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We're in HCMC, and neither of us is Vietnamese nor fluent. Luckily I'm a 230lb white guy with a red, eight inch beard so everyone already has comically low expectations of my Vietnamese at first sight. It works to your advantage when everyone you see grins, mimes stroking a beard and shouts "Hallo!" and makes the subsequent akwardness due to lack of communication a lot easier to bear.
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Jul 23, 2017 16:50
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Shnicker posted:Some more advice solicitation... I'm going to be doing my CELTA in Bangkok in September. Any recommendations for a long-ish term place to stay near the Sala Daeng BTS station? After being in Singapore I kinda forgot what Thai prices are like. Maybe 15-20k baht for a month sounds reasonable? It would be nice if it had a pool and a gym too, but I've been spoiled. Singapore goons out own Bangkok goons day in, day out, sorry friend
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Jul 24, 2017 07:50
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What a great thing to be proud of, heh. Our language is impossible and no one speaks it! Take that!
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Jul 24, 2017 14:57
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ReindeerF posted:What a great thing to be proud of, heh. Our language is impossible and no one speaks it! Take that! I think a bunch of asian countries are of the same opinion wrt their languages
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Jul 24, 2017 15:23
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ladron posted:Literally all asian countries are of the same opinion wrt their languages Ftfy
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Jul 24, 2017 15:52
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Shnicker posted:Some more advice solicitation... I'm going to be doing my CELTA in Bangkok in September. Any recommendations for a long-ish term place to stay near the Sala Daeng BTS station? After being in Singapore I kinda forgot what Thai prices are like. Maybe 15-20k baht for a month sounds reasonable? It would be nice if it had a pool and a gym too, but I've been spoiled. Shnicker posted:I guess I wouldn't mind going up to 20,000 baht for a month if the location was good, had a pool and gym, etc. It would be a lot easier if places would respond to my emails. It's a lot to sort through, but you can give this site a try: https://www.prakard.com/viewforum.php?f=993
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Jul 24, 2017 16:59
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ladron posted:I think a bunch of asian countries are of the same opinion wrt their languages "You can speak Khmer?" [little bit] "Can you speak Thai?" [some] "Mmm. Khmer is much harder." (note: Khmer is much easier coming from a non-tonal language because it doesn't really have tones)
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Jul 25, 2017 10:57
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kru posted:Singapore goons out own Bangkok goons day in, day out, sorry friend Haha, you're the only Singapore goon I've met, but you make a good case Ganguro King posted:It's a lot to sort through, but you can give this site a try: Thanks for that! I'll take my time looking through that. I appreciate the help.
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Jul 25, 2017 17:03
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Shnicker posted:Haha, you're the only Singapore goon I've met, but you make a good case Having drank whiskey with him in a dive in Taipei and gotten plastered on numerous occasions at shady places in Bangkok and once on my mom's deck with another Singapore goon, I can say they're pretty alright.
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Jul 26, 2017 09:00
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Singapore goons work harder because they need to make up for the lack of character that Singapore has :P
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Jul 29, 2017 02:31
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On that note I'm officially moving to Singapore on Sunday and need to get an apartment within two weeks. Trying to find someplace small on my own for under 2000, don't care if it's dirty or dangerous (relatively speaking, given Singapore) as long as the building isn't literally falling down. Doable or am I hosed and need to roll the dice with roommates I won't know.
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Jul 31, 2017 03:42
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Depends where. It's absolutely doable - assume you will be working/studying. Give me a location, and I'll give you places to look at. Also, is that total per month or just rental? (Utilities etc can be a pain here)
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Jul 31, 2017 05:44
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ReindeerF posted:Quite literally had this in Cambodia this morning with a Khmer guy. Khmer got some wikked consonant clusters tho
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Jul 31, 2017 05:47
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kru posted:Depends where. It's absolutely doable - assume you will be working/studying. Give me a location, and I'll give you places to look at. Ah wasn't aware utilities are that bad; was assuming 2-300/month should more than cover it but could it be worse? I'll be working near Tanjong Pagar so was actually considering Geylang area as I hear it's fairly cheap due to the bad rep, and one train to work. But in general I know nothing about the various districts so a bit lost. Doing some basic research and asking around but the people I know are mostly Singaporean and live with their parents, short timer expats who don't know so much anyway, or higher ups with a much bigger budget, so mostly people not too familiar with the specific level of housing I want.
