A little bit of Rach Gia...

Population:  403,121.  Number of vehicles on the road:  80.  Number of motorbike with loud engine: 1.  Number of unoccupied units in unfinished condotels:  3500.  Number of food place:  0.  Number of pedestrian: 0.  Number of near miss accident on endlessly large and empty streets: 1, from the video operator/producer -- must be the Canadian driving skill !   

Welcome to Rạch Giá.

PS:  Gobot said that engine purrs.  My hearing and his do not recognise the same noise level.  Different gender, maybe.

Thanks for the ride, that Nuovo purrs. Looks like a big rat there, across the street at the beginning. Except for that close call with the truck, looks like a good place to learn how to drive, streets so empty. Many many new buildings.
Next time show the waterfront and boats and islands!

That truck was not a close call, I just hop on quickly as soon as they pass, it's a habit 

The audio on my mini camera is really bad, maybe it's a setting but you can barely hear stuff... which doesn't really bother me as Vietnam can be quite loud at times!

Thanks for sharing the video.

Great video. Much different than than the traffic nightmare in Danang where I was I June. Thanks for the share.

Great video.  Does anyone live there besides the people building yet another unoccupied building?  I have never seen vacant streets in Vietnam.

Is there any way to get there from Sai Gon besides driving?  Is there an airport?

I looked at it on google maps.  The satellite view shows a really blue ocean right up to the last 2 km band around the land mass and it shows really brown dirty looking water.  What's the water/beach area like?

Last comment, your OP said there isn't a lot of expats here, yet they are building property that pretty much only non-local people can afford.  Are they trying to draw an expat crowd?  Do they think it's going to be another Vung Tau?

There is an airport in Rach Gia, but only one flight to and from Saigon every day with Vietnam AIrlines.

There's really no beach in Rach Gia, but hyst having an ocean with lots of coffee shops and seafood restaurants along the strip is great.

The catch with Rach Gia, it was one of the main spot where Vietnamese people fled the war (and the aftermath) in the 70s. Most people in Rach Gia have some family abroad. So there is lots of oversea cash coming in from oversea Vietnamese. When I go to the the most glamorous coffee shops in Rach Gia, there's always some rich oversea Vietnamese dudes with their cars.  That's the 5-10%, there's still a lot of poor people around.

SteinNebraska wrote:

Great video.  Does anyone live there besides the people building yet another unoccupied building?  I have never seen vacant streets in Vietnam.

I think this area is a massive "parked money" area where oversea and local Vietnamese with too much money can invest or even launder money. I've never seen so many new, luxury units unoccupied in such a massive scale. But it's just a small area of Rach Gia, I'll make another video this week showing the "real vibe" and heart of Rach Gia.

WillyBaldy wrote:

SteinNebraska wrote:

Great video.  Does anyone live there besides the people building yet another unoccupied building?  I have never seen vacant streets in Vietnam.

I think this area is a massive "parked money" area where oversea and local Vietnamese with too much money can invest or even launder money. I've never seen so many new, luxury units unoccupied in such a massive scale. But it's just a small area of Rach Gia, I'll make another video this week showing the "real vibe" and heart of Rach Gia.

Pretty much the same in every decent size city here. In Saigon and Ha Noi there are some massive developements with nobody living there. In Phuoc Tinh, near Vung Tau is an unfinished 12 story aprtment block, its been like that for about 10 years. I can never get my head around how the licals think when I see things like that.

A person can describe an area until the cows come home, but a video tells you a lot more.

More, please

Heres one of the ones in Ha Noi, 600 villas, some finished, many half completed.
Ha Noi villas

WillyBaldy wrote:

SteinNebraska wrote:

Great video.  Does anyone live there besides the people building yet another unoccupied building?  I have never seen vacant streets in Vietnam.

I think this area is a massive "parked money" area where oversea and local Vietnamese with too much money can invest or even launder money. I've never seen so many new, luxury units unoccupied in such a massive scale. But it's just a small area of Rach Gia, I'll make another video this week showing the "real vibe" and heart of Rach Gia.

My experience in other Vietnamese cities:

In order to get a true sense of how many people live in a neighborhood, shoot your video early in the morning after sunrise or late in the afternoon, just before sunset.

It looks to me like your video was shot during the middle of the day, when many Vietnamese people prefer to stay inside

colinoscapee wrote:

Heres one of the ones in Ha Noi, 600 villas, some finished, many half completed.
Ha Noi villas

Great video... Thanks! I was wonder how much are they selling for if someone want to buy it.

