Thread: Hi from Vietnam

Hi everyone, just came across this forum now and joined up.
My name is Dorothy and i live in HCMC.
Lee and i moved to Kuala Lumpur in May where we spent 4 great months, KL is a brilliant place. Sadly due to work we moved to Vietnam where we spent 2 weeks in Hanoi before moving down south to Ho Chi Minh City. We have been here a month now and are starting to settle in.

Looking forward to chatting with you all. Anyone else here in Vietnam?

Welcome to the Forum Dorothy, i don't think there is anyone
else that is from Vietnam, but hope you enjoy it here anyway.

Hi Andy and Sheena, thanks for the welcome.
Yes, i thought i might be the only one in Vietnam so far.I would be happy to share any info i have from here...the good, the bad and the ugly!

What are house prices like there Dorothy.

There was a programme a few months ago in the UK
saying Vietnam was the next hot-spot to buy.

Well i have to say thats a surprise.Im lead to believe that is only recently foreigners have been allowed to buy here and apparently there are unapealing terms attached. That said its extremely cheap to live here. You can have a delicious Vietnamese meal for about £1.20 and beer as little as 40p for a 500ml bottle. Buying the weeky shop, clothes, petrol all very inexpensive.
I cant imagine peole flocking to live here though, its quite difficult at times, the traffic is horrendous and pollution is very heavy.There is quite a language barrier as they speak very little English and Vietnamese is quite difficult to learn and its very difficult to get hold of lots of things here that you would normally take for granted.

They are nice people though so that helps

Hi Doz - am new to this site and only just finding my way around it and catching up on all the posts. We dont live in Vietnam and never intend to , but I just had to tell you that we did an asian cruise in January this year and were in awe of the beautiful scenery of Vietnam, expecially Halong Bay. The traffic in HoChiMing city was amazing and we sat mezmerised for ages and after learning the rules of 'dont run and dont stop' started crossing the roads just to prove we could do it! We also visited Na Trang , Hanoi and Vung Tau. Bought loads of bargains and would definately holiday there again if we get the chance!
Regards Delice

Hi Delice, welcome to BA.

Yes, there are some beautiful coastal areas here. We were in Vung Tau only recently and i now Danang and Na Trand are stunning places.

Ha ha, yes, the crossing of roads here is a scarey one till you actually do it and its really quite easy, you just walk out into the road and keep going till you reach the other side, as long as you dont do anything silly like stop or run they will basically weave around you. I think the term is 'organised chaos' Seems to work quite well though.

Your cruise sounds wonderful, where else did you visit?

Im actually just of to do some shopping in the town centre, it is so draining as you always have someone hassling you to buy things, the bargaining is fun though, thankfully its not to hot today so i should get round without sweating to much!!

Originally Posted by Doz

Hi Delice, welcome to BA.

Yes, there are some beautiful coastal areas here. We were in Vung Tau only recently and i now Danang and Na Trand are stunning places.

Ha ha, yes, the crossing of roads here is a scarey one till you actually do it and its really quite easy, you just walk out into the road and keep going till you reach the other side, as long as you dont do anything silly like stop or run they will basically weave around you. I think the term is 'organised chaos' Seems to work quite well though.

Your cruise sounds wonderful, where else did you visit?

Im actually just of to do some shopping in the town centre, it is so draining as you always have someone hassling you to buy things, the bargaining is fun though, thankfully its not to hot today so i should get round without sweating to much!!

I am very much of the opinion that "organised chaos" is def. the way to go. Crossing the road becomes a doddle once you fit into this frame of mind. Firstly look at what the locals do and then try it yourself -i've always found that seems to work, whether it be Indai, Sri Lanka or Thailand!

Do you find you still get hassled by the locals or do they see you as part of the locals and so leave you alone?

Yes exactly Tim, do as the locals do and you cant go far wrong.

The locals who know me where i live leave me alone but not so much in the city centre. The trick is to try to look like you know where you are going and what you are doing and as though you have done it all your life...not so easy when you haven't lol.

My favourite line at the minute is " now come on, im not a tourist, i live here"

Originally Posted by Doz

Hi Delice, welcome to BA.

Yes, there are some beautiful coastal areas here. We were in Vung Tau only recently and i now Danang and Na Trand are stunning places.

Ha ha, yes, the crossing of roads here is a scarey one till you actually do it and its really quite easy, you just walk out into the road and keep going till you reach the other side, as long as you dont do anything silly like stop or run they will basically weave around you. I think the term is 'organised chaos' Seems to work quite well though.

Your cruise sounds wonderful, where else did you visit?

Im actually just of to do some shopping in the town centre, it is so draining as you always have someone hassling you to buy things, the bargaining is fun though, thankfully its not to hot today so i should get round without sweating to much!!

Hi

We started off in Singapore , went to Cambodia which unfortunately we had to miss as Rich and I were 'banged up' in our cabin as Rich had eaten something to disagree with him in singapore, when I asked for some imodium the staff went into panic mode in case it was the dreaded norovirus, so we both got confined, thank goodness we had a balcony or I would have gone stir crazy! I know they are right to take precautions, but it was the way they did it - when I went to leave the ship once I was released ,all alarms sounded and warning buzzers shouting ' passenger in isolation' - talk about embarrassing!
That over with we went to Bankgkok to Pattaya Beach then to the stops in Vietnam before ending up in Hong Kong. I would heartily recommend it and we met some wonderful people.

Do you plan on staying in Vietnam or does your work take you to other countries?