Essentials to live in Vietnam

If you are British you need to bring:
Branstone pickle.
Caol Ila single malt whisky
Good curry powder
Steak and kidney pudding in tins
Wine making gear (decent wine is expensive here, but there unlimited fruit of all kinds is available)
Home brew beer kit if you like decent ale (although there is now a craft beer bar in Thau Dien)
Draught excluder foam strip for badly fitting doors (keeps mosquitos out)
Chubb padlocks
HP sauce
Decent sausages
Pork Pies
Christmas pudding (you can get most of the ingredients here to make your own but theres nothing like a well aged Tesco Christmas pud).
Christmas crackers
Walnuts
Brazil nuts
Marks n Sparks clothes if you are a larger size (although the Russian market in Saigon has a lot of larger sized clothes)
A decent electric shaver if you are a bloke (or indeed a woman, in this age of equality) and have a beard like mine.
Shoes if you take a UK size of 10.5 or over
Socks ditto
Anthisan cream for mosquito bites (its old fashioned but I find its the best)
If you work outside and need a waterproof notebook you are unlikely to find it here. Ditto waterproof cover for mobile phone.
If you are taking prescription medicine, stock up before you come as not all medicines are available here (and sometimes the quality is questionable), for example beclamethazone inhalers just don't exist here
Decent aftershave for men
I needed a wireless peephole camera to fit in the peephole in my front door, so that I could see who is at the door (by flicking to a spare channel on my TV) without getting up/getting dressed. I had to buy one in Hong Kong
A good quality portable door guard alarm (infra red movement sensor which sounds an alarm in your pocket if someone approaches an open door/window) is hard to find here.
Download or buy software such as Google Earth Pro before you get here as it is not available here (eg GEP will not allow you to DL it in Vietnam)
Herbs and spices for cooking - there are some available but prices are high
Garden peas. Vietnamese peas make great mushy peas or peas pudding, but they are like little musket balls otherwise
Black pudding is not available here (oddly).
Haggle for everything but don't be a pain in the a***
If you get the bill in a restaurant and you see service charge and TAX added, insist on getting  RED bill. If they won't give you a RED bill and tell you that the accountant is away, the moon is made of cheese, come back tomorrow etc, deduct the amount of tax from the bill. They can only charge tax if they supply a RED bill (which they should by law)
If using taxis, stick to Vina Sun or Mailinh and each time you use a taxi take a photo with your phone of the taxi number (not the vehicle number plate, the number displayed inside the car).

The locals are usually friendly but curious and, by European standards, can sometimes be seemingly somewhat rude (they think nothing of telling you that you are fat, thin, bald, hairy, ugly, old etc - and often whilst picking their noses or whilst displaying a mouth full of rotting teeth). They will also ask you how much you earn and other personal questions without turning a hair. A young girl came up to me in the street and asked the usual questions, machine-gun fashion: Hellohowyouwhereyoucomefromhowoldyou? When I answered her questions finishing with 64, she said ooohveryoldsoondie. But you can't hold it against them as they are so friendly and charming.
Lamb is not seen so often on the meat counter.

On the other side of the coin:
Vietnamese pork is just the best
Vietnamese beef...... Well, you need explosive teeth to get through it
Locally grown chicken is very tasty and wholesome
The choice of fish and sea food here is stunning
electrical goods are plentiful and not too expensive
There are thousands of good restaurants up and down the country
The countryside is stunning
The coast is stunning
The mountains are stunning
The girls are stunning
If you take the trouble to understand something of the culture, you will find it very beautiful
There's a very, very good dentist clinic here in Saigon
The supermarkets are as good as anywhere else, albeit mainly asian foods.
The cuisine in Vietnam is simply the best in the world (a breakfast banh mi is food for the Gods)
Some of the Bia Hoi (local brew bias) are very good
Generally speaking staple foods and supplies are cheaper here than western countries
Vodka is very cheap
Local brewed vodka is startlingly cheap (to the point that it might not be good to drink too much of it)
There is no restriction on distilling your own vodka etc here.
I've run out of time

Thanks young fella...