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

WillyBaldy wrote:

SteinNebraska wrote:

Great video.  Does anyone live there besides the people building yet another unoccupied building?  I have never seen vacant streets in Vietnam.

I think this area is a massive "parked money" area where oversea and local Vietnamese with too much money can invest or even launder money. I've never seen so many new, luxury units unoccupied in such a massive scale. But it's just a small area of Rach Gia, I'll make another video this week showing the "real vibe" and heart of Rach Gia.

My experience in other Vietnamese cities:

In order to get a true sense of how many people live in a neighborhood, shoot your video early in the morning after sunrise or late in the afternoon, just before sunset.

It looks to me like your video was shot during the middle of the day, when many Vietnamese people prefer to stay inside

When we visited, it looked the same and most are empty, no people, no furniture, no vehicles, just empty condos row after row, ghost town.  Makes one wonder why invest?  Mafia?

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

In order to get a true sense of how many people live in a neighborhood, shoot your video early in the morning after sunrise or late in the afternoon, just before sunset.

It looks to me like your video was shot during the middle of the day, when many Vietnamese people prefer to stay inside

Definitely. My next video is going to be about the relative huge "night life" of Rach Gia so I'll try to shoot it around 5PM.

Dear WillyBaldy
Thanks for the video. I was very happy to get an impression of the town.
I am considering to apply for a position in the area.
Would be happy if you or others could  tell me more about living conditions in Rach Glia- especially for expats.
No Beach? How far is the nearest beach?
The video shows empty roads - is that always like this?
What to do in this city?
Are you still living there?
Thanks in advance Maike

Hey there @MaikeW,

I had to leave Rach Gia like a bandit last March because borders were closing quickly and it was my last chance to get back "easily" in Canada. My health insurance was expiring soon at the time and I couldn't risk being "stuck" in Vietnam another six months (thus losing my official residency in Canada, which would have had tax and other financial consequences).

Although I was working from home for my job in Canada, I was friend with a few English teachers in town. There's a nice little community of teachers that sometimes meet in a few "expat" bars over the city. It's nothing compared to the communities in more touristy places like Da Nang but it's better than nothing for those looking for other expats.

I personally love the city but that's because I love being close to the local culture. Most Vietnamese people don't speak one word of English there, so if you speak zero Vietnamese it might be challenging. I've got a few contacts (like a Vietnamese English teacher) who could maybe help you out with the basics if you need, but if you're applying for an English teacher job then the school will be able to help you with translation challenges.

The roads are not always empty but never as crowded as big cities. It's much safer to drive there than it is in Saigon, that's for sure.

There's no beach and if you want a beach you'll either have to go to Ha Tien (2 hours bus) which I heard has some type of beach or take the boat to Phu Quoc island (2 hours).

What to do in the city? I'm low maintenance so I did what I love doing: go around and enjoy the sun, ocean and the pure air. Eat amazing Vietnamese food (seafood, soups and so on) and enjoy coffees in the morning by the ocean. There's a cinema at the Vincom Centre but that's pretty much it in term of "Western attractions". So it could be boring depending of what your expections are, but I'm a boring person myself so I enjoyed every day :-D

I'm planning on spending another six months there once the COVID situation makes it easier to get back to Vietnam. I'll wait for things to settle down, can't wait to be back!

Dear WillyBaldy
Thank you so much for your fast reply - that is really helpful and so nice that you took the time.
I have to learn Vietnamese in case I get the position (project area is Kien Giang and Ca Mau Provinces).
Is there a ferrry boat to the island also from Rach Glia? I read that you have to drive by car for quite a distance to get to the boat. is that right? In case you have some photos from the coast or sea view from Rach Glia, I would be very glad to see them.
There is not much information online about the area.

Would be greta to meet in Rach Glia one day.
Greetings from Germany, Maike

Helo MaikeW,

A simple Google search "Rach gia ocean" will give you plenty of photos I'm sure.

I'm not sure what "island" you're talking about? Are you talking about Phu Quoc? The ferry is pretty in the middle of Rach Gia so it's not far.

Getting to Ca Mau from Rach Gia can be a pain because you need to go by smaller roads, so it's like 2-3 hours of bumpy roads I think.

What about shopping and availability of imported foods?

cruisemonkey wrote:

What about shopping and availability of imported foods?

There's not much imported food over there. I think the best way to shop is to order through Lazada, shipping is cheap and fast from Saigon. There's a Mega Market which was my main shopping spot. They've got some Western-style food.