Where to live in Vietnam!

In Hai Phong and the highlands you will need some warm clothes for the evenings.  You should take the opportunity to travel around to find a city or country town that you enjoy being in. The weather in Nha Trang in January is very pleasant, but there isn't much call for teachers there and the pay is low.

Hi,

I lived in HCMC for more than 5 years, but finally chose to live in Can Tho City for several reasons:

1. It is quite peaceful and relaxing here.

2. It is the nearest city to HCMC that has an airport.

3. It is the central city of Vietnam's Mekong Delta provinces.

I guess it would be the best to backpack traveling to experience, then finalize the decision for self (?).

I would only bring necessities if moving abroad.   

Hope you shall find new homie soon in Vietnam.

Cheers,

Nhung

Nhung11281 wrote:

2. It is the nearest city to HCMC that has an airport.

Nhung

This is the only item that I would take issue with.  Can Tho has an airport but strangely it has no flights to HCMC, only to Da Nang, Hanoi, and some other ASEAN destinations.  This strikes me as rather limiting as HCMC would likely be a prime destination especially for medical reasons.

This was covered in another thread about a couple of months ago.  https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 87#3831937

Thank you!

Ricky, there are actually lots of opinions for the questions you ask as they have been answered many times. From the forum page, search old posts for
"what to bring"
"best city"
"cost of living"
and so on.  (Pay more attention to recent posts, like 1-2 years old.)
Then come back with more specific questions.

gobot wrote:

From the forum page, search old posts for
"what to bring"
"best city"
"cost of living"
and so on.

I had been considering bringing up the question of searching for multiple words on this forum.  For instance, a raw search for best city brings up posts for best anything and hundreds of posts on Ho Chi Minh city.  Do we need to study up on Boolean methodology to do multiple word searches?   

Thank you

I quite like living in Saigon, but have a secret hankering for life a bit further north where it is a little cooler, nearer the coast and living off the grid.

But I can't afford to do it.

Yet.

eodmatt wrote:

But I can't afford to do it.

Yet.

What the heck did you do with that 30K/month money you made in Iran?   No need to answer if it would affect your current marriage. 

THIGV wrote:

eodmatt wrote:

But I can't afford to do it.

Yet.

What the heck did you do with that 30K/month money you made in Iran?   No need to answer if it would affect your current marriage. 

Well the untold bit of my story is that I was working for a Chinese oil company. I worked as the clearance manager (landmines and bombs) for the Yadavaran oilfield development. The Chinese company "withheld" my salary for 3 months because I read my contract of employment, despite being ordered to just sign it without reading it. In the contract it was specified that I was not an employee of the oil company (and therefore not insured by them), but a sub contractor. And this was bulls*t. So I objected.

We eventually got that sorted out and I tried to do my job, but the Iranin bomb and mine clearance company were more concerned with "Insha Allah, than with safety and quality.

One of the building contractors there lost a grader and had its operator killed by ignoring my advice not to drive the machine through a minefield.

When the election stuff happened, which was very nasty indeed, I decided to foxtrot oscar (and most of the QC team came with me, but not at my request). I left the act of leaving until I had almost been paid in full but they still owed me 2 months pay when I left, which I never got. So they did me out of 60,000 US Dollars.

The money I did get went on paying my ex wifes debts off, paying off the mortgage on my house the UK and then getting divorced from the idle, useless, dirty, unwashed, drug abusing, violent hag that I was then married to.

So now you know 

eodmatt wrote:

THIGV wrote:

eodmatt wrote:

But I can't afford to do it.

Yet.

What the heck did you do with that 30K/month money you made in Iran?   No need to answer if it would affect your current marriage. 

Well the untold bit of my story is that I was working for a Chinese oil company. I worked as the clearance manager (landmines and bombs) for the Yadavaran oilfield development. The Chinese company "withheld" my salary for 3 months because I read my contract of employment, despite being ordered to just sign it without reading it. In the contract it was specified that I was not an employee of the oil company (and therefore not insured by them), but a sub contractor. And this was bulls*t. So I objected.

We eventually got that sorted out and I tried to do my job, but the Iranin bomb and mine clearance company were more concerned with "Insha Allah, than with safety and quality.

