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Welcome to the Saigonist Expat Forum! Anyone is welcome to ask and answer questions here and there's no need to create an account.

Ask anything related to living and working in Saigon or Vietnam. All that I ask in return is that you look at the existing topics and try to help others with any information that you know.

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default Technicalities of working in HCMC
by Friskenipper on 2014-03-17 22:44 		1 by tomo
2014-03-20 18:35 		Living and Working in Vietnam
default Got a new visa in HCMC do I need to renter the country?
by liminal18 on 2014-03-16 19:02 		1 by tomo
2014-03-20 18:32 		Living and Working in Vietnam
default Musical Theatre Group for Children
by Socio Muso on 2014-03-19 09:55 		0 by Socio Muso
2014-03-19 09:55 		Living and Working in Vietnam
default Inexpensive Desktop/Small Room Audio System - $75
by nightmusic on 2014-03-11 10:58 		0 by nightmusic
2014-03-11 10:58 		Living and Working in Vietnam
default Furniture in HCM
by Lyna2014 on 2014-01-11 10:30 		1 by Anonymous (not verified)
2014-03-09 15:17 		Living and Working in Vietnam
default room for rent in district 2
by hthanhtai91 on 2014-03-07 09:48 		0 by hthanhtai91
2014-03-07 09:48 		Living and Working in Vietnam
default very nice cheap apartments in the heart of District 1
by vertu_09 on 2014-03-06 15:45 		0 by vertu_09
2014-03-06 15:45 		Real Estate, Houses and Rooms for Rent
default Tech groups in Danang and HCMC?
by mwotton on 2014-03-06 12:30 		2 by mwotton
2014-03-06 13:18 		Living and Working in Vietnam
default Beautiful 2 bedroom apartment in the heart of D1, $ 500
by vertu_09 on 2014-03-03 13:42 		0 by vertu_09
2014-03-03 13:42 		Living and Working in Vietnam
default CLONES 25i integrated amplifier + Silverline Minuet Supreme Plus Monitors Music Lover's Audio System For Sale - Negotiable.
by nightmusic on 2014-03-01 14:56 		0 by nightmusic
2014-03-11 10:42 		Living and Working in Vietnam
default Apartment in Saigon Pearl for rent , 4 bedrooms
by rickylee.bds on 2014-02-28 00:19 		0 by rickylee.bds
2014-02-28 00:19 		Real Estate, Houses and Rooms for Rent
default Nice apartment in Saigon Pearl for rent ,cheap price
by rickylee.bds on 2014-02-28 00:18 		0 by rickylee.bds
2014-02-28 00:18 		Real Estate, Houses and Rooms for Rent
default Working/Living as a single mother
by Anonymous on 2012-05-04 04:59 		4 by AnonymousND (not verified)
2014-02-25 21:50 		Living and Working in Vietnam
default One bedroom apartment in Lancaster Nui Truc, Ba Dinh dist, Hanoi
by hanoifullhouse on 2014-02-12 19:47 		0 by hanoifullhouse
2014-02-12 19:47 		Real Estate, Houses and Rooms for Rent
default 3 bedroom apartment in Lancaster 20 Nui Truc street, Ba Dinh dist, Ha Noi
by hanoifullhouse on 2014-02-12 19:45 		0 by hanoifullhouse
2014-02-12 19:45 		Real Estate, Houses and Rooms for Rent
default cheap serviced apartment for rent in Ba Dinh dist, Hanoi
by hanoifullhouse on 2014-02-12 18:01 		0 by hanoifullhouse
2014-02-12 18:01 		Real Estate, Houses and Rooms for Rent
default Beautiful villa for rent in Ciputra urban Hanoi, Tay Ho dist
by hanoifullhouse on 2014-02-12 17:59 		0 by hanoifullhouse
2014-02-12 17:59 		Real Estate, Houses and Rooms for Rent
default Cheap house in Hoan Kiem district to rent
by hanoifullhouse on 2014-02-12 17:42 		0 by hanoifullhouse
2014-02-12 17:42 		Real Estate, Houses and Rooms for Rent
default Newly furnished serviced apartment with 2 bedrooms in Ba Dinh dist to rent
by hanoifullhouse on 2014-02-12 17:39 		0 by hanoifullhouse
2014-02-12 17:39 		Real Estate, Houses and Rooms for Rent
default Tay ho house for foreigner rent. 3 bedrooms, fully furnished
by hanoifullhouse on 2014-02-12 17:20 		0 by hanoifullhouse
2014-02-12 17:20 		Real Estate, Houses and Rooms for Rent
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About the author

