Over six years ago I came to Vietnam visiting DaNang. Being from Ocean area of Florida DaNang appealed to me very much with the fresh sea air, beautiful cloud formations with added features like 3 mountain ranges in DaNang IE: Monkey Mountain, Marble Mountain and Ba Na Mountain. Then they built the most beautiful new airport to improve transport. The government of DaNang was very professional with absolutely no corruption. This city has a long term development plan for the community and visitors. Living in DaNang for 3 years was a beautiful experience.
Then I moved to Saigon where population over crowds the streets and markets. The government could care less about helping foreigners but they surely want the all mighty US Dollar. I got married to a girl I knew for 4 years and then it took 6 months 8 days to get the marriage papers spending over 7 million vnd most of which was corruption and non essential repeated paper work. I have seen the interest paid on bank investments go from 14% to now only 8%. The price of eating out is more expensive in Saigon than in any major city of USA. You can not get a decent lunch for under $10 USD and GOD forbid should you want any drink.
The local banks and government does not comprehend what it means for a foreigner to be retired. The banks question every dollar you deposit and spend. You withdraw 20 million vnd and they question "WHY?"
I pay 15 million vnd a month for an apartment where management will not even print important rules, regulations or warnings in English. The management will not paint the walls allowing a 4 star residence to look like a slum. The swimming pools are only cleaned 2 times a week on Monday and Friday so by Sunday the water is so dirty you dare not swim unless you want an ear infection. Plus the management even charges you 200,000 vnd to swim for one month even on top of their 750,000 maintenance fees.
So where will this culture stop and look at where and what they are doing? They still pay common workers 3 million vnd a month for 60 hour 6 day week job. The rich get richer and the poor get even more so poor.
Kenneth Coffing - expat living in Saigon District 8
Welcome to my real Vietnam! 
Sorry to hear that, Kenneth!
Is it any bright side of living here?
That's sad.
The ugly truth.
My sympathies to you buddy... 
I have seen the interest paid on bank investments go from 14% to now only 8%.
I'm no economist, but I'm fairly certain that an economic climate that has banks paying 14% interest isn't going to be generating anything other than perpetual hardship for the poor and downtrodden. You don't fall into that category (and neither do I). Thanks for reminding me!
Blow your nose and dry your eyes cupcake, because it's time to man up!
P.S. Here's the list that you requested from management:
BE CAREFUL!
Feel free to print and distribute it as you see fit.
Does anybody have any current information about living in a smaller city near the coast, where it would be conceivably cheaper. I will be retiring soon on a paltry $1,000 CAD a month. Any information will be most highly prized.
Several cities come to mind: Vung Tau, Nha Trang, Quy Nhon, Danang. Check hdm out and see which ones suit you.
Thanks for your quick reply! After researching these places, it seems inconceivable to me that I could live on $1,000 CAD at any of them. Do you know something that isn't apparent to the remote researcher?
I think all the things you listed are true. Do you have any ideas to help us?
Normally, we spend $500/month/person in HCMC. I believe with 1000 CAD, you can live anywhere you want, even tourist city.
I think 1000CAD (800USD) is enough for decent living, even in Saigon. The main cost is the room, which can be between 200 to 500usd, depending on what you want.
The issue, for older guys, would be healthcare, if you fall sick, you can either go to the crappy clinic with (probably) fake medicine, or the expensive western run hospitals which would bust your budget very quickly. Get travel insurance or something.
Thanks for the reassuring info... My first choice would be to find a smaller and QUIETER place away from all the tourist meccas but close to the ocean, where I could observe nature in an unhurried manner, I would hate to get sick and have to rely on "back country medicine". I've heard that some clinics in in some parts of Asia have well trained practitioners that are not that expensive. Anybody have experience with clinics there?
Check out thread "Health Care in Viet Nam"
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