Hello Saigon

Welcome, nice to hear someone wants to learn the language, we have a friend in Thailand 12 years doesn't speak a word.

welcome

welcome to saigon, the emerald of south east asia:)

Welcome to Saigon! Hope you can meet so many from here!

Hi Steven! I'd like to meet up with you. Here is my email: vampire186@yahoo.com  . Hope we can hang out sometime.
---Duc.

enjoy your stay and have fun

hi
welcome to VietNam!
if you know more about VietNam
i can help you, free tour guide in HCMC

Xaviar84 wrote:

Hi everyone,

I'm a 29 year old English guy who recently relocated to Ho Chi Minh just two days ago having spent the last two years living in Thailand.

I would love to meet fellow expats as well as some local Vietnamese people to really get to know the city better.... Plus I would like to try and learn Vietnamese also!

If anyone is interested in meeting for a coffee or a beer then please PM me...

Steven

welcome to my country

Welcome

Hi Steven. Can i make friend with you?

Hi there, I'm from San Francisco but I've been living in Thailand for 5 years.  I'll be traveling alone to Ho Chi Minh from 6-15 January 2014.  This is my very first time to Vietnam and I am so excited! (I also realize that getting a few tips would really help me out a lot!)  I would love to make new friends and have someone tell me about your beautiful city!

email me at: mrcarbaugh at hotmail dot com

Thank you very, VERY much!

Cliff Carbaugh

Hi Steven. welcome to HCMC.

HuyPham wrote:

Hi Steven. welcome to HCMC.

🎧 I guess you all know why we're here 🎧

I just got here two days ago myself. I am staying in district 1. I cannot help you much on language as I am trying to learn it. Take care.

Hi Steven ! I arrive in HCMC few days ago, and i would like to meet people too !
Send me an email ! rachel.marie@ece-france.com

Thank everyone for the replies! Good to hear from you all...

I have been living here for around 5 weeks now... still searching for a job here but there will hopefully be more opportunities coming available around Tet.

Should anyone wish to meet up sometime just PM me on here and we can go from there...

We should have an Expat-Blog meet up. Saigon Monkey, Wild 1 and i managed once and was fun. Wild1 was fully clothed, just for the record.

Ashard Deen wrote:

We should have an Expat-Blog meet up. Saigon Monkey, Wild 1 and i managed once and was fun. Wild1 was fully clothed, just for the record.

AD, Great idea. Lets have it down here in Can Tho. Maybe then CF and Wild_1 can meet up also, and kiss and make up........

Budman1, i am down for it! Will be good to see how much more sophisticated Wild1 has become..why the kiss and make up? what were they fighting over? who has longer hair?

Ashard Deen wrote:

Budman1, i am down for it! Will be good to see how much more sophisticated Wild1 has become..why the kiss and make up? what were they fighting over? who has longer hair?

AD at this point I don't even think they know why....

Lol, nothing much has changed then!

Welcome to HCM!

I came to Vietnam for my first time 8 days ago.  I will be leaving tomorrow night - Jan. 15th, 2014.  I enjoyed the history lessons of the War Museum and the 2-day Mekong Delta "homestay" experience. 

I found Vietnam society to be industrious, honest, proud and tolerant.  I found the Vietnamese to be overwhelmingly polite and willing to do their very best to be helpful.  However, on the interpersonal front, I observed a definite lack of connection- they were there on the mechanistic, superficial level, but no ability to take-a-risk or to expose any vulnerabilities.

While talking to a university-senior law student, she didn't know anything about Hitler, WWII or Pol Pot from 1974 Cambodia.  I wasn't able to find any satisfying nightlife outside of the (scant) commercial element.  I didn't think it possible to be viewed as a "walking ATM" any more than I have been the entire 5 years that I've been living in Thailand- but Vietnam has taught me otherwise.  As in Thailand, once you disregard the commercial transactions, you're left with no relationships at all.

I leave feeling that it's perfectly fine if I come back to Vietnam and, it's perfectly fine if I don't ever make it back to Vietnam again.   

