Differences between Thailand and Vietnam: Interview

The differences between Thailand and Vietnam was the subject when I was interviewed by Alex Stevenson for his terrific YouTube channel Ninja Teacher, last week. Alex is a really cool 25 year old South African guy who owns and runs his website http://ninjateacher.com He says that he has always wanted to live abroad and after moving out wanted to help other teachers get positions. His website does exactly that. He makes what I think are among the coolest websites on YouTube. It helps that he’s young tall and handsome, whereas I have more of a radio face! Check out the video on his Youtube channel.

We did the interview in Vinyl Bar on Pasteur and I think it works really well. The girls soon found a way of getting on camera, but the informality of it, is pretty cool, I think. It was pertinent as well, this is after all, my office.

Check out the Differences between Thailand and Vietnam Interview

I found Alex to be a really competent interviewer. His relaxed manner made it very easy to chat and yet get our message across. We talked about the differences between Vietnam and Thailand, covering teaching but also plenty of other topics. This is something that I have looked at before. We talked about the problems faced by expats living in the two countries. We also looked at those faced by people thinking of moving to start an expat life here, working in a new community.

I really enjoy this kind of interaction. Alex, like me, loves both the countries. There are differences between Thailand and Vietnam, but we both believe that these are great countries for foreigners to come and experience. The differences are not really that great, but they do seem to provoke comment. I happen to prefer Thai food, but people get hot under the collar when I say it. In my neighbourhood and where I work I find it hard to get street food that I like , but I never struggled anywhere in Bangkok.

The visa requirements for both countries are a pain, and don’t help people coming here to find a house, build a home and help local people develop their English skills. We covered transport and expat life in general; what the differences between Thailand and Vietnam mean to people thinking of repatriating themselves.

The interview was great fun, Alex is very professional and I hope you enjoy watching.

http://persuasionpursuit.com Kim Willis

Good one Keith. Only comment I willl make is about the street food. Your interviewer put HCMC street food on the same level as Bangkok. He must be dreaming. I lived in HCMC for 8 months last year and found the scene there to be dead boring. On the other hand, Bangkok and even Chiang Mai is extraordinarily good. A revelation.
- Keith Hancock
  
  I am with you Kim, I think Bangkok street food blows HCMC street food out of the water. That is mainly my point, for sure in good restaurants you’ll get good native food in both cities. However on the streets its poor to mediocre in HCMC and fantastic in Bangkok. Thanks for taking the time to comment.