The fire at the old Trung Tu apartment complex on Pham Ngoc Thach Street on the morning of November 14 could be likened to "the rise of a sunken iceberg". Floating is - something that people can see, predict, and predict - when looking at the moss layer, the old, degraded appearance of old apartment buildings.
Behind the moss layer, the old and degraded apartment buildings and collective houses - still a whole world - seem to be in contrast to the modern society that is bustling in the urban storm in Hanoi.
The world they live in
We met Mr. Cuong - born in 1979, from Phu Tho in an old apartment building on Truong Chinh Street. Mr. Cuong has just returned to the boarding house from the Ears, Nose, and Thong Trung Trung Institute. He told us that he came here from his hometown to treat phlegm. He is undergoing radiotherapy that lasted more than 20 days.
To facilitate treatment, Mr. Cuong sought a room in an old apartment building near the hospital. Following him, we went to the rented room.
Entering the old apartment building is a different world. It is both vibrant and quiet here. Both bustling and quiet. There was a lot of people going up and down the stairs, but most of them were quiet. Many of them are patient K.
Each apartment in the old apartment building is only about 30-40m2 wide. Many apartments have been expanded by owners, opening "tiger cages", the area can be "extended" up to 50-60m2.
Mr. Cuong opened the door, it was an old, narrow apartment of about 40m2 divided into small rooms, about 4 rooms with an area of 6-8m2. Each of these small cages can only accommodate one bed, with rental prices ranging from 3-4.5 million VND/month.
We expressed to Mr. Cuong about looking for a house to rent for our children to go to school. Mr. Cuong advised: "This is not suitable for students. Mainly patient K underwent radiotherapy in batches and was hired to stay here for 20-30 days. The retaining walls are thin, so there may be noise, and the space is too narrow.
My room is about 6 square meters, currently rental for 3 million VND/month. Standing next to the wall of my room is a boy born in 1983, from Cao Bang, currently receiving treatment for tubal cancer, his room is much larger, so it is 4 million VND/month. Another sister rents the room opposite to mine, also patient K, the room fee is 3.5 million VND/month....
Mr. Cuong is currently working in a garment processing factory in Phu Tho, and two months ago he discovered K had a phlegm. After surgery, he had to undergo radiotherapy as prescribed. Mr. Cuong said that he can take care of himself, so he only goes to radiotherapy alone, not bothering his wife and children.
After dividing the apartment into small "vaccal boxes" for patient K to rent, there is still a common kitchen for the patients to cook for themselves.
The old apartment building built in the 1970s-1980s has deteriorated. The building has 5 floors. On the 5th floor, we met Thinh sitting smoking on the stairs.
Thinh said, take his mother to treat a nasopharyngeal artery. The family lives in Bac Ninh, so he rented a "dish box" worth 3.5 million VND/month for his mother to conveniently go to the radiotherapy hospital.
When we asked to rent a room, Thinh enthusiastically introduced that there was still a "boxes of trong fireworks" in the apartment divided into 5 "dishes". If we had a need, Thinh would call the homeowner to open the door for us to come in and see. The Empty Discs are similar in area to the discs that Thinh and his mother are living in, small and narrow, just enough to accommodate a bed, air conditioning and an electric fan.
Thinh said that patient K came here for radiotherapy and would return after the treatment. But the empty rooms are often filled very quickly, due to high demand. Thinh advised us to "decide quickly" otherwise we would not have a room to rent.
The scattered old apartment complex still has "owner" families. They were calmer, the doors were closed and locked. A man "owner" said that if he had the conditions to buy a new house, he would also "pull up", "divid the" apartments to rent according to the current "models".
However, he commented, "real estate prices are too virtual, the price is sky-high, civil servants like us, cannot have money to buy". His family has lived here since the late 1990s.
Stuck
The story of the deterioration and old condition of old apartment buildings has been reported many times.
According to statistics from 2020, Hanoi has about 1,579 old apartment buildings, of which 179 houses are classified as dangerous and severely damaged. However, the progress of renovation and reconstruction of these apartment buildings is still very slow.
The presence of mossy, degraded old apartment buildings creates a contrast to modern projects, amid the rapid urban process.
Over time, old apartment buildings built in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s scattered throughout Hanoi have been expanded and renovated "to suit" the needs of each household. The innocent "expanding" has created " gentlers", deformed the structure of the building, and at the same time negatively affected the urban beauty.
Around the projects to renovate and rebuild old apartment buildings and collectives, there have been many issues that need to be discussed and have not been discussed for many years. The parties involved are all "stuck" due to bottlenecks and conflicts of rights when clearing the site.
Only life inside the moss layer, the old markers are still flowing. Entering there is a world where people think of many ways to take advantage of every meter of land, every little space, every little light... to the point that outsiders will find it difficult to imagine.
