How To Rent An Apartment In Vietnam

August 2, 2016 By Rob

Would you enjoy living in a five-story mansion, directly on the beach?

Well, you can. And for very little money.

In fact, renting huge villa, with an ocean view, costs less than staying in a cheap hotel (think Holiday Inn) back in the USA.

Over the course of this article I will show you exactly how to rent an apartment in Vietnam, save tons of money on the property you pick, and find stunning locations to stay at.

But first, let’s take a look at housing prices throughout the country.

How Much Does It Cost To Rent An Apartment In Vietnam?

The exchange rate between U.S. dollars and Vietnamese Dong is about 1 to 22,000. In other words, every one U.S. dollar is worth about 22,000 Vietnam Dong.

Not only is your money worth more in Vietnam, but every day items are super cheap here as well. A bottle of ice tea sells for 7,000 Dong ($0.31), and a whole meal can cost as little as 25,000 Dong ($1.12).

This buying power carries over to everything, including housing.

A studio apartment, in a nice neighborhood, goes for as little as $350 – $450 a month. And for this price you’ll get all kinds of amazing features, like maid service and free dry cleaning.

I other words, for $450 a month you get:

A place to stay
Free maid service to clean your apartment every day
All of your laundry washed and dried for you
Free high-speed Internet
Other benefits like free breakfast or free electricity

(View From My $450 A Month Apartment)

For $15 a day you can rent a fantastic apartment in bustling Ho Chi Minh City, and have your own maids and staff to take care of all the daily cooking and cleaning. It’s an incredible value and a luxury that only the ultra-wealthy get to enjoy back in America.

How To Find Apartments To Rent?

While Vietnamese apartments are inexpensive and offer tons of luxuries, it can be difficult to find places to stay. Especially if you aren’t in Asia yet.

(Many Real Estate Agents Only Deal With Customers Face-To-Face)

Many Vietnamese real estate websites are underwhelming. They don’t have the best apartment options, or they only showcase expensive properties that need long-term rental contracts. Because of this, most of the places you’ll see online cost $600, $1,000, or even $3,000 a month.

Those are fine prices if you want to get spendy, but there are plenty of good budget choices as well. And the best place to find them is on Agoda.com.

Why Rent With Agoda?

(This Was A Five Story Mansion I Rented)

While not well-known in the West, Agoda is a huge travel company based in Singapore. They do tons of rentals all over Asia, and offer insanely low rates on hotels, resorts, and apartments.

Additionally, Agoda offers cheaper rental options (in Asia at least) than similar sites like Airbnb or TripAdvisor.

On Agoda you’ll find a wider variety of properties, and the prices are lower than Airbnb.

For example, using Agoda, I found a five-story beach-front mansion that I was able to rent for under $500 a month. It was in a little coastal village, the perfect place for relaxing and escaping the bustle of Ho Chi Minh City.

If you do some searching, you’re sure to find incredible properties at bargain level prices.

Lastly, if savings alone didn’t convince you to try this site, here are the top five reasons you should use Agoda for finding rental properties:

Agoda is more popular than rival sites like Airbnb.
It’s easy to rent properties online, and you can pay with PayPal. This is incredibly convenient because most Vietnamese properties only accept cash when you try to rent them in person.
With Agoda you can rent everything from hotels and resorts to apartments and villas.
The site is easy to use and more comprehensive than its rival, TripAdvisor.
Agoda offers over 100,000 different rental properties. You’re sure to find something you like.

Closing Thoughts

(Another Place I Rented Off Agoda, This One With A Rooftop Garden!)

Rent is cheap in Vietnam. And your dollar goes a lot further than it would back home. For less than $500 you can live in a nice apartment with maid service and free dry cleaning.

While this is all well and good, finding an apartment can be tough.

Unless you’re already in the city you want to live in, finding a property is difficult. Fortunately, Agoda solves this issue. The site has a ton of great rental properties and you can find everything, from hotel rooms to seaside mansions.

The next time you’re planning a trip to Vietnam, or just looking for a new place to stay, give this site a look.

Click Here To Rent With Agoda

P.S. Want to see some of the places Agoda has to offer? Then take a look at this!

