Job Discussion Forums

PETERKM · Joined: 14 Mar 2004 Posts: 20 Location: LONDON

Hello Dear citizens of the English speaking countries,
Could any of you give me an idea of my chances?
I am 27, have SELTA, experience, fluent English and will be in Vietnam in January.
I am not a native speaker.

Has anyone done Bangkok - Saigon on rails or parts of this destination?

Thank you

indigora · Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 7

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, "can't do it!!" It may be possible, but certainly not recommended. I've never known of a route, though one could have been recently established.

If you want to go overland, the best way is to use boats and buses. Go to the East Bus station in Bangkok and take the bus to Trot (near ko chang). Leave in the morning for the Cambodian boarder by taxi-bus and boat and arrive in the beach resort city Shianookville, something like that. Take a bus to Pnom Phen which is only a few hours on a nice road. Take a boat to Ho chi Minh city (saigon).

It's been a while since I took the northern route by train through the border town of Poipet (???). There is no train line through Cambodia, but that may have changed. Even if you are going to Siem Reep, I wouldn't take the bus/train. Take the hydrofoil everytime. One could get seasick on the bus, the roads are that bad.

Happy travels..

Mexico Bound · Joined: 15 Feb 2003 Posts: 6

If you get a lot of replies telling you it's very difficult for non native speakers to find a decent paying job in Vietnam, you could always check out Taiwan. I don't exactly how much they pay non native speakers, but you should be able to make enough money there to travel to Vietnam or where ever else you want to go in the region. (check out the Taiwan board for pay info for non natives, there should be something there) When I was there last year there I met several Czechs and Swedes teaching there. They had to sign up for Mandarin classes to get a 6 month visa, most of these classes require an 80% attendance rate. (if your are comfortable with it, there are some shadier schools that offer these classes without mandatory attendance but I think they are cracking down on these schools)
Good luck, Steve.