What's the cost of living in Saigon if you live on cheap budget and rent appartement?

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living...+Chi+Minh+City

I wrote this a few months back, but the situation has changed, so just wanna update you guys.
Ho Tram Poker: 90% dead, as the new management doesn't seem to like poker much.
New World Poker: it was going very well for the past few weeks but then now it's closed (from January 5th 2016). Apparently the poker table is far less profitable for the casino than the slot machines, so they no longer want to run it.
Nowadays I just play home games, there are many games running all week from $0.5/1, $1/2, $2/5, even $5/10 or $10/20 sometimes. So far my impression is that the game is good (tougher game at higher stakes obviously), reasonable rake (5%, no rake in chopped pot, no flop no drop, reasonable capped...), honest dealer, ok security, though there's no guarantee of course.

Thx for the update. I was really disappointed when the APT in Ho Tram was cancelled at the last minute... How is the proportion foreigner/Vietnamese in the home games?

I will go check The Crowne in da nang once again for games and report back, as I came up empty handed last time, despite multi-source-rumors of the game running there...

Is Danang cheaper than Chang Mai?

Almost the same, Chiang Mai is maybe a little bit cheaper.

What about Vung Tau? Also what is the language barrier like in Vietnam?

Check this website, you can find a lot of location reviews, not only for Vietnam but for Thailand too, Cambodia, etc http://singlemansparadise.com/catego...ation-reviews/

Vung Tau : http://singlemansparadise.com/vung-t...cation-review/
Da Nang : http://singlemansparadise.com/da-nan...cation-review/
Nha Trang : http://singlemansparadise.com/nha-tr...cation-review/

oOooOooO Vietnam seems so under rated!! Got my eyes on Nha Trang

It is indeed Nha Trang is better if you enjoy to party, as a few bars will be open until the wee hours, which is not the case elsewhere.

I'm considering moving here as I got denied a single entry tourist visa for Thailand... My concern is about cashing out and the Internet. Are there reliable connections without disconnects? I've not found a good WiFi connection yet and my 3g u limited is mostly unusable, which is concerning. How's the cash out situation?

You have not found a good connection yet? Connections have been solid for me, from hotel to hotel, and now in an apartment (Usually 30-40 Mbs). I have a pocket wifi backup, purchased in Laos, but works fine with Viet tel sim card (I get 6-8 Mbs on the cheapest 50k dong package for 1 month). USB dongle works fine as well.

You got denied a single entry tourist visa for which reason ? No proof of funds ?

As said Dubnjoy000, the internet here is pretty solid. I m living in a small building with the internet (adsl) shared in all the building, most of the time I have no problem (I have a 3g usb Viettel as backup that I use rarely). Last year, the internet cable in the sea broked, almost no adsl in all the country for 1 month the time that they fix it. I grinded during 1 month only with the 3g from Viettel, without back up, 0 disconnect. I play hyper turbo sngs..

For the cash out options, ATM or the best is to cash out to your vietnamese bank account via Neteller or Skrill. Just be aware that here you can not deposit money on your vietnamese bank account without a work permit so to deposit money for the first time it must be via an international wire transfer.

Where are you considering moving ?

I had proof of funds, flights out of the country round trip, all documents in order. The lady behind the counter is a psycho, was yelling at a nice looking canadian girl just before me also, who she denied.

The Neteller cashout sounds fairly bad, I paid about $70 to cashout $600 with Neteller at a Thai ATM last time, is it substantially better here? I can't get skrill as I do not have a European etc bank, afaik.

Maybe to Da Nang or HCMC, I haven't checked out Na Trangh but it seems like a possibility as well.

If anyone knows of any live poker games in HCMC feel free to shoot me a PM, stumbled upon a casino yesterday but they had just roulette etc.

What consulate was that, I know another guy that got rejected for a single entry because he'd overstayed 6 months recently, he then got one fine from Laos though.

His rejection was in Ho Chi Minh.

The Neteller cashouts via an ATM from HSBC cost 7% total fees (Neteller & ATM fees). You can only withdrawal daily 2 x 4M dongs from an HSBC ATM, not more. The ATM from others banks less something like between 1.5M and 3M.

For Skrill, I opened an account from here, unverified account that I never used. And no, you don't need an european bank account to open an account with Skrill. For PS, you can cashout too via Webmoney, Entropay or direct from PS to your vietnamese bank account (wire transfer).

Anybody having issues to access to Skrill from Vietnam this year?

I have been using the VRB (Vietnam-Russia bank) ATMs for 5 mil a withdrawal and no added fees from their part.

Good to know, thanks.

Rejected at HCMC consulate. how do you guys handle long term visas and whats it cost? I asked for prices for a 3 mo extension around a few places, most wouldnt answer, best price I saw otherwise was $300. I heard you needed to show proof of where the funds came from and have a working permit for incoming transfers to a Vietnamese bank ?

For the long term visas, you can extend your visa 3 x 3 months (1 extension cost around 150$) so you can stay in the country 1 year then you have to do a visa run to have a new 3 months tourist visa that after you can again extend 3 times, etc etc.

For the Vietnamese banking, I m not an expert, I have an account here that I m never using. From what I know with Western Union for ex., if somebody (outside Vietnam) send you money here, no question asked, no problem but if you want to send money out of Vietnam via Western Union, if you don't have a work permit you can not. So I guess that for the banking here it's the same, send money in Vietnam nobody care, send money out of Vietnam less easy (working permit, proof where come from the money, etc).

Hey guys,
I'm considering moving from Bangkok to HCMC.

I was wondering if some people made the same move and how they would compare living in both cities (for the record i've already been in HCMC but only as a traveller. Things are different when you live there).
Internet seems good from what i've seen . What about torrenting ?
I guess you have to have a motorcycle to live there. How
dangerous is it to ride motorcycle ? Traffic seems crazy but a slow pace.
How do you like the weather ? How is the rainy season ? Is it bearable or annoying ?
How is the expat commnity ? How easy it to make friends ?
And finally what about banking : are you guys in international banks like HSBC ? Or do you all use VN banks ?

Sorry that's a lot of questions !

piggybacking another question for beginners, whats the best way to find mid-long term accomodations? Any examples in terms of quality/value to browse through?

Same as Thailand.

craigslist vietnam