Why You’ll Love Living In Vietnam

July 18, 2016 By Rob

Why move to Asia? It’s a good question and one that many men looking to escape the rat race will ask themselves. Because of this, I want to share my top 5 reasons for living in Vietnam.

If you’re a man looking to move abroad and live the good life, this article is for you.

Let’s get started.

1. It’s Cheap (If You Want It To Be)

(A Can Of Beer Costs $0.50)

Living in Vietnam costs very little. You can rent an apartment with maid service for $450 a month. And your daily grocery bill can be as low as $6.

If you want, you can easily enjoy a comfortable lifestyle for around $800 a month.

This low-cost of living is great for men starting their own online businesses. Even if you’re running a small start-up company, you’ll make enough to cover all of your bills.

Additionally, guys making over $40,000 a year will be able to live like kings. As in owning a five-story mansion, or getting bottle service at all the hottest clubs. It’s crazy fun and still a lot cheaper than staying in a big Western city like New York.

2. There’s A High-End Scene

(Lamborghinis Are A Common Car Here)

Do you want to buy a $5,000 custom suit, drive a Maybach, and party with lingerie models in exclusive clubs?

You can do all this in Vietnam.

The country has a booming high-end scene. You can pay $30,000 for a gym membership, shop at multiple Versace stores, or buy up all the latest Rolls-Royce Phantoms.

Vietnam has plenty of opportunities for living large and flashing cash.

3. Great Weather

(Kick Back And Relax By The Beach)

How would you like to enjoy warm weather all year?

Vietnam feels like summer no matter what month it is. Whether you’re here in January or June, the country is pleasantly warm with lots of tropical scenery.

You can sit under palm trees in the park, lay on the beach, or ride your motorbike up and down the coast. There’s plenty of stuff to do outside and you’ll always have a chance to enjoy fresh air and sunshine.

(The Beautiful Weather Is Great For All Kinds Of Outdoor Fun)

This is a wonderful country for nature lovers and people who like being out and about. You’ll always have beaches to explore, jungles to hike through, and parks to relax in.

4. Beautiful Women

(Fun Fact: Pool Parties Like This Are Held Every Saturday In Ho Chi Minh City)

Vietnam is home to the hottest women in the world. Other Asian countries, like Thailand and the Philippines, don’t hold a candle to the girls here.

The women of Vietnam are smart, sexy, and a ton of fun. They make great girlfriends and you’ll love spending time with them.

Additionally, meeting Vietnamese women is easy.

You can message them online, or hit up the local cafe scene. Both are great places for finding cuties to date.

5. Healthy Food

(Carrot Juice Is Amazing Here)

In Vietnam organic food is plentiful and cheap. You can eat delicious meals, like steak and eggs or freshly made spring rolls, for less than $2.

Because of this, it’s incredibly easy to get into the best shape of your life.

Eating clean, working out, and being well-rested will do wonders for your body. Within just a few weeks, you’ll feel younger and have more energy than you ever did back home.

When you want to start taking better care of your health, you’ll want to move here.

Closing Thoughts On Why You’ll Love Living In Vietnam

(Huge Mansions Are All The Rage)

This is a country on the rise. Visiting Vietnam is like seeing the start of something great. All the pieces are in place, and they’re quickly being used to build a fantastic society.

You can live a first world lifestyle for under $1,000 a month. Or you can go crazy, spending big bucks on custom suits, exotic cars, and exclusive nightclubs. The choice is yours.

Of course, money isn’t the only thing Vietnam has to offer.

The weather is great, with sunny afternoons that are perfect for spending time outdoors. And the women are fantastic too. You’ll see girls who look like models walking down the street, hanging out in cafes, and reading books at the beach.

And lastly, living in Vietnam can do wonders for your health. Most food is organic and all-natural. It’s the type of stuff you’d usually find at a Whole Foods in the West, but here it’s sold everywhere.

If you like warm weather, hot women, and great food, Vietnam is the country for you.

P.S. Dating in Vietnam is dirt-cheap. In fact, here’s a whole article about how inexpensive it is.

