Hot and want to “go crazy”
At noon one day near the end of April, the writer went to the boarding houses in Thu Duc university village (Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City), where many students and young people live. The writer met Nguyen Thanh Tung (25 years old) when this young man was walking back to his room and in his hand was holding a bag of ice cubes that he had just bought at the grocery store near the accommodation. During these past few months, there hasn’t been a day when Tung’s room has been without ice water. That’s how this guy can cool off.
Many young people live in small, closed rooms with low corrugated iron roofs, making them even hotter
Tung said he rented a room here for 750,000 VND/month but it was only a few meters.2 and roofed with corrugated iron, so on sunny days it is sweltering hot. Tung said that at that price, he did not dare to ask for much. “Because I’m doing freelance work, I’m in my room almost all the time so I have to use the fan 24/7. On days when it’s too hot and I can’t stand it, I’ll go to an air-conditioned internet shop to avoid the heat,” Tung shared.
The 9X boy said it was so hot that he felt hot when he touched any furniture in the room. “I moved my desk right next to the door hoping for some wind to blow in, but the more the fan in the room turned on, the hotter it got, and when it turned off, I sweated like a shower. Sometimes it’s very frustrating, but I can’t bear it,” Tung said.
A small room of only a few square meters was rented by Tung for 750,000 VND/month
Not only Tung but that is the common situation of many other young people when renting cheap rented rooms that are cramped, have corrugated iron roofs and do not have air conditioning. Because conditions do not allow them, they are forced to stay in those cramped rooms and struggle to get through the hot season.
Luckier than Tung, Van Hau (24 years old), living in Thu Duc City, was able to rent a slightly larger room, but still could not escape the heat. Hau’s room is located right in the direction of the sun, without any cover, so it receives all the hot sunlight. In the room, other than the main door, there was no window for the wind to enter.
Outside the main door, the room where Hau is staying is completely covered
“Because the room is directly facing the sun, I have to close the door all day. When you open the door, the sun shines in, but when you close it, it’s like a crematorium because the heat from the corrugated iron roof pours down and is unbearable. Turn on the fan and it’s hot, it feels like fire breath is coming out. Whenever I don’t go to work at noon, I have to go to a friend’s house nearby to sleep over and then contribute to the electricity bill with him at the end of the month,” Hau said.
Hau said that on hot sunny days, staying in the room feels like going crazy
This guy shared that during the hot seasons, after work, he doesn’t want to go back to his room. Every day when she comes home early, Hau will go to a coffee shop to sit and work or read a book until the evening when the temperature cools down before returning to her room. “There was a day when I got back to my room at 10 p.m., and at that time I still felt hot. Every month I have to spend an extra 500,000 – 700,000 VND for coffee, but I have to bear it,” Hau said.
Hau said the hottest room is from around 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm. “It’s crazy hot. Every day I don’t go to work, I stay in my room all day and sweat like I’m bathing. Just putting your feet on the floor makes you feel hot, let alone sleeping, which is very uncomfortable. Every day in my room I shower many times, but every time I step out of the bathroom I start to sweat. I just want to lie outside the bathroom, it feels terrible,” Hau said boredly.
The motel room is no different from… the bagua furnace
Nguyen Huynh Phung Tien, a student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities, said he rented a room for 1.1 million VND right near the school. The amount of money was suitable and the location was convenient for going to school, so even though it was hot in the dry season and had to wade through water to go to school in the rainy season, Tien still accepted to stay.
Struggling to wash vegetables, Tien said that because she was a first year student and didn’t have any friends, she stayed alone. Furthermore, she also wanted to cook so she couldn’t stay in the dormitory. Therefore, even though the room conditions were not too good, Tien still accepted to stay.
“No matter how hot it is, I have to endure it, I have no other choice. I’m a student, my parents’ monthly living expenses are limited, but for an air-conditioned coffee shop to avoid the heat, the cheapest drink costs 25,000 – 30,000 VND. That amount of money is almost enough for me to go to the market and cook 2 meals. So when the sun is too hot and I can’t stand staying in the dormitory, I go to the school library to study to cool off,” Tien said.
On hot days, Tien squeezes orange juice to cool down
In addition to the fan that must operate day and night, in the hot season, Tien bathes three times a day to cool her body and regularly cleans the floor. The female student said she could not imagine how she would live in this weather if one day there was a power outage. “My room’s electricity bill has increased more in recent months. If normally I use about more than 20 KWh of electricity, in the hot season it will increase to more than 30 KWh,” Tien said.
On hot days, there is always a bag of ice in Tien’s room for her to mix with fresh oranges to cool down.
Comparing a rented room to a bagua furnace, Nguyen Thi Hien Ngan (23 years old), living on Le Trong Tan Street (Tan Phu District), shared: “Because I work nearby, I rented a room there for convenient transportation.” . Furthermore, the room I rented was in a student area so the price was reasonable. So even if it’s hot, try to endure it.”
Cooking with a gas stove in the room makes Ngan’s cramped apartment even hotter
Ngan said that because the room did not have air conditioning, outside of work, she would go to a coffee shop to avoid the heat and did not dare return to the apartment until it was dark. Furthermore, during the hot season, she also limits cooking. “The rooms are close together, the inside is tight and I cook with a gas stove so all the heat radiates throughout the room. Sitting in the cooking room and sweating profusely, sometimes after cooking I don’t want to eat,” Ngan shared.
Although tired and miserable fighting the scorching heat, for many reasons these young people still have to continue to live in cramped rented rooms.
