That makes me so sad as I dearly love my country
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I agree with what you are saying . Why bother when the cost of living drags you down too. Was back in the homeland and got my bike nicked after only a couple of months. And when I say a bike this was more like an old frame with two wheels and functioning brakes lol. A bike like object. Literally worth about a 100 euro.
The lock was worth almost 1/4 of the bike’s cost.
Didn’t matter, sone bastard had to nick it. Really pissed me off. He probably sold it for a tenner for a craic hit (that was an intentional joke 
).
I’m making a joke of it now but it actually kind of upset me as its probably the fourth or fifth bike that has been stolen from me in my homeland i.e. things never improved since I was a kid, in fact it’s worse now!
This was in the city centre in broad view of everybody. I looked at the railing it was robbed from (right outside one of those shitty casinos of course) and noticed that NO bikes were affixed to the railing. It’s likely all the bikes were stolen there everyday. Otherwise how would there be no bikes locked there?
Anyway if people are still stealing and selling the cheapest crappiest stuff in broad daylight, and they don’t feel any risk of being prosecuted , you know there’s a problem. Is it drugs, is it poverty, is it fuck you to broader society? I would say its mostly drugs abuse with a large helping of the ‘justice system’ mollycoddling criminals for too long.
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I think that depends upon where you go and maybe what you’re buying. That statement definitely brings back memories of being overcharged for things (or, buying a chicken lunch and then they lift the pieces up from the top of the display to hunt out the smallest piece to give me), but after you’re here for a while, you know what prices are and who is trying to do that. Its also mainly in tourist areas that happens, other times you’ll get the local price.
Also, when you speak with others who have been here a long time or are married to locals, that can also happen to locals (e.g. they buy something then the vendor takes a heap of stuff out of the package of goods before giving it to them, or they give a local a crappy service or product unless they speak up and call them out on it. Its partially a money/greed thing and a lot of people here are focused on making as much money as they possibly can and don’t care what they have to do to make it, whereas others focus on service and the people aspect and the money takes care of itself.)
Yeah, overall, despite the shortcomings, you can have a really good quality of life here and save a lot of money… its just about taking the good with the bad.
I remember meeting an old couple who were retired in Bali 20 years ago. The husband bought a villa for his wife for about 5K (would now cost 50K+ in the same location) and they told me they only visited for 3 months a year even though they could stay longer, because if they stayed any longer they would end up hating the locals 
I think expats have that experience world-wide, like this video here from Taiwan:
Actually, you remind me, I ought to be grateful I can have this quality of life at this price and also save way more than I would at home. I most certainly couldn’t have the same experience in my home country.
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The bikes in the town center where I’m at get stolen all the time during broad daylight. All the time. I see posts about it daily. You’d think the police would do something or set up some traps but nope.
Another issue is no one feels like the police will do anything which is true but also compounding the issue. People don’t even bother reporting because they know it’s a waste of time.
One of our courier pick up drivers just came out of jail. He was showing us his videos of his time in prison. They had TVs and were drinking and smoking having parties. And he had a phone. All not supposed to happen but it does. So basically you have two issues.
Police won’t catch you
even if caught it’s not that bad. I’m very liberal with the criminal justice system and I’m all about reform instead of punishment but prison is not supposed to be a party either.
Another issue is I truly believe inflation is under reported by a lot. My income has grown significantly and yet I feel less well off. Everything is just adding up so much. I can only imagine the pain of an average person who maybe at best got a 3-5% raise if any. It’s really bad right now. And I don’t believe it’s going to improve anytime soon. The crazier thing is taxes are going up. I see no light at the end of the tunnel for the UK for a long long time.
The media and politicians keep distracting them with some stupid crap like rainbow flags at the world up or some other bs that don’t matter for the average family.
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In my home city it has been like that for years. The cops could see someone with an angle grinder working on a bike and they won’t bother as they don’t want to get involved with people hyped up on drugs and alcohol. You could probably steal a police bike outside the station and they wouldnt get involved. I often see certain groups downtown walking a stolen bike down the street carefree.
And a lot of that comes from the fact that people with severe mental illness are allowed to go free and untreated, one because the government feels they have rights and the hospital can’t hold them and second there is no spaces left for mental health and no funding.
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Vietnamese are very proud of home grown companies and everyone gives it their all to see their home grown companies make a name on the world stage.
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This is what I saw. Vietnamese are working every hard to improve and grow their country. I saw new buildings, businesses, factories, all popping up while I was there. Vietnamese are proud and hard working. I saw see the positive outlook and belief they will become better. The energy every where. I was every impressed even though they still have a ways to go and challenges ahead. But they’re heading in the right direction.
While in Europe they think they’re amazing in their minds and can’t imagine countries like Vietnam one day overtaking them and growing so fast. They’re living off the greatness of their ancestors.
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Determined, yet still friendly enough.
Shows in their service
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I agree. They made a shaky start when they started opening up, but they’re fast learners. I’ve heard Vietnamese people have a reputation for arrogance - for thinking they’re better than anybody else - but they do, perhaps, have a point.
Yeah, this. Particularly the UK. It takes a while for the machinery to run down, but you can see it happening. Europe is running on fumes.
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I work with Vietnamese customers. They can be very corrupt, but it’s just like the early 2000s in China. Times be booming. Things can be a bit messy aswell.
Government is cracking down on corruption a bit now so it won’t be so obvious in the near future.
I have been thinking about buying a small apartment over there for investment purposes, if anybody has anything to share ler me know.
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Yes. I won’t go into details but customs there are corrupt if you want to export.
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Awful.
Loved my recent trip to Hanoi. Certainly Vietnam is up-and-coming. I also really appreciate how I was not stared at nearly as much as in Taipei, for some reason. Interestingly on the tour bus, the preset audio accompanying the tour in Chinese was a bit different than the English version.
At the very end of the Chinese version, the narrator urged people to invest in Vietnam, “you can be a millionaire!”
Honestly, giving it 5-10 years, might not be too far off from the truth.
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The Vietnam boom has already happened, hasn’t it?
Had a short trip to HCMC this week. And definitely interested to check out hanoi and further trips.
Grab was so easy to use and shockingly cheap. 145ntd from the city center to the airport. If you choose a scooter instead of a car the price would probably be halved.
The food was all crazy cheap and it was all good too. I think the most expensive stuff was in the airport.
People are nice and very gentle. And the women were not half bad to look at without the snooty factor that Taiwanese women have (despite being useless).
That said it was rather more dirty than Taiwan, i was walking around Sanchong today thinking bloody hell the streets here are clean and neat…
And by the end of it i was kind of tired, its just too stimulating. Seemed even more crazy than Bangkok in one area. It gets tiring having people constantly ask you if you want a massage, taxi, fix your shoes etc etc.
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