He Left Florida for Vietnam - Here's How He Lives!

Today on the Cost of Living Abroad Pod, we meet a Gen Z tech entrepreneur who escaped Florida's chaos and cost of living crisis to build a business and find focus in Vietnam. He was a channel subscriber who reached out before his move and now he is living his dream. Stick around to the end to hear his story of finding his first apartment, dating, and settling in to Da Nang, Vietnam. Welcome to the Cost of Living Abroad Pod. I'm Evan. This is Ash. I'm excited to get to know you and talk to you. Why don't you just start by telling me what sort of set it off for you or what was maybe like the catalyst for you leaving home and coming to Southeast Asia and Vietnam? Yeah, so I think there were a lot of reasons why I decided to move to Vietnam. One of the biggest was definitely the cost of living in the U.S., so last year I was working in tech. I was making a good salary, but still I wasn't able to save any money. I was living in Tampa, paying a lot for rent and a lot for food, and I was working remotely, so I figured why not go abroad where I can save some money and just earn income from anywhere in the world. Yeah, when I talk to people who haven't made the leap yet, that for me is like the biggest Try and figure out a way to have some kind of income before you leave, because if you have any kind of income, whether it's big income or even just a little like a supplementary income, it makes it so much softer on the landing side, right? Like you have so much more run-out time. If the first three months are like a mess somewhere, as they often are, then it's like, okay, you know, Da Nang wasn't for me, I'll go try whatever, Bangkok or Koh Samui or Malaysia or something. What were you doing in tech? So I worked as a software engineer for a number of years, and I also worked as an early stage startup. I was a CTO. We were bootstrapped, so we were just trying to get things off the ground, get things going. But yeah, you mentioned having a salary before you move here, and I think that's especially important you establish yourself as an entrepreneur. I took some time off at home and just really developed my business to get it to a solid foundation where I could afford to move here and I wouldn't have to worry about living expenses or being able to pay my bills. For anyone who's an entrepreneur or you're just thinking about starting a business, I think it's really important that you have some source of income that can at least sustain you here when moving to another country. I think that the income thing is probably better than savings. People always want to know, what's the number? How much do I need in my bank account? I don't think you need anything, obviously you want more than zero, but I don't think there's a number that feels safe, like a fire-type number. It's like, oh, if you have $10,000, if you have $100,000, it's more just about if you know what your cost of living is, roughly, and you know that your income is greater than that, then you're fine, right? Then you're at least somewhat stress-free. What would you say your cost of living, like the ratio is, like you arrived here about two months ago, you said, relative to Tampa, how cheap is Denae? Oh my god. It's incredibly cheap. Yeah, so my rent is about two and a half times lower here in Vietnam, and I'm still renting a very nice place in a modern apartment. And in terms of food, you can eat here for, you know, $1, $2, $3, have an amazing meal, the same kind of meal would cost at least $20 USD. What about your expectations? Before you got to Vietnam and Da Nang, what was the number in your mind that you thought you were going to need, like monthly expenditure-wise, and are you spending more or less now that you're actually here? Yeah, that's a good question. So I actually thought I wouldn't be spending as much as I did coming here, so my rent is about $1,000 a month, which is very expensive. For Vietnam, I was expecting to pay maybe $500 to $800, but also prices have gone up in Da Nang over the last few years. So yeah, that was a little bit more than expected, but I would say everything else has been relatively around my expectations, in terms of eating out, going out for entertainment, yeah. So it's been pretty ballpark except for the rent, I would say. And are you living in like a new-build condo type one-bedroom, yeah? Yeah, I'm living in a two-bedroom apartment in an apartment complex that was built last year, so it's a new building, very secure, we have underground parking so you don't have to worry about your motorbike getting stolen. And that price range for a two-bedroom, especially if it's a new-build, that's what you're going to pay, $800 to $1,000. And then there's a couple sort of very high-end or exclusive buildings where you might even get into $1,200 or something like that, right? Like thinking in terms of million dong, maybe like, I think $30 million dong is probably the high-end for most rents here, unless you're renting like a five-bedroom villa or something like that. People think of Florida as like a pretty, I don't think, maybe open isn't the right word, but a very like libertarian place, right? Like a place that relative to a lot of sort of like continental United States is less inhibited, maybe sometimes too much so. And a lot of people I think come to Vietnam because they think of it as being a kind of freedom or less rules, less micromanagement or imposition they have to face at home. What's your experience with that been so far? Yeah, so just for context, I actually grew up in