Saigon is a bustling city in a developing country. Don't expect western style living.
There's a ton of western style living here.
Bootstrapping in Saigon
21–30 of 48 posts
Re: Bootstrapping in Saigon
#22$900 a month for a two bedroom seems really high to me. You can get a nice 2br in Austin for around the same.
Maybe in 2004 you could. ;) That's 40-50% below the market prices I've seen in the past few years; if you have that deal now hang onto it with both hands, heh.
Re: Bootstrapping in Saigon
#23I'm a US citizen who runs a digital agency and lived in Hanoi for a year in 2013-14. When I visited Saigon, I couldn't believe how much of a shit show it was. Whereas Hanoi had the occasional "westerner" who tried his/her hardest to integrate with the Vietnamese culture, Saigon was full of loud, disrespectful foreigners who were just looking to work abroad (illegally) and bum off of the culture and cheap prices. If y…
I gotta call bullshit. I've lived in Saigon for five years and the only expats that fit that description are the losers that haunt Bui Vien. But there's a Bui Vien in every city in every country in SE Asia.
How exactly do you integrate with Vietnamese culture when you don't speak the language or have any other connection to it? You see this stupid argument on the expat groups on Facebook all the time, people slagging off on expats that live in the more western districts because somehow living in a western style apartment isn't "authentic Vietnamese living". It's a giant pile of bullshit, imho.
If you mean "have local friends" or an integrated social circle, almost everyone living here long term has that. You can't live here for a long time and not have it.
Maybe you got stuck in the teachers on paid vacation circle, but everyone I know here doing stuff outside of that doesn't even remotely fit your description.
Re: Bootstrapping in Saigon
#24$900 a month for a two bedroom seems really high to me. You can get a nice 2br in Austin for around the same.
It is pretty high. My three bedroom apartment, including the nanny, is around $800 a month and it's in the second nicest area in Saigon.
2 bedroom apartments in the newer buildings like Sunrise City, Stella, etc. are twice that though. But those apartments are super "high end" for Vietnam.
Re: Bootstrapping in Saigon
#25I'm a US citizen who runs a digital agency and lived in Hanoi for a year in 2013-14. When I visited Saigon, I couldn't believe how much of a shit show it was. Whereas Hanoi had the occasional "westerner" who tried his/her hardest to integrate with the Vietnamese culture, Saigon was full of loud, disrespectful foreigners who were just looking to work abroad (illegally) and bum off of the culture and cheap prices. If y…
I'm a US citizen (ông Tây) who lived in Saigon (legally) for ~12 years (2001-13) and spent time in Ha Noi and all I can say is that Saigon and Ha Noi are really different. It seemed that people who loved Ha Noi did not care for Saigon and visa versa. You seem to be in the Ha Noi group. Saigon is a worthy place to visit full of people from different parts of Vietnam and around the world. It is culturally unique.
Been living in Saigon (legally) since 2006. Count me in the Saigon group. My wife is from Hanoi (where we met) and she moved to Saigon. The climate is much milder and the city has less red-tape. They told me there is even a migration of Vietnamese from North to South..
Re: Bootstrapping in Saigon
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you mind elaborate the part of culture that will wear one down?
The 1980's were pretty bad here with the famine and rice rationing, etc. and I think that's kind of been carried over. So you get a lot of rude, selfish behavior like cutting in line, lack of queueing, general lack of courtesy. The concept of face is more harmful than good. People will straight up lie to you here, not because they are acting out of malice, but because they don't want to lose face by appearing stupid…
You just described most of China and developing SE Asia countries. Not respecting lines, general littering, lack of attention to personal space (bumped by everyone, all the time). I'm not sure it's unique to Vietnam.
Re: Bootstrapping in Saigon
#27I'm a US citizen who runs a digital agency and lived in Hanoi for a year in 2013-14. When I visited Saigon, I couldn't believe how much of a shit show it was. Whereas Hanoi had the occasional "westerner" who tried his/her hardest to integrate with the Vietnamese culture, Saigon was full of loud, disrespectful foreigners who were just looking to work abroad (illegally) and bum off of the culture and cheap prices. If y…
Yeah, no. Maybe if you only stick to Bui Vien street.
I met a lot of great foreigners through the HCMC Javascript Meetup and at various co-working spaces in Saigon. There really are some great people in that town.
You have to stay for more than just a few days to figure out where the good people are. That was likely your issue.
Re: Bootstrapping in Saigon
#28$900 a month for a two bedroom seems really high to me. You can get a nice 2br in Austin for around the same.
I can barely get a 1br in Austin for that price.
Re: Bootstrapping in Saigon
#29I'm a US citizen who runs a digital agency and lived in Hanoi for a year in 2013-14. When I visited Saigon, I couldn't believe how much of a shit show it was. Whereas Hanoi had the occasional "westerner" who tried his/her hardest to integrate with the Vietnamese culture, Saigon was full of loud, disrespectful foreigners who were just looking to work abroad (illegally) and bum off of the culture and cheap prices. If y…
I gotta call bullshit. I've lived in Saigon for five years and the only expats that fit that description are the losers that haunt Bui Vien. But there's a Bui Vien in every city in every country in SE Asia. How exactly do you integrate with Vietnamese culture when you don't speak the language or have any other connection to it? You see this stupid argument on the expat groups on Facebook all the time, people slagging…
living in Saigon since 2006 to date and agree with jawngee.
Re: Bootstrapping in Saigon
#30I'm a US citizen who runs a digital agency and lived in Hanoi for a year in 2013-14. When I visited Saigon, I couldn't believe how much of a shit show it was. Whereas Hanoi had the occasional "westerner" who tried his/her hardest to integrate with the Vietnamese culture, Saigon was full of loud, disrespectful foreigners who were just looking to work abroad (illegally) and bum off of the culture and cheap prices. If y…
Yeah, no. Maybe if you only stick to Bui Vien street. I met a lot of great foreigners through the HCMC Javascript Meetup and at various co-working spaces in Saigon. There really are some great people in that town. You have to stay for more than just a few days to figure out where the good people are. That was likely your issue.
when was the last time there was a javascript meetup... unfortunately that seemed to have died down a bit now