Diane Lee

If you’re curious about what it’s like to start a new life in a developing Asian country as a single expat woman of a “certain age”, this book will tell all, including: – what it’s really like to live in Vietnam – expat jobs, particularly freelancing – problems of living in Vietnam – pros and cons of living in Vietnam – cost of living in Vietnam – whether Vietnam is safe for expats. My reasons for being here in Hanoi have been well documented, but for those of you who want the Reader’s Digest version, it goes something like this: I also wanted to take my life in a different direction because I was stagnating and bored and undervalued and unappreciated in my job, and “running away” to Vietnam to volunteer seemed like the answer to the question I was asking myself the age old questions at the time:

An expat tells why being a foreigner in a foreign land wasn’t a good thing in the midst of a global pandemic I’ve been based in Hanoi, Vietnam for almost four years, and as an expat, I’ve neither seen nor experienced anything like the xenophobia among the local Vietnamese — towards foreigners The Vietnamese government has been proactive and sensible in its approach, closing borders and schools, enforcing strict quarantine regulations to control outbreaks, encouraging the cancellation of events and sending regular public service announcements by text, which are not, unfortunately, translated into English. Hospitals offered free health care for patients testing positive (only for local Vietnamese — foreigners had to pay), and there is a requirement for Vietnamese and foreigners to complete a health declaration via smart phone apps. And in a high context culture like Vietnam, where the individual’s needs are pushed aside for the greater good, it makes sense, even with differing opinions about the effectiveness of aforementioned masks.

Vietnam may refuse to grant visas to travellers showing symptoms of COVID-19.Temporarily stop issuing e-Visa for foreigners who are in or have recently visited areas where Covid-19 is spreading. For all French, German and Spanish passport holders, who have been granted an India e-Visa on or before 11/3/2020 and have not entered the country yet, their visas are suspended. For all Italian, Iraqi, South Korean and Japanese passport holders, who have been granted an India e-Visa on or before 3/3/2020 and have not entered the country yet, their visas are suspended. For all travellers who have visited China, Iran, Italy, South Korea, Japan, France, Germany and Spain and who have been granted an India e-Visa on or before 1/2/2020 and have not entered the country yet, their visas are suspended.

Despite meditation, exercise, music, writing, volunteering, friends, travel, and any number of other worthwhile distractions, my anxiety follows my every move like an ominous shadow, a portent of doom that has me on low level alert, waiting for something, anything, to go pear-shaped. I had quit my deeply unsatisfying government job in Australia, packed up my white privilege, said farewell to my fiercely independent daughter and hot-footed it to Hanoi to take on a volunteering role with a highly respected social enterprise. I approached Vietnam — which is still a developing country, despite modern cities like Saigon and Danang and Hanoi — with rose-coloured glasses, saying yes to every little opportunity and big experience that came my way, trusting the country and the people that had embraced me. For a start, I brought my cat from Australia to Hanoi in the first year — anticipating a long, charmed life as an expat —