Again, you have given us all (more than) food for thought - and insights for those who do not realise (yet) that Heaven is a place on Earth.   Yep, Belinda Carlisle got it wrong; it's right here...

Meanwhile we mourn the loss of an avatar copywriter...

..but (hopefully?) one day you will become enlightened to your (real) place in the World.

We await further wisdom.   Master.

Eodmat, You used the word 'Stunning' a lot and that term also describes your 'Essential to live in Vietnam' post

May I be so bold as to add the following to your superb list?

Bring your own coffee maker, filter, French plunger or Coffee bags
tea tree oil for Tinea
Potassium Permanganate for Tinea
meds for Conjunctivitis, outbreaks occur often
bag of Fibre such as Phyllium Husk
2 x pair of hardy Crocs (plastic sandals)
spare passport photos
spare coloured photocopies of your Passport title page
plastic neck pouch for passport
door stop wedges
oil of cloves for toothache
stubby holders for your beer
portable lockable safe bag
tell your bank that you will be in VN
simple Nokia phone for day to day calls (easy to get sim)
sense of humour
plenty of smiles
butter (VN butter is terrible)
wholemeal bread
hand sanitiser (bring lots)

mikeymac wrote:

Eodmat, You used the word 'Stunning' a lot and that term also describes your 'Essential to live in Vietnam' post

May I be so bold as to add the following to your superb list?

Bring your own coffee maker, filter, French plunger or Coffee bags
tea tree oil for Tinea
Potassium Permanganate for Tinea
meds for Conjunctivitis, outbreaks occur often
bag of Fibre such as Phyllium Husk
2 x pair of hardy Crocs (plastic sandals)
spare passport photos
spare coloured photocopies of your Passport title page
plastic neck pouch for passport
door stop wedges
oil of cloves for toothache
stubby holders for your beer
portable lockable safe bag
tell your bank that you will be in VN
simple Nokia phone for day to day calls (easy to get sim)
sense of humour
plenty of smiles
butter (VN butter is terrible)
wholemeal bread
hand sanitiser (bring lots)

Yep a lot of essential stuff there, however you can get bags of oat bran in a certain store in Thau Dien if you need dietary fibre, likewise wholemeal bread. And I do endorse the need for a coffee filter. Quick story here:

I was in the Solomon islands working in a remote area and desperately needed decent coffee instead of the awful instant crap they served in what they think is an hotel there  (A place called the Agnes Lodge - google it). My (Vietnamese) wife sent me some real coffee over. The project Engineer brought me a glass plunger type coffee maker from New Zealand and I was about to take it to my room when another guest at the "hotel" picked it up and said...... "bugger", as he dropped it and it broke.

He brought me a new all stainless steel plunger coffee maker from Australia on his next visit.

I have it still and use it every day. My wife's family grow coffee beans in the Central Highlands and they send me a couple of kilos of roasted beans every six months or so - and thats another thing for the list: Vietnamese coffee is lush!

Bazza139 wrote:

Thanks young fella...

Again, you have given us all (more than) food for thought - and insights for those who do not realise (yet) that Heaven is a place on Earth.   Yep, Belinda Carlisle got it wrong; it's right here...

Meanwhile we mourn the loss of an avatar copywriter...

..but (hopefully?) one day you will become enlightened to your (real) place in the World.

We await further wisdom.   Master.

Thanks! You must read my book - if I ever get it finished. Do you know any publishers?

Eodmatt, My apologies for the misspelling of your tag

Further would I add to the list. I did 6 weekly FIFO to Vietnam for 9 months, hence the passion for the list

Get your Visa sorted before you arrive. Getting a Visa in the Arrivals Hall can be a hassle
do not adorn your baggage with important looking airline tags. You may have to pay a bribe to get it back
take good sunglasses, not readily available in VN
Mosquito repellent
Anti Dandruff Shampoo
bamboo fabric socks
power plug adaptors (bring 3 or 4)
good hat
address to the best Japanese restaurant in VN in Le Lau St HCMC

I am returning to the US for a shopping trip next week. My list is "Stuff I Can't Get or Annoys Me to Spend So Much Here". A shorter list because I'm trying to stay minimal, I don't want to bring the US here. The only way I look forward to the trip is for the Mexican food, variety of ale and porter and stout beer, discount California wine, sourdough bread, Asiago cheese, hot Chinese Szechuan + Beijing food (only found Cantonese-style here). It's going to be weird driving a car again. And turning on heat at night.

