From Sat night


Starting from the right side Me, my wife, two of her friends, MTT playerfrom Poland, Banker Poland(peace sign), Debilne_ucho stars player, Alpha 5.20, sl4v3, and his gf




I probably will write a trip report of the weekend. but overall it was too crazy and me and my wife are both sick Atm. And for those who wondering yes one of the three Poland dude hook up with the French/viet. but I will keep that in suspense

Don, you more fat now lol, lookin good.

Very nice pics. Now, I see how Alpha made several mid range 5 figures withdrawals; he looks like a deadly poker player. I wouldn't want to be at the same table as him. lol

That what happen when you get married . I am just going to let myself go and since living in the country side there seriously nothing to do but drinks otherwise I'll bored myself to death. In a few years I will be one of those dude with huge belly but teenage arms and chicken feet. O yeah and when I said from the right side of pics I really meant left. for some reason when I type it I keep thinking of when I was sitting at the table at the right side of the door.

wow, the french/viet chick looks so familiar. Maybe all french/viet girls look similar maybe but back in the day when I was clubbing and going out a lot, I would have sworn I seen her about.

Any furnished monthly rentals in Saigon for <1k?

Alternatively are 3 month rentals common or is 6 months or 1 year the norm? Debating heading to Saigon in a few months and would like to get some research done about finding a place. I did email some "executive" type monthly rentals 6 months ago and was quoted some really outrageous prices which turned me off of going there.

just look around on the net. found this doing a google search http://saigonrent.vn/ . of course it still overprice because real estate agent here make on average 100+ dollar every month on your contact. There a huge apartment/housing bust in atm in saigon so rental should be cheaper then what it was 2-3 years ago. Your best bet is to come here and get a cheap hotel for a few days while searching/talking to owners. There a lot rental sign everywhere. It usually 3 to 6 month or longer rental because if you decided to leave they just keep your deposit pretty simple reason why they would do that of course.

I will be in VN in 2 weeks. Looking to rent an apt for 6 months to a year. Looking at several spots, Nha Trang, Vung Tau, and HCMC, and possibly Hanoi.

I have done a lot of research on the internet, and found several spots I am interested in HCMC. However, I'd like to know more about several of the different districts. I know District 1 is the best spot to be in, hence the rent is usually more expensive than other districts.

Can anyone please give me a general views on District 3, District 7, District 4, District 2, Binh Thanh and Phu Nhuan? From my research, District 3 seems to be the best option outside of District 1, but I would be grateful for any and all information relating to the other districts, coffee shops, restaurants, bars, safety, distance to District 1, etc, etc. Thanks everyone!

Dist. 3 and 5 and 10 are closest to dist. 1. Dist. 4 i believe you just need to cross the bridge to get to dist so not that far. Dist. 7 is where they are all trying to build like western country, big street and very clean, very modern. Seem like all the rich people try to grab a piece of those land. Same thing with dist. 2 but lesser prices. If you do stay in those two dist. be prepare to hit a lot of traffic if you plan on going out to dist. 1, usually take 30-45 mins. I use to live in the Manor which is at Binh Thanh and right across it is Saigon pearl which is where Alpha stay at, those are the only two apartment that would make sense if you were to stay in Binh Thanh since there nothing else going on over there. The drive to dist. 1 is also close to where all the japanese area/business/restaurant.

What your budget for rent? at this point you can find very good price even in dist. 1 just have to go talk to owner yourself. or if you looking at website you can subtract 20-30% agent fee it way over price from real market. also a lot of good places don't bother having an agent so you missing out by not going looking yourself. There a lot of new hotel type that also apartment for rent to foreigner/worker in the city that pretty good price. again you just have to search yourself.

Be reminded that if you do intended to get an agent all they care about is making a quick sale so they can go on to the next person. Once you done the deal they don't give a s.hit about any of your problems and good luck with picking up your calls. Which is funny because they will call you 10-20 a day to get you to rent a place. A lot of apartment owner can be d.ick too they can and will kick you out and take your deposit if you break one of the rule on the contract. For example a 2+2 fellow got kick out/deposit taken because he had a dog even though the contract didn't mention or when he ask the agent they said it was ok.

