Start of Journey in Hanoi

For many of my friends and relatives, my decision to move to Hanoi with my husband (who was posted here by his company) was a surprise. I have always been v close to my family and enjoyed my job in Singapore so it was really hard to imagine that I am willing to uproot myself to a city 3.5 hours away from Spore. For me, the main pull factor was really my husband. While we have always been an independent couple, I do not think it is a good idea to stay apart for 2-3 years.

Many Singaporeans who have stayed in Hanoi describe it as a charming and quaint city. If I were to paint a picture of Hanoi, it will be filled with lakes, old shophouse architecture and bustling traffic (believe me, the traffic is so chaotic that I had a headache on my first day here). For me, the appeal of Hanoi lies not in the city itself but rather the unique culture (includes food) and people here. As I interact more with the locals, I find that they have a strong sense of pride for their country and as my husband aptly puts it, Hanoians are a resilient lot and have a way of creating their own system within chaos. Of course, this could be common in developing countries but for someone like me who is used to living in a city, these small instances do add colour to my otherwise "stagnating" life here and I thought it was a wonderful idea to record them down in this blog. Perhaps years later, I would relish each and every moment as a passing stage of my life. This was how this blog "Hanoi Cafe" came about, a place to capture stories that I learnt through conversations and observations.