online pros living in Vietnam thread

[djle2]

Originally Posted by baohoa

this is fun. i'm viet kieu as well and my family is from Tra Vinh too.
I'm there once or twice a year for holiday and was planning to move there some day in the future. kinda curious how is it like to be actually living there as a foreigner.

Well next time you come, give me a holler. well have some beers =)

I would say living here is almost pretty much as if you were here for vacation or what you want it to be. People here are way more friendly, kind and polite than the big city. Of course it is lacking in what the big city offers but you can still find it all, just depends where in Tra vinh you are located, just less of it. If anything, its a ride into the main Tra Vinh area.

One thing to know is if you are on the offskirts of Tra vinh, everyone will know your business unless you take it elsewhere off where you live. What I mean is lets say you have multiple girlfriends, everyone will know. If you take a girl home one time, they will know. If you eat with a guy who is known to be shady, they will know. By they, I mean everybody. Main Tra vinh is better as its more busy but its still the case. Its the case everywhere in VN =)

Story in point when I was in Saigon. I would have many female friends where I have no romantic involvements or females that I do. Im no where close to being called a monger. BUt when ladies would visit my place, a lady at her own door at her house totally alone would speak talking to herself and say ' this guys has so many girlfriends. ' basically saying this to my friends. Another is, me first moving in my new place and was getting settled and didnt have one female visitor for like over a month. First one who did was very hot. Next day the police arrived and inquired about said girl. I just responded its a friend of mine. You cant have friends visit you? The police didnt do anything but left pretty much implying dont do it again. ****ed up thing is she really was just a friend and nothing happened. Your business is usually everyone else business. If they dont make a ruckus about it, they will still know. Its even worst in the country side like Tra vinh. One good thing about vietnamese people is that although they gossip with everyone else, they will act totally normal with you with said gossip.

But Im a keep to myself type person so living in the country side doesn't bother me. If i like ya, Ill hang around you a lot, if not, you wont see me much. In Tra vinh, I dont hang around much people =). Its not for many people is all I can say. If your on vacation, its fine.

[djle2]

Originally Posted by Loc0dice

Guys how about posting some pics of Houses, area, girls, clubs whatever.. Just to get some feeling of the city/country if you know what i mean..

Youtube and the internet is your friend. To make post relevant :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa4qG8XgVZg streets of Saigon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xgfAQwYPeI club girls of Saigon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_rey...eature=related Clubbing of Saigon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Um5s...feature=fvwrel Shopping of Saigon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmXaDvZmKng pure country side

Random **** :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teshu...eature=related

[expulse]

just discovered this...been in HCMC two months now. Anyone up for a 2+2 meetup? exchange ideas, beers, basically shoot the **** etc?

[Alpha 5.20]

Im in for a 2+2 meetup

[baohoa]

Originally Posted by djle2

Well next time you come, give me a holler. well have some beers =)

I would say living here is almost pretty much as if you were here for vacation or what you want it to be. People here are way more friendly, kind and polite than the big city. Of course it is lacking in what the big city offers but you can still find it all, just depends where in Tra vinh you are located, just less of it. If anything, its a ride into the main Tra Vinh area.

One thing to know is if you are on the offskirts of Tra vinh, everyone will know your business unless you take it elsewhere off where you live. What I mean is lets say you have multiple girlfriends, everyone will know. If you take a girl home one time, they will know. If you eat with a guy who is known to be shady, they will know. By they, I mean everybody. Main Tra vinh is better as its more busy but its still the case. Its the case everywhere in VN =)

Story in point when I was in Saigon. I would have many female friends where I have no romantic involvements or females that I do. Im no where close to being called a monger. BUt when ladies would visit my place, a lady at her own door at her house totally alone would speak talking to herself and say ' this guys has so many girlfriends. ' basically saying this to my friends. Another is, me first moving in my new place and was getting settled and didnt have one female visitor for like over a month. First one who did was very hot. Next day the police arrived and inquired about said girl. I just responded its a friend of mine. You cant have friends visit you? The police didnt do anything but left pretty much implying dont do it again. ****ed up thing is she really was just a friend and nothing happened. Your business is usually everyone else business. If they dont make a ruckus about it, they will still know. Its even worst in the country side like Tra vinh. One good thing about vietnamese people is that although they gossip with everyone else, they will act totally normal with you with said gossip.