Wisconsin. Okay, it's fair. So I went to university there and then I moved to Florida and went to grad school at FSU. So I was in Florida for about five years after that. And yeah, in terms of how open it is, I think Vietnam is so much more open than any other US state you could possibly imagine. It's very, very convenient. It's very easy to get things done here. And that's really how the people operate is like they find a way, they're very innovative and very creative. So like in the US, for example, you always have to pay for parking or you have to park in a very specific spot. Here in Vietnam, you just park on the sidewalk of whatever place you're going to. Yeah, and in terms of convenience, it's just so convenient here. If you want to get your laundry done, there's a laundry service. You just call them, they pick up your laundry, they go wash it, bring it back in a little bag all folded and dry. And yeah, so it's very, very, very open here. I would say there's a lot more, a lot less restrictions in terms of what you can do. It's so dynamic, right? Like it's people, it has the reputation as being communist because the party is called the Communist Party. On the books, it's a socialist republic. So it is a republican country. But it's so young. It's so dynamic relative to the United States or to Canada that I always, yeah, innovative is a word or maybe like intuitive. It always feels like if there's like a hole or a gap or something missing here, someone immediately appears to fill it, right? That's right. You know, like that sense of like whether it's the laundry or the parking or whatever, like if something is needed, it will magically appear. And it's usually someone just like, you know, bootstrapping or showing up or being there first, being the first to offer the solution. How are you making money now that you've left the States? Are you still just working remotely for one company or are you doing something else? Yeah, so I actually started my own business last year. So what I do is I'm a focus facilitator and guide. So I help entrepreneurs who struggle with focus, are very distracted. I help them build systems to help them get into flow and focus. And I've also developed a system called Focus Protocol, which is a system I use with my clients to help them build the personalized focus system and tools that they need to build the life that they want or build the business that they want. So I basically help them focus on the right things and then also end up helping them with business too. So if they need help with sales skills, marketing, whatever they need when it comes to building their business, I help them with that as well. When I was working in tech, I was quite miserable and I spent a lot of time basically numbing myself with distractions. So I would dive into YouTube or social media or dating apps and just use that to fill the emptiness that I had inside. And eventually I got so burnt out and just needed to take some time to reflect and figure out what I wanted to really do with my life. And it was through this period of reflection and introspection that I realized two things. One of the biggest tragedies that people face in life is that they never find the thing that they want to do with their life. And the other tragedy is that we're so distracted today that even if we find our thing, we might not be able to focus on it to build the life or build the business that we want. So I went through that process myself and it was one of the most transformative experiences for me is finding my mission and finding how I want to help the world. And so, yeah, I decided to start helping people with their focus, help them find out what they want to do, and then also help them build the business that they see for themselves. Yeah, that's beautiful, man. That really resonates. Yeah. You know, I mean, sometimes it just takes a lot of trial and error. And of course, like finding your purpose or what you want to do, it takes effort. It doesn't just always come to you out of thin air. A lot of times you have to really try a lot of things and just explore and figure out what resonates the most with you. What was the thing that drew you into Vietnam in particular? And had you or do you want to visit or live in other countries in the region, too? Or was it specifically Vietnam? Yeah, that's a good question. So I was actually looking between two different places to move abroad. The first was Bali and the second was Vietnam. And I was leaning more towards Bali in the beginning because I knew there would be more English speakers there, larger entrepreneurial network. So just better for business and networking overall. And just easier to make friends if more people speak English. So my original plan was leaning more towards Bali. But as I was doing more research, I came across a YouTube video about Da Nang. And I'm like, what's this place? I've never heard of Da Nang, Vietnam before. And just started doing more research and found out that there are a lot of American expats, Canadian expats living in Vietnam. And they just had such good things to say about it. And me personally, I love Vietnamese food. It's my favorite food in the world. So I wanted to be able to eat that every day and not go bankrupt. Yeah. And yeah, I also love to play badminton. And that's super popular here around the city. And in the States, I played with a lot of Vietnamese people. And they're just some of the most friendly, happy people I've met. So I wanted to be around that kind of culture and environment. And yeah, just experience, you know, like the real