Ha Tinh

I think I am be about 5 months late but I just signed up for an account with explatblog today because I have been living in Ha Tinh for 2 months and am bored. Could use some expat company for the occasional beer or lunch for a chat. Did you end up moving to Ha Tinh? If you still need the info let me know.

VietNam likes to confuse people by re-using some street names ad nauseum. The pronunciation simply makes it harder.

Same for town names.

Ha Tinh should not be confused with Ha Tien, for example.

if you want to find job in Ha Tinh, I think you should choose Vinh city as a suitable destination for peaceful city!

I was born in Vinh city, far from Ha tinh 50kms.
And i think that if you want to seeking teaching job, you should move to Vinh city, not Ha Tinh city. Ha tinh is not  develop enough.
I have some friend in Ha tinh city also.
But, my advice is not easy to looking for teaching job at Ha tinh.
And if you wanna open a Language center, you need a person knowledge about local and need a good marketting plan.
Anyway,hope you have a good choice and be success!
Btw, pls let me know if you wanna open a language center over there. I hope can help you something useful!
Best regar!  Trang

I agree. I worked in both and Vinh has more to do. I feel keeping a western teacher in Ha Tinh would be too hard.

Hi, I'm gonna work in Ha Tinh. If there's anyone nearby or Vinh I would like to meet you!

For AMA?

Yes, how did you know? Are you working there aswell?

I did. The school was extremely corrupt and the seemingly sweet owners and bosses were snakes. Worst experience of my life. They stole.money from my checks after I did them numerous favors. We left on good terms but head office contacted me to offer me work because they left me a great review (I know I did a good job ) but I told head office how they robbed me. Head office  said the school said I was lying. So I showed head office an email of them admitting to return my.money if I'd return to them. A year after a job agency told me the school said I came to work drunk and watched sports late at night and was a bad teacher.. very shady place. I'm not the best in the world but I have excelled in most of my jobs thus far. Shady thieves. Stay away and tell them "because Zoli said so". Or just count your hours.. they got a high turn over rate.

Hello everybody I'm looking for information on Ha Tinh City.
The usual things cost of rent,food,electric. I'm giving some thought as to doing some Teaching there, and if anybody can help with some information that would be gratefully appreciated.
Thanks.

Ha Tinh is currently still a developing city
The weekly groceries can cost up to $30-$50 dollars each week
Electricity bill cost is by the consumption rate (calculating if uses the AC everyday) $100
Rent fo a one room apartment cost on average would be $60
Water bill is $25-$30

So on average, the mothly cost of renting a home in Ha Tinh is roughly $310

Hello blue cheer. Before I answer. May I ask,  are you going to go work for AMA?

I am moving to Ha Tinh to work for MSN (https://msn.edu.vn) language school.  Do you know anything about them?

I am sorry I don't. I wish you luck though, Ha Tinh is perhaps the worse city I had to live in. No entertainment. Bad weather. Small. Few people speak English.

I do wish you luck and my only request is that you don't work for AMA.  They are scandalous. Stole over 20million VND from me over my 5 months working there.

What’s redeeming about the town/city/province? I’ve lived in Siberia so I understand isolation. Anything to heed or recommend?

Zoli954 wrote:

I am sorry I don't. I wish you luck though, Ha Tinh is perhaps the worse city I had to live in. No entertainment. Bad weather. Small. Few people speak English.

I do wish you luck and my only request is that you don't work for AMA.  They are scandalous. Stole over 20million VND from me over my 5 months working there.

Don't work for AMA anywhere in Viet Nam. Terrible company owned by money hungry franchisees.

Honestly. Nothing no. I have lived in 6 Vietnamese cities and travelled to over 20. Sorry to tell you, you may have picked one of the worst options.

I was cheeky in one of my classes when I had to give a  writing assignment, I chose the topic of the most exciting place in town in hopes to find something fun to do. 18/20 of the students picked the Co-op mart and 2 students picked a park that has swings.

If you haven't gone yet then reconsider and find some place new. Vung Tau.  Da Nang. Nha Trang. Da Lat. Buon ma thuot. Even Vinh would be a huge upgrade.

Update: So I ended up moving to Ha Tinh because it was too late to consider a contract change and after 3.5 or so weeks here, it really is just a dead end.  Even if and when you get a good group of students, most don't care because they want to or will end up staying around here for their lives and therefore have no need or use for English.  This cultivates an environment of a "who cares" mentality which spreads across the board.  The town itself isn't the worst if you like small towns and villages.  But I wouldn't recommend anyone who truly cares about education coming here.

DCmatthew wrote:

..."who cares" mentality...

