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Living in Vietnam

Pingu

Pingu

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 14, 2004
Messages
3,337
Hey everyone,

I'm moving to vietnam in October to teach English. I'm currently planning to travel initially to Hai Phong, then maybe move on to Hanoi. Does anyone have any experience of living in vietnam and can give me some idea of how much money I need to go out there, how much accommodation is, places that I should travel to and scams to watch out for etc? I'm not really arsed about getting off my nut, although I wouldn't mind the odd mushroom smoothie. Is this as prevalent as in places like Thailand?

Holla back bluelighters :)
 
I haven't lived there but I stayed for a month.

Hanoi is shite. Hoi An (an anagram!) is beautiful.

Don't mistake Vietnam for Thailand or anywhere else. Mushroom smoothies are not prevalent. Dope is though. You smoke? Cheap as.

Did I say Hanoi is shite? You need to know this.

Hotel accommodation was cheap enough so I guess rooms/homes are too. People very friendly. Outside of Hanoi. (Sorry, I may have had a bad experience of Hanoi). I'm back in Hanoi on Sep 17th! No shit!

Hoi An and further south is where it's at. Oh South China Sea how I miss thee.

Have a good one.
 
Interested to see the replies to this as well, heading to SE Asia for a couple of months early next year and will be doing a few weeks in Vietnam. Think were planning to travel up from Saigon to Hanoi but would welcome any recommendations.
 
whats shite about hanoi? we were planning to go for a couple weekends before we decided to move anyway.. im not much of a weed smoker but im partial to pretty much everything else. nice on for the info we'll be sure to check out hoi an, and halong bay sounds boss aswell.

how come youre goin back hanoi if you dont like it if you dont mind me asking? :)
 
Hanoi because I'm flying via there for a cheap flight (Vietnam Airlines I love you, Malaysia Airlines you have too many unfortunate incidences).

Hanoi is noisy and crap. I spent six months travelling the world and Hanoi was the only place that stopped me going places (the city centre is owned by the Commies...involves a two mile detour to get around - exactly the image you have of a Communist nightmare..ps I'm a communist...does this explain/illustrate how bad it must have been? Indefensible).

Halong Bay is great BUT the weather is ALWAYS shit. Go further north to the terraced fields of Sapa, stunning.
 
I'll check Sapa out aswell then. I think we'll probably go for a lil weekend in Hanoi anyway just to see what the place is like, but your advice has made me think twice about moving there and potentially saved me a relatively shitty few months, cheers man! Have you been to hai phong before? And if you have would you recommend living there for a few months?
 
Can't help you there Pingu, no knowledge of Hai Phong. But it's pretty damn close to Halong Bay to make me think it must get the same shit weather! Seriously, Halong Bay is one of the wonders of the world but is permanently let down by grey sky.

You must go to Sapa. Definitely worth it.

I have great sympathy for Vietnam, because of the shit they suffer from the war with the US, the ramifications of which are still evident to this day. I hope you have a great time. The people really are lovely.
 
As long as the weather in autumn is a lil hotter than here I'll be happy :)

I've got great sympathy for most of the countries in the world having to put up with US foreign policy bullshit in combination with IMF/WB fuckery. Cheers i'm sure ill have a wicked time. I've never been outside Europe before so it's going to be one big adventure, and I've heard nothing but good things about Vietnamese people.
 
StoneHappyMonday said:
Hanoi because I'm flying via there for a cheap flight (Vietnam Airlines I love you, Malaysia Airlines you have too many unfortunate incidences).

Hanoi is noisy and crap. I spent six months travelling the world and Hanoi was the only place that stopped me going places (the city centre is owned by the Commies...involves a two mile detour to get around - exactly the image you have of a Communist nightmare..ps I'm a communist...does this explain/illustrate how bad it must have been? Indefensible).

Halong Bay is great BUT the weather is ALWAYS shit. Go further north to the terraced fields of Sapa, stunning.
Click to expand...

I had a lovely time in Hanoi and when I went to Ha Long bay it was beautiful sunshine. Wish I went to Sapa.

Vietnam is lovely OP, pretty safe too - I wandered alone many nights, not a problem.
 
RLP said:
I had a lovely time in Hanoi and when I went to Ha Long bay it was beautiful sunshine. Wish I went to Sapa.

