title: I live in Da Nang Vietnam for $600/MONTH rent - Take a look inside my apartment
author: The Evan Eh! 🇨🇦 Show
publication: YouTube
published: 2025-11-06T00:00:00
source_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF7ksUVAF0s
word_count: 4729
So, we're in Daang, Vietnam, and today we're talking to Nick. He's a retired vet from America. Moved over from Colorado to Daang about 3 months ago after watching some vids. We're going to check out his cost of living, his apartment tour, the gym, the amenities, everything inside. So, let's go see him. It's a interesting building. It's one of the newer builds, one of the few newer condos in the city. So, I'm excited to check it out. um is very different than the area where I'm living or Anton. What's up, buddy? >> How are you? >> Yeah, good to see you, man. >> Good. >> Excited to come check out your place. See what it's looking like. >> It is interesting, too. E like it's such a different part of the city. Like, it's beautiful up here by the bridge, but it's not uh like it's not at all like being in Antung or like being in Sona. >> Yeah, it's uh it's quiet over here, too. So, have you been here 2 months now? 3 months? >> Um, about 2 months now, roughly. Yeah. And when you got here, I know you'd done a lot of research and like check out the videos, but when you actually found this place, did you use an agent or did you use Facebook pages or >> Um, so I found an agent on Facebook and he showed me some places in Sonra and a couple other places, but I had known about Sam Towers um through >> just Facebook um the Facebook marketing and and everything. And so I kind of had an idea like that's kind of where I wanted to be. >> Yeah. >> But if it's like one of those if I couldn't find anything that beat this for the value >> then this was like my backup. >> Nice. >> And um so yeah, it just kind of worked out. >> Sweet. Yeah. Let's go look inside. Yeah. I'm curious, man. I like obviously I've been up to this part of the city a few times. There's some restaurants and bars around there. >> Um there's a climbing gym owned by an American guy not far from here. >> There's a jiu-jitsu place right across the street, too. Yeah, I saw that. The like the fight style gym. >> It's a onebedroom uh two bathroom. So, there's a it's like a half bath. >> Um toilet, sink, and washer. >> It's not a washerd dryer, just a washer. >> Um >> full size fridge, microwave, burner top. The living room area. >> Mhm. >> Nice balcony outside here. >> Yeah. Nice couch. Beautiful view out there, too. >> Check it out. Oh, sweet. You see, you're looking back at the city and it's on >> Yeah. And and you actually I can actually see the fire show um for the Dragon Bridge >> when they do that. >> It's unfortunate. We're doing the video and the river looks >> terrible. The river is super brown cuz it's just been terrible flooding all in >> O and a few parts of Dang. Yeah. See, Dragon Bridge is down there. The main bridge is here. The big bridge to Sanchez there. This is like the beach strip, the man beach strip, the muk beach and the sanchcha beach. >> And you can see the the was it Cham Island or is that what it is over there? Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Right on the horizon there in the clouds is Cham Island. >> Mhm. >> Uh it's nice. And then that's that's the Marble Mountains. Yeah. Over there. Marble Mountains over there. And then like the the Novatel building is that gets lit up at night. It's really pretty. >> Mhm. Uh this at night is gorgeous. Um to to see everything lit up when it's clear. >> Yeah. And you can I mean man it's would be tiny but you can basically see Hoyanne from here too, right? Like that's Hoyenne right there in the distance. >> Yeah. >> That's awesome. Um how what how many square feet it is? Do you know >> what's up? >> Do you know how many square feet it is? >> It's 55 m. >> 55 m. >> Yeah. >> Nice. >> And then >> it's good size. >> It's big enough. >> Yeah. one bedroom. >> Yeah. >> Nice size bed. Beautiful floor to ceiling window, too. That's pretty sweet, man. So, you get like the same >> Yeah. The same gorgeous view. >> Yeah. Pretty much the same view. Yeah. >> From the bed as you do from uh from the balcony patio. >> Nice. Oh, cool. Walk-in closet. That's a plus, man. >> Yeah. And then there's another um the bathroom. >> Yeah. Well, like man, you got a jersey collection like me? Love it. Well, it's there's two jerseys and the rest are just regular like tanks and stuff. >> That's cool though, man. That's nice. Like, one of the weird things about a lot of places in Vietnam, too, is you find there's no storage space. Like, you're like not they don't have like a nice purpose-built