Advice for moving to Vietnam

[keysersoze276 239]

13 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Riverside apartments has a nice pool and gym, included in the room for $20/night.

https://www.airbnb.com/s/Ho-Chi-Minh-City--Vietnam/homes?refinement_paths[]=%2Fhomes&current_tab_id=home_tab&selected_tab_id=home_tab&source=mc_search_bar&place_id=ChIJ0T2NLikpdTERKxE8d61aX_E&click_referer=t%3ASEE_ALL|sid%3A7c05552e-5d3a-4b84-8cda-80e90f666c97|st%3ALANDING_PAGE_MARQUEE&title_type=NONE&search_type=filter_change&screen_size=large&checkin=2019-10-09&checkout=2019-10-16&adults=1&room_types[]=Entire home%2Fapt&amenities[]=7&s_tag=usSxGaz6

 

[userabcd 964]

Worked in Vietnam and liked it a lot. Met many kind sympathetic people and would not hesitate to relocate there.

[keysersoze276 239]

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[keysersoze276 239]

3 minutes ago, keysersoze276 said:

 

I'm seeing $28/day...$25 with a weekly discount and not enough availability for a month.  But regardless, it looks worth it.  Thank you for that, Tim! 

 

[BritManToo 44,455]

8 minutes ago, keysersoze276 said:

I'm seeing $28/day...$25 with a weekly discount and not enough availability for a month.  But regardless, it looks worth it.  Thank you for that, Tim! 

Link didn't work, I changed it to point at the host, now it's $20. 

https://www.airbnb.com/contact_host/28535828/send_message

 

Plenty of apartments in that complex from $14 and up.

[Isaanbiker 6,938]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

I had a nice beach holiday there last month, 2 bottles of beer for 20,000VND ($1) in N-Pub..

It was a fairly crowded morgue.

 

Can't see anybody there. 

[keysersoze276 239]

3 minutes ago, userabcd said:

Worked in Vietnam and liked it a lot. Met many kind sympathetic people and would not hesitate to relocate there.

So if you did, how would you do it?  Would you just buy a plane ticket and figure it out when you get there?  Would you use an agency or classified ads online to secure housing before you arrived?  I will be honest here, fellas.  Moving to BKK was the easiest thing I have ever done.  I met a girl online.  Good girl, valedictorian Thammasat Uni., 100% fluent without an accent.  Found a condo for me (rent), paid the deposit and first month rent before I arrived.  Not bragging here.  I was goddamn lucky on that one!  Not planning on being that lucky again!  My point is...how to get housing?  BritManToo is almost certainly right that anything printed in English is twice as expensive.  But maybe some of you know a scam free, fair friend or something who owns condos for rent?

 

[spidermike007 37,157]

6 hours ago, Puchaiyank said:

Vietnam is a good choice...communist government is much less oppressive to foreigners than the democratic government of Thailand...IMHO

That is absolutely correct. Bizarre, but accurate. They are more visionary than Thailand on alot of levels, and are courting tourism, and the ex-pat community, rather than openly discouraging it. And besides, it can be argued that Thailand is anything other than a true democracy at the moment. The hapless army has made sure of that. 

[spidermike007 37,157]

Having visited several times, I would encourage you look in the southern half of the nation. I found most of the people in the north to be a bit like cold, wet fish. In the south, people seem to be more open, not as hostile, and more fun to be around. Plus a more tropical climate. 

[keysersoze276 239]

1 minute ago, spidermike007 said:

Having visited several times, I would encourage you look in the southern half of the nation. I found most of the people in the north to be a bit like cold, wet fish. In the south, people seem to be more open, not as hostile, and more fun to be around. Plus a more tropical climate. 

I like this answer.  I have been in the north twice and mostly liked it (except a pickpocket stealing my phone).  If the south is better, that's good news!

[Beggar 2,399]

4 hours ago, Los Luver said:

@OP

I react only about how you, as many describe Thai immigration politics. How about your president who is a wall ? USA building a wall is OK. Thailand taking some immigration meaures is no no.

The USA does not want to build a wall to block tourists if I understood this blonde guy correctly. 