That describes it very well also here around Ho Chi Minh City.  Be it in my wife's family or in our neighborhood.

DCmatthew wrote:

Update: So I ended up moving to Ha Tinh because it was too late to consider a contract change and after 3.5 or so weeks here, it really is just a dead end.  Even if and when you get a good group of students, most don't care because they want to or will end up staying around here for their lives and therefore have no need or use for English.  This cultivates an environment of a "who cares" mentality which spreads across the board.  The town itself isn't the worst if you like small towns and villages.  But I wouldn't recommend anyone who truly cares about education coming here.

The parents are to blame, forcing the kids to study. At least the town is ok.

Matthew. Sorry your experience wasn't a good one. Wish you better luck on the next one.

Generally speaking, Việt Nam is not well-known as an exciting destination. There's not a lot happening even in the largest cities. So, of course small towns are going to be pretty dead.

People like to live in VN because it's cheap, easy, stable and peaceful. Eventually, you get used to the boredom.

As for the English schools, they're businesses with a focus on profit not education. Kids go there to hang out with friends and enjoy a bit of relief from their own tedious lives, so if you want to be a teacher, please don't be boring.

Anyway, if you can adjust your expectations and focus on appreciating the little things, you can live a reasonably content life here.

Hello,

My honest suggestion after traveling and living all over Viet Nam over the course of 5 years is to avoid that city. It's extremely boring, dirty, small, uneventful and in general ugly. I love this country but that was my least favorite portion.

If you must go there then avoid *** at all cost as they are thieves amongst crooks. Their turnover rate is super high as they promise Engish teachers the world and rob them blind.

A little bit of research should find you an enjoyable city. I was forced to live in a hotel thst costs more than my 2 bedroom amazing apartment now. Hope this helps.

Zed

Hi Zoli,

I've been offered a contract to go teach in an English school in Ha Tinh. The name of the school is "***". Have you ever heard from it?

The conditions seem to be quite good, and the people I've talked to so far seem very communicative and helpful. But this worries me a bit since I've heard stories ab how some school will just straight rob you, even if they're the nicest people... so if you have info about them that'd be really helpful.

And about the city itself, is it really that bad and that boring? Is there positives to it?
Thanks in advance dude.

Hey.. I was there in 2013 and it was genuinely the worst city in Vietnam. It looked the poorest but somehow the prices were not low. Prices in the bigger neighbouring city Vinh were lower with 20x more to do. And even Vinh I wouldn't recommend. Try Vung Tau, Buon Ma Thuot, Nha Trang or any other bigger city. Hope this helps.

Zoli954 wrote:

Hey.. I was there in 2013 and it was genuinely the worst city in Vietnam. It looked the poorest but somehow the prices were not low. Prices in the bigger neighbouring city Vinh were lower with 20x more to do. And even Vinh I wouldn't recommend. Try Vung Tau, Buon Ma Thuot, Nha Trang or any other bigger city. Hope this helps.

Can you expand on that a bit?

A Vietnamese friend of mine, native to Ha Tinh, agrees that the area would be very boring for many foreigners.

However, she is a self-described "country girl" and says she would die living in any more-developed Vietnamese city.

She talks poetically about the countryside and the seashore, reminding me of friends happy to live in rural Arkansas or Florida.

Can you tell us about your experiences at (or traveling to) the sea shore, the waterways or the countryside?

Do you think it's worse than Haiphong?

The only positive thing about Ha Tinh is leaving Ha Tinh.  When we say there is nothing redeeming about the town, we mean it.  It isn't something you can fully understand until you have lived there, so trust us. It is all just shit.  People talk about the seaside being beautiful and nice to go to, and it isn't.  It's extremely polluted, garbage all up and down the beach as far as the eye can see, and even at that, the water isn't welcoming to swim seeing as though the sand is 'muddy' so to speak and everything is dirty. 

My advice is to go anywhere else.  My friend worked for *** and hated it just like everyone else before him.  If you have no real interest in teaching, enjoy being belittled all the time, and are contemplating suicide, then maybe Ha Tinh is ok for you...it's really that bad.

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

Zoli954 wrote:

Hey.. I was there in 2013 and it was genuinely the worst city in Vietnam. It looked the poorest but somehow the prices were not low. Prices in the bigger neighbouring city Vinh were lower with 20x more to do. And even Vinh I wouldn't recommend. Try Vung Tau, Buon Ma Thuot, Nha Trang or any other bigger city. Hope this helps. And always avoid AMA at any cost. They are criminals from north to south.

Can you expand on that a bit?