place like this to put all your clothes and gear. So, that's pretty dope, man. >> Yeah. And then all this closes if you need, >> which is cool. >> Yeah. Yeah. The AC is silent and cool. >> Yeah. Two ACs. So, I got one for the bedroom and then I got the one out here and everything. >> Let's uh let's like walk and talk. Let's walk through the gym. What what originally attracted you to moving over here? >> Um a lot of it was cost, you know. So, um so the this full gym portion, we're just uh video. Okay. >> Yeah, we're just we're just showing the tour. Yeah, that's all. Thank you. >> Hi, girls. How you doing? >> Nice, man. There's like a full gym training spot here. >> There's a bunch of trainers. Um kitty pool. Um the [music] they do people do laps in this all the time. Um but it's pretty good view back here. Dang. It's gorgeous. I mean, I saw the photos, but it looks even nicer in person. [music] >> Yeah. >> Yeah. We could maybe sit out here. It's a little bit breezy. >> It's nice, man. >> Yeah, it's it's probably the nicest apartment gym that I've I've had. Um >> and so you before you came over here, you'd like scoped out the apartment gyms in Daang and you knew that >> No. Um I there wasn't pictures of this place, the gym online. >> Um and I kept seeing reviews. It's like they're not they're they're not open the gym or the pool yet. So I think this all just opened recently. This building's super new. >> Yeah. This has like right now in this spot it has like new shoe smell. Like it smells fresh. It looks great. >> Yeah. >> It makes me think like >> it's pretty much everything you need. Um there's squat racks, Smith machines, leg stuff, bench press, like a good amount of dumbbells. Um they they run a lot of training classes or not classes but like personal training sessions. Like when I got here they were like my trainer is going to assess you and and put a workout plan together. And I was like I think I'm okay. Like okay. That's like where they they do personal assessments and massages and stuff. Um then back here uh they do yoga and some other classes over here. And then this is another pool spot or is this a chill spot? >> This is just like a chill spot like a mezzanine. So I started researching like two or three years ago like where can I go and retire on a you know real low budget. There's all these videos like live on $1,000 in the Caribbean. And so that kind of sparked my interest and I'm a disabled veteran so I'm 100% now. So, um, you know, it's a decent amount of money to live off of, especially with geo arbitrage and maximizing that and I had spent time in South Korea when I was in the army and >> um I came to Thailand and so I was really familiar with Southeast Asia and I really liked it here and but I I kind of always thought I would be in like South America >> um you know, Mexico or Colombia or something like that. Um, but I kept being drawn over here and so when you know I did just a lot of research on it and just when push came to shove it just made the most sense. >> So that's why I chose >> chose the day. >> Mhm. >> And you're about 12 weeks in now if you've been here 12 weeks. >> I got here midepptember. >> Yeah. And we're started November. So >> like 6 weeks. >> 2 and a half months. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> So more than 6 weeks. Everything blends together. Like >> you hit me up one day and I was like, I didn't even realize what day it was. >> So, >> um, all right, let's walk over here a little bit. >> Okay, >> so 8 weeks in, what are your first impressions relative to having lived a little while in Korea and having traveled in Thailand? Like, I love Vietnam, but it's it's a very different vibe, right? So, >> it is. Yeah. >> You want to We can say it. We don't have to say it. What's the What's your feeling? so far of being like actual life in Vietnam, the adjustments coming from America. >> Um, honestly, as much research as I did, there wasn't too much of a like culture shock. >> Mhm. >> Um, but I've also I wouldn't say I'm like super wellraveled, but I I mean mediocrely wellraveled. >> Um, so I was, you know, open-minded to a lot of things. So, um, none of this stuff really was like anything crazy that I I was like not prepared for, but I will say that like being over here was it was probably the best decision I could have made for sure. So, um, it's just the the quality of life over here compared to what we have in the States was is just far superior, I feel like. >> I mean, again, there's goods and bads, right? You got to take [clears throat] >> you got to take the bad with the good in every situation. Um I just feel like there's a lot less bad here than the states. >> Yeah. So what what