Relocating to Vietnam ?

[sanemax]

With the Thailand visa regulation clampdowns , I decided to go and have a look in Vietnam about a potential relocation .

   I went to Danang , there seems to be plentiful of Condos available for rent and many new buildings going up all over the place , no problem about finding a place to stay  .

   The food , most if the restaurants are dirty grotty places and the owners didnt seem very welcoming , no menus in English and just photos on the wall that you can point at .

  The newer cleaner restaurants were usually full and busy and most of those had already prepared cooked food on display and its easy enough just to point at what you want .

  I prefer not to go into those places ,  due to concerns about food poisoning , as you dont know how long the food has been there and the food is unrefrigerated and left in the heat .

Many of the restaurants in the evening are primarily drinking places , where people drink and get some food to go with it .

   The food is a bit cheaper than in Thailand , by about 20 % less , but there just not the availability and abundance that you get in Thailand .

   There are only a few 7/11 style convenience stores dotted around and they all close at 10.30 PM , actually everything closes by 10.30 PM  and the streets empty and everything in quiet .

  Beer is a lot cheaper , 20 Baht a can of 5 % 500 ML from 7/11 styled shops , although its cheap , only a few shops sell them .

 The Vietnamese people seem OK , a bit more abrupt and ruder than Thais , but thats not a bad thing , the Vietnamese dont smile and laugh at everything , as Thais tend to do .

   There is also not hoards of ex-bargirls looking for a felang boyfreind or masseurs seeking extra work .

   Vietnamese dont tend to walk anywhere , many of the streets are cluttered with parked motorbikes , food vendors , seats and various other things, making the streets unable to be used for walking along , motorbikes outnumber cars about about 100  to 1 and they drive their motorbikes like they are in a speedway race and completely disregard any rules , driving fast in any direction , which makes in very dangerous to walk across roads , as you never know when or where a speeding bike will appear from , you have to make split second decisions and when to run across roads and constantly looking all around you , to make sure no bikes appear from anywhere .

  If you cross roads regularly , it would only be a matter of time before you got hit by a bike .

Beeping their horns : the noise is incessant , they constantly beep their horns , some drive down the road , using their horn like a siren , I began counting in my head everytime I heard a beep and the highest that I got up to was four , its very annoying to hear constant beeps all day long , you just cannot relax or think straight .

    Spent 10 days in Vietnam , nice to be back "home" in Thailand .

I wouldnt relocate to Vietnam , due to the motorbikes and their beeps and mad driving .

[Jingthing]

Thanks for that. Kind of as I assumed based on a long ago trip to Hanoi. 

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Thanks for that. Kind of as I assumed based on a long ago trip to Hanoi. 

In Saigon earlier this month I had nice Indian curries almost every night for around 100,000VND (150bht)

Plenty of Indian restaurants to choose from. Western food available everywhere.

I was right in the centre of town so it was very busy and noisy, but no worse than the middle of Bangkok.

Massage girls appeared more numerous than bar girls, and there were plenty of women looking for LTRs with foreigners, probably more than in Thailand.

 

 

[Jingthing]

For me as the OP, it's the motorcycles.  I just can't deal with that. 

[BritManToo]

23 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

For me as the OP, it's the motorcycles.  I just can't deal with that. 

You make eye contact with the m/c drivers and step into the road at a steady pace while maintaining eye contact.

Magically they all miss you (cars and busses as well), while in Thailand they would have run you down.

 

It's very easy once you know the rules, you just need to gather your courage for the first few crossings.

[sanemax]

Just a few photos .

First one that was 10 000 Dong per portion , 2 ND 15 K per baguette , local beer 15 K per can (nice beer) , food in a better restaurant 100 000 K , forgot how much the other photos costed

[GeKoSc]

There are some additional differences to Thailand, the Vietnamese people are extremely nice, attentive and they welcome foreigner much more as the Thais do (at least in Pattaya :). I have visited a plenty of condos in DaNang in the price range of 300-400 USD and they are not as complete as those in Pattaya; no pool no GYM and bulky/heavy wooden furniture, often small windows (but you will find GYM places with pool in the city) or gardens where to rest....and the rent is about 30% higher than in Pattaya; most spaces start around 30 qm. I used to take a breakfast in the street (a delicious tasting egg/spices stuffed, fresh bread for less than 1/2 a dollar...As you mentioned it already the weakest point in Vietnam is the traffic...Personally I liked also Hanoi with so many lakes...Once when resting at the largest lake (Ho Hoan Kiem) I was asked frequently to be pictured with other tourists....if I would have asked for a dollar I would have collected 10 USD within an hour... however to walk in the "Old Quarter District" is chaotic and stressful if not used to it. Next time in Hanoi I would look for a hotel near the lake where traffic and noises are lesser and it would be easier to find a large supermarket....Unfortunately no long term visa were available during 2018 which will make it uncomfortable for those folks looking to settle down in this country...

[sanemax]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

You make eye contact with the m/c drivers and step into the road at a steady pace while maintaining eye contact.

Magically they all miss you (cars and busses as well), while in Thailand they would have run you down.

 

It's very easy once you know the rules, you just need to gather your courage for the first few crossings.

Not possible to make eye contact with 50 different motorcycle drivers , when they are coming from six different direction at speed and driving on the wrong side of the road .

   You are putting yourself at risk everytime you cross the road

[Kwasaki]

3 hours ago, sanemax said:

I wouldnt relocate to Vietnam

How about Laos. ?

