TAGS: Expat Life, Ho Chi Minh City, Living Abroad, Saigon, Housing in Ho Chi Minh City, What to Ship to Vietnam, Imported Food, Thao Dien, District 2, District 7, Phu My Hung
RECENT MEANDERINGS....
House Hunting in Ho Chi Minh City
For a foreigner moving to Ho Chi Minh City, this is equally true, and one finds oneself restricted to certain areas within the city, Phu My Hung in District 7, in a high rise in the central business District 1 or the adjacent Saigon Pearl area, or in Thao Dien, An Phu area of District 2.
In an urban area as vast as Saigon, which has 24 districts, why do so many of the expats seem to congregate in these areas? Read up on the process of finding a home in Ho Chi Minh City by clicking on the title for the full post.
In an urban area as vast as Saigon, which has 24 districts, why do so many of the expats seem to congregate in these areas? Read up on the process of finding a home in Ho Chi Minh City by clicking on the title for the full post.
Living in Phu My Hung, District 7
Calling all actors on set. Phu My Hung will be today's on- location setting. Offering a modern small town hub, Phu My Hung attracts Vietnam's film industry for its clean wide streets, a less crowded environment, and infrastructure that reflects the future of the Saigon.
Yet, I've heard young Vietnamese disparage the area because it has lost some of the city's street side culture to the malls and almost culture-less urbanization. (See MIT Professor Annette Kim's Interview on Vietnamese street culture.)
Phu My Hung could be in any tropical city of the world, and is growing to look more like Southern California every day, with cookie cutter villas and a strip mall ambiance. But it offers all the features a Westerner has come to expect, even in its own standardization of the urban environment.
Yet, I've heard young Vietnamese disparage the area because it has lost some of the city's street side culture to the malls and almost culture-less urbanization. (See MIT Professor Annette Kim's Interview on Vietnamese street culture.)
Phu My Hung could be in any tropical city of the world, and is growing to look more like Southern California every day, with cookie cutter villas and a strip mall ambiance. But it offers all the features a Westerner has come to expect, even in its own standardization of the urban environment.
Living in District 2
If Phu My Hung resembles a movie set for a small scale modern Asian city, then District 2, especially the An Phu and Thao Dien areas, resemble Beverly Hills. Known as the place where the rich, famous, and politically connected of Saigon reside, it is easy to see how this area, especially the Thao Dien hamlet, imparts this impression, with its narrow streets occasionally blocked by a parked Porsche Cayenne, by the numerous luxury cars gliding past Annam Market, and the many ornate gates formidably closed to passersby. Clearly, some of the most expensive real estate is in the small area adjacent the Ha Noi Highway.
WHERE TO BUY IMPORTED FOOD
IN HO CHI MINH CITY
The first week I arrived the common advice was to expect little in terms of shopping. Before moving here, I had already resigned myself to the fact I wouldn't be hopping behind the steering wheel, parking in lot the size of a football field, and running through the self-checkout with two gallons of fresh milk, a loaf of bread, and a lamb shank. Driving? Off the to do list. Parking? In the city, people pay to stash their motorbikes on the sidewalk or alley or they have the taxi or personal driver deposit them in front of the store. Shopping malls, wholesale centers, and some small supermarkets offer parking lots, but because urban density is high and the city is already sprawling, there isn't much demand or space for parking lots that resemble the International Space Station. As for finding everything in one store?