Accommodation at Bac Ninh (Hanoi)

Bac Ninh would not be a good choice, there are almost no expat scene there so lots of inconvenience for an expat to stay for a long time. Find an appartment somewhere in West Lake, shouldn't be too bad.

I've spent some time there. I didn't particularly like it but i might be spending more time there in future. It's commutable to Hanoi, just avoid the highway if you're on a motorbike as it's full of lorries driving recklessly to the many korean factories based there.

Heretolearn wrote:

Bac Ninh would not be a good choice, there are almost no expat scene there so lots of inconvenience for an expat to stay for a long time. Find an appartment somewhere in West Lake, shouldn't be too bad.

Nonsene, there are plenty of expats in bac ninh but maybe they don't fit into your rather racist idea of who's an expat. There's thousands of Koreans in Bac ninh. All because of one company, Samsung and their Korean subcontractors. Nearly all hotels, many restaurants and even the foot massage parlours have Hàn Quốc written all over them. You'll find more Korean supermarkets than vietnamese supermarkets. There's a powerful Governor in bac ninh and he basically owns the only supermarket in town (da ba co or something), it's stocked rather poorly and the rumour is he banned Big C from opening a branch there. So food wise, unless you want to spend a small fortune on imported korean food, you're shit out of luck as the nearest place to buy basic western stuff is Aeon mall. I drove 40 minutes all the way there for some pasta and cheese.

I stayed at Rosana aprtments, there's two of them in bac ninh. Somewhere in between a hotel and apartment. about 450 for the closer to city center but less modern one and 500 for the further out but more mod cons one. I'd definitely stay there again as the lady who manages it is really friendly and speaks english. You might be thinking so what... well not many people in bac ninh actually speak english, Korean is the second language of choice for locals there as it commands better salaries. That's why i made the point of hotels having Hàn Quốc written on them.

Ok sorry for being racist, I m also yellow and I am racist toward my own race. I mean there are not many westerners there. I dont think Korean have the same kind of food as westerners, also hobbies like movies, music. And there are lots of Korean so many speak Korean but not as many speak English. You can find supermarket with ingredients for Korean food easily but not western food. You have other koreans who understand your jokes. I m just working in a different region than my hometown and I feel lonely sometimes.

I did not find your original reply to my query the slightest bit racist and maybe the other poster was having a bad day.
However, his post was also very useful and informative and I thank you both for the posts. 
Seems like I may be in for a long trip to a decent Supermarket, as I have been to Korea and do not like Korean food in the slightest.  I am currently in Philippines and both cuisines are on a par IMO.
I love Chinese, Vietnamese so we may struggle in Bac Ninh.  My partner has a 9 month teaching gig, so it is not that we will be there too long hopefully.  It was just a 'foot in the door' as she has not taught in the last 12 months, but did 8 years teaching in Thailand.
I had a chuckle about the Mayor owning the Supermarket, it seems noting changes no matter where you go in Asia - corruption reigns.
What about fresh food markets including chicken, pork (maybe beef?), but most important fresh fruit and vegetables? Thank you.

Thank you for all the great information.  Han Quoc, does that mean Korean food - tried looking it up on Google and that is as close as I could get that fitted the context?
Rather disappointed about the Supermarket deal,  I was of the impression from watching a few Utube videos that is was quite a large City and there would be supermarkets of choice?  Lots of parks, and places to walk, relax?  Am I dreaming?  Also nice wide roads, seemed to be good infrastructure?
My partner will be teaching from mid August to mid May, 9 mth contract and I like a bit of space where I am living, as I am stuck in the bloody apartment during the day.  I saw the Rosana apartments, but thought I might find something better and larger for a reasonable price?  Her gf is also going to teach in the area, so we are thinking we  may do the share thing.  So 2br 2 bath is what we would prefer, am I being a bit ambitious?
We have been to Vietnam before about 18 months ago but were in HCMC (not for me), Vung Tau - a great place but it seems this will be a different ball game?
Wet markets fish, chicken, port etc, good vegetables there?
Thanks again.