are a couple of the struggles of just when after landing like adjusting to life in Daang and Vietnam so far? Like some of the hang-ups are things that have been a little bit of pain in the ass. >> Um language barrier is probably just the the only hardest one for me. Um, I'm I'm thinking I'm beginning of the year I'm probably going to take some classes um if nothing else to be able to read the language to so I when I'm riding my motorbike I can see and know what certain places are and stuff. um right now to do a lot of things. If I want to try new stuff, it's a lot of research, looking at Google, pinpointing stuff, open up pages, looking at menus or, you know, trying to figure stuff out or a lot of word of mouth. Um especially from like a lot of our the expat meetups, you know, a lot of us talk about, oh, have you checked this place out? Have you seen this place? And then it's pulling out Google Maps and putting a pin in things and and then just checking it out. So, um language is probably the only one that's really been a big issue. Um, when I first got over here, I didn't even think about getting on a motorbike for at least the first week to more or less learn the rules of the road and the way things happened and the way they do things around here. And then after that, it was just kind of like, all right, this is how it is. So, you know, >> nice. Let's uh let's walk back over to the pool side. So, yeah. So, I met you at I think one of my I think you came into one of my meetups in Scallywags or something, but I know we talked a bunch since then and we've also just hung out. How how has that helped? Like it seems like you obviously have done your research to be able to find this place on Facebook or to have an idea about it and then I mean it seems like you're doing well socially. You're getting to know lots of people both through whatever through the gym, through the meetups you're talking about. So how did you go about that? Like for you know for the other person coming over who's like how do I meet people? How do I get started in meetups? Um, I mean, a lot of it you just have to put yourself out there. >> Um, you know, like I met a lot of people through the meetup, through your channel and then it's just being proactive about um trying to get to know people like you don't just go to a meetup and then sit in a corner. Um, people aren't just going to flock to you. You got to be >> Yeah. you you got to um put forth effort into it. So, um and then just going out and just being friendly and open, you know, like I'll go play pool and, you know, just start conversations with people and and you'd be surprised how friendly everybody is. I I will say like I haven't really met anybody that's just super mean or ugly or >> you know, it's been a really warm and welcoming experience being here. >> Nice. Yeah. Yeah. And you got It's interesting too cuz you got here really at the start of rainy season or low season which is like >> there are perks to that, right? Obviously it can be more affordable. It can mean u there's more vacancies. So it it might be easier to to get your sort of ideal apartment cuz there's a bit less competition for me. I I don't mind the weather. The rain's been very intense this year, but it's also like it's still beautiful. It's still t-shirt weather. Like it's not >> that big of a deal. Have you found that the the weather's been like a struggle mentally so far? Or is it like an issue? I mean, what is it 10-minute drive from here to Antung? You know, cuz most of the meetups are going to be in Anton. I don't live in Antung, but even I like I host my meet up there cuz that's where >> that's where a lot of them >> Yeah, that's where a lot of the expats are at, right? >> Um Yeah. So, it's it's 10 to 15 minutes depending on traffic from here to Antung. Um but I I like being over here cuz it's quieter. It's away from all the craziness. Um, so that kind of adds to the piece of things. Um, the weather, it can start to wear on you. Um, like yesterday and today were the first two nice days that we had uh in probably what like 2 weeks and then there was some days where it was just raining nonstop. And you know, if it wasn't for having the gym here, I mean, I would have never left my apartment, you know. So, um, the weather can wear on me a little bit. But, you know, you just you kind of just have to accept it for what it is and be resilient and make the most out of certain situations. And there's just been times I just get on my bike and I'm just like I just know I'm going to end up soaking wet and you just kind of laugh about it and just it's just a part of life. >> Do like your monthly breakdown of cost, like what you're spending so