[griffon2011 136]

1 hour ago, keysersoze276 said:

So if you did, how would you do it?  Would you just buy a plane ticket and figure it out when you get there?  Would you use an agency or classified ads online to secure housing before you arrived?  I will be honest here, fellas.  Moving to BKK was the easiest thing I have ever done.  I met a girl online.  Good girl, valedictorian Thammasat Uni., 100% fluent without an accent.  Found a condo for me (rent), paid the deposit and first month rent before I arrived.  Not bragging here.  I was goddamn lucky on that one!  Not planning on being that lucky again!  My point is...how to get housing?  BritManToo is almost certainly right that anything printed in English is twice as expensive.  But maybe some of you know a scam free, fair friend or something who owns condos for rent?

 

After a nasty encounter with immigration last month I bought a ticket to Da Nang for a week to look around.  I liked what I saw, nice people, beautiful beach, clean air, clean streets, very little traffic and plenty of food and drink options and very few dogs.  The expat community was small but friendly and very helpful regarding a move there.  The city is slow paced and night life is certainly not like that of BKK, it may be too slow for some.  Shopping is adequate with many small shops and a Big C but I did not have much time to explore.  There are plenty of places to rent and my hotel manager advised me to find an area I liked and walk around as most places had a "for rent" sign and phone number outside and that would be a cheaper method than agents or online ads.  Facebook is also used to advertise rentals.  The honking of horns was a negative and large parts of the city were under construction and were noisy. 

Overall, I had a positive impression of Da Nang as a laid back, very livable city with everything I would personally need. I spent most of my time in the My An part of the city near the beach and I plan to return soon for a month and spend more time checking out personal transportation, rentals, moving of household goods etc.  Good luck. 

[St George 79]

2 hours ago, Isaanbiker said:

Can't see anybody there. 

 

 

They would have cleared off the beach by 10.00 am

[keysersoze276 239]

1 hour ago, griffon2011 said:

After a nasty encounter with immigration last month I bought a ticket to Da Nang for a week to look around.  I liked what I saw, nice people, beautiful beach, clean air, clean streets, very little traffic and plenty of food and drink options and very few dogs.  The expat community was small but friendly and very helpful regarding a move there.  The city is slow paced and night life is certainly not like that of BKK, it may be too slow for some.  Shopping is adequate with many small shops and a Big C but I did not have much time to explore.  There are plenty of places to rent and my hotel manager advised me to find an area I liked and walk around as most places had a "for rent" sign and phone number outside and that would be a cheaper method than agents or online ads.  Facebook is also used to advertise rentals.  The honking of horns was a negative and large parts of the city were under construction and were noisy. 

Overall, I had a positive impression of Da Nang as a laid back, very livable city with everything I would personally need. I spent most of my time in the My An part of the city near the beach and I plan to return soon for a month and spend more time checking out personal transportation, rentals, moving of household goods etc.  Good luck. 

Very informative.  Thank you for that.  Reaffirms my idea of setting foot there and walking around, looking for a place rather than shopping online (dually noted @BritManToo)  The honking horns- annoying AF!  First time I arrived in Hanoi, I hired a private van from the airport to city center.   Probably overpaid, but the it seemed comfortable with a friendly driver.  Then, the entire time I was wondering if the driver was having a heart attack or some kind of a meltdown.   He seemed natural, so I started checking my own pulse.  I thought one of us must be dying on the way to a hospital or something.  One lane each way on a two lane highway, traffic moving at a reasonable pace but everyone was honking their horns.  No where to go, no way to speed up the flow, just throw in noise pollution anyway for good measure.  But after all, it's easier to  put in earplugs or play some white noise than to do a TM30 or stand in line at the airport immigration for an hour sweating bullets and scared to death that the IO will deny you for no good reason at all.  And I have heard you can spend your own money freely there.  Is that true?

[Don Chance 917]

You jokers think Danang is nice? It is crowded polluted city of 1.2 million people along skinny beach. Do you not value nature?

That's the way all of Vietnam is: crowded, polluted and hardly any nature. 100 million people squished in that small country. Sure you want to live in some isolated community in Vietnam, go a head.

Food all tastes like pork too. People, they are even more unfriendly than Thai's.

Cambodia or Thailand are far better IMO.

You want nice beaches, try Costa Rica or Panama. You can own land, live in the high lands, European culture. Clean food, air and nature. Far better than stinking Vietnam.