Vietnam experience and still be able to be around the locals, go to local places, not have everything so westernized, so to speak, or commoditized and still get a real authentic experience here. There's so many misunderstandings about Vietnam, outside of Vietnam, in the region, in the world, in the States, in Canada, in the West in general. A huge one is just that most people don't realize there's 100,000 foreigners in the country, which is a lot. That's a big number of people. But then the broader context of that is that I think most people, unless they look it up, have no clue that Vietnam has 100 million people and have no idea how long and humongous geographically of a country it is, right? There's like there's like 1300 kilometers of coastline. Yeah. Regional dialects, you know, people look different and sound different and dress different in different parts of Vietnam. But before I got here, small but real cultural ties, things like food or having met people or badminton that actually drew you in. Has it lived up to expectations? Has it surpassed? Like what's your feeling now that you're here compared to maybe what your previous conception of it was? Yeah. You know, I also did a lot of research before moving here and I watched a lot of So yourself interviewing other people, you get a get a good idea of, you know, what it would be like to live here. So besides the things I like, like badminton and Vietnamese food, I also got a good feeling of what is it like to live here before moving here. And I learned about all the scams before I moved here. So I wouldn't get scammed when I first got here, too. So, yeah, I would say I was I was pretty prepared when I moved here and I was 99 percent sure I was going to love this country. In terms of living up to expectations, it's it's definitely lived up and even even exceeded my expectations just with how helpful people are here, how friendly they are to foreigners. You know, even if you don't speak the same language, they're willing to go way out of their way to help you. I'll give you an example. So I left my gas tank cap for my motorbike at the gas station. I went there the next day and I couldn't find it. And this couple overheard me talking to them and they're like, yeah, just follow us. We'll take you to a shop to go buy a new one. So just got on our motorbikes. They took me around the city, took me to a dealership to buy a new motorbike cap. And yeah, just things like that that happen all the time. Like, you know, people go way out of their way to help you and are very welcoming, very accommodating. They'll invite you to their house to eat, invite you for dinner. If you're thinking about moving to Vietnam, I actually made a 60 minute masterclass. This is really for people who are like on the fence, unsure if it's for you or not. It's an entry point into the basic setup and logistics of your first 30 to 180 days here. It's linked in the channel description so you can find it there. I did a lot of traveling in the north before I sort of like settled down and just always it's like inviting you into their home. It's not a hearth. It's more like a mat on the floor and sitting in a circle style. But that's what it feels like to me, this idea of like come into my family home, sit at my hearth, you know, eat with me, drink with me. Like people in this country have been so incredibly welcoming. And I mean, that's why I've ended up staying for how many years I have. What have the biggest struggles been so far with language? So I'd say that's one of the biggest barriers here is obviously the language barrier, especially where I live, because I'm city side in Da Nang. So I live by all the locals. There are really no expats or foreigners. Living there. So most people speak no English or very little English. So in order to communicate, we usually have to use translator over there. And yeah, so I would say that's the biggest barrier is just the language barrier. But Vietnamese people are very patient with you. They'll they'll help you out even if you're not speaking Vietnamese. But they will like you more if you try to speak some Vietnamese, of course. But yeah, basically just using translator when I need to and using Vietnamese where I where I can. People here really like vocally and visually get excited if foreigners try and speak Vietnamese. Right. No matter how terrible it is, they literally are like they're like fired up for you're like proud. They're so proud of it. Right. They're proud of their language. They're definitely still excited and proud to have visitors and guests like us here. Are you planning on living abroad or nomadically, you know, for another decade? Or this is a little a pit stop along the way. Like, how do you see it in your big plans? I like to approach traveling a little differently than most people. I'm not someone who likes to hop around every couple of weeks or spend a month in one country and then a month in another country. I really like to move somewhere and get a really good feel and establish roots of a place. So I prefer to stay in a place for at least six months to a year. Really get a good feel to see if I like it. But I came here with the intention of living here long term. And that's my plan is to stay in Vietnam long term. So that could be forever. It could very well be. It could be a few years. Right. So, yeah, and I'm living in Da Nang right now. I may go to Saigon, try living there for a little bit, see what it's like. But yeah, I will most likely stay, stay in Vietnam long term. That's really my plan. Most people online are incorrect