Category: Vietnam

Five Dog Night

A Three Dog Night is one so cold that three dogs have to be called into service as radiators.

They’re also that awful 70s covers band, but that’s another dismaying saga, and here we are concerned with my own.

Because last night, I had a Five Dog Night. It wasn’t cold, but the fiends performed in concert to make my night miserable.

A mysterious siren of some kind pulsed out its high pitch, acting as the perfect conductor, and excuse, to loose the hounds. Or more particularly, their vocal chords.

The pack kept up the aural assault from around 9pm to midnight, when blessed unconsciousness took me over. As if to properly scramble the nerves, every so often they threw in a teaser – a few minutes of silence.

I’d taken a punt, and branched out to the Hinterlands a bit.

The idea was to test whether an apartment going for a relatively cheap 4.5 million VND/month was going to be liveable. What with the Hounds, and the Trains, and the flimsy blanket, the answer was NO.

And all that discovery cost me was one shabby night’s sleep, and a few brain cells probably retired permanently.

I shifted today over to North side of town.

Vietnam

Notes on the Lam

I arrived in Nha Trang three days ago on a scouting mission.

I’m still here. I like it. Here’s why;

It has a spectacular beachfront. Maybe a similar length to Mount Maunganui, with some surf. Its cleaner than the DaNang beachfront, but still more littered than most New Zealand beaches. The difference is that the beachfront is developed, with walkways, exercise areas, motorcycle parking, etc.
There are a lot of foreigners here. Many Russians. That means that there’s an effort to cater for foreign tastes. Notably things like good olive oil, coconut cream, cheese, pate, olives.
It’s warm, but not roasting. Of course, it is autumn. Still a little too hot for me to spend hours outside, but bearable.
There are many locals who speak enough English to communicate with. With the help of some charades.

The scouting is for apartments and jobs. I think I may be getting quoted ‘foreigner prices’, but thus far it seems apartments are only a little cheaper than the much larger Da Nang. About 50% more expensive than Rayong, though.

So far no solid leads job-wise.

I plan to visit DaLat while I’m down here, staying one maybe two nights.

Whatever I finally decide city-wise, I left a packed suitcase at the Da Nang hotel, so I have to return there to collect it.

Thailand 2019 Vietnam

Good Evening Vietnam

I made it to Vietnam.

The day of the trip – yesterday – is a long comic story, more of which later.

For now, here’s a view from the balcony of the Kaluga Hotel, Da Nang

First impressions –

Da Nang is a beautuful city

It’s cleaner, and less dusty, than ( the parts of ) Thailand ( I was in )

The ( ocean ) beach is great – long, relatively clean, and less than 5 minutes’ walk from the hotel

Riding ( a scooter ) on the right-hand side of the road is a challenge

Vietnamese drivers use their horns like other people use their indicators

Thailand 2019 Vietnam

Vietnam here I come

The see-sawing is finally over. It’s Vietnam rather than Pattaya.

After I resigned from my current school, I did a phone interview with a private school in Pattaya. The upshot was a job offer for 40k baht / month, as opposed to the current 37k ( about NZD 1900 ).

So a good offer. But after torturing myself with Visa options for staying in Thailand, the only reliable one I could find was another 30-hour bus-trip to Savannakhet, Laos. The slightly less bitter pill would have been a 10-hour drive in a rental car.

I just couldn’t do it. Here’s my logic – if that’s how high Thailand wants me to jump, I’ll play elsewhere. Plus, the Thai Visa situation re foreigners is getting worse, not better.

So it’s two birds in the bush – Vietnam’s higher pay-rates and cheaper living – rather than one in the hand ( a solid offer from Thailand ).

My last day at the current job is October 31.

I leave for Vietnam – most likely Da Nang – in the day or after that.