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Jul 31, 2017 09:23
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Okay, so - 2-300 is about right, just making sure that's not going to gut you. For 2k you are looking at a studio, out of town or geylang like you say. I wouldn't recommend the geylang approach, as most of those condos are tiny. You might actually be better off around where I live (west coast way) there's a load of studio apartments up for grab at the 2k mark, near MRT and nice to live. It's not centre of town, but that's literally 7 mins / 6$ in a taxi so, who cares. If you need help, I can set you up give you a hand etc.
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Jul 31, 2017 11:30
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Any Phnom Penh goons? Girlfriend and I are in town for 7 days, for a visa run. We'd be up for grabbing a beer and swapping expat stories.
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Aug 2, 2017 15:34
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Aug 7, 2017 12:39
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Aug 8, 2017 20:13
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Really been missing Vietnam lately. Everytime I have a bad day at work I always contemplate quitting my job to go teach English back In Ho Chi Minh. Someday. Vietnam goons- go eat some bun bo for me
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Aug 9, 2017 04:09
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I'm back in Bangkok for a job interview after a few days in Chiang Mai but I have come to the realization that I don't particularly want to teach English here. If you could work in any city in the region, where would you go? I'm working on getting some interviews in Vietnam (where the pay is much better) but I've never been there and I don't know what it's like - pretty touristy from what I've heard? The posts by the Cambodia goon make that sound pretty cool and I'd think I'd prefer going there or to Laos or Myanmar than getting a job here. Any suggestions? Are there any dedicated job sites similar to ajarn.com for teaching positions in Laos/Myanmar/Cambodia?
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Aug 9, 2017 04:15
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E Depois do Adeus posted:I'm back in Bangkok for a job interview after a few days in Chiang Mai but I have come to the realization that I don't particularly want to teach English here. If you could work in any city in the region, where would you go? I'm working on getting some interviews in Vietnam (where the pay is much better) but I've never been there and I don't know what it's like - pretty touristy from what I've heard? The posts by the Cambodia goon make that sound pretty cool and I'd think I'd prefer going there or to Laos or Myanmar than getting a job here. It's not quite Southeast Asia, but Taiwan is the happy medium between a developed country and a chill atmosphere with cool people and lots of small towns off the beaten path if that's where you want to live or visit.
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Aug 9, 2017 11:42
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Gonna be in Singapore for a week in the beginning of October. Mostly going to be busy visiting my wife's family and going to her cousin's insanely fancy wedding, but will be doing some general purpose site seeing too. I saw all the zoos and museums last time I was there (about a decade ago), but we're gonna be there with kids this time so if there's any good family friendly tourist traps to kill a day at let me know. I'm told we need to go to Singapore's famous Sentosa resort but then in the next breath they say they've never been there themselves cause it's really overpriced.  We've also been warned that the popular spots are going to be crowded with mainland Chinese on vacation for National Day dunno if that's true?
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Aug 10, 2017 03:08
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E Depois do Adeus posted:I'm back in Bangkok for a job interview after a few days in Chiang Mai but I have come to the realization that I don't particularly want to teach English here. If you could work in any city in the region, where would you go? I'm working on getting some interviews in Vietnam (where the pay is much better) but I've never been there and I don't know what it's like - pretty touristy from what I've heard? The posts by the Cambodia goon make that sound pretty cool and I'd think I'd prefer going there or to Laos or Myanmar than getting a job here. Bangkok is my favorite as its the most international and has the most going on by far. The money's an issue though, especially as far as I can gather it's still very hard to find a 50k+ job there and I had one maybe a decade ago now there when Bangkok was a fair bit cheaper. Living in a provincial wild wild East shantytown is great for about a week at a time but spending a whole year somewhere you might want to be able to get non-local food or talk to someone in English or whatever after a bit. There have been a number of posters in this thread who have sang the praises of Vietnam but they never filled in the details for me really. They all liked to drink is all I can give you. The most common complaint is that the touts are aggressive and sometimes borderline out of control there. If you don't like the money in Thailand you're really not going to like most of what's around in Cambo, Laos or Myanmar. Cambodia has (had?) that khmer440 forum. I don't know if they had job listings but the would know where they are. Also consider Taiwan like Atlas said. It's first world as gently caress but it's a great place to live, the people are nice and have some genuine culture to them, the nightlife goes incredibly late and is good. All the Chinese art / culture left in the world is either there or in Hong Kong (not in the Mainland). It's also one of the few countries in the world where you can change a tourist visa to a working visa without leaving the country. The drawback as far as EFL goes is that a lot of the work is with very small children which I found very difficult and unrewarding, but if you look around enough there are adult jobs.