How To Eat Healthy And Stay Fit In Vietnam

July 4, 2016 By Rob

Health is a huge concern for many. In the West people pay big bucks just to eat food that won’t kill them or make them enormously fat.

In Vietnam things are different.

You don’t have to try hard in order to stay healthy. There’s plenty of fresh food and opportunities for exercise.

If you want to take your health seriously, and whip your body into the best shape it’s even been in, this is the country for you.

Below you’ll learn:

How to avoid a common “expat health mistake”
How to eat healthy for under $10 per day
How you can build muscle and get fit without ever spending a dime
And plenty more!

Anyway, let’s dig in.

The Ugly Truth About Most Male Expats

(Sadly, Many Expats End Up Out-Of-Shape And Unhappy)

For whatever reason, many men who move abroad end up neglecting their health. They start drinking too much, stop exercising, and eat cheap junk food (most of the McDonald’s customers here are Westerners). What happens next is no surprise.

Their overall quality of life plummets.

It gets tough for them to date girls (no woman wants to date an obese guy), their extra fat makes the weather unbearable, and their weakened bodies become more susceptible to illness.

A lot of these guys end up fat, sick, and hating themselves. Their self-esteem evaporates and they wind up bitter and angry.

Don’t make this mistake! Especially since it’s incredibly easy to stay healthy and happy while living in Vietnam.

This country has great fresh fruits and vegetables, all-natural pork and beef, and insanely cheap food prices. If you want to stay fit, or work yourself into peak physical condition, this is the place to do it.

How To Eat Healthy And Stay Fit In Vietnam For Less Than $10 A Day

(A Delicious Glass Of Carrot Juice Costs Less Than $1)

How much would it cost you to eat health food in America? A thousand dollars a month? Two thousand?

Many Westerners willingly pay these outrageous fees, just so that they can get their hands on food that hasn’t been tainted by deadly chemicals and genetic engineering.

In Vietnam you can enjoy these same fresh foods, without ever paying more than $10 a day.

To show you how cheap good food is, here’s my last receipt from grocery shopping:

One pound of pork loin: $1.70
10 fresh eggs (they rarely sell eggs by the dozen here): $0.89
Salad: $0.67
Carrot Juice: $0.89
Fresh pineapple: $2.14
Water: $0.30
Total cost: $6.59

That’s pretty inexpensive and gives you a nice balanced diet with fruits, vegetables, and meats. All for less than the price off a fast-food meal back in the West.

How Much Do Gyms In Vietnam Cost?

($40 A Month For Me To Lift Weights And Use The Gym’s Swimming Pool)

While many things in Vietnam are reasonably priced, most gyms are not. High-end fitness centers have become all the rage and many locals pay as much as $24,000 a year just to workout.

Luckily, there are budget options available.

(My Transformation From Following Special Ops Fitness Training)

When I first moved to Vietnam, I did nothing but body-weight exercises from a book called Special Ops Fitness Training. I’d go down to the park, do my workout, and then grab some delicious “Bo ne” (that’s the local phrase foe “steak and eggs” here) once I was done.

Doing those exercises, and eating right, helped me to explode from scrawny twig to physically fit. I became healthier, developed more self-confidence, and had girls fawning over me.

Men who want to lift weights can do so cheaply as well. While certain fitness centers do costs tens of thousands of dollars to join, there are plenty of inexpensive gyms. At these places you can expect to shell out between $15 and $40 a month.

The cheap gyms are nice too. I’m currently going to one with a pool, kickbocking arena, and weight room. Total cost: $40 a month.

Lifting weights and building muscle is easy here. Between the parks and affordable gyms, you can get big easily, and enjoy being in the best shape of your life.

Final Thoughts

(“Bo Ne” Is A Local Street Dish That’s Packed With Protein)

Vietnam is a great place for guys who want to keep themselves as healthy as possible. There’s plenty of fresh food (fresher than anything Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s would sell). And meals are cheap.

Cooking for yourself costs almost nothing and you can enjoy all kinds of delicious fruits, cuts of beef, and organic eggs.

