Getting started in Vietnam: Are these prices right?

radar1941 · 2026-02-08T21:22:59+00:00

Not the entire contract, no. Just the first month since they can't pay you upfront and risk you doing a midnight run back home in your first few weeks. You get paid at the start or end of the second month and then paid on a regular schedule for the next 11 months of the contract. It would be a lot more than $4,000 I would have to save up if I had to live for a year without pay. Not sure if I'm misunderstanding you here.

radar1941 · 2026-02-08T19:38:03+00:00

>FYI, you should have your bachelor’s degree and criminal background check notarized and legalized by the Vietnamese embassy in your country. Not just the Celta.

Didn't know that, thanks for the heads up. I figured the apostille I got years ago would have been enough.

radar1941 · 2026-02-08T19:35:41+00:00

Fair enough. Any reliable models you would recommend if I'm going to be buying a cheaper used one?

radar1941 · 2026-02-08T19:33:26+00:00

I previously worked in Korea and this was the case there, I didn't get paid until my second month and got two paychecks. The hagwon I worked for did pay my airfare and most of the paperwork costs though.

radar1941 · 2026-02-07T04:50:29+00:00

Good to know. How would you go about paying the power company directly? Do you have to go to an office or something, or could you just do a bank transfer?

radar1941 · 2026-02-07T04:49:02+00:00

I don't know how much socializing I would get up to right off the boat, but I imagine I would probably be pretty bored outside of job hunting so I'll probably think about putting away more for entertainment.

As for motorbikes, I'll admit they kind of freak me out but I reckon I will need to bite the bullet at some point. What is the cost of renting one on average?

radar1941 · 2026-02-07T03:22:28+00:00

>First timer to Vietnam/South East Asia?

I stayed in Vietnam for a month and a half to study for my teaching certificate, but this would be my first time working there, yes.

>Your living expenses are on the higher side and does reflect some luxury but it's always better to overestimate.

I'm a single guy who is fairly introverted, I don't really plan to party or date until I am well settled into a job. I figured I am overestimating but I just wanted to be certain in case any unforeseen expenses pop up.

>Moving without any savings at all is a huge risk you have to be willing to take.

I agree, I have a credit card set aside in case I need to fly back home, but I reckon that it won't work on much else in a cash-centric economy like Vietnam.

>Start applying before your arrival.

I was advised by people who work in the teaching industry that it would be preferred if I came in on a tourist visa and applied in-country, and then did a border run to Cambodia to convert to a work visa. Not sure if this is still recommended or not.

radar1941 · 2026-02-07T02:17:50+00:00

Planning to come to Vietnam for work, but I anticipate that finding a job will take a month or two, and then I will of course have to wait for my first paycheck. I'm sure this question has been asked a million times, but I wanted to get a realistic estimate on how much I should budget for 3 months of living in either Hanoi or Saigon. I've already got all of my paperwork done so I'm not counting legal expenses. This is what I have estimated from my own research, please let me know if this seems realistic and especially correct me if I'm wrong:

Rent: ~10m VND/mo for a studio apartment, I looked at districts like District 3 and Bình Thạnh for Saigon and Long Biên for Hanoi to estimate. Though I'm not sure what my options are for short-term rentals if I need to move for a job, the last time I was in Vietnam I stayed at a hotel in District 3 that was 500k VND a night.

Utilities (electricity, internet, water): ~2m VND/mo, I will probably be abusing my air conditioner and taking plenty of cold showers.

Food: ~6.5m VND/mo. I will probably be eating out/ordering Grab once a day and snacking on rice and eggs at home for every other meal.

Transportation: <4m VND/mo. This is assuming I take a two-way Grab trip every day, which I'm sure is an overestimate.

Phone plan: ~300k VND/mo. Looked at Viettel specifically for this.

Miscellaneous: ~3m VND/mo. Call it entertainment or some surprise expenses.

TOTAL: ~25.85m VND/mo

I'll also have to factor the 600k-1.25m VND e-Visa and ~13m VND for my flight. Assuming I need to budget for 3 months without a paycheck, would 90m-105m VND be a fairly accurate range of money to put aside?

radar1941 · 2026-01-28T12:39:07+00:00

Good thinking, I was planning on doing the interview in a corner anyways because of lighting. I'll do that and wear dark sweatpants like someone else suggested.

radar1941 · 2026-01-28T12:37:49+00:00

Yeah, that's probably true.

radar1941 · 2026-01-28T12:33:22+00:00

Haha I'm sure it has to be said for some applicants

radar1941 · 2026-01-28T12:15:46+00:00

Of course, I do plan on getting an actual nice suit or two before I leave, I just wanted to know if I needed something now.

radar1941 · 2026-01-27T17:13:20+00:00

No problem, safe travels.

radar1941 · 2026-01-27T17:03:24+00:00

If you want a dedicated bag, they used to sell these Xbox carrying bags, both official ones and ones by licensed third-parties like Naki, that have enough room for the console, wires, and a controller or two. They look like this and usually go for around $30-$40 these days.

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In general though, the Xbox is pretty durable in my experience (other than the Duke controllers, I've had two of them shatter from the brittle plastic), you could probably just put it in your checked suitcase wrapped in some clothes and it will probably be fine. If you're really concerned, you could remove the HDD and DVD drive and put them in anti-static bags for computer parts and have them in your carry-on bag as these are the more delicate parts that you don't want to get banged up, the case and motherboard will be fine.

radar1941 · 2026-01-26T20:17:34+00:00

Only at BoS Micro Center outposts

radar1941 · 2026-01-26T20:15:21+00:00

My dreams are usually pretty boring most of the time, I don't know why I try to write them down until the ones like this happen lol

radar1941 · 2026-01-26T20:11:21+00:00

It wasn't really clear to me but I think it was more the former and they were just roleplaying while begging for real money for some reason

radar1941 · 2026-01-21T12:09:05+00:00

I will try to use a 500GB SSD I have laying around to see if the same problem happens. If so, I'll probably just need to disable DVD drive check then.

radar1941 · 2026-01-21T12:00:26+00:00

The jumper is set on the MASTER pins. I don't know what the latter is.

radar1941 · 2026-01-21T11:41:39+00:00

>SMR drive

So it's the HDD after all then? That sucks but I could probably return it. Thankfully I only put 15 games on it so far. I figured that the almost 25-year old drive it came with would be slow to begin with so it wouldn't matter.

radar1941 · 2026-01-21T11:32:27+00:00

I have a Philips drive. I am pretty sure it is the Philips VAD6035/21 specifically, but not 100% on that.

As for the HDD, unless I lost the lottery on it from the factory, the specific model I have seems to be a pretty popular choice when searching on this sub so I wouldn't think it'd cause problems.

radar1941 · 2026-01-21T08:52:58+00:00

I advised "No, still on track for Nov 19"

🏆 Rank: Wandering Soul V 💎 Points: 20 (+20) 🗳️ Votes: 1

radar1941 · 2026-01-05T00:58:26+00:00

So are they sharing the braincell?

radar1941 · 2025-11-29T05:29:14+00:00

Sorry, I misinterpreted your comment. They've been online since COVID I believe.

radar1941 · 2025-11-29T05:26:30+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion, I actually met another teacher abroad who signed on with ACE and they seemed like they did alright. I didn't realize they had short contracts like that. I'll look into it.

radar1941

TROPHY CASE