How many dollars a month do I need to have to survive for a year in vietnam and are the vegetables,etc, safe?

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Tony J

Like any other country the cost will depend on your lifestyle. Once you figure things out $30 a day will get you a decent place to live and food. If you plan on partying and living the â€œgood lifeâ€ youâ€™ll need a lot more.

As far as expensive camera equipment, youâ€™ll have to keep a close eye on it. There isnâ€™t much violent crime in VN but there are lots of pickpockets and thieves, especially in the backpacker area.

It seems like youâ€™re getting into something you know little about and havenâ€™t researched much. I would recommend a visit before planning on staying there a year.

Of course the vegetables are safe to eat.

wellmaintained

you can live easily in HCM city for $1000 a month inc food, hotel, etc

nguyenthanhtungtinbk

It depends on where you want to live. I suppose that you must spend $12/night to have somewhere to sleep, $4 for lunch or dinner, $2 for breakfast and $5/day for transportation (by bus for example); other expense $3/day; then the total is about $30/day. So you will have to spend about $900/month.

With Vietnamese people, they almost have a house (or flat) to live (or they can rent it with a cheap price, students for instance) so each month about $400 is also enough. In fact, if you do cooking for yourself, it's much more cheaper. That's why the standard living of Vietnamese people in the cities maybe just around $300/month.

Fifi

Roaming the streets and backstreets are safe in some districts only. Tourists usually got wallet stolen or bag snatched (especially when you have a big camera bag).

- Accommodation:
+ Hotel: Try monthly room rental in hotels at the backpacker corner (Bui Vien - Pham Ngu Lao - De Tham street). Should be about US$ 250 or more per month for a single with air-con. For lower price, ask about fan usage.
Advantage: don't have to clean the room yourself, may be supported more when needed, less risk of being sneaked into your room, available facilities (TV, hot water...), no self-cooking
Disadvantage: expensive, can not have friends overnight or making noise...
+ House or room: whole small house around US$ 200-300/month, 1 single room around US$100 (talking about good room, cheaper available but look damp, dull or very small). Rental may be or not include electricity, water (ask the patron about this first).
Advantage: more space, can share with others for cheaper rental, cheap, self-cooking available, cheap market food
Disadvantage: more things to concern (as your own house/room), equip-yourself-TV/hot water...

- Food and drinks:
Street vendors/eating house: 1.5 - 3$/dish, Vietnamese food are various and easy to eat, delicious, but may be a bit little for a foreigner who used to eat a lot. Hygiene concerns at street vendors.
Restaurants: above 4$/dish.
Coffee shop: lots of coffee shops and bars in HCMC. Very small ones charge 1-2$/drink, nice ones charge 3-5$/drink. Bars start from 5$/drink

- Transportation:
+ If you can't drive motorbike, use taxi or "xe om". Taxi is expensive, "xe om" is cheap but must bargain before riding. "Xe om" are men or sometimes women riding a motorbike (usually not in good condition bike, old ones), sitting in a street corner, having 2 helmets (one for them and one for you). Most "Xe om" drivers in backpacker streets speak English. Those in other districts hardly speak.
You can have your frequent driver by asking one of them. This helps you decrease the price for every trip. Some foreigners pay weekly for their trips or have fixed good price on fixed journey.

+ If you can drive on your own, rent your own bike or even buy one if you can afford it. Cheapest bike is less than US$1,000. Petrol price: 19,000 VND/liter (over 1 dollar). Mind the driving license since the police may keep your bike up to a month if they suddenly got you without a license.

In sum, you may spend around US$500 for a month in Hochiminh City. This amount assures you an easy life, since locals normally live with only 200 a month.

Hope these information may help you a bit. If you need more information, feel free to contact me.

Haine-Hiime

it depends where you wanna live my family lives in ho chi minh city , a cheap hotel in HCM city i think would cost about $100 somthing a night and u could use about$10 a day on food[depend how much u eat]
and where i live if u out at night they will robb u if u have anything valuable, same goes for mornings........hmm just think of it as a place in the u.s where theres hookers-drug dealers-stealers all that stuff[ghetto place mann], even if ure on a motercyle they can and will knock u down oh and depending on the place u go i suggest not to wear jewlery =]

flightmedicine

Hard question to answer. Would depend your lodging, eating styles, entertainment and if you want to do travelling to see the rest of this beautiful country.

Vietnam is a very safe place to live; as anywhere in the world you need to be aware of your surrounding and especially late at night.

Cheers C

prettyballin'

omggg, if u lik go to the street in the early morning or late at night,
well um there are "bad people" as in hookers and stuff, dont fall for it.
they jsut good actors..!
and well the truth its gonna cost u alot even thought currency over here makes alot of money over there, but the items are sexpensive, so u prolly will need lik 10k per year..
gl!

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