All is well. I moved into a new house with a couple of friends. It's across the Red River from the main city in an area called Lon Bien. You have to traverse an old, rickety railway bridge to get here. Funny enough, this bridge was designed by Eiffel - you know the guy - and is still standing to this day.
It's a completely different area where I'm living now. Every morning I wake up and it feels I'm in the countryside. Instead of the always present rumble of motorbikes and cars, the beeping and the hustle and bustle of a big city, I hear roosters, dogs, birds and the wind. From the roof terrace (yes, we have one) I look out onto of field of some kind with corn or wheat. Quite nice.
We got our little headquarters because everybody was looking for a new place to stay. The task was quite daunting: cheap, for seven people, for a short time and available immediately. But it worked (and the rent is ridiculously cheap) after a couple of days searching. That's the big advantage of living in Lon Bien: its relatively close to the city, cheap, but still not that popular to rent a house or place. Disadvantages: it's out of the way, internet is crappy and the house was very basic with no furniture or kitchen present (though not anymore).
What makes it cool is that my new flatmate's (7 in total) are all awesome people and we get along really good. Everybody is quite creative: some paint, others make music and two of the guys are into fixing up motorbikes. Some teach, other volunteer. Funny enough, everybody here has got a similar attitude to their stay in Hanoi.
For the time being living is good. In a month or two we'll see where winds of change will take me.
