A scene on Mon Hanoi.

The 52-minute film is a journey through many corners of Hanoi, with interesting insights into the capital’s culture, food, architecture, traffic and people discovered by the diplomat. The voice-over in Vietnamese of the documentary was performed by Jean Noel Poirier himself, who has learned the language since he was 20.
The screening of Mon Hanoi is one of the activities to mark the capital’s Liberation Day (October 10). The film has received the creator’s permission to be broadcast on all channels of the Vietnam Television during one year.
Jean Noel Poirier lived in Vietnam for ten years, during which he worked for one term as a Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City and another as the French ambassador in Hanoi (2012 - 2016). In May 2017, the diplomat was awarded the Vietnamese Government’s Friendship Order for his contributions to Vietnam – France strategic partnership.
At an event on 2017 July in Hanoi, the former French Ambassador to Vietnam Jean Noel Poirier narrated his story in Vietnamese: “When I first started taking up the ambassador position in August 2012, I instantly had a familiar feeling with this place, as if I had been living here before. Maybe it’s because, in Hanoi, the reminiscence of French architecture still remain, especially in the Old Quarter. Actually, the first time I came here was for a diplomatic meeting with former Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach in 1989. The city gave me a warm feeling, but I was bored as there was almost no nightlife at that time. But by the time I came back, the city had become very dynamic and vibrant. Young people looked very cheerful and they always smiled with positive thoughts”.
The former ambassador said he was very happy to have had a chance able to walk on the streets of Hanoi and to admire the hustling lifestyle here. "Hanoians had the unique lifestyle as if every moment of life happens on the streets: they live, eat food, raise children and even do their business on the pavement. Let the tourists walk around the city and observe lives on the pavements, they will know a lot about the characteristics, customs, and habits of Vietnamese people ", the former ambassador shared in Vietnamese.