Finding a Home in Vietnam

I’m picky when it comes to where I live. Even when traveling to other countries, I’m no longer consider myself aa backpacker, or a camper, or a person who likes to “rough it”.

That’s why when we moved to Vietnam, we took our time. In our sleepy little town of Vung Tau, Vietnam, two hours from the megacity Ho Chi Minh City, we had an interesting mix of expats from Australia and the US, as well as Russians. The town is situated at the end of the Mekong Delta, so there are two beaches; one has a striking view of the country’s only off-shore oil rig and the ongoing cargo ships. It does, however, have some really beautiful private residences overlooking the South China Sea. If privacy and tranquility are your style, these sorts of spaces are for you.

We were not looking to travel thousands of miles only to hide away in a castle, so we kept looking. Our son just turned two and we wanted a space that was conducive to making friends and getting large daily doses of culture. A lot of our new friends tried the high rise apartment lifestyle and found it intolerable. Vietnamese architecture is generally pretty good at creating spaces that seem chic, but the building codes are non-existent and finding the right sort of land-lady can be really challenging. On at least two occassions a new disco club opened up practically overnight, shattering what little solitude the neighborhood enjoyed and there was…