Cliff Carbaugh,
mrcarbaugh@hotmail.com

ccarbaugh wrote:

I came to Vietnam for my first time 8 days ago.  I will be leaving tomorrow night - Jan. 15th, 2014.  I enjoyed the history lessons of the War Museum and the 2-day Mekong Delta "homestay" experience. 

I found Vietnam society to be industrious, honest, proud and tolerant.  I found the Vietnamese to be overwhelmingly polite and willing to do their very best to be helpful.  However, on the interpersonal front, I observed a definite lack of connection- they were there on the mechanistic, superficial level, but no ability to take-a-risk or to expose any vulnerabilities.

While talking to a university-senior law student, she didn't know anything about Hitler, WWII or Pol Pot from 1774 Cambodia.  I wasn't able to find any satisfying nightlife outside of the (scant) commercial element.  I didn't think it possible to be viewed as a "walking ATM" any more than I have been the entire 5 years that I've been living in Thailand- but Vietnam has taught me otherwise.  As in Thailand, once you disregard the commercial transactions, you're left with no relationships at all.

I leave feeling that it's perfectly fine if I come back to Vietnam and, it's perfectly fine if I don't ever make it back to Vietnam again.   

Cliff Carbaugh,
mrcarbaugh@hotmail.com

Glad you enjoyed your stay. 

Language differences aside, I have a hard time engaging with people here  I have Vietnamese friends.  Some I met online, some neighbors, some through relatives.  And even when we get past the comprehension barrier, there is this oddness.

I don't want to talk politics, because theirs is problematical to them and mine is uninteresting to them, I don't follow Vietnamese issues and, being a guest, don't want to get involved (I'm not here to agitate for democracy or any other changes, I just wish people would use the litter receptacles and the guys at the gym would re-rack the barbells). 

I don't want to talk about money because everyone here has either a lot less or a lot more of it than I do. 

My work is kind of obscure to them, though in one proud moment of linguistic progress I was able to explain multithreading in an iPhone app I was writing.  I saw comprehension dawn. 

But it's pretty one-way.  People here, what do they talk about with each other?  Once you're past ăn cơm chưa and mạnh khỏe, what is there?  This is one barrier I haven't gotten past.  And want to.

ccarbaugh wrote:

I came to Vietnam for my first time 8 days ago.  I will be leaving tomorrow night - Jan. 15th, 2014.  I enjoyed the history lessons of the War Museum and the 2-day Mekong Delta "homestay" experience. 

I found Vietnam society to be industrious, honest, proud and tolerant.  I found the Vietnamese to be overwhelmingly polite and willing to do their very best to be helpful.  However, on the interpersonal front, I observed a definite lack of connection- they were there on the mechanistic, superficial level, but no ability to take-a-risk or to expose any vulnerabilities.

While talking to a university-senior law student, she didn't know anything about Hitler, WWII or Pol Pot from 1774 Cambodia.  I wasn't able to find any satisfying nightlife outside of the (scant) commercial element.  I didn't think it possible to be viewed as a "walking ATM" any more than I have been the entire 5 years that I've been living in Thailand- but Vietnam has taught me otherwise.  As in Thailand, once you disregard the commercial transactions, you're left with no relationships at all.

I leave feeling that it's perfectly fine if I come back to Vietnam and, it's perfectly fine if I don't ever make it back to Vietnam again.   

Cliff Carbaugh,
mrcarbaugh@hotmail.com

i understand your feeling 100%.   but i must say its difficult to immerse yourself into Viet society on a social level in just 8 days.   ive been back and forth for 6 six years and i still stick out like a sore thumb and im Viet kieu.  to be blunt i dont think we'll ever be accepted 100%.  it is what it is.   as far as international history Vietnamese generally stick to their limited bubble.  most rarely venture oustside their town except for work.  glad you enjoyed your stay though.   how was hour experience in the land of smiles compared to VN?   would love to visit Thailand one of these days.