Asian-American expat living in Vietnam over 3 years. I am involved in tech startups and do Drupal consulting. I choose to live in Saigon and Vietnam and I want to see the city and its people reach their true potential.

Where is Saigon?

It's not wrong to wonder where in the world Saigon is.

Saigon is the name of the city now officially known as Ho Chi Minh City. But most people who call Saigon home call their home Saigon and it's mostly tourists who I hear refer to it as Ho Chi Minh City (or Ho Chi Minh Ville for the French).

After the Vietnam/American War ended in 1975, many place names ceased to exist such as Saigon, South Vietnam, and plenty of street names.

Tu Do is now Dong Khoi, Thong Nhat is Le Duan. And Tan Son Nhut Airport is now Tan Son Nhat International Airport. Rue Paul Blanchy has been Hai Ba Trung since the 1950s.

Those who haven't seen Vietnam for decades will be confused not just by the geographical changes but the incredible amount of development and modernization that has since taken place.

Latest Technical Posts

I also post a lot of technical material unrelated to Vietnam that doesn't hit the home page. Starting from November 2015 I am only posting technical articles on my new sub-blog: TECH.saigonist.com

  • Definition of Startup: What isn't a startup? : What is a startup? We're in the middle of a tech boom and it's become fashionable to either work for a startup or to be a startup. But what is a startup? How do you know that company offering you a...
  • My Startup Experiences : I've been involved in start ups for over a decade now. During that time I've worked for companies in varying stage of development. Not all of them were startups. But how can you tell if it is or not...
  • Code Retreat 2012 - Ho Chi Minh City : $(document).ready(function(){ $('.geshifilter').hover(function(){console.log(this);console.log($(this));$(this).css('position', 'relative').css('width', '800px').css('z-index', 1000);}, function...
  • Internet Censorship in Southeast Asian Countries (Myanmar, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam) : Vietnam has been labeled an "enemy of the Internet" by Reporters Without Borders. There have been a lot of cases of bloggers being targeted, harrassed, and arrested. But RSF (Reporters Sans...
  • Using 3G Internet in Cambodia : On my most recent trip to Cambodia I bought a Cambodian SIM card so that I could both make calls and use the Internet on my smartphone. At the Moc Bai/Bavet border are a number of Khmer people (who...
  • MailChimp vs poMMo, Mailman, Phplist - Self-Host or Outsource Your Mailing List? : Use your own mail server or outsource it? Let's say you have a rather large mailing list of a few thousand email addresses and, well, sending it out with GMail is no longer cutting it. What are your...
  • Internet in Vietnam - Good, Bad, Ugly : If you ask Vietnamese officials, you'll hear such hyperbole as "the Internet service development in Vietnam is in no way inferior to developed countries in the world" (Mai Liem Truc, former Deputy...
  • poMMo proBLEMs : poMMo is free open source mailing list management software. It's written in PHP and pretty basic but does give a decent management interface. However, it's no longer maintained. There is a GitHub...
  • Preventing Repetitive Stress Injuries for Programmers and Writers : My situation I'm a career programmer who has suffered from pain in my hands and arms for several years. Like carpal tunnel syndrome, this pain is from damage to tissue (including tendons) caused by...
  • Calling the US for free from foreign countries : Calling US numbers from the US is pretty trivial and nearly free. But calling from another country means either: - paying for long distance from your telephone company - using a phone card to call...

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