Vietnam is lovely OP, pretty safe too - I wandered alone many nights, not a problem.
Click to expand...

Listen, I'm not trying to represent my experience as universal. However. Google Halong Bay and weather. You will be hit immediately by many hits on the first page that back up what I say. It's just the coastal climate and it's geographical position.

Secondly, yes I'm sure you can have a fine time in Hanoi. We didn't. And it stood out because it was the ONLY place, in thirteen countries, that gave us a negative experience. It's a fact you cannot enter the centre of Hanoi bacause the CP own it and it's blocked off. The only place that tried to rip me off seriously, for fags and fruit, was Hanoi. It was like some capitalist backlash against the Communist regime. I also got food poisoning there which didn't help. I found the French quarter charming. Nothing else was. I also found the food quite shit compared to other places we went.

Men on motorbikes sold me decent weed. But I got better and cheaper weed in Laos and Cambodia.

Further south, Hoi An was a dream. Even Saigon, Ho Chi Minh, was a city worth visiting, despite the constant floods due to archaic sewage system.
 
So it's getting closer to flight times and I have another couple questions if anyone can help..

I went to get my vaccinations and was quoted £500 for the 9 different ones I was told to get. I spoke to a mate about it after and he said he was living near Hanoi for 2 years without getting any injections and didn't keel over. Is this foolhardy? £500 IS a fair bit of cash for me at the moment. Is it possible to get them there?

The other question is the most important and involves the old furry rugs. How easy is it to get high quality opium and marching powder out there?

Holla back bluelight massive :)
 
Dunno about opium, get it in Laos or Cambodia. Coke would cost a fortune, you are the wrong side of the world.

But those injections? FUCK that. £500 for what? I can't think of anything. You don't need anything. Your mate is correct.
 
Aw shit opium just aint the same without a lil chopchop to go with it :/

Hep A+B, rabies, japanese encephalitis, yellow fever, polio, malaria, typhoid and another one I can't remember. I think the place I went to may have just been a particularly expensive place to get vaccinations. Might wait till I'm out there to get them..
 
Hep A and B should be free on the NHS. They are in Wales anyway. Rabies too, though surely you don't need this as a preventative thing? Japanese Encephalitis IS fucking expensive but you won't need it in Vietnam unless you are going to live deep in the jungle for a few weeks with some VietCong who don't realise the war ended 40 years ago. I'm going to the Philippines and have been told I'm fine so long as there is no extended jungle dwelling. Polio and typhoid are free aren't they? Didn't we all get polio jabs at school? Yellow fever you do not need unless you are going to South America first then via Australia. THEY insist on it. I know coz I paid £70 for one last time. Lasts ten years though so no top up required. Same with hep jabs.

So I reckon (unless England charges for stuff Wales doesn't) your total cost should come to £0.00p

Oh Malaria is a bugger, forgot that one. Last time we bought doxycycline and I gave up taking them after two weeks as they made my fingerNAILS get sunburn. It has a million shit side effects that drug, which is why it's the cheapest (12p a pill?). However, you have to take it something like a month in advance and a month after you come home. My gf took it for longest than me but also gave up after a while. The world, and certainly not Vietnam, is NOT full of weird biting deathly insects, despite the hype you see on TV.

Hep jabs, yeah get those. You really don't want hepatitis it never goes away and it's horrible. But they should be free.
 
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They're supposed to be free but I'm struggling to find a doctor who can do them in time! Anyways I should be able to get them while I'm over there if I can't get them here?
 
ive had hep jabs i have to have a booster every yeay i didnt know u can get a 10 yearly hep vaccination, im telling my doc i want it fuk these yearly boosters
 
Get Malarone for Malaria - zero side effects when I've taken it. Think it cost me £20 for a fortnight's worth.
 
There's no need for any tourist to take anti-malarial drugs in south east Asia. Unless you plan on an extended stay in the jungles on the Thai Khmer border that is.

There're a waste of money as malaria is almost non existent in urban areas. Just wear mozzie repellent; bites are annoying and larger tiger Mosquitos which come out in daylight can carry dengue fever which is a bit of a nause.

If you cannot get Hep vaccines done at home then just do them here for around $15 per shot. You should get get them though as sharing a glass, a spiff, a kiss etc can give you a Nasty bout of Hep!
 
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