Hello, I'm new to expat blog: this is my story ....

Where is your father's bar?  I will be in HCMC in a month or 2.

Hello Steven,

Welcome you come SaiGon, Hope you can do business well here.^^^

Good luck,
JJK

Gud luck

Hi gud luck in bar business in Saigon, so where are u planning to invest ? may be I can suggest some ideas then

Perry88, the bar is called Universal, the address is 90 Bui Vien, Pham Ngu Lao, District 1, it's in the main tourist, feel free to drop in when you come to Vietnam ...

Thanks jjk. nguyen and sally, Saigon is a good place for business but lot's of obstacles lol

Rachel i am open to ideas, where do you think is good to invest ??

If u got yr time we can arrange meeting for coffee during weekend so we can discuss more cheers

Hello,
I think tourism of Vietnam is growing quite rapidly and bar-investment is a wise investment. But i think as possible, let think about expeand your investment in the other area as Hue, Nha Trang, or Hoi an. I'm a Hue citizen (but now studying in HCMC), i have done in "Why Not" Bar in Hue for a time so i know that bar-hotel have a lot of potential. If you want to learn more about opportunities, let contact me via email: boysuhue92@live.com

Hi sghsaigon and perry88,

Nice to meet you and welcome to VN.

I see that your planning to live for long time in HCMC I thinks you should try to do interesting things such as bar (I like LE PUB in Pham Ngu Lao str), foods, swimming pool, spa... my tourist friends tell me about new things they discover, you know although thing is the same but they are different thoughts.. that realy exciting! Hope you have interesting experiences in Vietnam

And if you need some advise about things in Vietnam I can recommend or help you.

I saw other topic of sghsaigon on forum asked about gym and it is correct you should go to gym in California Wow, best quality with many modern gym tool you could find, I also join at Hung Vuong plaza on Dist 5, if convenient, welcome you join in with me.

And if you have some troubles about visa, air-ticket, hotel reservation or work permit, TRC... I also can help all

Have a nice day, and find new interesting friends in Vietnam]

Wendy

Sound great!!!

Hey Wendy,

Thanks for your message, I work in a bar and part of my job is that I go to other bars, Le Pub is one of the most popular bars in the Pham Ngu Lao, it is one of the only places I haven’t been, I have always wanted to have a drink there so maybe we can meet there for a chat since you sound like a good person to know lol

I have heard California Gym is nice, but I can’t justify paying more for a gym then I would in Australia. Thank you for the invite though, I would love to check out your gym, but unfortunately I don’t have a motorbike a the moment so I have go to a gym that is walking distance from my house …

Steven.

Hi Steven. Ray here.  Are you still in hcm? If so where is the bar. Would be good to meet a fellow Australian. THanks.

That post was over 5 years ago.   

I'd say he's back in OZ by now cursing the idea he ever came here to open a bar. Not many make it.

Look at the drop kicks that responded,  crazy sally, hot boy , pissant bar girls and losers.......recipe for disaster.

Hello there,

Nice to get connected with you if you find it worth to establish a good relationship.

Look forward to meeting you.

best regards,

Le

Yogi007 wrote:

That post was over 5 years ago.   

I'd say he's back in OZ by now cursing the idea he ever came here to open a bar. Not many make it.

Look at the drop kicks that responded,  crazy sally, hot boy , pissant bar girls and losers.......recipe for disaster.

I never go to that bar as I never head out to the backpacking area, but believe or not I'm almost positive he's still there. One of the few foreigners that has been able to sustain a bar business here.

Yogi Baabee  -  good observation, I gotta get in the habit of looking at the poster date before I start reading  -  Pham Ngu Lau is a tough cookie to crack, a 'group' of people in Saigon own everything, you not on their team, they wait until you have invested 3-4 billion, then slowly squeeze you to close down.   My lady invested USD $10K in a Thai Resturant back in 2008, a distant relative opened it (lived in Thailand for 15 years) she wouldn't play ball with the "owners"  and was slowly ran out of business  -  she has paid back all the investors over the years, opened a very successful vegetarian resturant in District 3 near the Pagoda, but was a real eye opener for her.   Lesson learned - you gotta know the players and play by their rules or you don't play.

Yep...if your not “one of em” your going to be doing it the hard way. 

That guy we were talking about ,,,that “back doored” his business partners wife originally went to Saigon in Pham  Ngu Lau to start a burger shop.  No one ever saw a customer in there,,even though adjacent businesses were chockers with people .

Never even got close to covering the rent .