Some decide to return to their hometowns because making a living in a big city is too challenging, while others go back to ease the burden of housing debt. Many who don’t dare leave the city feel regret and uncertainty, while those who have “left the city” often feel satisfied and harbor no regrets.

It is undeniable that there is a ‘leaving the city for the countryside’ rush. 

Nguyen Trung Thanh chose compromise. Working in Hanoi, Thanh has lived in his hometown for the past 16 years. Every day, he commutes back and forth, covering more than 100 kilometers.

Thanh still remembers the day he transferred his family’s household residential registration from Hanoi to Bac Ninh. The local police officer was surprised and asked why he wanted to leave Hanoi when so many people were struggling to move to the capital city.

Some friends then advised him to keep the house in Hanoi, saying it would be useful for his children’s future education and life in the city. But he decided to sell the house in Hanoi, buy land in Bac Ninh, and build a home. Over the past 16 years, Thanh has never regretted that decision, even though he still works in the capital city 55 kilometers from home.

For the first 10 years after moving back to his hometown, he took the bus daily to the office. Since 2018, he has been driving his own car from home to work.

Thanh is currently a lecturer of the University of Transport. The reason he chose to return to his hometown was that his wife was a teacher at a high school in Bac Ninh back then.

He and his wife worked in two different cities. When he had free time, he rode a motorbike from Hanoi to visit his wife and kids. Occasionally, his wife and children would travel from Bac Ninh to Hanoi to see him.

To bring the family closer together, in 2008, his wife planned to look for a job in Hanoi. But they later changed their mind, as Bac Ninh then began developing and large investors flocked there to build factories, especially in Yen Phong Industrial Zone.

“At that moment, my wife’s job in our hometown was going well, and the living environment was improving significantly. Our family has a tradition in education, and I understood the situation of the education sector in our province, so I felt very confident about my decision,” he explained.

“Plus, in 2008, Hanoi experienced a historic flood that prevented me from visiting home. That was one of the reasons that later influenced my decision to move back,” he added.

In 2009, he decided to sell the house in Hanoi, buy a land plot, and build a home in his hometown. His criteria for choosing land were proximity to his parents and a bus stop.

“The new life was not inconvenient. I got to be near my wife, kids, and family. I had a spacious house. The living space in Bac Ninh was incredibly open, airy, and peaceful. My daughter started enjoying more time playing in nature,” he said.

“I just had to adapt to the 55 kilometer commute. But back then, I was still a young man, I could sleep easily and adjust quickly, so traveling by bus wasn’t a problem.

“I found ways to adapt to the new life: spending time reading books, listening to music, and sleeping on the bus. Later, with the Nhat Tan Bridge and the elevated Ring Road 2 put into operation, commuting by car became much more convenient.”

Another ‘plus’ of moving his family back to their hometown was that the kids could be close to their grandparents and relatives. The whole family could help with caring for and educating the children.

The only concern he had about living in Bac Ninh was healthcare service quality.

Thanh recalls that when his wife gave birth to their second and third children (in 2011 and 2014), they still decided to use the service of the Central Maternity Hospital in Hanoi. 

He admitted that while the long commute might seem inconvenient to many, he feels capable of handling it. It wasn’t until 2018 that he started driving his own car to work regularly.

Nguyen Thao