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I've lived in both twice, each time for 3 mos. 6 mos total in each.
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Rio is a smelly, desperate favela glommed on to a cruise ship port of call.
A few nice mountains but landscape not so different than Da Nang.
The economy is sclerotic. The people that don't prey on tourists are trying to leave. There's nothing else there.
I had my phone stolen twice. Whole swathes of the city are off limits.
The food is cheese and carb-laden sludge or bad sushi or bad approximations of Italian food
Women are gorgeous.
Apartments feel dated and overpriced (the decent ones)
If you can't dance or find soccer boring you'll find little in common with the locals.
No real entrepreneurial spirit. Population is either complacent or predatory.
Terrible South American internet speeds
Moving in reverse
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HCM
Young culture, eager to innovate and disrupt
9% GDP growth YOY is intoxicating
Great digital connectivity at crazy cheap prices
Lots of noise, live in a tall building with double-clad glass to drown it out
Pollution sucks 50% of the year
The Heat you actually get used to, you're inside in AC during the day. Evenings by the river are very pleasant.
Fly to Tokyo or Bali for ~$100, internal flight to Sapa if you want cool weather or Pho Quoc for beach or even Vung Tau for close beach
Higher quality housing for less (not in D1, but in all the new expat developments near the river); new buildings going up constantly so tons of inventory
Great local food, amazing Korean food (many expats here using local slave labor to build Samsung phones)
Emerging arts scene
No public transpo. You tend to stay in your immediate neighborhood or learn to travel to avoid traffic (like LA)
Women are gorgeous but English not as good as Brazilians
I see only growth for this country
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Vietnam is the future
Rio is what parts of America (miami?) will look like in 10 years; hyper-wealth right next to insane poverty complemented by obese dudes of questionable provenance walking around the shopping malls with guns (protecting the shoppers)
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