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How long? I spent 4 months in Vietnam in 2007 in HCMC. Rent was $300/mo for a sweet pad down the street from the Ben Thanh market. Food was $400/mo, and I didn

How long? I spent 4 months in Vietnam in 2007 in HCMC. Rent was $300/mo for a sweet pad down the street from the Ben Thanh market. Food was $400/mo, and I didn't cook much at all because street food is cheap and delicious. However, I'm not sure how this would work out long term, like decades. I couldn't commit to living in a country like that full time. The language barrier would be overwhelming, and I did get tired of friends vanishing after just a few weeks. I'm a het-dude, and the local women I dated really wanted families asap and I wasn't ready -- there are a lot of highly successful women there who I got on with w/o much of a culture barrier since they had studied in US/Europe; I wasn't there doing the creepy-US-dude-looking-for-boomboom thing. Not sure I could have made a life for myself there and been happy into old age. I can't imagine what long term healthcare would be like into my 80's as an expat in Vietnam.

Rezwoodly 5y ago
Lived there for roughly a year. Short term I cant think of anywhere better, the country is within the OPs budget and offers metropolis cities, to tropical beaches. The food is good, and the culture is fascinating - if thats your kind of thing & are prepared to be open minded. Long term, I share the same sentiments and felt it was time to leave after a hell of a year. On reflection, that year was probably on of the best of my 30+ years on this planet. I sometimes think of doing it all again, going into an unknown culture and winging it. You learn a lot about yourself that way. Good luck to OP whichever country he chooses!
- SavantIdiot 5y ago
  Right? The Vietnamese were really, really friendly. Constantly had people wanting to talk to me wherever I went, regardless which part of the country. At first I was scared there was an ulterior motive, but not in the slightest. They just wanted to talk. Contrast: I spent some time in Central America a few years ago, and I found a lot of people who were really unfriendly, or hostile. Mostly because I didn't speak Spanish. Whew did I get yelled at a lot. One guy at a Panamanian IT cafe called me out when I asked for the password in English. He shouted: "You come here with all your money and expect us to do everything for you and you can't even speak our language?" Yikes. Whoops. He was 100% right. TBH, because of that incident I'm still embarrassed to this day when I have to travel to a country for work and can only speak the few phrases I crammed on the plane, and then have to point or speak English.

Rezwoodly 5y ago

Lived there for roughly a year. Short term I cant think of anywhere better, the country is within the OPs budget and offers metropolis cities, to tropical beaches. The food is good, and the culture is fascinating - if thats your kind of thing & are prepared to be open minded. Long term, I share the same sentiments and felt it was time to leave after a hell of a year. On reflection, that year was probably on of the best of my 30+ years on this planet. I sometimes think of doing it all again, going into an unknown culture and winging it. You learn a lot about yourself that way. Good luck to OP whichever country he chooses!

SavantIdiot 5y ago
Right? The Vietnamese were really, really friendly. Constantly had people wanting to talk to me wherever I went, regardless which part of the country. At first I was scared there was an ulterior motive, but not in the slightest. They just wanted to talk. Contrast: I spent some time in Central America a few years ago, and I found a lot of people who were really unfriendly, or hostile. Mostly because I didn't speak Spanish. Whew did I get yelled at a lot. One guy at a Panamanian IT cafe called me out when I asked for the password in English. He shouted: "You come here with all your money and expect us to do everything for you and you can't even speak our language?" Yikes. Whoops. He was 100% right. TBH, because of that incident I'm still embarrassed to this day when I have to travel to a country for work and can only speak the few phrases I crammed on the plane, and then have to point or speak English.