in assuming there aren't long term visa options. There's plenty, whether it's through work, investment, marriage or through education. Right. So there's there are plenty of options to stay long term. And then I don't know if you read recently, but literally last week citizenship for foreigners is approved, which is rare. Not not just in Southeast Asia in general in the world. It's not a common thing to have had that. So now there's a real legitimate way to to immigrate to Vietnam and become Vietnamese. And it's it requires either. I think it's you to live here for five years. There's a language component, but it's not like, you know, I think it's the equivalent of like someone immigrating to the States and having to do pledge allegiance to the flag or something. Right. It's not like you've become a fluent Vietnamese speaker. So and then, of course, if you have kids or or a spouse, too. So it's pretty, pretty cool. Pretty interesting shift. I'm very curious about why you chose to live in Haichou. And then I guess we can get into more detail about how it's been afterwards. I love cityside Da Nang. I think it's beautiful. I think it's super chill. It's not as like crowded, dense or intense as most Vietnamese cities. Like if anything, it almost reminds me some ways of the lot, which is like a sort of like mountain retreat city in central Vietnam. You definitely have to go if you haven't been. Yeah. So what was the motivation to live there? And then how do you think it's been so far? Yeah, it's a good question. So the most important things to me was a quiet place. So I didn't want a lot of street noise or karaoke going on all the time. The other thing that was important to me is a very modern building. So I just wanted a place where there wasn't going to be a lot of molds or any issues with that. And yeah, to be to be quite honest, I was pretty exhausted from the flight. So I was just happy to take whatever place I felt was was good, good enough. And I didn't want to get stuck in an analysis paralysis of having too many options to choose to live. So as soon as I found a place I like, I just went ahead and signed a lease. So I actually only toured two different apartments here. The first one just had karaoke right downstairs. So that was a no go for me. And the second one I tried out. I really liked it. I spent a couple of nights there just to get a feel and see what the noise would be like at night. And it was pretty quiet. So, yeah, I just ended up signing a lease at that place and just just went went for it. So did you post in like Facebook groups? Did you look on Chatot? Did you directly contact a real estate agent? How did what was the process? Yeah, so I think I did what most people do, which is just go in the Facebook group for listings in Da Nang. And I just saw some listings I like there. So I reached out to the agent and got in touch with one who sent me a bunch of different places to choose from. So, yeah, so I was messaging her before I moved to Vietnam. And then once I got here, I had someone to show me around, show me a couple of places. Man, you totally you really just by what you're saying, I can tell you did legitimately do all of your research and really do the back end before you came, which is so cool to hear, because it's not that it's rare, but I think and it's kind of my whole pitch, like, well, if people watch my content and just use the stuff that's free, that's on the podcast on my main YouTube channel. Amazing. That's beautiful. If I just like how people have better outcomes in their move to Vietnam, that's really all I want. You know, like ultimately that's what I think the value profit is. Right. It's just like if I hope if you watch this stuff, your experience of moving here will be better. And the reason I want to share it is because I moved here and I love it. You know, it's just that simple. It's not like there's no like deeper stuff than that. But to hear you talk about these things, like having checked for karaoke, check for mold, like those are such key factors. And then knowing to get in the Facebook groups and actually contacting something before you land and making friends, too. So I was making friends on Facebook before I moved to Vietnam. So as soon as I got here, I had, you know, some people I could reach out to, could kind of show me around, just become my friend, you know, get to know them. If you know what you're looking for, where to live, if you have a pretty good idea about what your budget is, you know where your income is going to come from. And then, yeah, the next big thing is sort of like in Maslow's hierarchy, the the social part. Right. So how did you go about chatting with people, talking to people, getting in touch with people before you had to Vietnam? Yeah. I mean, I didn't do anything special, I guess, or out of the ordinary. Just how I'd make friends in the US did the same thing. Just, you know, making conversation, talking to them about what they're interested in, you know, it's getting to know them. Yeah. And so did you did you join like the standard expat group? Did you look into specialty groups like like badminton or like language exchanges? Or so the thing that really helped was posting an intro about myself in the expats group, because I a lot of people commented on that. I were like, yeah, like we have this badminton club or yeah, we have this entrepreneurial club club. You should come join. So through that post, I was just able to make a lot of connections and meet a lot of people who have the same shared interest and just connect with people