The Truth About Living in Vietnam Cost of Living Safety Food Quality

Hello guys, welcome back to the channel. My name is Demi and my husband and I moved from Dallas to Vietnam currently in Ho Chi Minh City. Ever since we moved to Vietnam people have been asking us some of the same questions so let's talk about them while we go on our Sunday stroll to get some dumplings and some coffee. One of the main concerns people have about life in Vietnam is is it really safe and I must say we literally feel the safest we've ever felt in our whole entire lives since most of our lives were spent living in the United States. With the gun violence and the political climate in the U.S. we decided that at this moment it really wasn't a safe place to start a family. We want our kids to be raised in an environment where they can at least feel safe in the school system. As we walk down the street you can see that there aren't a lot of people who look like us but that hasn't once made us feel like we weren't welcome or didn't belong actually it's the exact opposite. People will go out of their way to help us even if there is a language barrier which brings me to the next question people often ask how do we get by with the language barrier with us not speaking Vietnamese. Honestly we're able to get by with google translate gestures or pointing at the menu but we don't plan to have to do this for long because we do want to assimilate as much as possible and take Vietnamese classes. Ever since I made the bold claim that my IBS has been healed since leaving the United States I've gotten an influx of questions from other people who have similar issues. Look I'm not a scientist but the food here looks and tastes 100% real versus the food in the United States which leads me to believe that my body can actually digest the food as intended versus having spasms and pain and for those who don't know IBS is irritable bowel syndrome. When I was in the United States I would have spasms in my stomach and pain that would extend all the way down my legs but I haven't experienced that here and I've been able to eat things that I couldn't eat in the United States such as dairy and pasta. Now on to the cost of living. From our research Vietnam is one of the more affordable countries in Southeast Asia but that doesn't mean cheap as some people like to say. If you don't know Ho Chi Minh City is divided into districts and District 1 and District 2 are in the city center and tend to attract expats and foreigners. The cost of living in those districts tend to be much higher. We decided to settle in District 9 which is about 45 minutes to an hour outside of the city center where we find that the cost of living is much more affordable. We found a two bed two bath apartment around $520 a month. The cost of living here is really what you make it. You can go to an expensive restaurant and spend about $50 per person or you can get a bowl of pho for only a dollar or two. Our current food budget is about $300 per person per month which is about $10 a day and we've definitely gone over that because the food is so good and we find ourselves wanting to try out all of the different restaurants. As far as transportation we set aside about $75 per person per month so that we can take Grab rides in and out of the city center. Grab here in Vietnam is their version of Uber in the United States. We've actually been saving on the transportation aspect of our budget because we found out that there are a few buses that take you to the city center for free. So I recommend you sit down and decide what type of lifestyle you want and then that determines your budget when you come. We don't consider ourselves low-budget travelers but we also don't like to spend unnecessary money. Hopefully I answered most of y'all's questions. If you have any additional questions please drop them in the comments below so that I can address them in the future. Make sure you like share and subscribe if you're interested in life in Vietnam. Stay tuned for our apartment tour and see you on next week's upload.