Ciambella
American expat in Vietnam
Forum posts
3482
Contacts
8
About me
American, Married
Lives in Vung Tau
Speaks English, Vietnamese, Italian, French, and Latin American Spanish -- some very well, others less so.聽Can follow church service in Latin.聽Studied Sanskrit (2 semesters), Greek (one semester), and Castilian Spanish (3 semesters), but lost them all due to a lack of use.聽 My language bucket list:聽 Po
Registration: 19 April 2017
About
Occupation
I am Retired.
My expat journey
Vung Tau, Vietnam
Spent almost every weekend here in the '70s. Now, it's home.
Retired
Saigon and Vung Tau, Vietnam
After 42 years, echoes of old voices can still be heard when one listens carefully.
California, USA
The once golden state is now a self-destructive state. Time to leave.
Florida, USA
Lived over a waterway on a land where hurricane, alligators, and crocodiles were parts and parcels of life. Travelled the Americas, their sovereign states and territories, the Caribbeans, and other far-flung lands.
South Carolina, USA
Engulfed in rich history, sweet tea, Southern hospitality, and hurricane preparedness. Enjoyed annual road trips across North America.
Connecticut, USA
A beautiful state occupied by cold and haughty residents
Basque Country, Spain
With spouse, spent 3 months on a cargo ship as the only two passengers voyaging from Spain to Chile and return. A near miss with pirates in Pacific Ocean off Peru/Chile/Ecuador. Upon returning to tierra firme, tried to learn Castilian Spanish but ended up exploring the region while eating pintxos and drinking txakoli instead.
Retired
Saigon, Vietnam
You can go home again, but you might not want to stay.
Umbria, Italy
Bought, renovated, and lived in an 800-year-old stone house. Immersed in local culture, travelled throughout Europe, and experienced true contentment with every sunrise.
Retired
Moorea, French Polynesia
Bliss was living the island life two months each year.
California, Hawaii, and New Hampshire, USA
Worked hard and planned carefully for the future. Experienced both the depth of darkness and the height of happiness. At the most crucial time, the meaning of the old Yiddish adage "Mann tracht un Gott lacht" became blindingly clear. Chucked the job, liquidated all assets, moved overseas.
Saigon, Vietnam
Completed undergrad. A few months into graduate school, unintentionally left behind the country and everything I knew to jump face-first into a new world with neither support nor a safety net.
Pleiku, Vietnam
First teaching job
Saigon, Vietnam
Hanoi and Nam Dinh, Vietnam
Hung Yen, Vietnam
Activity
Can I obtain a visa if I purchased a home in Vietnam? by cm1204
Hi, I鈥檓 a US citizen who has been working and living in Vietnam for several years now. I have a temporary residence card, which was obtained through my employment. I鈥檓 planning to end my employment with my company and was wondering if I ...
Is this one on your list even though it is not limited to retirees? https://www.thaienquirer.com/32668/cabinet-approves-long-term-10-year-visa-to-attract-foreigners/I actually don鈥檛 have any list because I don鈥檛 know much about other ... Read More
Can I obtain a visa if I purchased a home in Vietnam? by cm1204
Hi, I鈥檓 a US citizen who has been working and living in Vietnam for several years now. I have a temporary residence card, which was obtained through my employment. I鈥檓 planning to end my employment with my company and was wondering if I ...
I am confused by your comment concerning the amount required by a 鈥淪MALL鈥� investor to be eligible for a One year investor visa. Initially you state that a 3B investment, which I assume to mean vnd 3.0 billion = ~$130,000 is no longer ... Read More
DAILY LIFE IN VIETNAM DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC 2020-2021 by goodolboy
Day 4 self imposed isolation in apartment :- Today the lock down seems to be taking effect Q 12 Tan Thoi Nhat . All big coffee shops, BBQ etc now closed, Some small coffee shops & street eating places still open. Most Supermarkets & street ...
Maybe Ciambella can say how authoritative it is?The news on vaccine passport is published on S峄ヽ Kh峄廵 & 膼峄漣 S峄憂g (Health & Life), the mouthpiece of MoH so the content is true. However, the first sentence of the ... Read More
Vietnam Tax Of Retired Foreigner by Italstal
Is a retired foreigner, married to a non working Vietnamese citizen, both resident in Vietnam, required to submit an annual tax return?
If you don't work in VN, you don't pay tax in VN. Whether you'll continue to pay tax to your home country of Australia, I don't know. Read More
mailing credit cards to Vietnam by dlewis516
i have 2 credit cards (receipt has not been confirmed yet) waiting for me in New Jersey. Can anyone recommend the safest way of getting them to me in Saigon without paying excessive shipping, duty, etc. I was told to be wary of ordinary postal ...
