controls here; both State and Local, and I fell foul of one early on. The office have arranged a Taxi  Account for me and as I speak no proper Vietnamese yet , the receptionist here telephones the taxi firm to pick me up from the office to take me home. And you can imagine what rush hour is like here, particularly where the Mazars office is ( in the middle of what I would call the Vietnamese business area). Anyway, on my second day I thought ‘I don’t need for them to call me a taxi, I’ll just walk out of the office and hail one, as there are always loads around’. So 45 minutes later, completely lost, not able to use the phone because of the noise and even if I could use the phone it would be pointless as I had no idea where I was. So the ‘Control’ is that the Taxi firms have been told that they are not allowed to be in specific areas at certain times of the day. And that’s why I couldn’t find a taxi. Karen was just about to call the British Embassy (joke) , when I eventually stumbled into the apartment.

Househunting is  both interesting and tiring. Finding an agent is no problem and they are as keen as mustard to help. If a westerner wants to live in the area most westerners live, then it seems that the privilege has to be paid for ( unless you are well connected I guess). The houses are on the big side of huge and usually at the expense of any garden. So with our dog needing a bit of outside space to mooch around, we don’t want a 5 bedroom/5 bathroom  viila which basically opens out right onto the street ( there are lots of these).

The office staff  are absolutely lovely and have helped me so much. To reciprocate I am regularly being asked for advice on writing little bits of English better, which is a pleasure. The language is going to be a challenge; I knew this already. To illustrate this point , we live on Xuan Dieu Street and this is pronounced ‘soon zioww’ ( the soon is a bit like  a northerner in the UK would say ‘sun’ and the ‘zioww’ rhymes with  the noise a cat makes).

I’ve attatched 3 photos; the office, my son Joe pushing our dog through customs in her crate, and 3 audit managers (Anh, Minh, and Son Ha  and Joe) out last Friday after work which proved to be a late one.

Until next time, when I will definitely be discussing the traffic and how it works…..