Job Discussion Forums

[CNexpatesl]

To be honest, I've seen you posting for years now and generally think I know you -- I don't think you'll like it there.

Vietnam is just China lite, only with less conveniences. There are no delivery apps, you can't pay your phone bill with a simple swipe of your phone, you can't pay for things online easily, etc. And there are scams everywhere. The locals will you rip you off and take advantage at every opportunity.

And there are tons of young guys from South Africa absolutely flooding the country now. So competition is getting worse. I found it hard getting jobs there, except with a few companies. But they'll require 'more' of you, i.e. being extremely active and "goofy."

[coffeespoonman]

@CNexpatesl

You may be right - my experience here has been positive for the last two months, but I realize that I've still got my rose colored glasses on. We'll see how I feel in another 3-4 months.

However, some of the frustrations you mentioned don't really apply to me. I've come here with a job, so I don't really have to worry about competition. That job comes with a work permit, and thus a bank account and a Visa debit card, so paying online is fine (although it's certainly no Alipay). I also don't live or really hang out in the centre, so I haven't really noticed the scams (although I sure did when I was a tourist here in the past), and Grab fixes the most annoying Vietnamese ripoffs - the taxi drivers. However, if I had come in under different circumstances, I can certainly see things that might have created problems for me.

I do sure wish that public transport didn't suck, and traffic does my head in, but so far, those are minor inconveniences (that may well grow).

If you're right about my not liking it in the end, I should be able to at least suffer through two years and then head back to North (or maybe Central) Asia.

[CHINOISE]

China has an immense and awesome propaganda machine which sows seeds of suspicion and resentment against foreigners, especially westerners. Also the police state monitors and bugs foreigners.

In Saigon, they really enjoy and appreciate foreign participation. There is a real community of expats here and I've found the expats here also tend to be happier and more well adjusted.

It really wears on you working with a bunch of disgruntled displaced expats just trying to finish their contracts so they can pay off the debts and GTFO of China.