- #1: tubes of Neosporin or other bacitracin-based antibiotic ointment. Didn't see it in Indonesia or Philippines or Thailand either. A must. Getting extra for friends too.

- Several big bottles of generic Tylenol and Ibuprofen, like 500 capsules/bottle. Here if you go to the small tay pharmacy in District 5 and ask for it, they will have _one_ bottle in the drawer, and you buy individual pills, sheesh.

- Real Q-tips, the ones here have hardly any cotton on them. Also deodorant though I use less now due to 2+ showers a day. OralB toothbrush maybe, and extra floss.

- Light gore-tex rain jacket with hood like Marmot or Patagonia, expensive but somewhat breathable in the deluge. Unlike vinyl, where you get wetter on the inside of the jacket due to the humidity.

- Reef-brand flip flops, can't find them here; any name brand ffs here cost a fortune at a high end mall

- Bamboo chopsticks, I think they were outlawed in VN for some dumb reason, the dark brown wood ones here get gross after awhile. Billions of people in other Asian countries (and the west) seem to survive ok with bamboo.

- Hairpins, odd item, but the ones here are sharp metal, whereas in the US they are always coated with plastic. Which is better for hair?

- Miscellaneous stuff I will get cheaper on Amazon and Ebay: Lamy pen, energel and pentel refills, camera lens and accessories, new Sony action camera, computer accessories, a G-Shock. Some books too from my Amazon wish list.

- Of course real name-brand fashion is cheaper in the US than anywhere. Perfume is also much cheaper on Amazon, and tons of used stuff on Ebay.

- Bring back some of my small tools that I left there including Makita reversible drill and screw and socket bits. Also some of my favorite kitchen tools.

I was going to upgrade my 2010 Mac and 2014 iphone, but I'll wait until I go to Thailand, prices comparable there.

And I'll go to my favorite dentist for a cleaning and checkup, why am I looking forward to that?

No real fuss, Mikey.

..just a couple of old codgers trying to cure the world's worries...

But yes, to return to the topic Christine asked about, my two cents worth may well hold about the same value here.   I have (repeatedly)  found everything I wanted/needed from top to bottom. Pun intended.  Read as; Hanoi through to Saigon.

Sure, there are (always?) the little devils in the details.  Which might even grow into dangerous Dragons but again, a little research via the net (or quite often asking a knowledgable local) has provided me with all I require.  As a 'tradie', no small task.  Now more of an eco tourist (at arms) - and reporting...

An example?  Clothing, particularly in size sites is (very) easily overcome by simply having (it) tailored.  Relevant if only because Viet. skills are of the highest quality - without worrying about the price!     Again, read the reviews.   The best do a roaring trade because (surprise!) even a top quality suit (your choice of cloth) turns out to be well under half of what you would pay off the rack back home. The quality is a given

..and the tailor will keep your measurements ...    They know you'll be back...

True, medicines can be difficult.  But Thailand is well within reach (and availability)  The cosmetic surgery tourists have seen to a plentiful supply - as well as world class (private) hospitals.  Same with dental.       All you need do is choose: it's cheap as chips (in comparison)   Again, research via the web.  Google it until you find EXACTLY  what you want.    As for imports..?   Think outside the square.  Being devious cancels corruption, formal or not.  You (might?) be amazed at the alternates...

So while the long lists are good reading, a pragmatic approach invariably provides (often) better.   Maybe Viet. beef will not suit some, but it is (always?) lean and (excellent) nutrition.  I lust after (Nana's) Lamb Roast too, but living in a foodies paradise..?   I'll pass.  Being male, Tom Cruise never appealed to me....

