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CThomas
Joined: 21 Oct 2009
Posts: 380
Location: HCMC, Vietnam
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 Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 12:54 pm Post subject: Vietnam is Aweseome -- |
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| Do your footwork and take the plunge. Believe. Contribute. Do. Prosper. |
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Wide Awake
Joined: 15 Feb 2010
Posts: 26
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| Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 1:02 pm Post subject: |
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Get a new girlfriend or something?  |
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CThomas
Joined: 21 Oct 2009
Posts: 380
Location: HCMC, Vietnam
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| Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 1:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Wide Awake wrote: |
| Get a new girlfriend or something? |
Dang, dude. Different conversation. This is for people who are dealing with the complexity of coming here in the first place. Girlfriends come later.  |
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Wide Awake
Joined: 15 Feb 2010
Posts: 26
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| Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 1:40 pm Post subject: |
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I feel the same way on most days, but then there are the other days...
Awesome? Yes, it can be. Bring a suitcase loaded with patience and tolerance though. |
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londo
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 107
Location: District 7
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| Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 2:37 pm Post subject: |
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You can get a new girlfriend in an hour if you want - someone who truly loves you takes time and you gotta know at least a little of the culture to do so. awesome place...
I agree, been here a good while and I can truly say nowhere has had me up and down like this place....some days bad, the good are truly awesome.
Worth jumping thru hoops for....for me yes. Had a bad day? - taxi driver cut you up? , been screwed? had 10 relatives turn up while you're stark naked watching a nice movie, drinking a cold beer? ....yeh,
but next morning you see the the sun, the palm trees, the truly spectacular, the absurd, the ambition, the drive and you think WTF I love this place |
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BenE
Joined: 11 Oct 2008
Posts: 321
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| Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 5:51 pm Post subject: |
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Yes Vietnam is a great place.
It is possible to get a good job here and a work permit.
It is possible here to come fresh from your CELTA and make a sucess of yourself.
The people I've met here have blown me away and changed my life and direction forever.
Oh I've been here 1 1/2 years so I'm not just on the high at the beginning. Sadly I have to leave soon for the next place though I will certainly want to come back to continue doing the same here as I am doing right now. |
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Wide Awake
Joined: 15 Feb 2010
Posts: 26
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| Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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For example:
After my last post I do what I really enjoy, which is taking the motorbike down to 1A and opening it up while sreaming "I'm king of the world!". After a while I pulled over to take a sip of Dr. Thanh and eat a sandwich, just watching the traffic go by. Within a minute one guy stopped to take a wizz beside me. Another bike pulled over and his girlfriend jumped off the back and started puking. Lovely!
I jumped back on, rode for a few minutes, then pulled off to the side again. This time an old lady and a younger guy started arguing. She picked up a brick and threw it at him! Dinner and a show. To his credit he didn't hit her. What would I have done if he had? Nothing. That's all I can do as a stranger in this strange land. |
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Jerullan
Joined: 31 Aug 2009
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 9:31 am Post subject: |
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| BenE wrote: |
| Sadly I have to leave soon for the next place though I will certainly want to come back to continue doing the same here as I am doing right now. |
You've been helpful to me with my newbie questions about Hanoi, BenE.
Thanks.
Best of luck, and where are you headed (if I may ask)? |
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Andy123
Joined: 24 Sep 2009
Posts: 206
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Oh My God
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 273
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| Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 4:12 pm Post subject: |
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MOD EDIT
Vietnam can be pretty awesome but after you've been here a few years the "wonder" starts wearing a little thin, of course I'm talking about Saigon that is.
When I first got here, it was such a great adventure to see places and meet new people but now it's the same old thing and I'm getting tired of having "celebrity" status here. The traffic is becoming unbearable and the pollution is slowly destroying my health. I long to go to a restaurant to eat a meal and drink a few beers where people will just let me be alone for a little while.
But as my good friend from Texas says, "When people from VN ask you what you think of VN, put on the rose-colored glasses and tell them what they want to hear because you can wear those rose-colored glasses to the BANK!"
This has always served me well and is my advice to you.
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londo
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 107
Location: District 7
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| Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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Oh my God - i agree but if you stay around places where they go to 'oggle' the foreigners then you're always going to be bothered - try D2 or D7 where we are, if not the majority, well at least not a novelty to be disturbed or fleeced.
Yeh I know it's not 'ethnic' or really Vietnam, but you can't have it both ways. If you live here long-term then you have to make your life as easy and comfortable as possible.
when you want to be 'local', when you want street food, when you want to go shopping, get on yer bike and go, rest of the time it's nice to feel like everyone else. we are NOT and NEVER will be VN, don't even try and don't think we are being 'correct' by living amongst them, they don't respect you trying - they just think we're losers for trying.
I love this country - but I'm Tay and they want me to be Tay and I will always be a Tay...the rest I'll enjoy when I want.
MOD EDIT |
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