that way. Yeah. Yeah. Is that how we met? Did I reply to that post? I think so. I definitely saw something. I can't remember what I definitely saw something you posted and replied. Or maybe I reached out to you and I was like, hey, I watch your YouTube videos. I can't I can't remember either way. It was definitely through Facebook. Right. Yeah. And the thing about Vietnam is everyone uses Facebook here. And there's so many groups on Facebook. So many, you know, if you're looking for reviews before you go to a place, you can go to Facebook and check it out. So, yeah. And it's the it's the marketplace of the country, right? Like everything economic, any kind of exchange is going to happen or can happen on Facebook. Follow up question. I saw in your your like Facebook or Instagram or one of your reels or something today, you were at some kind of really like a talk or an event or something this morning. It was an event at a coworking space, basically for entrepreneurs to help them develop better systems to get clients. So basically, it was a talk on how to book more calls for your business as a coach, how to do smarter outreach strategy. So it's just a free workshop that the coworking space hosted. What was the is it called the coworking space? No, it's called Synergy Synergy. When I sort of like give a broad, not specific advice, like broad general advice, I'm usually like find a service department in Antung for a couple of weeks, right? The touristy, the expat where everyone's going to speak English and it's going to be super easy. Find a place there for a week or two. Nothing long term, you know, in your first 30 days, then then look around the city, explore, find what's right for you. Do you find yourself still going to Antung into the sort of tourist expat zone for social events, for going out at night, for for nomad meetups? To be honest, no, but that's just me. I didn't want to be surrounded by just foreigners or expats. I really wanted to be around more local people and just have that like real Vietnam experience, so to speak. I didn't want to be in a very touristy area. And so so, yeah, I I knew I didn't want to go to like the hot tourist spot here on the beach side, even though it's very nice. I find that whenever I come come over here, there's a lot more pitching that's done to you. So people always trying to like sell you something was like coffee or renting a motorbike. And that gets quite annoying after a while. And I don't really experience that living on the city side because it's just all all local people. The first three months we spent up here, which is not technically in Hoi An Old Town, but it was in An Bang Beach. I found it very frustrating. My wife didn't write her experience as a Vietnamese person. Moving there was that they knew she was from Saigon and were really friendly and warm and welcoming to her. I'm like, that's so cool that you moved from Saigon to our town. Tell us about it. My experience was like, I really felt the like, you know, the instant tourist burnout. You've probably done yourself a huge favor in that sense, right? Like a lot of people who are going to have the classic sort of, you know, burnout and last whatever, three months to six months and then never come back. That's what's going to happen to them, right? They're going to end up in an expat or a tourist bubble, start to be repelled by it and then never break. Right. Like never like break through it into the rest of the place, the rest of the country, the rest of the experience. Yeah. And the thing about Da Nang is it's pretty easy to get around and it's not a massive city like Saigon. So, you know, I can be to the beach in 15 minutes if I want, which a lot of people say is a lot of time. But I feel like that's that's not bad. No. You know, are you closer or farther from the ocean than you were in Tampa? I am closer. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. No. In Florida, I had to drive like 45 minutes to get to a real beach because I was in Tampa. But the beats are beaches are 45 minutes west in St. Pete. What's been the biggest misconception or the thing that people get wrong? Yeah, I would say some people told me Vietnam has trash everywhere and it's very dirty. And after spending some time here and living here, I feel it's actually pretty clean in most places. You don't see a ton of trash on the streets, especially in Da Nang. I feel like it's pretty clean overall. How much of Vietnam have you seen in the last two months? Have you been able to travel out of it and see other cities, other places? Since I'm staying here long term, I'm not. Oh, wait, man, imagine if we were to say, oh, we're getting close, actually. It's almost four by 430 or five. This street will be loud. Oh, yeah. ------- loud. OK. Oh, anyways, whatever. Since I'm staying here long term, I'm not really in a rush to see everything. I like to really discover the city I'm living in and get a good feel for it. So most of my time has been exploring Da Nang and getting to know this city. I was in Saigon last week. And yeah, that was definitely a big city experience. So, yeah, a little more dirty. But, you know, the English is a lot better there. They're a lot more fluent, so very friendly people, very welcoming. What do you think about the sort of energy and the feeling of Saigon as an entrepreneur? Do you think that it has more of an appeal to you than a place like Da Nang? Depends more on your personality. And does a busy environment, a chaotic environment fire you up or does it drain you? And for me, I think overall, being in a very