My main point?   There are always options and alternates.  (If) you are serious, you will already have prepared yourself for a culture shock - which (rarely) happens anyway.   If it does, return home to the room Mum keeps in your memory.    Vietnam is one of the friendliest (and dare I mention cheapest..?) countries in today's world.   Multicultural?    ..they don't understand the concept....

(Yawn)   ..yet again..?   Read the reviews.   Trip Advisor is priceless...        . & 

2 most important things
Your sense of humour
And your patience
Thats all you really need

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your contribution.

Just to inform that some off topic comments have been removed from this thread which title is : Essentials to live in Vietnam.

Best regards,
Christine
Expat.com

1. Passport
2. Visa
3. Air ticket
4. Medicines to consume on the way if you are a patient.
5. Money for your expenses / Bank ATM / Debit/Credit Card
6. Original Academic Certificates if you want to work legally.
7. Police clearance certificate (Justice Record) from your country Police Station for the purpose of Work Permit.

Oh I,d say  tolerance, an open mind and  patience

Some kind of borax-based ant bait/killer, although I bought borax at the local market and made my own with sugar.

A rechargeable or 220v bug zapper, the kind with the blue light. I dream of the day when I can unleash megawatts of hell on the flies and mosquitos around my house, particularly with all the pig farms here.

In that vein, a bug-a-salt 2.0 - bugasalt.com. Oh, that would be sweet.

Definitely bring sunglasses (and a backup pair when the first inevitably breaks).

Also bring some kind of clear goggles or clear safety glasses (or yellow tinted) to wear at night riding your scooter. Taking a fly in the eye at 40 kph really sucks. It can even be devastating at 8-10 kph on a bicycle.

A big bottle of sunscreen, like the highly-rated No-Ad, available on Amazon. About $8 for a huge bottle and it works really well. Otherwise you're going to spend a lot here for tiny bottles.

Clip-on headlight and taillight for a bicycle. Since buying mine in Singapore I won't go out in the dark without it. It definitely improves your survivability.

A couple of good kitchen knives, if you're really into cooking. High quality knives are very difficult to find here.

Also bring some kind of clear goggles or clear safety glasses (or yellow tinted) to wear at night riding your scooter. Taking a fly in the eye at 40 kph really sucks. It can even be devastating at 8-10 kph on a bicycle.

Ha Ha Ha, such a lovely insight

Certified copies of everything...if not also the originals.  It would also help if you plan on working in Vietnam to receive the famous "Red Stamp" from their Embassy in the States or from where you are coming from.  In that case you would not have to have the originals in most cases.  It would also be advised that your passport have at least 18 months to two years remaining on it.  Anything less, I would request a new one prior to departure.  Police report (already mentioned). 
 
As to specific items...most everything I have today after 13 years I've been able to find either in Thailand, Singapore or here in Vietnam.  Most of the half-dozen larger cities have major stores and shops with many Western items.  Thailand, which is 'a hop, skip and a jump away' has just about everything you would ever find in the US.  As to Meds...prior to leaving I would suggest writing down a list of pills that you might be needing.  Most of the pharmacies here know the terms...or can sub for such.  As to pain relief...I've been able to find Tylenol (Paracetamol 650mg) most everywhere I've gone in Vietnam or Thailand...
I enjoy a bit of salt and pepper...they are not all the time available.
Humility if your pride comes along with you.
Enjoy life...

Surprisingly sheets are very expensive, at least where we live in Hai Phong. Beds are a different size than what we have in the USA so we have gotten used to the Vietnamese style of bedding.

Hai Phong doesn't have the availability of western style stores like you find in Hanoi or Saigon, so I also have a hard time finding spices (except what you can easily find here, i.e. rosemary, dried basil, tarragon), baking soda, baking powder and yeast.

We also always bring back our favorite coffee - although there is good coffee to be found here; dried beans (pinto and black); green chili (as you might guess we really like Mexican food). 

Wine is more expensive, but you can't pack in much wine.