A Vietnamese friend of mine, native to Ha Tinh, agrees that the area would be very boring for many foreigners.

However, she is a self-described "country girl" and says she would die living in any more-developed Vietnamese city.

She talks poetically about the countryside and the seashore, reminding me of friends happy to live in rural Arkansas or Florida.

Can you tell us about your experiences at (or traveling to) the sea shore, the waterways or the countryside?

Do you think it's worse than Haiphong?

I just did a Google maps search of hotels in the area, and I was able to pull up an AGODA rate of less than $26.00 a night for 30 days at the VinPearl Hotel there (with an incredible 4.6 stars out of 5 Google user average rating) which includes a highly-rated breakfast buffet.

That's in the sweetspot for my retirement needs.

Granted, an itinerant teacher probably can't afford that, but a retiree with 3k or more monthly take-home income might jump at that price.

Accommodation when I was there was extremely expensive. I got lucky and a student of mine whose mother worked at a hotel got me a nice monthly deal. But there were no apartments at that time, not sure if that has changed. The weather is terrible. Either rainy and overcast or incredibly hot and humid. They get what's called the Laos wind. I believe they are taught in school their home is the most beautiful because only in Ha Tinh were people talking lije they were all spoon fed the same opinion. The roads are crap. There aren't any fun places to go and the beaches are also quite bad. Even the food isn't great. Poorer area, poorer ingredients. Coffee too. They like to drink the draft beer which is not safe for consumption. Avoid it.

Thanks for all the insight you gave me guys. It's been really helpful, I'm glad I haven't signed a contract just yet... and I might not sign it.

I have seen some pictures and videos of the town, and it really does look poor and quite. But it's not the same as hearing from expats who have lived in the town. Somehow, the person trying to hire me is trying to tell me about how nice and beautiful life in Ha Tinh is, I never bought it though.

So thank you!

DCmatthew wrote:

The only positive thing about Ha Tinh is leaving Ha Tinh.  When we say there is nothing redeeming about the town, we mean it.  It isn't something you can fully understand until you have lived there, so trust us. It is all just shit.  People talk about the seaside being beautiful and nice to go to, and it isn't.  It's extremely polluted, garbage all up and down the beach as far as the eye can see, and even at that, the water isn't welcoming to swim seeing as though the sand is 'muddy' so to speak and everything is dirty. 

My advice is to go anywhere else.  My friend worked for *** and hated it just like everyone else before him.  If you have no real interest in teaching, enjoy being belittled all the time, and are contemplating suicide, then maybe Ha Tinh is ok for you...it's really that bad.

Are you still living in Ha Tinh? And if you're not, for how long did you live there?

I was there working in Real-estate development for 2 years. Most recent being 2018. Currently they finished building Vinh Pearl, so at the very least they have a movie theatre "cgv" that keeps up with the most recent movie trend. What I usually do for fun when I stayed 2 years in Ha Tinh was driving South towards Phoung Nha. Its the only place that has decent Western food. The pub I go to is called "easy tiger" its extremely popular with foreigners. Phoung Nha is a tourist attraction area mainly for pre-historic cave explorations.  That is also why there are alot of other decent cafe and restaurants in the area. Well the drive should take around 2 to 3 hours, and I say its definitely worth the trip when you have your weekends off. I mean if you have any question about Ha Tinh just email me.***

I worked for a company in Ha Tinh for about 4 and a half months and don't recommend the company at all. There is not a lot going on but I quite enjoyed the city and surrounding countryside and coastline.

But right from day one, almost every sign in the universe was telling me that I should be at a different company and a different area.

The company itself is basically a conveyor belt of teachers, I left early and they seem to think I owe them money for tax so even after leaving it's caused me nothing but trouble. Whether I genuinely owe that remains a mystery but I've not heard or seen of any similar examples to mine.

I would certainly avoid ***but the area itself depends on what kinda thing you're looking for.

What would you say is the worst about working for the company? Are there any positives about it? I could really use some information about the school and their system. Although the fact they tried to scam you sounds shady to be honest.

I've been talking to a man by the name of ***, he seems to be a nice dude. Do you know him?

The area itself looks quiet and nice. But I've heard it's dirty and polluted. So I don't know what to believe. I'm not looking to go to the busiest town in Asia, but I don't wanna die of boredom either!