busy, fast paced city would more drain me over time than excite me. Even if there are more people, they are more entrepreneurs. I just like to have a more calm, peaceful environment and just have a place where I can be intense with work, but I can be a little more relaxed with my personal life and just driving around the city, just having more nature and spots to unwind. So, yeah, I think it's more a personality thing. It just depends if you want, like you prefer a faster paced city or you like a little more relaxed, laid back vibe. Yeah, I think that's very astute, man. That's a very wise beyond your years thing to say. Saigon has a very particular energy to it. And it is like intent, high heart rate all the time. Vietnam in general is just high heart rate, like very stimulating everywhere you go, even at the billiards places, they'll be playing like this, this house techno music, you know, very like intense, like, you know, and, you know, of course, everyone's caffeinated. So they're always, you know, stimulated. Vietnamese men my age and up consume a massive amount of beer and cigarettes. But sometimes it seems like no one else in the country does, right? Like all of the people under 30, they always seem to drink coffee, bubble tea. Not I mean, there's some drinking, sure, but not a lot. Yeah. And there's very little cigarette smoking. So these things that sort of get deemed to be like Vietnamese and statistically like they are. It's it's really like a portion of the culture, like a faction of it. I don't know. Maybe just a single demographic. Yeah. To be honest, just driving around on a motorbike in the streets of Da Nang is enough stimulation for me for the entire day. If you're not used to driving a motorcycle or a motorbike, especially in a foreign country, it's it's a wild experience. Yeah. Very exciting and chaotic. How do you feel like you've changed or grown as a person and in your first couple of months here? Is this your first time living abroad outside America? Yes, this is my first time moving abroad and living somewhere long term. I would say I just feel more at home here. My soul feels more at home and more at peace. I definitely value a more traditional conservative culture. And that's also one of the reasons why I moved away from the West is just all the degeneracy that's happening over there. Just, you know, the selfishness of the culture and the companies. I feel more at home because people actually really care about each other and really help each other genuinely. So I think it just feels a little a little more natural to me, a little more at home. And I can open up and I guess just be more more myself here, the self I want to be and be that that kind of person who also goes out of their way to help other people and care about other people, because it's really appreciated here in Vietnam. The Buddhist background, long term and the communist background, short term. Are communal. They're not individual, right? And for whatever reason, I've only been here six years, which is is nothing in terms of Vietnam's history. It's just skimming the surface. Right. But I really feel that way, too. Like for whatever various cultural precursors have existed. This culture, this place is much more tight knit and woven together in terms of community, culture and and just group social dynamics are way tighter here. That kind of fraying or falling apart feeling that you feel in the isolation and sort of solipsism at home in the West. It doesn't hit the same way, right? It's what's one of the things that's where the culture shock really just sort of like. Yeah, I would say the obsession of taking pictures everywhere all the time, especially the girls are always, you know, taking photo shoots for like an hour or two hours at the same place sometimes. And that's that's kind of just a little shocking to me, I guess, and not really used to seeing that. Just a very, very high obsession with with selfies and picture taking. And stuff like that. And even on the beach, it's funny. Like I saw a guy with his his girl taking pictures of his girlfriend probably for an hour and a half, holding up the little reflector in one hand and the phone in the other. I haven't seen it as much here, but I think one of the things you'll probably that will probably really come here soon that you see a ton of in China is you'll go to places like, you know, the big sort of vistas or famous views. And there's just like a literal line of. People with cameras on tripods is like whatever, you know, obviously, we're we're people with cameras on tripods, so I don't want to like say like I'm not a part of this. But individuals with like their phone on a tripod live streaming for hours selling or dancing or just talking or whatever. Well, I think a good part of that is Vietnamese seem like they have no social anxiety around doing that. And everyone's just super comfortable with with doing their own thing out in public for stuff like taking pictures, taking videos. I think that's a positive aspect. They're not worried about what will other people think, what they judge me like that. I think it's very accepted just to to have that in the culture. OK, the whole concept of privacy here is totally different. Oh, yeah. If it exists, it's totally different. So it's not that they don't respect your privacy. They literally don't understand the concept of privacy. The biggest one is there's no personal space here in the West where we're used to having our personal space, right? If you get too close, it feels very uncomfortable. So I'll give you two different