Pros and Cons of Living and Retiring in Da Nang, Vietnam.

Cheap, sunny and stress-free. That's what people think Vietnam is. But wait till you hear the other side. My last video with Jerry from Texas went a bit viral thanks to you guys. But today I want to talk about something different, about the real pros and cons of living in Da Nang, Vietnam. There is so much I love about this city and a few things that might surprise you. So the first and main pro for me is how extremely polite and friendly the locals are. Whether it's a street vendor smiling at you or a Grab driver or someone asking where are you from out of genuine curiosity or just random people greeting you on the street. Many times I go to the gym. I have like eight minutes walk from my house to the gym and there is at least like five to ten people waving at me saying hello, how are you? Like you know like these local people like sitting on the street minding their own business. This is really cool. So in fact it's really easy to feel welcomed here in Vietnam. Coming from Europe where people are more reserved or cold like we Polish, this is such a big difference for me and it makes my day better and it gives a smile to my face when I see all these locals smiling at me as well. The second pro is the affordable prices. Food, transportation, housing, it's all much cheaper compared to Europe. Even renting a scooter for me is just $60 per month. Paying apartment here for a month is just $300. For mobile I only pay $5 per month. The only more pricey thing is my travel insurance safety wing but it's because it's not from Vietnam, it's not local, it's international so it costs me a bit more. So you get so much value for your money here. Just to show you a proof how affordable it is, for instance for this delicious salted coffee I just paid only $1.50 and for this waffle with banana I paid only $0.95. So I have my delicious breakfast and a beautiful Danang for just $2.45. Another thing that surprised me in Vietnam is how convenient everything is. For instance my scooter broke, I couldn't turn it on. I called the guy who rented me the scooter. 20 minutes later he's already next to me repairing my scooter and I can go. The same in the bathroom. Something broke in the shower, I need to repair it. I messaged the guy who is the responsible for our building and within an hour he was already in my apartment repairing the thing and also he ordered new things for me for the bathroom and they arrived within a few days and just like this everything is repaired very fast, very easily and very convenient. Another good thing is that it's so easy here to meet other expats and travelers because Danang is a hub for digital nomads, expats so you never feel alone here because it's so easy to meet other people. There are so many groups we have on Facebook like we play beach volleyball together, there is a cafe co-working Tuesday and Thursday with other digital nomads you can meet and work together. Also there is like some dancing classes and meeting for bars for dancing and cocktail karaoke. So many communities you can join anything you want like some sport, you're more sporty and less drinking person. You will find a group where you can just play beach volleyball like I'm doing. Another big pro it's the food here. It's so delicious and I just got this amazing bowl and it cost me only $3.40 and it's huge so you can literally eat anything you want from any country you want. From this exotic amazing smoothie bowls like this one to the local food and western food. I haven't seen here yet the Polish food, Polish restaurant but maybe who knows maybe one day there will be a Polish restaurant in Danang so I can eat my amazing pierogi. And the fruit wow you can get tropical fruits like mango, dragon fruit, passion fruit, coconut everywhere like on the markets on the street markets they are very affordable very cheap. As a foreigner and especially as a Polish blonde woman I feel extremely safe in Vietnam Danang and here's why. I've never seen yet any drug addict or alcoholic or homeless on the street while back in Luxembourg where I lived for the last five years. Oh my god in Luxembourg I've seen so many drug addicts so it was very scary to be in the city center during the night and here in Vietnam I never had that experience that I didn't feel comfortable to walk alone even at night it's so calm here and I don't know like safe and quiet. Another thing I love about Vietnam is that shops and restaurants are open late sometimes even 24 7. You might think why she's getting excited about some stores open 24 7 because I spent my last five years living in Luxembourg where the grocery stores are closing at 7 or 8 p.m. And the last extra pro is the international airport in Danang and the travel opportunities it brings. It's so convenient you can travel to Bangkok in just an hour or hop on a flight to Kuala Lumpur, Bali or even Japan in just a few hours. So from my apartment to the airport it's just 10 minutes by Grab taxi. And one more pro I would like to add for myself is how many beautiful cafes are in Danang. So for me for someone who likes to edit and work in cafe I really appreciate that in Danang you have so many beautiful cafes. I think I would do like a separate video about cafes in Danang to explain which one are the most comfortable and the one are more beautiful and show you my favorites one. Because some people are asking me like what's my favorite cafe to work but yeah I have many many of them. So I think I will do separate video about it to show you the cafes in Danang. And also some friends were saying like we went to cafe but it was uncomfortable with seats. So I see that people don't know where to go to work and there is many co-working spaces that you have to pay for. But for example for instance here in Danaso if you buy something that is over 100 000 vietnamese dong you can work upstairs in the co-working