im in Vung Tau for a while, if anyone by any long shot is here let me know, can meet up for a beer or ssomething.

Hey planning to move to hochiminh city by february 15th, anyone know a good site to find a place to rent? looking for something really cheap and simple 1 bedroom 1 bathroom with internet and space

Here are a couple sites with places to rent:

easysaigon.com
snap.com.vn

Most (possibly all) of Snap's properties are in district 2.

thanks a lot just bought my ticket for the fifteenth!
got a couple other questions, that i asked previously but got no replies if you know thatd be great!
do a lot of people over there speak english?

what is the best internet connection?

how do you set up a bank account?

> do a lot of people over there speak english?

It's fairly easy to get by here only knowing English. Most everyone that works in a store or restaurant will be able to communicate in English (although often not that well).

> what is the best internet connection?

My ISP is FPT. For months at a time it has worked perfectly and at other times I experience frequent disconnects almost daily for a month or more. I don't know how this compares to other ISPs, but I hear similar complaints from almost everyone in Vietnam, so I don't know if there is a great deal of difference. This ISP was what was set up when I first moved in and a lot of places you move in will have Internet set up already.

My connection is currently down for more than a day. Not sure if it's the ISP's fault or not. A wire may have been cut as there is a lot of construction around here. So yesterday I bought a 3g USB modem. The lady said Viettel was the best so that's what I got. It cost 780,000vnd which includes 125,000vnd in prepaid credit. You buy credit when you need it with scratch cards sold at almost any market or phone shop. She said I need to take the sim card out of the modem and put it in a phone to add the credit. It looks like there may be a way in the software to add it directly from your computer without removing the sim card, but I haven't figured that out.

Anyway, I regret not buying a 3g modem before and would recommend it for any poker player staying more than a month or two. It would have saved me a lot of grief to have that as a backup when my main ISP goes down.

> how do you set up a bank account?

This has been discussed extensively in the thread already but here it is again - I recommend you use HSBC. Just go in and say you want to open a Euro account. They'll require you to open a VND account as well. They required my passport and driver's license (they accepted my US driver's license). They asked my reason for opening an account and I just said so that I could wire money from overseas and that was enough.

Other people have had good experiences with ANZ bank as well. But all my wires to ANZ from Stars failed and nobody was able to really figure out why.

Thanks for the details! i see backup connection is a definite then, if anyone figures out how to do directly have the back up internet set up for you that would be great without paying for the phone sim.

For the internet I had lots of problems when I used to live in district 4 and district 7 but now in Binh Thanh district its pretty good overall. I prolly experience 2 15min disconnects per month on average so not too bad.
(@sl4v3: how can you even play poker with random multiple daily disconnections??)

I used a 3g key around a year ago and I remember it as very slow so not suitable for long term use, but well I mainly used it travelling in the countryside with no other internet available. And it was not the best 3g key either.

Apparently the best internet in HCMC is by optical fibers, supposedly very fast and reliable but also significantly more expensive. I dont remember exactly what I was told but I think it was like 90$ for installation and then 90$ every month or something along those lines. And I dont know if its available everywhere in HCMC.

I also bank with ANZ and am somewhat satisfied with them since they upgraded my account and got me a new bank officer (the first I got didnt understand much of anything). The issues I had are mostly due to ****ty vietnamese banking laws and that will be the same in any bank.

I needed my passport and a birth certificate to open the account.

i have a mobile broadband stick called a 'zadez' (no phone or sim required). it can be used for all 3 vietnamese networks (mobifone, viettel and vinaphone) and the guy in the shop also showed me how to get into any network abroad. when he clicked on the uk settings it came up with every option for internet that i know of. i havent been abroad with it yet but if it works it could be the best piece of travel kit for back-up poker imaginable. he was adament i would not need to top it up as there is data credited every month and bonus data on top for 12 months. i have only been using it as a back-up just incase it runs out and there was a bit of a lanuage barrier when i was asking about topping it up and if i have hundreds of $ of SNG running i dont want to risk it running out. i will probably pop in this week and get him to remind me how to check the remaining data. every time i have used it the network status on stars runs at 100% on the advanced search so its been great so far.

just had a look about my setting, statistics etc for the above mobile broadband. it has nearly 500 available networks worldwide, even places as obscure as honduras. my monthly upload was 3310 KB and download 12058 KB. not sure what these numbers indicate but as i say stars has been running fine with it 15+ tabling sngs. i would definately recommend it as a back-up for others based on my experience.

Pretty sure we have the same Viettel 3g card (you got the black one for 780k and not the white one for 750k because its just that much more pimper and what's 30k right?) Its 125k prepaid for the first 5 months if I got my translation correct. I'm in the second month and its 195,000 ish right now. So it seems like it also carries over to the next month.

hey guys whats the cheapest airlines to get to chiang mai from ho chi minh city? Cheers.

I just went to a tiny phone shop near my house. They had just 2 kinds of sticks, Mobifone and Viettel. She said Viettel was the best so that's what I got. I assumed the 125K credit was a one time thing. But maybe it does get an additional 125K each month (hope so). Did you find a way to check your balance without putting the sim in a phone?

Is Vietnam cheaper to live in than Thailand?

Yes. but the girls are not as pretty.

much cheaper, girls nicer, internet better, people friendlier. pisses all over thailand except for food but thailand one of top 3 places in world for food imo.

not sure of direct flights. airasia saigon to bangkok then overnight bus to chang mia a good bet. costs around $60-$100 US depending on which date you fly

On the top there is a phrase" Nap tien kiem tra tai khoan". Press that and a box will pop up.

Go to "Da chon" and you will see a drop menu. select "nap tai khoan"

*100*xxxxxx# will appear. erase the x's and replace with you phone card scracher number and hit ok.


To check your balance:

On the top there is a phrase" Nap tien kiem tra tai khoan. Press that and a box will pop up.

Go to "Da chon" and you will see a drop menu. select "Kiem tra tai khoan chinh". Press ok.

thanks, im not exactly entirely what district im planning to live in yet but i am goiing to decide very soon. and also alpha you don't have backup internet and you just deal with the 15 minute disconnects? what internet connection are you using at the moment and how much does it cost?

how are girls nicer? I am currently in vietnam and struggling to find good looking girls, while in thailand/philippines there are plenty.

I've split my time between Phuket and HCMC for the past 2 years and the prices are pretty similar overall. I wouldnt say that Vietnam is much cheaper than Thailand.

Easiest thing might be to go to the 3rd option on the dark grey portion(there are 4 options) at the top, scroll down to the 4th choice(there are 5) and choose the option "English" might be a tad bit easier after that!

Where do most poker guys live? Hanoi or HCMC? What are the Pros and Cons of each place? Cheers

Plat4me ~ although I never really had to change it to english because I can on the most part get by. Still feel hella dumb for not looking in the first place. :facepalm:

While not load of poker players in Vietnam compared to some other places, definitely more in HCM than anywhere else in Vietnam.

I haven't been to Hanoi in several years, but from my recollection and from what friends have told me:

Hanoi pros:

Prettier
Quieter
Cleaner
Has seasons

Hanoi cons:

Very little night life