A host of expats recently shared their thoughts about their own experiences of living in Vietnam, with many of them recommending that people seek ways to adapt to a new environment and appreciate good things in life.

These expats were leaving comments on Tuoi Tre News’ recent story ‘Eight things I hate about Vietnam,’ written by Ray Kuschert, an Australian who has been living in Ho Chi Minh City for over a decade.

In the story, Kuschert listed the top eight things he hates about Vietnam in terms of visa policy, traffic, food, weather, and more.

Louis Barber Corallo, coming from the UK, agreed that there are some things in need of changes in Vietnam, but instead of moaning all the time, he suggested foreigners should learn and adapt to a new culture as much as they can.

He recommended that foreigners here learn some Vietnamese, go to their expat bubble for a break but also gain independence from the expat bubble by having many local friends, and be friendly with their neighbors.

Echoing Louis’ views on the issue, Anh Bon Andrew thinks that expats should learn how to speak Vietnamese, make more Vietnamese friends, and fit into their community, believing that by that way all problems facing them could be solved.

Ruth Maloney, a native of Australia, who shared her same opinions as the writer, commented, “After many years living in Vietnam, you learn to make do with whatever is thrown at you, and appreciate the good stuff.”

Vietnam is and is not for everyone, according to Sivaraj Pragasm, currently living in Ho Chi Minh City.

“You can actually find almost everything you need, even size 47 shoes if you know where to look, plus a basic understanding of the language and some local friends should be more than enough to get you started," Pragasm said.

Pragasm, coming from Singapore, did not agree that foreigners were singled out for extra rates by default, sharing his experience living in Vietnam: “Just by greeting the lady selling coffee downstairs every morning, she's somehow given me, a dark skinned foreigner, a permanent discount on coffee even though I never asked for it.”

“There is always still some kind of silver lining and reward somewhere and somehow that always ends up working out and that alone makes it all worth it," he added.

According to Paul Jones, he got annoyed by several things in Vietnam, but after "weighing out the good and bad and it's better here."

Meanwhile, several foreign readers recounted their bad experience of being overcharged in Vietnam.

“Based on my experience, they double the price when they see that you are a foreigner,” said Mark Walker, of Philippine nationality.

Kristoffer Svendsen believed that foreigners would only be fleeced if they did not know better nor speak Vietnamese.

Alessandro Ferin, however, disagreed with that, saying, “Some places have higher prices for foreigners no matter the language you speak [such as museums] but it is not a big deal.”

Commenting on this issue, Rob Lock said it was fair to charge tourists more, as most museums are government-funded and Vietnamese pay taxes while tourists do not.

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