But Im a keep to myself type person so living in the country side doesn't bother me. If i like ya, Ill hang around you a lot, if not, you wont see me much. In Tra vinh, I dont hang around much people =). Its not for many people is all I can say. If your on vacation, its fine.

lol, i know what you mean. I did build a small house for my family 7 km from Tra Vinh and i spend some weeks there every year. I do really enjoy the time there and love the people. only things that bother me are how hot it is and medical facilities (i had a motorbike accident this year and the hospital looked just scary). also the police thing is something that i always suspected, but i hope it's not a big deal.
everytime i also spend 3-4 days in TPHCM but i'm more a country guy.
i was looking to open a business and maybe playing part time poker, i'm 30 and i think this is about the time to decide what to do. i'm trying to get some info. who knows
i will surely send you a message, prolly around Tet.
are you from the US?

bao

[expulse]

Originally Posted by Alpha 5.20

Im in for a 2+2 meetup

Lets give this a few more days for others to respond. I'd be up to meetup for dinner or beer either way.

PM me your skype if you want me to add you.

[sl4v3]

I'd be up for a 2+2 dinner and/or beers.

Originally Posted by expulse

Lets give this a few more days for others to respond. I'd be up to meetup for dinner or beer either way.

PM me your skype if you want me to add you.

[scroosko]

Originally Posted by djle2

Get a ups, Its a must even if you use a laptop, you need power for your modem unless you use 3g. Good internet is good but isn't the mail problem. Its power fluctuations/spikes and outages. Internet cuts out but pretty damn rare. get two internet companies if you like but I don't. Never had a lot of problems with vnpt.

Women will be very easy, professionals or locals. If you flash money or not.

If your willing to pay 1000 a month for a place to live you can bout just live almost anywhere you want. All I can say is regarding Saigon, I know plenty of people who pay 1000 a month and I find the place be very nice but normal. Nothing sick about it. I wouldn't pay that price especially for what you get. But they are white or foreigners with the normal foreigner thinking while in vn.

Seems like you didn't read the thread of a whole four pages, I suggest you read it.

hey man i have read the thread before i posted. i even googled ups to find out what it means before i posted as i had no clue what it was i apologise if i seemed lazy or whatever in my question and i really do appreciate people taking time to answer peoples questions in threads like this and think it just came across as i was searching for people to do my work for me without researching/reading threads for myself which wasn't the case.

i just didnt understand by why i would need a ups but i have finally worked out that you mean to power the internet and not my laptop lol. excuse my stupidity

will be arriving in vietnam in the first week in november if my replacement passport comes through on time otherwise it will be mid-november and will be staying for a few months. would be good to meet up for some beers or something at some point.

scroosko on skype if anyone is interested.

[djle2]

Originally Posted by baohoa

only things that bother me are how hot it is and medical facilities (i had a motorbike accident this year and the hospital looked just scary).

i was looking to open a business and maybe playing part time poker, i'm 30 and i think this is about the time to decide what to do. i'm trying to get some info. who knows

i will surely send you a message, prolly around Tet.
are you from the US?

bao

Yeah, Im affraid to get hurt in Vietnam too but Saigon has nice semi normal american style hospital facilities. Probally Hanoi too but your pretty much **** out of luck anywhere else.

Business I believe is hard here imo unless you are connected. Doing something big is risky in my lay opinion. Good food sells here though I know that.

Im from the U.S. California , Westminster.

Look forward into meeting you around tet time .

Originally Posted by sl4v3

I'd be up for a 2+2 dinner and/or beers.

I would so enjoy attending myself but unfortunately I'm not in Saigon. Ill keep an eye out for meet ups when I have to go to the city.