situations where there's no personal space at all. The first is just driving around on a motorbike in general. People drive so close together that they're almost hitting you or when they're merging in front of you, they're almost crashing into you. The second one is I was just walking around in a grocery store and a girl was looking for something and she literally walks up to me, maybe like six inches from my face. She's looking that way, but she's standing this right here face to face. And I was just, you know, kind of like, what is going on? Why is she right? Right here. So she was standing here for maybe four or five seconds and then she walks away and goes. I at first, when I thought here, I was like, are these women hitting on me? Is this the way flirting things? I remember the same thing, like being in stores where someone would come up and just like, like stop where like our arms were touching, you know? And I'd be like, do you not realize our arms are touching, lady? Like, is this a is what is this? What is going on? But I really don't think it was a come on at all. It's just like, yeah. And it's just a different perspective, you know, with with the traffic thing. Like, it's actually it's actually a positive thing for people to just go with the flow and not hold other people up. That would be seen as rude if you're keeping a lot of space that in a way you're not allowing people to flow or or get to where they need to be. So I think it's just a cultural difference that we have, whereas we value more personal space. But here, since it's more communal, they just value everyone being able to get to where they need to go and not holding other people back. Yeah. It's like the no one looks over their shoulder here on the motorbikes because the idea is like everyone is always merging. Yeah. Like it's 100 percent of the time everyone is merging. So you should just be going forward and merging into the space in front of you. If you're not, you're doing something wrong, right? Yeah. If you're stopping, if you're slowing down, if you're if you're looking over your shoulder, you might feel safe, but you're actually holding them up. Or it's like the horn thing, right? The horn here is a signal that someone is there. They're giving you an oral signal. Hey, I'm here. Not angry, not bad, not road rage, not swearing at you, not aggressive. Yeah. Just a little. This is a signifier that I'm in this place. The visa process, what visa you're on, how it was for you. You do it by yourself. Did you just use the visa on the government? How'd you get set up? Yeah. So right now I'm just doing the three month e-visa. And yeah, that's what most tourists end up doing is they do the three month visa. And then every three months they do a visa run to another country. So that's my my current situation. People get annoyed at me sometimes for saying this. But I think especially your first hundred and eighty days, that's the it's the lowest risk, the least friction, the least amount of money, the least amount of time. And it's just hard. Maybe it's hard to accept before you get here that it's not a problem. Because in some other places, it is. The visa runs aren't a problem. They're OK. It's accepted. And the way the government works here, if it wasn't accepted, they'd tell us and then it wouldn't be accepted. Right. Like, are you going to do you plan on doing any trips or travel? Are you going to like go to Malaysia or Bangkok or Chiang Mai or something? So I'm actually planning to go back to the US. Yeah. To go visit family, bring some stuff with me that I didn't bring on the initial move. Yeah. A lot of people also do visa run to Bangkok, Thailand. And so they can just even come back the same day if you want to just do a round trip flight. You've chosen to dating yet. Have you been on the dating apps? Have you talked to locals or other expats? Have you just like I mean, you're pretty recent arrival. Yeah, I mean, I'm pretty new here, but yeah, I mean, I've gone dates with with some girls here, gone out. And, you know, I'm more traditional and like to take things slow as well. So I think it's a good match for for what I'm looking for and and for my energy. But yeah, in general, you know, Vietnamese women, they're they're more traditional, especially compared to the West. And yeah, if if you if you want to date, I think it's very important that, you know, you follow their culture for some women are more open minded, of course. But I think in general, it's really based on still traditional dating, traditional values, that sort of thing. I think people are more conservative women, but they're also more explicit sometimes about what they want in a relationship. In other words, they'll tell you straight up to your face on date one exactly what they're looking for, like there's no subtlety about it. Right. I haven't had that one yet. Quick, I love yous on the first date that hasn't happened. But yeah, I would say say in general, like they're more straightforward with their intentions and what they're looking for. Like you said, if they're looking for a long term relationship, they're going to make it very clear, even if it's not explicit. They're going to show that through their actions or inactions. And I think that's that's a good thing is that in the West, there's a lot of games when it comes to dating and you have to be afraid. Am I showing too much interest? Like maybe I should hold back and both sexes do that. Men, you know, play play the game and women play the game. And I think there's just too many games going on in dating. I think