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Aug 11, 2017 05:08
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Oh and if you do consider Taiwan, go get an FBI background check now. It will take longer to get than your visa is good for there so you need it on hand to accept a job now, assuming you're American. Apparently background checks are slightly faster from other countries?
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Aug 11, 2017 07:47
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Regarding the touts reputation in Vietnam, they are much much worse in Phnom Penh.
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Aug 11, 2017 11:17
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P-Mack posted:Gonna be in Singapore for a week in the beginning of October. Mostly going to be busy visiting my wife's family and going to her cousin's insanely fancy wedding, but will be doing some general purpose site seeing too. It'll be more crowded that week, but it doesn't seem like you have much of a choice. It'll be more crowded everywhere.
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Aug 11, 2017 15:43
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Sentosa is hot garbage catering to sheltered mindless middle class. If I do have wife and kids I rather take them to Wild Wild Wet or the night Safari.
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Aug 11, 2017 16:24
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I would skip Sentosa as well. Unless your kids are jaded with zoos I'd imagine they will enjoy Singapore Zoo? I know you said you've done it before, but it's still nice for your kids. Gardens by the Bay is pretty cool, it's the area just behind the Marina Bay Sands resort and you can just wander around for free. They have a skywalk type thing though we skipped since the queue was pretty long. If you're set on going to a theme park or something, you could pop across into Malaysia and visit Legoland? It's in Johor Bahru right across the border from Singapore, and I'd imagine it'll be cheaper and less crowded than Sentosa.
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Aug 11, 2017 19:12
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Thanks for the advice. I'm in Vientiane now trying to figure out why flights are so expensive. I'm only a millionaire in kip. Are these Vietnam visa on arrival pre approval services a scam?
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Aug 16, 2017 17:21
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Surprisingly, theyre legit. Just fork over the money and bring a printed out piece of paper to the customs checkpoint when you land and your good to go. The websites do look sketchy but the top google results should be safe.
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Aug 16, 2017 19:26
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E Depois do Adeus posted:Thanks for the advice. I'm in Vientiane now trying to figure out why flights are so expensive. I'm only a millionaire in kip. Vietnam dash visa dottttt com was easy peasy and legit. Bring paper copy of the letter that will likely have your name and a bunch of strangers' names on it, plus the proper amount of cash in USD (cookie left out that part but I know he knows) to the window at the airport and wait for them to call your name. Or something approximating your name. Bonus points: if you're feeling like being semi legit while driving in the country, you can use your visa to get a Vietnamese drivers license too! Small investment up front saves big on the "license check"
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Aug 17, 2017 01:50
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Ally McBeal Wiki posted:Bonus points: if you're feeling like being semi legit while driving in the country, you can use your visa to get a Vietnamese drivers license too! Small investment up front saves big on the "license check" Oh wow, I never heard of that. with just a visa (and I assume an existing non-international driver's licenser) you can get a Viet one?
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Aug 17, 2017 09:32
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E Depois do Adeus posted:Thanks for the advice. I'm in Vientiane now trying to figure out why flights are so expensive. I'm only a millionaire in kip.