The milk is different here. My husband has gotten used to it but I haven't yet after two years.

I hope this helps.

The thread count in cotton is paramount.  But Egyptian cotton is the world's best - the feel is closer to silk + the durability(!)   ..they last for years...   ..which is why the hospitality industry prefer the sheets, especially.

Enquire or make friends with (any) hotel management.    They will source them for you.

* They are always the larger sizes too...

My personal bugbear is walnuts.   ..but I'm working on it.   Any clues, anyone..?    .

This used to be a big and important issue and the list used to be quite long. While some foods like peanut butter, walnuts and pecans are quite expensive and I'm not aware of a source for pecans, most foods are available at least in Sai Gon. I'm not aware of any medicines that are still unavailable in Sai Gon. Home medical products are also now available.

Restoring my 50 year old Jeep did require some American parts. Their are a few luxury personal care products like "Vita-Bath" that seem to be unavailable. Specific "Dead Tree" foreign language books do seem to be unavailable. But, the eBook versions are available if the publisher has the Books in eBook format. Downloading Movies and TV programs , even if you have paid for them previously, tend to be unavailable here due to international copy-right regulations that are most of Asia wide and have nothing to do specifically with Viet Nam. Foreign Whiskey, wines and Beers may or may not be available and if available may have a limited selection except for the most popular brands. The better grades of McAllan Scotch seem missing. But, the selection of JW seems vast. Though harder to find Chivas Regal products are available, even "Royal Salute."

Small 110v electrical appliances are unavailable and if plugged into a 220v outlet m,ill make interesting sparks and smoke.

Out in the Countryside, things are much different and you will likely need to go into the big city to buy some of the products that you want.

Shoes if you take over a 39. bras if you are bigger than a 12 B, undies likewise. Everything else you can get here.

The other day while riding my bicycle I thought someone had thrown a handful of sand at my face as a prank, and then I realized it was just a cloud of midges so dense it looked like smoke. So now I wear a face mask near dusk as well as my goggles.

According to my wife, any cosmetics or face creams should be brought from home, also nail polish.

Athletic gear is best from home also. I can buy Nike workout shirts on sale in the US for $15 or so but here you won't find them on sale and they might be $60-80 apiece. Same goes for exercise shoes.

Bras - the local ones are designed to make mountains out of molehills.  Cotton dishtowels .... oddly hard to find. Decent kitchen knives:  the local cheap ones are good and sharp but need constant sharpening.)

Hi thought I'd chime in and offer support based on my personal experience. Im Daniel born in the USA and lived overseas since 2011 in various countries.

Essentials to bring from your Country (hopefully available) before arriving to Vietnam

*QTIP branded qtips. 90% of the ones in VN are not good quality; weak and easy to bend and not comfortable
*If you use powder or stick type of deodorant, bring it. most products are spray form or liquid form
*Favorite dress shoes (limited selection and outdated styles)
*Favorite work out gear (tennis shoes, shorts and top). limited in styles and expensive here
*Vitamins. I brought 2-3 extra of each vitamin as they are super expensive for the brand names
*Fragrance - same bought extra of my favorites. over priced and many rumors of fake fragrances even in the malls

these are some of my essentials hope it helps

One of the things that's comes to mind a good fly and Mozilla repellent essential
apart from anything else just when you live in Rome do as the Romans do And have fun they are a beautifull people and I personally love coming here time and time again
Ok
Victor

if you are over size 42, bring shoes. If you are big sized bring lots of clothes.

Thanks gobot for your list of things, I'm going to the States in 3 weeks for some shopping and you gave me ideas on some things

Patience, patience, and more patience...

re bras - my wife had me buy three soft bras in Laos and liked them very much for comfort, instead of the VN bras full of rubber. Unfortunately, some one else liked them, too, and stole two off the clothes line.  Keep your good bras under lock and key!

Very helpful

Make sure you can put your hand on them at any time 

Anti-fungals are also somewhat difficult to find. It's easy to get a fungal infection here with all of the sweating and high humidity so pre-treating isn't a bad idea.