if two people like each other, then, you know, there should be no shame in sharing how you feel about the other person. Just just being very honest. Yeah. And I think that, you know, that makes things work. If you both like each other and you both say, hey, like, you know, I think we're we're a good match and, you know, I like hanging out with you and you like hanging out with me. I think dating it just makes dating so much easier and a lot less stressful. You don't have to to guess what's going on in their mind or what they're thinking. Someone's that honest to you, then you feel obliged to do the same, right? If you're going to have any sort of trust relationship, they're going to be explicit about their intentions. You probably are, too. What's the advice you'd give to, you know, yourself six months ago to someone who's in the same position you were in a year ago? Yeah, honestly, I would just say, do your research, go on YouTube, you know, find some expats who are living here. You can get a good idea of the lifestyle and what it's like to live here just by observing other people and their daily life and routine. The other big thing is how the income stream before you move here. So you don't have to stress about money because traveling and moving abroad is stressful enough on its own and a big, big adjustment. Right. So especially if you haven't lived abroad before, you're going to there are going to be a lot of things that don't meet up to your expectations. And speaking on expectations, I would say don't have such high expectations that everything is going to be like it is in your country. They're going to be they're going to do things differently here. Some things will annoy you. Some things will make you mad. But other things you'll find are way better, way more efficient. What is the biggest frustration, the biggest hiccup or struggle so far of living here for you? I had quite a few issues with just small things with my apartment. For example, like my parking pass wasn't working. So someone told me to, you know, go to the desk to get it fixed. And and then they suggested that or they told me that I did something or I should have done something that they never told me to do. So it was kind of like a deflection of responsibility in a way. And I don't want to speak to the culture because I don't know if that's common or typical here. I just haven't lived here long enough. But I've just found that a lot of a lot of small things in terms of living situation have have kind of surprised me. I mean, it's universal, but I think it can be exacerbated here. And also by language. Yeah, like the bureaucratic runarounds are real administrative stuff, which is definitely one of the reasons why it's so much better, if possible, to just do an e-visa for the first 180 days. There's going to be other stuff that's going to stress you out, right? Like, like you said, there's other stuff that's going to stress you out. Don't overthink the visa at first until you've actually been here six months and know you really want to commit. Have you could be dived into banking yet? Yeah, I mean, it was it was super easy. The only prerequisite you need is a Vietnamese phone number. And then you can open a Timo bank account here in Vietnam. So it was super simple. It took maybe 30 minutes. Just brought my passport, had my Vietnamese phone number, and then I was able to open a bank account. Nice. And are you loading it up with cash? Are you able to transfer through WISE? Yeah, that's exactly. I'm transferring from my U.S. bank account to WISE and then WISE to Timo. Yeah, I'm glad I didn't skip that because it's WISE I am, you know, just I'm an affiliate for, but it's also just it's the smoothest way. Right. I really think it's the smoothest way until you get to the point where, like me, you have an address here and you actually just start banking with, you know, Viacom Bank, VALVIA and stuff. Is there anything I didn't ask you that I should have asked? Anything left you have that you want to say about Vietnam and the whole experience of leaving America to come here? I would say if you're worried about cash, it's in terms of getting more cash while you're here. If you have a bank account, specifically Timo, you're able to withdraw cash from that account. So you don't need to worry about bringing, you know, a ton of cash with you when you first move here. And you can you're using it for for QR and like. Yeah, I use QR code for larger purchases, but for food and coffee, I mainly do cash. You do cash. OK, interesting. Where can people find you? How do they you know, how do they get in touch with you? How do they get your help with focus with your business or just to reach out? Yeah. So if if you're struggling with focus or if you're a early stage entrepreneur wanting to build your business, I can definitely help you with that. So you can go to my website. It's AshJones.com and I have a free focus on it there that will help you reflect on your distractions and your current goals and what you're looking for. And if I feel like it's a good fit and I can help you, then we can hop on a call and explore working together. Beautiful. I might do that. Yeah, I'm still having some trouble focusing, you know, two YouTube channels at once. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Thanks, everyone, so much for watching and listening to the Cost of Living Abroad pod. You can also find us on Spotify or Apple Podcast. It's a video over my left shoulder, my right shoulder. It's Ash Jones will be linked below, as well as the Cost of Living Abroad.com.