Lastly, getting fit and building muscle is easy too. If you’ve ever dreamed of getting into great shape, you’ll love this country. There are free workout stations in almost every park, and lots of great gyms with affordable memberships.

P.S. If you’re interested in the book I recommended, I’ll save you from having to scroll back up. The title is: Special Ops Fitness Training.

VietnamCupid Vs Plenty Of Fish

June 27, 2016 By Rob

Online dating has exploded in popularity over the past few years. And nowhere is this more true than in South East Asian countries like Vietnam.

Many of the country’s smartest and sexiest women are using online dating sites to meet Western men just like you. While this is great news, there’s just one problem. Which dating sites are Vietnamese girls actually using?

From what I heard, there were two big sites that get lots of use from girls all over the country. VietnamCupid and Plenty Of Fish were each supposed to have great dating options.

But was this really true?

To help answer the VietnamCupid vs Plenty Of Fish question, I went on both sites to investigate. Here’s what I found:

Using Plenty Of Fish In Vietnam

(POF Is A Ghost Town Here)

Despite being one of the biggest dating sites in the world, and having millions of users, Plenty Of Fish gets very little attention in Vietnam.

There are very few Vietnamese women using this site, and the majority of profiles that I did see were either inactive (where the girl hadn’t logged on in months) or incomplete (where there was no profile pic or personal information).

There were only a handful of girls using Plenty Of Fish in Vietnam’s main cities (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh), and smaller areas (like Da Nang) only had one or two users total.

Overall, this isn’t a site I can recommend. There aren’t enough girls using it to give you very many dating options. Unless the Vietnamese userbase grows (highly unlikely), don’t even bother with Plenty Of Fish.

Using VietnamCupid

Girls Using VietnamCupid Vs Plenty Of Fish

(On A Date With My Girlfriend, We Met Through VietnamCupid)

Logging on to VietnamCupid is like setting foot in a trendy nightclub. Its packed with hot girls. This site has thousands of active users and an insane amount of women from every single city.

In addition to the sheer number of women, VietnamCupid is also ridiculously easy to use. Just browse until you see a girl you like, shoot her a message, and start chatting.

In the 47½ minutes I spent on the site, I must have gotten responses from at least 90% of the women I had messaged. This is a super high number and it means that setting up dates (or getting a girlfriend) will be easy.

When you’re ready to start dating Vietnamese girls, you need to invest in creating a VietnamCupid account. The site is packed with sexy women and they’re all interested in going out with you.

VietnamCupid Vs Plenty Of Fish Winner

Which Is Better VietnamCupid Or Plenty Of Fish

(VietnamCupid Reigns Supreme)

In this comparison it wasn’t even a fight. VietnamCupid was the clear winner. It has the girls, is easy to use, and is pretty much guaranteed to get you a date.

It’s the perfect tool for any man looking to date Vietnamese women since it has such a huge selection of friendly girls. If you’re going to do online dating, this is the best site you can possibly use.

Are you ready to let VietnamCupid supercharge your love life and help you to finally meet the girl of your dreams?

Click Here To Start Using VietnamCupid Today

P.S. I think you’ll like this site because of both the quantity and quality of the women using it.

Motorbike Travel Vietnam: Everything You Need To Know

June 20, 2016 By Rob

Pop quiz: What’s the most common form of transportation for most Vietnamese people?

The one used by everyone, from framers taking their ducks to market to full families going on vacation?

It’s not cars, buses, or trains. Oh no. The most popular vehicle in Vietnam is the motorbike.

In this post you’ll learn all about Vietnamese motorcycle culture. From its fascinating origins, to the cost of buying a bike (they’re really cheap!), to tips for keeping yourself safe while cruising around the country.

A Brief History Of Motorbike Travel In Vietnam

(Sights Like This Are Common)

Transportation in South East Asia is a little different from what you might be used to back home.

Unlike the West (where everyone drives cars or rides the bus), the people of Vietnam get around on motorbikes.

These are small motorcycles (kind of like dirt bikes) that almost every single Vietnamese person owns. You’ll see whole families crowded on to the back of a bike, or farmers driving around with cages full of ducks and geese.