Originally Posted by scroosko

hey man i have read the thread before i posted.

My apologies scroosko.

[baohoa]

Originally Posted by djle2

Yeah, Im affraid to get hurt in Vietnam too but Saigon has nice semi normal american style hospital facilities. Probally Hanoi too but your pretty much **** out of luck anywhere else.

Business I believe is hard here imo unless you are connected. Doing something big is risky in my lay opinion. Good food sells here though I know that.

Im from the U.S. California , Westminster.

Look forward into meeting you around tet time .



I would so enjoy attending myself but unfortunately I'm not in Saigon. Ill keep an eye out for meet ups when I have to go to the city.



My apologies scroosko.

So house, motorbike and everything do carry your name? I get different info about the gov allowing foreigners owning things or not (seems that even locals are a bit confused about it)

yeah food is everywhere in vietnam, it seems people eat 24/7

[sl4v3]

Originally Posted by baohoa

yeah food is everywhere in vietnam, it seems people eat 24/7

Food is everywhere, but unless you're in district 1 of HCM, it's pretty hard to find much open after 9pm. People eat dinner here really early. I live in district 2 and about 95% of restaurants here are closed at 9pm and the rest are closed at 10pm. As someone that keeps odd hours, this is one of my minor frustrations about living here. The only option for a 1am snack here is junk food from the Circle K or the 25 minute drive to district 1.

[expulse]

Agreed. Its impossible to get a late snack outside of D1.

Shall we set a date, sometime next week?

Also, if there are any tennis players who wants to play, let me know. Or even if you want to learn. I've been playing 3 nights a week.

[djle2]

Regarding house and motorbike; nothing is in my name =(

Regarding food. What I usually did was always buy extra food in the evenings just in case I wanted to eat late night. Im up rather late every night myself. If I wasn't particularly hungry after 9 pm, I would have it for breakfast.

I also would make a container of ready to cook beef and freeze it. All I needed to do was take it out, cook it and add rice.

Speaking of food. For those who want some good meat without paying high prices. Buy some grilled dog meat. For those who have, please share your experiences. Those who would dare try, try it. Its damn good.

My reasons for saying business being difficult here is because however you do it, big or small, if your successful and are make really good profits, there's going to be a decent chance your going to be shaken down by someone with a title or a thug, maybe both =)

[baohoa]

Originally Posted by sl4v3

Food is everywhere, but unless you're in district 1 of HCM, it's pretty hard to find much open after 9pm. People eat dinner here really early. I live in district 2 and about 95% of restaurants here are closed at 9pm and the rest are closed at 10pm. As someone that keeps odd hours, this is one of my minor frustrations about living here. The only option for a 1am snack here is junk food from the Circle K or the 25 minute drive to district 1.

agree. depends on what is ur standards too. i mean, here in italy it is pretty much the same as in VN and u get restaurants open only for luch and dinner, while in VN they are open pretty much the whole day but late at night. also in VN food is literally everywhere which is a funny thing. in the country they tend to close even earlier though.
are u staying there for long?

[baohoa]

Originally Posted by djle2

Regarding house and motorbike; nothing is in my name =(

Regarding food. What I usually did was always buy extra food in the evenings just in case I wanted to eat late night. Im up rather late every night myself. If I wasn't particularly hungry after 9 pm, I would have it for breakfast.

I also would make a container of ready to cook beef and freeze it. All I needed to do was take it out, cook it and add rice.

Speaking of food. For those who want some good meat without paying high prices. Buy some grilled dog meat. For those who have, please share your experiences. Those who would dare try, try it. Its damn good.

My reasons for saying business being difficult here is because however you do it, big or small, if your successful and are make really good profits, there's going to be a decent chance your going to be shaken down by someone with a title or a thug, maybe both =)

thx for the tips, they told me that years ago and i hope things will change.
nver had dog so far, not so popular among my family there. but anything 'quay' is nice so i guess it is no exception. baby pork is one of my fav dishes and a must try imho. i would drive to tra vinh market to have it, lol