far on food, on drink, on rent, all all that kind of stuff. >> Yeah, sure. >> Sound good? Sweet. Um, at night this place, this little corner here is there's always a ton of people. >> Yeah. So, let's we'll go grab a bite to eat and then maybe on the way there. I feel like I'm being a bit of a dick, not like telling people yet how much you pay for rent. So, why don't we talk about why don't we talk about that just as we walk over to the restaurant. >> Okay. Um, how much is rent and what are your sort of, you know, weekly, monthly spends on food, drink, health insurance, like all the basics. >> Um, so rent is it equates to about right at like 600 a month. >> 600 USD a month. So it's about 15 million VND. >> Yeah. >> That's pretty dope, man. I mean, considering the amenities in a building like that. >> Yeah. I mean, and the building's new. Like I guess they told me it just got finished last year. >> Mhm. >> So when I moved in, they were they had just mounted the TV and like they didn't even have all the furniture. So I got to tell them what I needed. >> So >> yeah, even in the side streets in Vietnam, we got to check for traffic. >> Yeah. Um >> utilities is about 150. >> Uh but I also I don't skimp on using the AC. >> Mhm. Um foodwise I don't know weekly. Um I I I try to budget around $20 US a day >> for food. >> It's about 500k about So roughly this Yeah, roughly the same as your rent for the month. >> Uh >> and you're you're eating out three times a day. No cooking, no cleaning. Uh, I yeah, I I mean I can grab four chicken and rice meals with extra chicken to my door for 12 bucks. >> So, um, you know, some days I eat a lot less and some days >> Oh, this is the spot. >> This is it. >> Yeah. Food. Yeah. So, about 600 a month on food, 20 bucks a day. >> Yeah. I mean, there's some days that I don't spend anywhere close to that and then there's days that I definitely go way well well over that. So, it kind of balances out. Um, but yeah, I just I with the lifestyle I try to live over here, it's focused more on like health and fitness. >> Uh, I do eat around through like four meals a day. >> Um, which even on a $20 a day budget, it's not hard. So, >> yeah. Well, dude, I mean, state the obvious. Like, you're a big dude. Like, you need you're eating a lot of food for sure. >> Um, okay. So, what about incidentals? talking like 600 for the rent, 600 for food, maybe 100 so for utilities, about 1,300 a month. What about your bike, your Do you do health coverage or you have it through the VA in the Philippines or how does that work? >> So, yeah, I have health coverage through the VA, but it doesn't cover me uh outside the United States. >> Um, so I just >> I mean, yeah, I just kind of risk it. Yeah, pay out of pocket, right? Um, I did I I kind of wrote it all down. >> Uh, the my motorbike I just paid cash for. I bought one off a guy who was leaving. Got a great deal on one. Uh, I paid 700 bucks for it. >> Um, >> yeah. And it's a it's a not brand new, but it's like a late model. Nice motor bike. >> Yeah. It's got the smart key and everything, you know. Uh, I might spend worst case $20 a month in gas. >> U, but it's because I'm back and forth across the river every day. You know, the gym, the other gym I go to besides the apartment gym is over there as well. So, I'm over there quite a bit. Internet's $12 a month. My phone is $11 a month. Two haircuts a month with the beard trim is $12 total. You know, it's like six bucks. Like 150k each. >> Beautiful. >> You We'll finish the talk and then we'll eat. >> Okay. >> I don't do I don't videape eating, but Um, my apartment gym is $14 a month. Um, no limits gym is $24 a month. >> Mhm. >> Um, and then I get uh every week I get a 2-hour massage and so I 120 bucks to do that every every week. Um, I still have my Netflix from the States, so it's 25 bucks a month. And then I just have like a a random incidentals 100 bucks a month for whatever >> whatever shopping buying clothes >> little Yeah. shopping things like things I might need for the apartment or >> whatever you know. So total I'm kind of all in like 1650ish. >> Mhm. >> Um like worst case scenario. >> Yeah. Like your your high end a month is >> 1650. And I I round up for everything. So like I I I I don't want to be like exactly penny pinchion and be like it's exactly $1668 or something, right? Like it's >> And so you're talking Yeah. about $55 US a day about every for everything. >> Yeah. >> Your whole life is $55 US a day. >> Yeah. >> And you're not skimping? >> No. No. I I mean the whole point of coming over here was to to live a higher quality of life and not stress about money and >> be able to just, you know, be happy and live a peaceful life. And so I