Thank you for the info brother. Ideally, I want to pay around $500 per month, but I think I would be okay with $700/month if the place is decent and within reasonable distance of the city center. However, if the apartment is right, I would be willing to pay up to $1,000/month, but no more.

From my research, it seems as though there are some really nice places at the $800-1,000 range, but a bit far from the city center. So I will have to check out some of the places I've researched when I get there.

You mention looking at places on your own without relying on any agents. For a foreigner like us, how do we go about searching for places on our own? Is there a website or apartment magazine that we can rely on for this kind of info? I ask bc all the research I've done on the internet is through real estate agencies. Any info on how to search for apartments and deal directly with owners would be great. Thanks again.

Also, it seems like District 3 is the most popular place to live outside of District 1. I've seen some pretty decent apts in District 7, but it seems like District 7 is a bit far from District 1. Again, thanks for all your help! If anyone wants to chime in on this issue, please do so. Thanks guys!

there a lot of sign for rent in every street corner put up by owner. esp if your budget is 500 you should have no problem getting a decent place in dist. 1. I mean if you don't mind you can even get a big house in dist. 1 for less then 1.3k with 4-5 rooms and share with other poker guys. Although going in and out can be a hassle with the way the door locks work here. Dist 3 is basically also the center like dist 1. they share a lot of street.

Hey DonJuan, thx for putting life into this thread : it was sorely lacking, especially after seeing the other SE Asian threads being more active... Cheers.

Hey Don. after so many months of living in a non Saigon location; I am very curious on what you have to say about it?

Haha np someone had to step up. Vietnam is so underrated compare to other SEA thread. I had no idea what vietnam is like when I first decided to come after black friday. It super hard to search online if you have no idea what or where to look for.

Last week was my 3 years of being here. I remember when I first came here I thought there were so many hot girls esp. living in U.S where everyone is fat. It was so silly how I was like damn I could marry this girl or that and thought I had no chance or whatever but after like a few month you get to realize that the foreigner have a lot of leverage when it come to dating games. I mean if a short/skinny dude with bad acne like me can pick up girls everyone has a chance :P. Although being able to speak perfect Vietnamese help and it so underrated in the dating games. A lot of better looking foreigner I see end up with middle of the class in look because they can't or don't know how to meet the hotter woman because in general Vietnamese girls are not going to go out of there way to talk to foreigner with the language barrier. If you don't believe me go to those club at night bunch of old/fat dude with young hot ladies. of course they are "pro" on an monthly allowance but still you won't get that kind of value for you money anywhere else. My wife always joke about me being one of those old pervert when I get older. She might be on to something :P

I can sum it up to too much drinking! seriously I don't think I have gone past 3 days without drinking. My health isn't what I would like it to be because I am a picky eater and you can't compare foods here to Saigon of course. But now I try to eat a lot when I am drinking cause I rather have a beer belly than those super skinny binge drinker, they don't live too long :/. I just miss western foods in general but I don't think I would be motivated to grind if I were to live in Saigon due to wild party/going out all the time. My wife also have her own shop here and with a 1 year old kid I sometime feel stuck in countryside but I love life atm and wouldn't trade it for anything. also in general the country side life are more pleasant then being scam or hassle like in Saigon. And knowing me there too much temptation with all the coffee shop/haircut/massage in the city :P.

I think one of the downside to living in SEA is the peak grinding hours are horrible 1 am-10 am. Can't grind at those hours all the time while spending time with your family. sometime has to give I guess. Don't know how I manage to be on SNE pace and drink 10-15 days a month.

Been listening/watching to a lot of local techno house music when I am grinding. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ydO...Mxr_g-8PZx_2ao the dude have a flickr page https://www.flickr.com/photos/120332845@N06/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F288Ta_aIc8 my personal favs while daydreaming. love how the girls are super slutty while giving those innocent face. God I love Asian

Guess I will also try to help out this thread while I'm still in Vietnam I'd say stay away from D3, nothing really there and definitely far behind D1, and then d2,d7. Like someone said before, I'd suggest staying in a hotel or monthly rental first month and then finding a nicer place in D1(The Lancaster) comes to mind. Also a lot of small service apartments are nice though I'd research them thoroughly first. A friend of mine(poker player) lost cash in one when the maid stole it. Nothing he could do about it. D7 is definitely cleaner and more open. Both d2 and d7 are more family oriented but also so much more peaceful if you want to get away from the crowds.

