Job Discussion Forums

[clayrview]

Here's the thing:

From Sept- December I'm working in D1, after which my school opens a new location in Nha Be.

I'm looking to find something in D7- and would love some recommendations of apartment buildings or Realtors that are trustworthy (hard to find I know!)

Have a budget of 600/month. Need 1-2 bedrooms, prefer 2 but priority is on an apartment that is clean, modern and secure (tall order).

Also, if I get a place right away in D7, I'll have to taxi into D1 everyday- Any ideas of the cost/time invested in this?

No, I can't get a motorbike as my reaction time is no so good, and I reckon I'll be dead within a week. We all have our weaknesses.

Finally- Not including rent, how much cash can I survive on for a month- Can I make do with 1000 until my first paycheck? (for food and living- not visas/rent)

Cheers guys!

[s10czar]

Hello,

You can call my girlfriend Phung at 84903664973 for an apartment. She's a pro. Best of luck to you!

Scott

[mark_in_saigon]

spend money on a taxi, you can get a xe om to take you for about half the cost. Some folks even set up a regular service with a xe om, same guy every time. I bet you could even find a female to do it if you tried. I know some of those guys are a little, uhhhhhhhhhhh, well, I bet you could if you tried. The girls drive a bit less insanely than the men, too. I have my own bikes, but I have a friend who is a xe om and he seems to feel it is his duty to drive like a moron. I would make a big deal out of it, but they all drive like that, don't they? In his defense, he has told me that when I ride with him, I am the president, and he has a force field that protects me.

You can get fed for a dollar a meal, per person, if you are willing to eat the normal food. The natives can survive on less than that. If you are not a big eater, you can probably get fed on 60 cents a meal. But it becomes a question of how much you want to scrimp. Consuming is one of our great pleasures here, and so it is up to you the kind of place you want to go, nicer places have much higher prices of course. I like to find cheap places that I feel comfy with. Some of the cheap places seem too nasty, some are just fine. You can sure find lots of excuses to buy coffee, those special blended drinks they make, pastries, what have you. If you buy whole fruit and keep it in your frig, esp watermelon, you can satisfy some of that urge at a lower cost. Watermelon is excellent here, and very inexpensive. Ditto pineapple.

Housing is an important decision, not as easily changed as your choice of restaurants. It is better to stay at a cheap hotel for a couple of weeks and research your apartment choice than to make a fast entry into the wrong place.

[londo]

I agree with Mark (yet again),
get a long-term hotel in D1 to start and take your time finding an apartment, you're going to need your paperwork in order before you can sign a legitimate rental agreement anyway.

As for cabs.....if you're on a teacher's salary, even a good one, you won't be able to afford it from D7 to D1.

Assuming you'll want to go home for lunch or a 'post-prandial' siesta (most do) or you're doing split-shifts, it's going to cost you 500,000 VND a day!...that's 10-15,000,000 VND a month; more than your rent! In a year you'd spend more than buying an old car (5 year-old Kia morning for example).

time by cab: rush hour.45 mins, otherwise 30 mins. By bike 20-30 minutes

it costs about 125,000 one way from D7 to D1. You could rent a car and driver on a long-term, 10 hour day, 6 days a week for only 4 or 5m more a month.
Don't know many English teachers who could afford that.

[Oh My God]

[clayrview]

Man, taxi's seem even more expensive than Shanghai! Shocking!

I reckon I can try to find short term accommodation until the move to the new Campus.

Any guest houses people can recommend?

What do you usually have to pay up front?

Will be staying with my boyfriend who is coming up later, so a small room probably will lead to madness and fierce fights if longer than a couple weeks.

Any places you can rent short term that are a bit bigger- maybe with a small kitchen?

[londo]

My advice would be to try and put up with each other for a month or two....just imagine you're on vacation.

a month in advance and don't forget to bargain. Anything from 7 to 30 bucks. For about 15 you're going to get cable, AC and private bathroom.

Maybe there are some larger rooms but don't know of any with kitchen personally, though VN students do find them, you're not likely to. Surprisingly, eating out is not more and often less expensive than eating in so unless you have a VN to do the shopping in the market for you, don't worry on that score.

If your BF is going to be working with you then a cab actually works out cheaper than taking two moto-taxis, but the best (only?) option is to ride bikes. It can be scary, but you get used to it.