Yes Teacher_Alex,I had problems with shoes until I found a guy who hand makes shoes for me, and having a sister in law here who is a tailor is handy as all I need to do is buy the material.

cgtheisen - Gentrisone is an anti-fungal cream available cheaply at any pharmacy. It contains antifungal, antihistamine and antibiotic. It will fix just about anything, including sweat rash and tinea.  Another cream is Dipolac, which is similar but without the anitbiotic.

Ralph - Thanks, I eventually found Canesten (1% Clotrimazole) on my own but those others sound even better.

Thank you, cabraman.

  Posts here are often pragmatic advice offered by those of us who have been caught in the same traps (quite a few of those!)   But it is undeniable that such side-stories and inserts of cryptic humour make the reading not only useful, but pleasurable.     People like you and Master eodmatt make it so          .

ralphnhatrang wrote:

re bras - my wife had me buy three soft bras in Laos and liked them very much for comfort, instead of the VN bras full of rubber. Unfortunately, some one else liked them, too, and stole two off the clothes line.  Keep your good bras under lock and key!

My (Vietnamese) wife likes underwear from UK. Sooooooo, on my last trip to the cold and expensive place, she inveigled me (by telephone text) into going to a big store in Portsmouth and getting some knickers and bras for her.

Well, you know how it is.... I know that my wife's top hamper is just under a SBH (standard British handful) but bras in UK don't come in small medium and large SBH sizes, they come in numbers with weird letter codes after the numbers.

Thats ok she said just take pics of half a dozen pairs of knickers and text the pics to me, I'll choose the ones I like and then you can do the same with a selection of bras to match the knickers.

Err, yeah OK. I had a twitchy feeling about this but .........

So anyway, I found the lingerie floor of this huge department store and started taking pics of knickers and texting them to her. After 6 pics, I had found only 2 pairs she liked but neither came in size small. So I had to photograph another 6 paris of knickers and text them to her, out of which she approved of 3 pairs and miracle of miracles all were available in size small.

So far so good.

Now I was instructed to move to the bra section and believe me the scope and scale, color and design, size and attributes were staggering. With straps, without straps with foam without foam, high cut, low cut, plain and simple, sexy and provocative.... The choice was endless.

I persevered and started trying to match bras to the knickers she had selected. My iPhone was clicking away merrily. She didn't like the straps on this bra, she didn't like the cut of that bra. The color of this bra doesn't quite match those knickers and on and on. By now I was desperate for a couple pints of ale in the pub across the road.

And thats when I received a tap on the shoulder from one of two very large and burly security guards. "We'd like you to come to the office with us, sir" said one of the guards.

In the back office I used Skype to call my wife and she explained to the store manager in Vietglish why I was photographing ladies underwear in their store.

So, ladies.... bring yer own underwear with you.

Now on another matter and at the risk being a bit risqué....

Condoms:

The first time I came to Vietnam was 1999 and before I was married. I had a couple of g/f during the next 12 months or so and in those days the items available here were: a. diminutive and, b. made out of what appeared to be bicycle inner tubes. I am very glad that things appear to have changed for the better. But with the rumors of fake goods being rife in Vietnam, perhaps it might be wise to bring your own instead of buying locally.

Oh man, married life. That is an impossible task, Eod I hate to step foot in those departments, and with a camera?! When you got home, she probably didn't like anything you bought, right? Next time maybe you can drop her off at Vincom Center or a Bangkok mall, and keep yourself off the police perv list.

gobot wrote:

Oh man, married life. That is an impossible task, Eod I hate to step foot in those departments, and with a camera?! When you got home, she probably didn't like anything you bought, right? Next time maybe you can drop her off at Vincom Center or a Bangkok mall, and keep yourself off the police perv list.

No, she was quite happy with the stuff I bought and immediately started planning for 'next time".

We have been to Hong Kong since then, though. What she did there was go to some fashion shops, photograph the dresses and stuff on display and then get her mate the tailoress to make them up in similar material.

As for knickers and stuff, she's on her own with that from now on.

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