space which is more quiet. By the way if you like videos I'm making like this about Danang and living in Vietnam just hit subscribe button so you will not miss the guides I'm making. And now let's talk about something that everybody was waiting for about cons of living in Danang. So the main con for me unfortunately is the trash. Like the trash on the sidewalk as you can see behind me. I guess it's because there is a construction going on right next to it. But yeah I hope they will clean it eventually. But this is the big problem living in Asia for me and probably many people who lives in Asia that you can see so much trash on the street. But I see some progress because there are parts of the street where it's very clean and beautiful. Also near to the beach all the sidewalks are very clean. On the city side next to the Han river I also didn't see any trash on the street. Talking about trash brings us to my second con which is rats and cockroaches. Yes we have many rats in Danang that are sized like a cat. So if you don't like rats don't come to Danang. Just kidding. You know you'll get used to them basically. At the beginning when I arrived to Danang I was so scared of those rats. I've never seen so many in my life. And they are just randomly running in front of you on the street. But now when I see a rat running I'm just like yeah whatever. It's just like a cat. Another big con it's mosquitoes. Oh my god I've got bitten so many times and I think at the beginning it was the worst when I arrived here. Because I was kind of like adapting to them or they were adapting to me and I was bitten every day all the time. But now with the time it's less and less. But right now for example I'm sitting here in Danang in a very cute cafe in the garden. And I think I already got bitten once on my leg. So I always carry with me the cream that it's like after the mosquito bite and it helps a lot to cool down. But you can also carry a spray to prevent the mosquitoes and so on. So this is something that comes with the I think tropical hot climate. While I love the warm weather it can also get super hot. So the heat, extremely heat, can be also a big con for some people. But here in Danang we have a sea and there is like a wind and the breeze from the sea. So it makes it very cool you know. So you don't feel the heat all the time. Just sometimes. But there is plenty of spaces with AC and also the apartment the AC is running. So you will survive easily. Another con it's the language barrier. Even though locals are super friendly most of them they don't speak English. So what I do most of the time I'm just using the Google Translate and this is how we communicate. I speak to the Google Translate in English and show them in Vietnamese and they do the same in their own language. But in most of the restaurants the waitresses and waiters they speak English so they understand what you want to order. And if you go to the hospital if you have some emergencies they also have these doctors that speak English upstairs. It's like international clinic. So don't worry you'll be handled here very well. Another con might be also a hygiene concerns. Because sometimes I see some ladies cleaning dishes from the restaurants like on the street. You know like with the big bowl and multiple dishes in the same water. And I'm like okay I prefer I didn't see it you know. But for sure in some other places like this one like Danasol or better restaurants or cafes they don't clean dishes on the street. This is mostly like on the food markets and so on. But I've been living here for five months already and I never got food poisoning yet. Here some people ask me if we can drink tap water. I think it depends on the apartment if you have a filter or not. But in my apartment I don't have a filter and I don't drink tap water. So I order bottles of water. Another con for many of us it's a dangerous street crossing. You need to be very careful when you cross the street because scooters they don't stop they just go like whatever. Like today now I'm on the street that is more calmer so I'm not worried about it. But usually you have to look on the both ways and you have to go slowly between the scooters. So this might be a con for many people because it's quite dangerous crossing the street. But at the beginning I was very scared doing it. But then with the time I just got used to it and now I'm more confident. And you can basically just cross the street without any problems or concerns you know. You're not gonna be killed you know. Because the mopeds always go around you somehow. And this is how I cross the street. This street is not that busy but there are other streets that are very crazy. And you just need to be careful and pay attention what you're doing. Yeah okay this is very fun. So it all depends on what you are looking for because there's many pros and many cons in every place you're gonna live. For some people the weather in Vietnam might be pro and con. Like they say it's rainy season right now it's end of October exactly 19th of October and it's 5.30 p.m and I'm at the beach and it's basically like 20 something degrees. It's just so perfect. So those are my pros and cons of living in Da Nang Vietnam. But this is my personal opinion and everyone has different one. Honestly for me the pros really outweigh the cons. The friendliness of locals and the prices and the food the weather everything makes this place so beautiful and I love living here. So if you are thinking of moving to Da Nang I hope this video gave you a clear picture of what you can expect. You should also watch my two other videos where I'm showing the best place to stay the best areas where to stay in Da Nang and also the video where I'm showing my apartment next to the beach for $300 apartment tour. I hope you enjoyed the video and don't forget to like it and subscribe to my channel and I will see you in the next one. Bye!