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Aug 17, 2017 11:31
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I'm about to go to Savannakhet in Laos to do my yearly visa, and if Vientiane is a backwater I don't even know what you'd call that place. It doesn't even have that slightly seedy feel that most border towns have, it's just boring as gently caress with absolutely nothing at all to do. Amazing pâté baguettes though, at least.
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Aug 17, 2017 13:59
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ReindeerF posted:VTE is just such a nowhere backwater that it only matters because the French put the capital there. Otherwise, tourists go to Luang Prabang directly or just fly to Udon and bus it over or something. So, the only people flying are, guess who? Thai government officials and people like that - and they sign their tickets over to TG, who then gets reimbursed by the government and the circle of graft continues, heh. This explains it. I spent two nights in Nong Khai which seemed totally depopulated and there was more to do there than here.
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Aug 17, 2017 16:43
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Is that from the Thai Supermarket on Istedgade in Copenhagen, Denmark? Not that I'm trying to doxx you or anything, hehe.Senso posted:Regarding the touts reputation in Vietnam, they are much much worse in Phnom Penh.
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Aug 17, 2017 21:24
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Bardeh posted:I'm about to go to Savannakhet in Laos to do my yearly visa, and if Vientiane is a backwater I don't even know what you'd call that place. It doesn't even have that slightly seedy feel that most border towns have, it's just boring as gently caress with absolutely nothing at all to do. Amazing pâté baguettes though, at least. God bless the neverending circular firing squad of Asian countries' condescension to one another. He, along with another friend of mine, were the first two foreigners to get seats on the Laos stock exchange, which has all of one or two companies listed - I think just the water utility or whatever it's called. One of them is a private equity guy who did it for work and explained how hard it was. The other is the guy who lives there with the wife who did it to prove how easy it was. If you ever want to trade Laos's stock (singular) let me know! ReindeerF fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Aug 18, 2017 |
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Aug 18, 2017 04:18
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webmeister posted:If you're set on going to a theme park or something, you could pop across into Malaysia and visit Legoland? It's in Johor Bahru right across the border from Singapore, and I'd imagine it'll be cheaper and less crowded than Sentosa. I don't know if I'm gonna still be living here when they finish building that Ubisoft theme park in a couple years but I'm kinda curious about what it's gonna be like 
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Aug 18, 2017 05:08
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Senso posted:Oh wow, I never heard of that. with just a visa (and I assume an existing non-international driver's licenser) you can get a Viet one? I had a 3 month multiple entry tourist visa, and I was determined to get that license, so it boiled down to this: -Fill out the foreigner form for drivers license application, using visa dates as for the appropriate fields -Submit photocopy of local non international driver's license -Submit printed copy of translation of same (an hour via Google translate and copying terms from the official form and it was good enough to be accepted lol) -Photocopies of passport and visa, with equally lol translations to Vietnamese -Notary stamps on the lot of it (I still have the address saved in HCMC if anyone's in need) for less than $25 usd iirc -About 130k dong i think directly to the DMV joint -A shitload of smiling and paperclips and a folder to make it as easily acceptable as possible -Wait 5 days or so -Impress (irritate) the country bumpkin cops with your legit Vietnamese license! E: Laos backwater chat: lol my dumpy hotel in Pakse had signs up warning against cohabbing, I'll dig up a pic I took if I can. Best pate baguette though, dumpiness be damned. Pakse is also a shitball nothing to do backwater, but it makes a good starting point for motorcycle adventuring in the south. Has a huge supermarket with everything ya need too. Ally McBeal Wiki fucked around with this message at 21:28 on Aug 18, 2017 |
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Aug 18, 2017 20:47
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Going with my girlfriend into Laos from Udon. I've been to Vientiane before so we're going straight to Vang Vieng. I'm big on nature, hiking up to places with good viewpoints, exploring on motorbike, and relaxing. Is there enough to do there for 4-5 days or will I be ready to move on after 3-4 days? Also then going to spend about 3 weeks traveling from south to north in Vietnam. What's the preferred way to skip between most cities/spots? Train / flying? I read the buses are pretty lovely. Cost isn't a big deal to me within reason. I actually like traveling by train if they run alright.
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Aug 18, 2017 23:25
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