Sometimes you’ll even see people speeding around with explosive barrels of gasoline strapped the seat of their motorcycle. Talk about living dangerously!

Why are motorbikes so popular in Vietnam? Good question! From what I can tell it has to do with price.

Because of taxes and import laws, owning a car here can be super expensive (like three times as much as buying one back in the U.S.A.). In comparison, you can buy a motorbike for less than the price of a dinner date in most Western cities.

How Much Does It Cost To Rent (Or Buy) A Motorbike?

(These Types Of Bikes Can Be Rented For $50 A Month)

Motorbikes are surprisingly cheap. Way less expensive than owning a car in America.

At my first apartment you could rent a motorbike for as little as $50 a month. This is pretty standard around the country, although occasionally you’ll find bigger discounts.

If you plan on living in Vietnam long-term, you’ll want to buy your own motorbike.

This is a cheaper option since many used bikes cost as little as $450 to $500. Sometimes, I you look hard enough, or have a local friend help you, you’ll be able to find older bikes in the $150 to $200.

If you’re used to car shopping in America (where a new vehicle can set you back $30,000) you’ll love how affordable Vietnamese motorbikes are.

You can travel around the country on your very own motorcycle for less than the cost of an iPhone.

Motorbike Travel Vietnam: How To Stay Safe

(Traffic Can Be Brutal Here)

Driving motorbikes is fun, but you have to be extremely careful. Traffic (especially in Ho Chi Minh City) can be crazy. People are zipping around in every direction, switching lanes without warning, and running red lights.

Getting “caught off guard” in these situations is dangerous. To get around during rush hour (or on weekends) requires skill. Before you hop on a motorbike you’ll need to have some training.

I’d recommend taking a motorcycle safety class in your home country so that you know exactly how to drive a bike.

They have safety courses all over the United Sates and enrolling in one will teach you lifesaving skills about operating your motorbike through heavy traffic, harsh weather, and all kinds of other obstacles.

When you get to Vietnam, you’ll also want to pick up a Vietnamese motorcycle license. Motorbike riders are required (by law) to have one. If you don’t you can be fined by the police, and your insurance won’t cover you if you get in an accident.

Getting your license can seem a little confusing at first (when I got here I had no idea where to apply for one), but luckily there’s a nifty guide that can help you out.

How To Get Your Vietnamese Motorcycle License In Just 7 Easy Steps is a concise report with step-by-step details on getting your very own motorbike license. It helped me a lot and can clear up your confusion too.

(Wear A Face Mask To Stay Safe)

In addition to having a license, here are some other safety tips:

Always wear a helmet, it can save your life.
Carry a rain poncho in the storage area of your bike. This way you’re prepared in case a storm breaks out.
Buy a dust mask and wear it while riding, it keeps dust and exhaust out of your nose
Throw a first-aid kit in your bike’s storage area, if there’s ever an accident you’ll be prepared.
Don’t drink and drive! Spending $4 on cab fare is a lot cheaper than spending 6 months in the hospital.
Pay attention! Being aware of your surroundings will keep you from getting in any accidents.
Wear pants, long sleeves, and gloves. If you get into a crash they’ll save your skin (literally).

If you follow these simple steps, you’ll be able to drive around safely and without any problems. Just being aware of what’s going on (and not doing anything stupid like drunk driving) will help you avoid 95% of potentially dangerous situations.

Overall, riding motorbikes is fun and easy. But you do need to stay focused and be smart while you do it. Otherwise you can end up seriously injured.

Closing Thoughts

(Taken While Riding My Motorbike Along The Coast)

You can’t truly experience Vietnam without spending time on a motorbike. Taking slow scenic drives along the beautiful coastline, exploring hidden towns off the beaten path, or driving your date home on a starry Friday night.

As much fun as it is to cruise around on your bike, you need to exercise some common sense too. Learn the rules of the road, pay attention, and (above all else) stay safe.

By doing this you’ll be able to fully enjoy biking around Vietnam’s bustling cities and gorgeous countryside.

P.S. If you want to have motorbike adventures of your own, be sure to check out How To Get Your Vietnamese Motorcycle License.