saigonmonkey, American expatriate in Vietnam

Joseph

I am an expatriate.

I am American, and I am now living in Vietnam. I am currently in Ho Chi Minh City.

My path

About me

I'm from North Carolina, and am a furniture manufacturing professional with 30+ years in the business. Presently work for an American company which contracts with factories here in Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces, and ships the product to our customers in the US. Have been living in HCMC for more than 6 years. I may be of assistance to some who need general information about living and getting around Saigon. Lived in An Phu for first year, but now live in Phu My Hung, so am familiar with the major ex-pat living areas. I'm married to a wonderful Chinese lady from Chengdu, Sichuan province. We are always looking for Western/Chinese couples like us to share experiences here, but are happy to be friendly with anyone. My wife has several Vietnamese girlfriends as well, but they have to communicate in English because we haven't learned much Vietnamese.

I can speak English, Vietnamese (very limited)

Interests

american sports, cycling (road bike)

User activity on the board

Title: Serial expat

Posts: 249
Last post: Yesterday 08:26:37
Registered: 2011-02-18

Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City

I am currently living in Vietnam since January 2008

My occupation:

Furniture industry professional - work for American company sourcing and producing hardline casegoods in Vietnam and Indonesia, and import from those countries to USA

What I like about this destination:

Warm weather year-round. Large ex-pat community with many ex-pats who speak English to have as friends. Large percentage of Vietnamese who can speak English. Local Vietnamese very friendly.

What I don't like about this destination:

Terrible infrastructure, but they are slowly making efforts to improve. Everything moves very slowly here. I spend 2-1/2 to 3 hours in a car every day.

China
Guangdong

I lived in China from August 2007 to January 2008

My occupation:

Furniture industry professional - worked for American company sourcing product in China and importing to USA.

What I liked about this destination:

Constantly improving infrastructure made it relatively easy and quick to get to work every day.

What I didn't like about this destination:

Terrible air pollution. Adversely affected my health. No heat in any building in winter. Was lucky I had heat in my apartment. Most people don't.

Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City

I lived in Vietnam from July 2006 to August 2007

My occupation:

Furniture industry professional - worked for American company providing quality control services for American customers sourcing and producing product in Vietnam and importing to USA.

What I liked about this destination:

The same things I like about it now.

What I didn't like about this destination:

Same as now. But it was even worse 4 years ago.

China
Guangdong

I lived in China from June 2005 to July 2006

My occupation:

Furniture industry professional - worked for American company providing quality control services for American customers sourcing and producing product in China and importing to USA.

What I liked about this destination:

At that time, there wasn't that much to like, but my job was a tremendous opportunity and I was grateful to have it, so I didn't mind.

What I didn't like about this destination:

Terrible air pollution. Adversely affected my health. No heat in any building in winter. Was lucky I had heat in my apartment. Most people don't.

USA
North Carolina

I lived in the USA from January 1985 to June 2005

My life & projects in this location:

Began my working career in 1985. Was born many years earlier. :-)

My occupation:

Furniture industry professonal - managed high-volume manufacturing factories most of my career, until my workers' jobs (and eventually mine) were outsourced to Asia.