Well, firstly the company pays the least amount of cash compared to other companies in the area. Now cash is not my number 1 priority but it is a little disheartening knowing that for the same work people are getting paid more. The schedules and hours are all over the place and many of the contracts they have are in less than nice schools, such as Ischool. Be prepared to be feeling like your working all the time because the 30 hours are spread out throughout the week morning, afternoon and evening. These are all face to face teaching hours as well, I was lucky as I worked with younger ages but be prepared to do unpaid lesson planning if you have to work with older age groups. Now the company lies about the money and hours we do which personally made me question the legitimacy of it all, I was never set up with a Vietnamese bank account and had to send money to my UK bank through a very sketchy method as well. Hence I mention the tax thing, do I really owe tax if the company itself is lying about what I owe and only ever paid me cash in hand? Very confusing and just added to my worries whilst I was there. ***... sure seems like a nice dude but the entire time I was there I only saw him a few times, when you need help with something he says to just pull up your trousers and get on with it kind of attitude. There is no sense of support or structure from him and you'll mostly interact with his wife Hang, who is a lovely woman but a terrible people manager bless her. When I wanted feedback on whether I was progressing well as a teacher or not it was brief and well basically *** has no real idea on how you're actually doing. Since I left he has been threatening to send people after me among other things so I had to block him in the end. But essentially the guy is a fool. He got aggressive with someone he was trying to hire just because they decided not to take the job. The more I think about it the madder it is. Hang is lovely and I feel bad for her but she will willingly screw people over, adding on extra hours and then not paying, making people dance like monkeys on Christmas Eve to advertise the company, trying to make a girl who broke her collarbone go to work, among other things, but overall she will help you out a lot if you did decide to go.

All the teachers who had worked with other companies were amazed at how bad the company is run. One couple left after two months, there is another women there currently who is sticking it out but constantly talks about how things are better elsewhere. There is another woman whom *** decided to ditch after about a month or so but when I spoke to her she had years of experience and also said she had never known a company or schools like it. 

Perks: They do give you a moped, but be prepared for it to likely breakdown. Free housing is also nice but you have to share with other people in which your mileage will vary, mostly everyone just complains about work and the area, same with the other foreigners in town, people mostly just meet up to drink a lot, again it depends on you but for me, it quickly became quite dull. There are new people in town since I've left but who knows.

Personally, I liked the area, I would explore the countryside and seaside on my days off and the local people (those not associated with the schools) are absolutely lovely. The students and the teaching itself is fantastic, but these things are not unique to ***or Ha Tinh you can find that anywhere in the world really. Essentially I loved Vietnam and the people but everything else got me down.  Personally, I've seen far dirtier and polluted places and never found it to be an issue, the coastline, in particular, is grand but be aware that there is dirt and pollution.

Honestly, I could talk for hours but I will end it by saying this. Before I left for Vietnam I spoke to a guy who worked there who basically told me NOT TO GO. I had already invested time and money into it all so decided to stick with it. Please don't make the same mistake as me. There are better companies than *** of that I can guarantee. I currently only know of one girl who has stuck with the company beyond her initial contract everyone else leaves at the end or like me takes a prolonged trip to Cambodia and never looked back. Vietnam: YES ***n: No

Thank you so much for the lengthy post mate! It's more helpful than words can express.

To be quiet honest, I've questioned the legitimacy of the company from the start. The emails I've got are all quiet messy, they lack professionalism and I've had doubts about it from the day I started to speak to them. It got to a point I even questioned myself if this was a scam (the school doesn't even have a website). But I guess it's all part of being a bad organized and run school overall.

For me, money isn't really an issue either, all things considered, free housing and a moped in a country as cheap as Vietnam makes the pay enough for me. I did not know other schools in the area paid more, though. But the paying method is concerning to me, they never told me about this. I really wouldn't be comfortable in getting paid all cash and then having to figure out myself how to send it to my European bank account.

Sounds like they try to make you work more than 30h a week, but paying just for those 30 they hire you for, not cool either. I was told I'd be teaching the younger kids, so I guess I'd in a similar situation to the one you were in. You mentioned you left after 4 months, so they gave you a one-year contract but you just couldn't keep working with them I guess? How are they threatening you btw?

As far as Darryn, he seems to be after me and pressuring me to take the job. I don't know why but he keeps insisting, even when I told him I wouldn't be able to start in the date they need me to. He's told me about his wife and how she runs everything, so I did expect he would be of no help whatsoever once people get there.

All in all it does sound a little shady, so I'm still undecided about what I'm going to do...

Ha Tinh is near my hometown. Yes its boring, and may not suitable for foreigners to live there. But I wish foreigners would move there and teach us English. We need you more than you need us. I grew up studying English with teachers who can barely speak English themselves. I moved to Ho Chi Minh City for university and soon realized how bad is my situation with listening and speaking English. If I could do something for my home village in the future, I would open a language centre with foreign teachers there.