I over reacted because there's plenty of expats from Korea in Bac Ninh but there are people who seem to instantly associate the expat term with caucasian immigrants.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-deve … -migration

I don't speak vietnamese so I'm not comfortable haggling at the local markets for groceries. Aeon mall has the best quality... what you'd expect to find in a typical supermarket in the UK. Da ba co has a monopoly, shopping there is quite surreal. It's like going to a rave with techno music blaring out the speakers whilst shopping for your groceries. The Governor is expanding and building another Da Ba Co in bac ninh but he won't let the competition move in because he knows his shops are shit and nobody would go there if people actually had a choice.

As the locals put it, for a part of the country that has the highest GDP per capita, they get really bad quality and services.

Buffalo meat is the local delicacy. On the road to hanoi, you'll find dozens of shops bbq, stewing, roasting, deep frying and you can basically ask them to cook buffalo meat anyway you want. It's quite chewy.

There's plenty of nice vietnamese restaurants but for western food you'll have to travel to the old quarter which actually is the nearest part of hanoi to Bac Ninh. Honestly, if i spend more time there which is very likely in the next month, I'd be buying my groceries from aeon mall or letting the girlfriend do it at markets.  Quality at aeon mall is ok to also amazingly good and expensive. Any fruit imported form Korea or Japan is instantly marked up x3 of what we would pay for the same quality in a UK supermarket. 270,000 vnd for a KG of apples! that was like £1.50 for the one apple I bought. At the same time, they also selling less ridiculously priced apples for 40,000 vnd a KG.

When are you moving there?

There's a big vinhomes development I was eyeing up that's close to finishing. That was over 6 months ago so it might even be finished now. When it is, I assure you there's going to a rather large influx of new apartments on the market for rent. It's smack bang in the middle of city center. I class the city centers as the biggest roundabouts in vietnam. Like, cho benh thanh in saigon.

There's two towers, one's for foreigner investors and one for local investors. The foreign block is pretty much all sold out to koreans. Anyway, if i stayed there long term and willing to pay extra for the best mod cons i'd probably look for a place there. There's going to thousands of units hitting the rental market soon.

Thanks again for such a quick reply.  I have never been to a 'rave' party but I understand where you are coming from.  Get that here in Philippines!  Their big go here is karaoke and every now and again, they go hire a head banger machine and blast it for a couple of day!  Stuff everybody else is the order of the day.
Chewy beef - sounds interesting.  We are more chicken/pork are they at the wet markets?  I do not have an issue with language, my 'sign' is pretty good.  So you buy veges etc from the Supermarket also? We both eat a lot of that sort of stuff.
Was I right regarding parks, walking areas etc from what I saw on Utube?  There is absolutely none of that here, except for one half finish park area on the bay.  I am used to maniac driving and rode a bike in Vung Tau for the few weeks we were there, it was the first time I drove on 'the other side of the road' (being a Brit you would understand, us Aussies are the same).  It was quite hairy at first, but since then have driven in Phils for 12 months, a life threatening experience every time - they are crazy on the road.
Motor bike hire in Bac Ninh?  Do you  know  the costings?  I have found  little help on Google or U tube in accommodation, do you have any ideas other than Rosana apartments?
Have you just had a stack of rain over there, we are  now getting it here and seemed to come from Vietnam?
I will not arrive until end of September, if you are in Bac Ninh, maybe we could meet for a coffee, but be warned I am an old fart!

I will check them out on the internet and see if they have something about that development, could be a good option by the sound if it.
Have a great day.

There are some parks... certainly seems more open and green than the bigger cities.

I recall a rather big one where parents liked taking their kids too.

Oh yeah there's some modern apartments that are already finished directly opposite vinhomes that you might want to look into. It's part of the sky garden project.

Would be interested in meeting, as it happens my gf's a local that teaches english part time. I thought the company she works for might have been the only private english language shop in the whole city. I wonder if...its the same place. She told me, most people prefer to learn korean in bac ninh.