is it reasonable to stay in vietnam 100 bucks a month?

wish to know more about VISA. lets say I've applied a VISA to Vietnam, but then I want to travel to Cambodia do I need to apply another VISA?

Anyway I’m looking for backpackers from Malaysia to travel with me. Got some information regarding VISA from http://www.evisaasia.com/visa-requir...ysia-citizens/ and now looking for partners. so we can assist each other all way long.

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..

depends...most vietnamese people dont even get that much, but as a foreigner u prolly have higher standards of living. especially in big cities prices, rents, etc... are so different in different districts. i wouldnt live, lets say in saigon with only 100 bucks tbh, and i have pretty low expectations

i usually apply for the vn visa through the vn embassy.
for cambodia u do need another one, pretty simple though, i did it online here
http://www.mfaic.gov.kh/evisa/
but i also saw people getting the visa riht at the airport in 30 minutes

totally, utterly and completely unreasonable.

Not possible unless you want to have a dingy small room with no windows and only eat non-nourishing food 2 times a day and limiting yourself to only staying inside your room.

Its all in your search. Ive stayed here for over a yr before a couple yrs ago and am currently here now but haven't been bothered to reopen my poker account yet due to the stories I hear about how bothersome it can be. But I am now and report back on how that goes.

Vietnam middle name is inconsistency. I think its due to the fact that no one really knows what they are doing, even the 'professionals' of their trade. Everything you do here is wrapped in ******edness. Just something you have to accept living here.

Spending money is just like what a poster on the first page mention. You can go low end which is just fine imo or high end and anywhere in between. From a one dollar meal from a street vendor that consist of small portion of rice, meat of your choice with some veggie sides and a small cup of soup. {still very good if you know where to go and find the right place] to going to a 5 star hotel and paying 100 bucks for a meal. There is all ranges if your willing to look.

Regarding accommodations. Its not easy but i found a newly built place to live for 100 usd a month [ phu nhuan district, non furnished. I just bought it all myself and sold it when I left. Still way cheaper. ]. I had to pay for my own utilities. it consisted of a medium sized room and another medium size room for everything else[ living room, bathroom, cooking area] Its was perfect for me as i was solo. It was on a dedicated 4th floor with my own entrance and place to park my bike on the bottom floor. Is it easy to find? No. But its there, you just have to look for it and knowing how to find it would make it easier. I basically got lucky in my relentless search. But I think lowest amount you can expect to spend here is 300 usd a month and thats not wasting a dime. That being 200 for decent accommodations and 100 a month on food at those food stalls mentioned above. rest is up to you. I also bought a used reliable motorbike for like 200. renting one can cost 100 a month for a nice one and taking taxis is expensive for the locals here. motor bike taxis are a lot better but will still add up especially if you use it for everywhere you go. [1-1.5 for like a mile, one way]

Im curently in the country [ Tra Vinh ] area where i built my own small house. 12k for those whos wondering and its the same format on the place i rented mention aboved just bigger and way better. very modern but no stupid high cost luxuries. Just bang for buck of the very nice stuff. Im very happy with what I ended up with. I wouldnt build in saigon but since i decided to not live there anymore, building was the only option because finding a nice place to rent in a non major city is impossible, Hotels would be your only real option. When in Saigon i only hung around expats, mainly viet kieus. Didnt like the club scene. Im more of a stay at home mainly quiet type of person anyway. I found the locals very ignorant, usually always showing off, and expected me to be a certain way since im a viet kieu. Most locals are very childish and even the business men here dont suit my liking to be friends with. But thats just me.

If anyone would like to ask me any question about Vietnam I would be happy to share my opinions. Give me a few weeks and ill report on how getting poker again started goes.


Also for those who play sng or tournaments a must have is a ups unit [small will do but up to you] and a small generator enough to power your pc. power spikes happen here all the time and if that happens your internet connection and computer will reboot which can be frustrationg when you are down to 3 people left at a table. the ups will give u enough time to start a generator till you complete your games. another option would just buy a good long lasting ups where it will give you at least 1 hr plus of play to finish your games but of course this wouldnt work with large tournaments.

I play 9/10 man sng. I would lose like 30% of my profits when i was in saigon for over a year before because i couldnt get back on in time or get back and my chip count got crippled. 2-3 minutes relogging was devastating for frequent power fluctuations.

was going to move to thailand again but entertaining the idea of living in vietnam for a few months.

how much could i get a decent serviced apartment or just an apartment in vietnam for? would be willing to pay up to $1k a month (maybe more for a sick place or less if i can get good value for a cheaper place) but it would need good internet as i usually have around $5/600 in play in my SNGs and if the net cuts out i lose nearly half a weeks wage in an hour. obviously i would make provisions for a back-up for the net but would like a net which i would seldom need the back-up for. as for power i use a laptop and will just purchase a 2nd battery.

would be looking to stay in hoi an preferably but would also stay in hanoi or nha trang. i found saigon a bit boring but i was only there for a few ays out of my 6 weeks in vietnam but maybe i just went to the wrong places so would maybe stay there but Hoi An is the nuts and if i could stay there i would be a happy grinder

also how easy is it to pull the vietnamese women? i was seeing a Chilean girl while i was travelling vietnam so did not get a chance to date a local.

thanks for any information. its appreciated!

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Im in for a 2+2 meetup

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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 =)

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?

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