Well, I got offered a 9-month contract but they shortened it to 6 after I told them I wasn't happy with everything. I had a holiday in Cambodia was so incredibly happy not to be working with them that I decided not to go back. They put things in place to make it seem that you can't leave early and if you do they'll make sure to screw you over cash-wise as is the case with one woman who came with her child and then left after 3 months. I got lucky as it was during tet holiday where everyone has the time off so there was nothing suspicious about my absence.

Anywho they are extremely unprofessional that's for sure and terrible people managers. He is chasing you up because they are desperate for teachers, the demand is high for foreign teachers even more so in sleepy Ha Tinh. I'll reiterate my personal belief which is that you are better off looking elsewhere, I spoke and met plenty of other foreigners and while no company is perfect there are miles better places to work than this company. Again I can highly recommend Vietnam and personally enjoyed Ha Tinh province and the nearby city Vinh (where there are also better companies) everyone I met travelling also loved Vietnam and none of them could understand why foreigners would settle in Ha Tinh but again that'll just depend on you...

Now in regards to the bike and house... Again all you have to do is speak to other people working elsewhere to find out it's not that great of a perk. Housing is cheap but I can't give you exact details. I know that you can buy and own your own bike for around 5 million VND as one person in town did. So while they are nice selling points don't imagine for a second that it's difficult or expensive to get housing and your own bike by looking elsewhere, plus Ill reiterate that you can find far better in terms of pay anyway, again not the reason most people do this kind of work I know, but working for a company that knowingly pays you the bare minimum is a little silly once you learn about it.

As I said he got very violent when someone didn't take the job. The person I spoke to before heading to Vietnam said that he got threatened with Police action because he and his girlfriend wanted to leave early. Be prepared for them to gossip and talk behind your back as well, not ideal bosses at all. In regards to me, he obviously couldn't say much because he didn't even know where I was, but it boiled down to threatening to send people after me to collect money, threatening me with court action both  from the Vietnamese government and back home in the UK, he threatened to involve my parents and only yesterday did I receive a letter mailed to them encouraging my parents to also get me to pay up. The man is delusional. Of course, you won't see or hear from him unless you kick up a fuss, I had no problems until I made the move but its again a case of there being no feedback or support and him being part of the whole badly organised company. He's also obsessed with the fact that I'm from the same area as him in the UK which frankly was annoying because everyone is an individual but to him and her, you are just another teacher to use up and trap there for 6 months or more.

In regards to pay it's only the past few days and thanks to this site that I've discovered how well and truly sketchy this company is in regards to that side of things. People at our company had to use a gold shop place to send money to their home accounts, which I think is pretty dam dodgy, the place and process is very shady and it'll only work if you have the woman manager helping you, otherwise good luck using that method without them as I decided to test one time. Its things like that which means to protect your own interests you can't be honest with them.

Again I could write more and I hate to be negative but I think it's important to warn people about this particular company. No one is truly happy there, people stick it out for their own reasons and I personally could see no benefit in going back after time away from the place. Thankfully It did not dampen my love of Vietnam and its people and it's taught me a lot in regards to working abroad, particularly with English Teaching positions.

If you need anything else, feel free to private message me.

Well! It made me really sad reading those comments about Hatinh where I am from. I would say it depends on your expectations too. Hatinh city is small and quite town. It is about 30 minutes drive to the nearest beach and 30 minutes drive to the mountains from the city. It has bars,clubs, shopping mall, shops, spa, ect. Ha tinh it’s self doesn’t have an airport yet but it is about one hour to Vinh airport and easy to catch bus to travel to the northern or the southern parts of Vietnam. Pp are super nice and friendly there. There are many pp who can speak really well english and I am one of them.

duyennguyen wrote:

Well! It made me really sad reading those comments about Hatinh where I am from. I would say it depends on your expectations too. Hatinh city is small and quite town. It is about 30 minutes drive to the nearest beach and 30 minutes drive to the mountains from the city. It has bars,clubs, shopping mall, shops, spa, ect. Ha tinh it’s self doesn’t have an airport yet but it is about one hour to Vinh airport and easy to catch bus to travel to the northern or the southern parts of Vietnam. Pp are super nice and friendly there. There are many pp who can speak really well english and I am one of them.

I hear you. I'm planning to visit sometime, in spite of the negative comments here.

I have been following the videos of someone you may know from Ha Tinh:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGC9Cx … ArrZkhHoVA

I'm also impressed that it's possible to stay at the 4-star Vinpearl Hotel Resort there for less than $35.00 USD a night, including breakfast.

I can definitely think of worse ways to retire.

Can you verify that the train stops there?

Cheers!