Vietnam is the place at the moment, like China 10 years ago or Korea 15 years ago, they are going from a developing country to a developed country and this makes it a 'hot property' for us 'foreign experts'. They are crying out for engineers and language teachers and so on to help them spend their money. This is going to continue I think as China becomes more imperial and a lot of the foreign businesses are moving down to south Asia
So I moved there two years ago on the advice of a friend who pointed out that I was unhappy in China. I had a 6 month holiday at home, but I will post a mini essay about Vietnam for people who may be thinking of going there. Questions after the lecture lol
Pros
1. Vietnam is incredibly beautiful. I know that China is beautiful also, but I assume that most of us live in cities with at least a million people, and are in that China vibe that it's all just cities. Even if you go to the countryside, it's full of people. Vietnam really is still full of wonders. Even in Hanoi which is a big city, you can go on your motorbike for 30 minutes and it's all trees and rivers. 90 minutes is a ridiculously beautiful mountain range with motherflipping wood fired goat pizza, or the sea
I didn't live in the south, but I think that is the same. It really can't be understated to people who live in China just how much incredible nature Vietnam has. I mean of course you are bored, but on a nice day you are always literally a day trip away from something ridiculously beautiful.
2. Friendliness. Vietnamese people are much more friendly than Chinese. I mean everyone is, but Vietnamese I would stick up for all day. I don't mean that fake friend thing like if you are a tourist and they want to use you for some guangxi, people are still just genuinely interested in foreigners, especially outside of the big cities. If you have been in China for a while then you will know how it works like you are nothing to strangers, but if invited into a family and then you are family and you can come to dinner in pajamas, Vietnamese have that but it's not extreme like China. Even in Hanoi people will just help you out because you look like you need help with your terrible Vietnamese language skills.
3. It's all happening now. I moved to China in 2009 and it was new to Chinese people as well as me at the time. The wild west was over, but it was still a very young country in a way. I was invited to all kinds of weird things just on the basis of being laowai, it's the same in Vietnam at the moment, it's not crazy, but there is still a novelty that capitalism is working. You can easily wind up meeting a mayor or something
Cons
1) Infrastucture: They have done a good job on the roads thankMarx not me, but if you go off a main road then you are in danger of dirt tracks, likewise the train is a train in the western model not the amazing achievement that is Chinese railway. It's not terrible at all, but coming from China, it's 10 years behind. Because of the climate stuff breaks all of the time. They have done a good job with everything, but it is a thing, like the weather is bad then everything has to stop
2) The pay is lower. It might not look like it, but it's another one, we don't realise how nice we have it here. You can still save up, but you are paid less in Vietnam. it's quite a few dollars per hour when you work it out. I just always had university jobs in China and then did part time, that gig doesn't seem to exist in Vietnam. You can still live well, but it is a paycut
3) Chinese women and food are better.
I would recommend Nam 100% if you want out of China, but as a short term gig.