[Mahseer]

42 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

How about Laos. ?

How about elsewhere in Vietnam? Hoi An down the road from Danang is far more laid back and consider Da Lat which has more of a temperate climate.

 

 

[madmen]

At last a post that tells it like it REALLy is. So true about the motorbikes flying  against the traffic and will be a big wake up call for expats crying about the odd motorbike moving at walking pace on footpaths here. I lost count of the times I was about to cross a road only to have a bike pop up in my peripheral vision doing 60kms the wrong way!!

Vietnam is 20 years behind Thailand with awful infrastructure and the worst health care. Great for a week break or a visa run but thats about it

[sanemax]

16 minutes ago, Mahseer said:

How about elsewhere in Vietnam? Hoi An down the road from Danang is far more laid back and consider Da Lat which has more of a temperate climate.

 

 

I did visit there , the place has a Koh San Road/ Pai feel about the place , Westerners far out number the locals . Many backpackers and tourists and the whole new town is geared up to accommodate them .

   But that may not be such a bad thing and its only 30 minutes from Danang   

[madmen]

Back packers seem to make up the majority of tourists. Even in Saigon it was wall to wall with twenty something westerners in all the bars and restaurants.

[Mahseer]

Hoi An is certainly a major tourist attraction but for me would be a decent place to start if considering moving to Vietnam. Somewhere comfortable to give you time to find your feet before moving on to somewhere away from the tourist path if that's what you are looking for.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 hours ago, sanemax said:

 

 

Just give me one sandwich from the first photo, one Sapporo from the second photo, and one from the third photo above, and I'm set for the day! 

 

PS - I'm a sucker for the pouty looking ones...

[White Christmas13]

5 hours ago, Jingthing said:

For me as the OP, it's the motorcycles.  I just can't deal with that. 

But they are ok on the footpath in Thailand ?

[White Christmas13]

3 hours ago, sanemax said:

Not possible to make eye contact with 50 different motorcycle drivers , when they are coming from six different direction at speed and driving on the wrong side of the road .

   You are putting yourself at risk everytime you cross the road

In Thailand it is very safe to cross the road

[1FinickyOne]

11 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

I'm a sucker for the pouty looking ones.

Me too, but I will refrain - you saw her first. 

[sanemax]

2 minutes ago, White Christmas13 said:

In Thailand it is very safe to cross the road

Compared it Vietnam it is 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 minutes ago, kenk24 said:

Me too, but I will refrain - you saw her first. 

 

Isn't there still some kind of law in Vietnam making it illegal for a foreigner to stay overnight in the same place with a Vietnamese woman other than his wife???  Doesn't that crimp the recreational activities a bit?

[White Christmas13]

3 minutes ago, sanemax said:

Compared it Vietnam it is 

That is what I mean

[White Christmas13]

road fatalities in Vietnam is about 24 Thailand 36

[sanemax]

17 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Just give me one sandwich from the first photo, one Sapporo from the second photo, and one from the third photo above, and I'm set for the day! 

 

PS - I'm a sucker for the pouty looking ones...

She was gorgeous , unfortunately not available , couldnt speak English , but was happy to have her photo taken 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 minutes ago, sanemax said:

She was gorgeous , unfortunately not available , couldnt speak English , but was happy to have her photo taken

 

Re speaking to young women, I've always found the speaking part to be highly overrated....

 

Re the photo above, the one on the left looks kind of Thai to me....

[sanemax]

3 minutes ago, White Christmas13 said:

road fatalities in Vietnam is about 24 Thailand 36

Yes, but you are unlikely do die if you get hit by a motorbike , thus it wouldnt be counted as a fatality 

[1FinickyOne]

13 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Isn't there still some kind of law in Vietnam making it illegal for a foreigner to stay overnight in the same place with a Vietnamese woman other than his wife???  Doesn't that crimp the recreational activities a bit?

I don't know - - never been to Vietnam - I was in Laos many years back and they had some laws that frowned upon it... 

[sanemax]

Just now, kenk24 said:

I don't know - - never been to Vietnam - I was in Laos many years back and they had some laws that frowned upon it... 

They have laws in Laos that if you have sexual relations with a local , you can get a US$5000 fine and get deported , although I havent heard an cases of that law being enforced

[White Christmas13]

5 minutes ago, sanemax said:

Yes, but you are unlikely do die if you get hit by a motorbike , thus it wouldnt be counted as a fatality 

Educate me I thought if you die on on road never mind what vehicle hits you 

it is classed as fatality so you only include cars buses and trucks and if you

get killed by a motorcycle is just karma?

[White Christmas13]

4 minutes ago, White Christmas13 said:

Educate me I thought if you die on on road never mind what vehicle hits you 

it is classed as fatality so you only include cars buses and trucks and if you

get killed by a motorcycle is just karma?

If you don't include motorbikes the fatality should be nearly zero 

[sanemax]

Just now, White Christmas13 said:

Educate me I thought if you die on on road never mind what vehicle hits you 

it is classed as fatality so you only include cars buses and trucks and if you

get killed by a motorcycle is just karma?

What I meant was that your statics and road deaths in Thailand and Vietnam doesnt show that Thai roads are more dangerous than Vietnamese roads .

  If you get hit by a motorbike , you probably wouldnt die and thus wouldnt be counted as a road fatality .

  What are the motorbike accident statistics for Thailand and Vietnam ?