Recalling the time I attempted to send you your active cards from V农ng T脿u to Europe: both DHL and FedEx refused to accept the cards for shipment.Why did they refuse, I still don't know. Many of the cards I received from the States ... Read More
Has your Vietnam attitude changed? Wish you had left? by gobot
Just a poll :/ of my fellow foreigners :cheers: who have been living in Vietnam since the Chinese virus arrived. (1) How do you feel now about living in Vietnam? Is the bloom off the rose? Are you changing your plans for 2022? Thinking about ...
My wife is 10 years older, a lifelong learner, head of her medical school class, who never watches TV or reads novels, but takes classes in parallel on Coursera for fun. Yet you could drive a truck through the tunnels in her basic education. Same ... Read More
mailing credit cards to Vietnam by dlewis516
i have 2 credit cards (receipt has not been confirmed yet) waiting for me in New Jersey. Can anyone recommend the safest way of getting them to me in Saigon without paying excessive shipping, duty, etc. I was told to be wary of ordinary postal ...
Officially on DHLs list of items they don't carry.. bank and credit cards is one of the items.Every time I had the choice, I asked the banks to send the cards via DHL Express. So far, I've received 6 DHL shipments for credit cards, all from ... Read More
Has your Vietnam attitude changed? Wish you had left? by gobot
Just a poll :/ of my fellow foreigners :cheers: who have been living in Vietnam since the Chinese virus arrived. (1) How do you feel now about living in Vietnam? Is the bloom off the rose? Are you changing your plans for 2022? Thinking about ...
PS: I don't know about the education in 1986, but comparing the education in 2020 (pre lockdown) with the one before 1975, the overall level of education in the country is miserably low. Every student who graduated from public high school ... Read More
Has your Vietnam attitude changed? Wish you had left? by gobot
Just a poll :/ of my fellow foreigners :cheers: who have been living in Vietnam since the Chinese virus arrived. (1) How do you feel now about living in Vietnam? Is the bloom off the rose? Are you changing your plans for 2022? Thinking about ...
I wonder if you would concede that the old system provided an excellent education for a small urban elite, the overall level of education in the country is vastly improved. I don't have statistics on hand but I am pretty certain that overall ... Read More
Has your Vietnam attitude changed? Wish you had left? by gobot
Just a poll :/ of my fellow foreigners :cheers: who have been living in Vietnam since the Chinese virus arrived. (1) How do you feel now about living in Vietnam? Is the bloom off the rose? Are you changing your plans for 2022? Thinking about ...
Clearly Ciambella is the official spokesperson of the party responsible for pulling the forums back into line :DIf the word you use, "the party" means the Communist Party, then no, I'm not the spokesperson of the Party, nor am I ... Read More
Has your Vietnam attitude changed? Wish you had left? by gobot
Just a poll :/ of my fellow foreigners :cheers: who have been living in Vietnam since the Chinese virus arrived. (1) How do you feel now about living in Vietnam? Is the bloom off the rose? Are you changing your plans for 2022? Thinking about ...
no martial law as in bringing in the military to enforce their directives of stopping people from leaving their homes for any reason. cutting off the supply chain in terms of food and essential medicines to people who needed it the most and trapping ... Read More
Has your Vietnam attitude changed? Wish you had left? by gobot
Just a poll :/ of my fellow foreigners :cheers: who have been living in Vietnam since the Chinese virus arrived. (1) How do you feel now about living in Vietnam? Is the bloom off the rose? Are you changing your plans for 2022? Thinking about ...
how many people can say they got to experience martial law first hand and experience the forced collapse of the supply chain to one of the major cities in SE asia?martial law ? you mean Army helping supply food?Many foreigners, including the US ... Read More
Projected Date To Reopen VT? by nscprez
Anyone want to speculate which month VT will be open for foreign visitors,? Thank you. Greg
We want to move furniture to Binh Chau, my wife is going tomorrow to ask about it. Some things you read are saying travel only for essential things, not sure if they will deem that as essential.If your wife hasn鈥檛 contacted UBND yet, the ... Read More
Has your Vietnam attitude changed? Wish you had left? by gobot
Just a poll :/ of my fellow foreigners :cheers: who have been living in Vietnam since the Chinese virus arrived. (1) How do you feel now about living in Vietnam? Is the bloom off the rose? Are you changing your plans for 2022? Thinking about ...
I can't say for sure exactly how I would have felt if I were still living in V农ng T脿u, but I would have been able to hang with my really good buddy (Ciambella's husband) in the same building, and I have no doubt we would have been ... Read More
Has your Vietnam attitude changed? Wish you had left? by gobot
Just a poll :/ of my fellow foreigners :cheers: who have been living in Vietnam since the Chinese virus arrived. (1) How do you feel now about living in Vietnam? Is the bloom off the rose? Are you changing your plans for 2022? Thinking about ...
Living in VN is still ideal for us in many aspects. Living in Vung Tau makes it even better because Saigon is too chaotic and Hanoi is too insincere. I would absolutely love to move to Dalat where I know half of the city very well and where I ... Read More