One of the building contractors there lost a grader and had its operator killed by ignoring my advice not to drive the machine through a minefield.

When the election stuff happened, which was very nasty indeed, I decided to foxtrot oscar (and most of the QC team came with me, but not at my request). I left the act of leaving until I had almost been paid in full but they still owed me 2 months pay when I left, which I never got. So they did me out of 60,000 US Dollars.

The money I did get went on paying my ex wifes debts off, paying off the mortgage on my house the UK and then getting divorced from the idle, useless, dirty, unwashed, drug abusing, violent hag that I was then married to.

So now you know 

So, your'e quite fond of your ex-wife.

Yes, oddly enough. As the saying goes "absence makes the heart grow fonder". And the more absent she is, the more fond of her absence I become.

THIGV wrote:

gobot wrote:

From the forum page, search old posts for
"what to bring"
"best city"
"cost of living"
and so on.

I had been considering bringing up the question of searching for multiple words on this forum.  For instance, a raw search for best city brings up posts for best anything and hundreds of posts on Ho Chi Minh city.  Do we need to study up on Boolean methodology to do multiple word searches?   

Yeah searching https://www.expat.com is hit or miss. In fact I see today that it is broken. I will report this...

Using this page,
https://www.expat.com/en/search/asia/vietnam/

Search for: cost of living
2 matches

Search for the same with quotes: "cost of living"
66  answers

It is still not doing an exact text match, which is what google does when you quote a phrase, but anyway search is messed up.

Apparently the moderators have not read this page.  When I posted the same problem on A WEBSITE FOR EXPATS, FOR EXPATS which I thought was relevant to the topic, moderators unceremoniously deleted my post.   Criticism of the website is not well tolerated.

Hmm.    Well I sent em a message on the Contact page, haven't heard back yet, but I worded it as a bug report. All software has bugs, that shouldn't ruffle feathers. I'll let you know the response.

eodmatt wrote:

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder". And the more absent she is, the more fond of her absence I become.

May I steal that line and use it as mine?

Ciambella wrote:

eodmatt wrote:

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder". And the more absent she is, the more fond of her absence I become.

May I steal that line and use it as mine?

Of course, enjoy using it! 

gobot wrote:

Hmm.    Well I sent em a message on the Contact page, haven't heard back yet, but I worded it as a bug report. All software has bugs, that shouldn't ruffle feathers. I'll let you know the response.

About searching the website, Priscilla sez:

Hi Gobot,

Thank you for contacting us.

Kindly note that the search option should be improved and it will be done in the next version of Expat.com.

You are the man that gets results! 

Any expats living in Dalat? I'd be curious to hear about the teaching opportunities there.

IrishMan25 wrote:

Any expats living in Dalat? I'd be curious to hear about the teaching opportunities there.

Posting on the Dalat forum may be better.

You already got one

IrishMan25 wrote:

Any expats living in Dalat? I'd be curious to hear about the teaching opportunities there.

I have a Vietnamese friend that buys exotic wood products from America. He deals with vendors everywhere across America. He speaks English very well and has exposure to English accents.
American English is not American English - there are differences. He has problems understanding the northeastern dialects. and real problems understanding the southeastern dialects.
While I might find a Georgian accent entertaining, he might find it indercipherinanable.
While in college, many people found a Texas twang to be "hick" so I practiced a midwest neutral accent. I eschewed the northeast accent and especially the southeast drawl.

I don't need the money that an English teacher could demand in Da Lat, but I do have a very understandable, neutral, accent.

I would like to teach a very neutral accent English to the kids of Da Lat and help them as much as possible. I'd do this free gratis. I don't need the money or the obligation. But I would love to help the kids that want help.

How do I get hooked up with educational institutions that need this?

Jim-Minh wrote:

How do I get hooked up with educational institutions that need this?

Going off topic, should be its own post.

Anyway, when I began learning Vietnamese, I found progress only when working one-on-one across from a speaker.  I had to watch their mouth closely especially for sounds that don't even exist in my language. How about trying English clubs in cafes? If I search Facebook for "english da lat" there are some groups. Or start your own group like "Speak American English in Da Lat". Curious to know how that works out.