I found an apartment with a great view of the city. It's not the nicest building but it's a pretty good location and the apartment itself can be made nice and it has a bathroom, kitchen, living room, and spare bedroom/study.
My landlord demanded one month's rent up front plus two months' rent for the security deposit, for a total of $1200, or 20,000,000 VND. In cash.
It is difficult to exaggerate what a momentous sum $1200 US is in Vietnam. That's roughly the national per capita GDP. Demanding it in cash is like asking for a suitcase full of money.
But, when in Rome...
From the beggining, there was trouble. The money I thought would be in my account on Sunday wasn't there on Monday. Then I couldn't take out enough from the ATM on Monday. The I still couldn't take out enough on Tuesday. The nadir was having my Vietnamese motorbike driver take me from bank to bank seeing if they would dispense the necessary cash (they did not).
Finally I had my Vietnamese fixer show up in the middle up the night with the last 4 million VND. I was finally able to pay him back today.
So I survived. But it wasn't easy.
3 comments:
2 months in advance? That is like NYC. Is the apt in district 1?
nope, it's in Binh Thanh district. If it were in District 1 it'd be half the size and twice as expensive.
To rent an apartment ion Rome is way easier, check out vacation rentals in rome if you're planning a trip to the eternal city...ciao
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