As for cash, 19-20m VND is more than enough for anyone who has been here a while, but..... remember you will NOT be able to slide right into the 'life', you will spend more and probably get taken a few times, plus if that 1K is for both of you...you're on the ragged edge...you are going to have to be very careful, and if you need to pay for any extras like health checks, translations, notarisations, helmets, raingear, sim cards, internet, meds, etc etc...it isn't going to be enough.

Vietnam (read HCMC/Hanoi) is NOT cheap

[chim35]

Are there no public buses from District 7 to District 1? I'm sure there are. What about using those?

I heard there is also a special shuttle bus to/from Dist. 7. Can anyone give more details about that?

While we're on the subject of apartments, is there no way to rent an apartment in VN without a residence permit? I'd love to rent a place with a kitchen but I live here on continuously extended 3 month visas and a res permit doesn't seem possible for me as I don't work here and not married to a Viet.

[Bold As Love]

There are public (non AC) buses that run from D7 (Phu My Hung) to central bus station downtown, but I haven't been able to figure out the schedule. I have been told they cost about 7000 dong. Anyone have a link or info on a place to get bus maps/schedules?

No need for a work permit or anything other than a fistful of cash to rent an apartment. My landlord said she would register me at the police station but don't know if I will get a piece of paper to document that, or if it is something that the owner retains. (Any insight from the board on that topic?)

[londo]

I'd forgot 'bout the bus, yes there's a small 'county' thing that I see trundling around now and then. It's mainly used by Korean housewives by the look of it and I doubt it's regular enough and as it's a PMH Corp thing it stops running after about 8 o'clock. As for the std public buses, yuk, yuk, but would certainly be cheap though not cheerful...worth looking into I suppose.

As for the flat without Paperwork.....Oh I admit it, I was exagerating a little teeny bit. Officially you should have res. cert. and/or work permit to be able to get your blue book stamped by the Boys in Green, but, as everything in VN, some HCM coupons, usually 3 or 5 of the green ones, does it. The 'blue book' is your rent book which contains the permission, signed and stamped, from the police. Everyone needs this, even VNese. We even have one for the dog. We keep the book but the landlord has to go or get someone to go to the local station.

EDIT UPDATE: the book is called 'SO - KHAI BAO TAM TRU, TAM VANG'
released by the District Commitee, has the owner and apartment details on the cover and each person who has lived there, with ID details, listed inside, stamped and signed by the local police. Without this you should not be staying there (in theory) and even Vietnamese need to register. Remember even they should have a temporary residence permit if they were born in the provinces...as most in HCMC were.

Without that stamp the B.i.G can come and turf you out anytime you pee someone off and your rental contract is somewhat less than valid. Doesn't stop many from doing it, though. a good agent will help you with the coupon distribution.

[jimmiethefish]

There are several local buses from PMH to District 1 for 3000 dong. #34 is the local chuga chuga, runs every 10-15 mins from early to about 8pm but takes a circuitous route through local neighbourhoods. #102 is the express coach and has a/c. Catch outside KFC to go into the city as other places it might just not stop. There are several PMH bus routes now. 10,000 dong from PMH to just outside Lucky Plaza, a/c, runs about every 30 mins, mornings & evenings popular with workers, during the day with shoppers.

Taxi from PMH to city centre about 70-80,000. If you live somewhere like the Hoang Anh Gia Lai apartments next to Lotte Mart on Nguyen Thi Thap, or at the other end of Nguyen Thi Thap in Phu My An building then 60,000. If you are down the other end in PMH proper, close to Nha Be (Nguyen Luong Bang) then you can pay less rent for a better quality apartment and get a pool (Phu My building - a lot of them have similar names so be careful) as well as open spaces. Not many eating places but slowly getting more. Taxis have further to travel to D1. A PMH bus runs down there and there are other buses but I don't know them.

[londo]

PMH to D1 for 60,000/80,000?, yes at 11:00 or weekend, unfortunately most need to travel during rush hour...and it's 110,000 - 125,000. Wife and I took a cab from Nathelie's (opposite KFC) to Lotte on Saturday for a BIG shopping expedition and it cost 23.000 (no tip)...from there to D1 it certainly doesn't cost just an extra 50K.

The bus option looks good but depends where it goes and then how to get from there to work...sometimes the time factor would kill the idea...3-4 hours a day travelling if you have split shifts?

As noted many times PMH realy isn't as expensive as people believe and for many the better living conditions far out weigh the logistical problems, and if you work nearby, no contest. But for some without their own transport I can understand the negatives. Maybe HAGL/Lotte/Thi Thap area would be a better compromise than PMH proper.