Congrats Don Juan, your wife is super cute! But yeah haircut places are my favorite... I often travel down to the Mekong and I see those massage places that look really really shady... have you ever been in those? I've always wanted to just take a three hour drive south to Can Tho or to Vung Tau and stop at every one of those. What are those like?

Saigon Pearl in binh thanh district for the win! close to everything you need.

Saigon Pearl is too expensive. I want a 2bd/2ba apt for $900 or less. Can't seem to find that price range for a 2bd/2ba in Saigon Pearl. Looks like District 7 is my best bet as it seems to have the most options for what I want.

Question to everyone. I am gonna be in Vietnam next week, and I am wiring 20K to Vietnam and plan to open up an account at HSBC. I've done my research and it seems HSBC is the way to go as it is known to be the biggest bank in the world. My question is when I open an account with them, will they ask me to sign any paper work and ask me where my money is coming from, or can I just walk into the bank with cash and open up an account without any inquiries to me, bc as you know in the US, whenever we do anything involving $10K or more, we have to sign some sorta paper to verify the validity of our money. Do we have to do anything like that in Vietnam, or is it not a big deal? Thank you for any answer you guys may have on this topic.

short answer is no they don't care. you are a foreigner you can do whatever you want to do with your money unless there a pattern of you trying to launder money for locals outside. which is bad for the Vietnam economy. I told HSBC i was a stock broker and they don't care. Alpha told ANZ he was a poker player and they didn't care.

i think you meant to say you're a stock trader, unless you're brokerage firm transferred you to saigon.

Or what he meant is, he's a poker player and when asked made up some job title in English to tell them.

I think there is some confusion on what you are doing. You said you are wiring cash to Vietnam(banks couldn't care less where the money is from) and then walking up to them with cash and trying to open up an account(they used to care, think they still do but might be wrong). My personal experience(ANZ bank) was that if I wanted to deposit cash that I had no record of, I had to have that white card(visa declaration) and they would just give me up to the limit which was 5-7k. Now that they did away with that white card, i'm not sure. So if someone could clarify, can we deposit large amounts of cash now without any record of it? Wiring from Neteller is eazy peazy but you aren't asking about that portion right?

I am wiring money through relatives. Basically, I am giving my money to a relative's sibling here in the States, then when I get to VN, I will get the cash from the relative. But it is good to know that they don't care about how much we deposit. I will just tell them I am a real estate investor, like someone mentioned in a earlier post. Thanks for all the info guys.

That kind of wiring money is similar to my situation where ANZ wouldn't let me deposit without that white visa declaration card. They on the other hand don't care if you wire directly into the bank like a neteller-bank or bank-bank wire. Someone else should be able to clarify.

Worst case scenario I'll just get the money in increments and deposit the money in increments of a few thousands each time. I guess they won't ask me any questions if I do that, like maybe a few thousands at a time.

The VN side dont care how/why there is money coming in esp from foreigners. Some things to keep in mind though.

You, many know already, are supposed to send in a special 'live outside the states" tax form to the USA govt. They allow approx up to 100,000 a yr so unless u making more than that, its not really even an issue.

The Govt really cracked down on people not declaring over seas bank accounts etc and recentlyish past a law that if any non USA bank wants to do business regarding " i forget, "X" with the USA", they have to send a report on the banking of each USA citizens account.

With that said, No idea if VN will follow these rules set out by the USA...

These laws has has always been there but not enforced or even investigated. But I know the new law intends to force international banks to report on US persons activity. I believe the threshold is over 10,000 usd for the year when the banks is required to report.

The usa even had a time which passed which allowed citizens who breached the rules to fess up get immunity etc but had to pay up what was due the USA govt.