I don't think you can be that peaceful if you're just constantly worried about money all the time. That's a I mean in the States that was like a huge stressor for for me but also for I think majority of Americans is it's your people are stressed about finances >> 100%. Yeah, >> I mean that's my life back home was that like even when I was juggling jobs and I had a high savings rate like I knew I had a plan, you know, like I didn't know how effective it would be really cuz you never can't predict the future. But like in my head like I'd read about fire and financial independence, I knew like okay if I do this savings rate whatever it should all work out but like in the [ __ ] moment >> in the moment when I was making that plane I had >> a student debt, a line of credit debt, >> two credit cards to pay off, right? like and and in my and I'm like okay >> one day and like you I lived in Asia before but I never lived in Vietnam. So you see the numbers on paper it's like you don't actually know what life will be like. So now that you're here 2 and 1/2 months reflecting in >> do you think uh it's going to work? You know do you think you're going to live in Southeast Asia for we I won't say forever but like for the next 5 years for the next 10 years. You think it's a reality that you can live here on your VA disability pension? >> Oh absolutely. like financially it's that's not hard at all. I save more than I spend. >> Yeah. >> Um for sure. Um as far as like is danging for me long term, I don't know. >> Um for the foreseeable future it is. >> Yeah. >> I mean I signed a one-year lease um cuz I wanted to give it a full go. >> Um but also use that opportunity to travel around Vietnam and other places in Asia and see did I find something better or or did I stumble upon the best, you know, right off the bat. >> The best for you. Yeah, absolutely. You flew into Sabu. >> I did. Yeah. >> So, give us the comparison, the viewer, myself, of your experience and first impression of Sabu in the Philippines compared to Daang and Vietnam. >> Um, so yeah, I wanted to check out Cebu because it's was always like one of the hot spots for like expats to go live and that type of thing. Um, and so I went there for a week just to kind of check it out. Um, that was like the the main focus of of everything. Um, to see is this a place that is comparable is like that type of thing. And uh, I wasn't it's just not for me. Um, it's the infrastructure is nowhere close to where it is here in in Vietnam, let alone Daang. Um, the it's very povertystricken. Um, and it's just it just it It really it just wasn't for me. Like um if if your whole thing is like sex tourism, it's amazing. You probably have a great time there. >> That's not really my thing. I was raised a little bit differently. >> Um >> and but it's just unfortunately like the way the poverty is out there. It's like a lot of women are kind of forced into that type of uh line of work and it's just it's thrown at you on a continuous basis. But um the internet and the service wasn't that great. The um it was definitely not cheap. Uh I spent a lot of money like food and everything was a lot more expensive there. And it just at the end of it, it was just like I'm glad I went to figure out that's not where I want to be. Um there there are places in the Philippines I do want to go check out and I do like I do want to go back to the Philippines. Um but more of like a tourism type of thing. not as a recon for is this a forever place for me. >> Awesome. Well, man, before we dig into this bread, >> thank you so much. Appreciate you coming on. >> Uh yeah, so I just want to show you guys, too. This is like banana leaf steamed dumplings. They're They're beautiful. My kids love these. Oo, it's too hot to touch, but it's like some shrimp and sticky rice in there. A crunchy on the bottom, mushy on top kind of dumpling. And then these like little cup shrimp dumplings. this entire and I mean if you haven't guessed he's a big dude and this is as wide as him and food altogether this is like >> not even 200k >> oh yeah not even this is 65k so this is like $2.30 30 $110 about $1 and change. This whole spread is cost us maybe like $4. As always, thanks so much for watching the Cost living abroad show. I'm Evan A. Check out this interview I did with the Dofrains, a super fun YouTube family who are from Canada, spent 7 years in Costa Rica and are now over here in Daang. Or this one I did with Andy, who's another retired American vet. He came over here from California and has an awesome story and a cool program, Operation Daang. He's running for other vets interested in living a life like him or Nick. Cheers. Thanks so much for watching, guys.