Foreigners in Phu My Hung

If we can say that Phu My Hung is the urban area of events, it is not an overstatement to say that this is a cosmopolitan area. Currently Phu My Hung has over 22 thousand inhabitants with more than 40 % foreigners from countries around the world . Whether from Asia , Europe or the U.S. , it seems they all have a common assessment of Phu My Hung: a green urban area full of utilities. And what are the reasons why they decided to stop at this place? Let’s hear some of their feelings.

HELENA Villagra GRANT – Chilean , living in Riverside Residence

My name is Helena Villagra Grant from Chile . My family came to Vietnam because of my husband’s work. By our friends’ suggestion, we intended to rent a house in An Phu. But after visiting Phu My Hung, we decided to live here . Our initial plan was to live here for three years, but we have been living in Phu My Hung for seven years now. It can be said that my children have grown up here and I can see Phu My Hung changing day by day- more buildings, more green parks, and the landscape has been paid more attention. I have 3 children – Matias 18 currently studying in Miami, Sophie 11 and Nicole 9 studying at British International School. I used to be a medical staff at Family Medical Practice in District 1, but now I am a yoga trainer. The first time in Vietnam, frankly I met some difficulties due to cultural differences but our life is stable now. “Living so long makes me a village patriarch” as said by one of the Vietnamese proverb. The characteristic of the Vietnamese is that you quickly look for solutions to solve the problems .

I love the weather in Vietnam , the nature and the most important thing is that, our entire family feel happy while living in Phu My Hung – the new urban area that the investors have given the residents much large green space. The environment is not contaminated with smoke and dust. There are not so many motorcycles and it is not difficult to go to District 1 , District 2 and the other districts . As a person who loves family life and cooking, I feel pleased because all the utilities for family life are here in Phu My Hung, from shopping centers , restaurants , to supermarkets , movie theaters , gyms, green park etc. I often walk from home to Crescent Mall to shop, go to the supermarket and walk back home, feeling relaxed , breathing fresh air and admiring the beautiful space on the road. I often take my children to the movies here . From Crescent Mall I can ride bicycle slowly home ( because I also like cycling ) or sip coffee at the shops along Crescent area reading a book ( I am a bookworm ) or watching the sunset , while watching the natural lake with palm trees . Because of my love for natural scenery , these scenes always give me so many feelings. I always feel comfortable living here as living in my homeland.

I did not know how many times I went to the previous spring flowers festival of Phu My Hung in the Crescent. I went back and forth the flower art display area , the roads full of fresh flower arrangement. I silently admired the skilled artisans of ornamental trees in Vietnam. Some art works of these artisans even made me open my mouth amazingly! But at the end of the spring flower festival , I felt regretful seeing withered flowers thrown away . Why didn’t the organizers keep growing them after the end of the festival? I think it’s a waste !

Phu My Hung has many green parks but very little public exercise equipment or safe games for children to play at weekend while their parents are taking a walk in the park as what I see in the park in District 1. There is also very few food stalls selling green and clean food and few big stores specialized in interior decoration. You know, every time visiting friends in An Phu, I buy fresh vegetables at the stores there . Here there are few restaurants serving green and clean food and vegetarian dishes, which is a trend in many countries .

Phu My Hung indeed has many advantages in organizing outdoor events because the location is appropriate . It will be fantastic if there are more outdoor concerts , art exhibitions, exhibitions of both Vietnamese culture and cultures of other nations. This is possible because a lot of people from different countries are living here now.

Kazuya NAKAOKA , Japanese , living in Hung Vuong area

I’m Kazuya Nakaoka , from Japan. I am now working for LPG company and I am still single. I have lived in Viet nam for two years now, but have have spent 1.5 year living in Phu My Hung because the company’s office is here. Another reason why I chose to work in Vietnam is my emotion for this country.

I live in Hung Vuong area and love the quiet atmosphere around me (not as noisy as in District 1) . All utilities are supplied sufficiently, from restaurants to supermarkets and shopping centers . In Japan , I lived in the suburbs of Osaka with rice fields , crop fields , single-story houses, so when I first arrived in Phu My Hung , I could say that I was …overwhelmed because of the urbanization of this place , which was beyond my imagination ! In my mind , Vietnam was a small country , the country of war , the country with the sidewalk cafe with blue and red plastic chairs , and sellers in conical hats as I have seen ads on some magazines in Japan . When arriving in Phu My Hung , I did not see the sidewalk cafe nor popular restaurants, but I only found luxurious shopping areas, such as Crescent Mall , Parkson Paragon , Gloria Jean ‘s Coffee etc. which made me surprised . My friends at home in Japan ,when hearing my description of the urbanization of this area, said ” unbelievable! ” It is because all of them did not know anything about this small country!

Food price in Phu My Hung is so expensive but beer and bar food is cheaper than in Japan ! However, sometimes I feel the utensils, such as cups, spoons, forks serving at some restaurants are not so clean. There are not so many Japanese restaurants here. What is more, the entertainment services suitable for young people in general and for young single people like me in particular are still lacking in Phu My Hung . According to Japanese culture , using public transport is normal. I like using local buses , but I can’t speak Vietnamese and the route is complicated, so I take taxis.

I enjoy the outdoor music events, such as those organized by Saporo and Heineken in Phu My Hung . If I had the information earlier, I ‘d invite more friends to come.

KARIN Huber – German – living in Garden Court 2

Due to my husband’s business , 6 years ago we moved to live in District 7 and had 4 years in Phu My Hung . We chose Phu My Hung because of the landscape here. Especially, from the balcony, we could see a green park stretching in front of our eyes . Because of the love for green environment, feeling in nature is very important to us. In fact , Garden Court 2 is not the best but quite convenient with many shops and various restaurants around. Through time , many more utilities are provided in Phu My Hung area . Of course when comparing Phu My Hung with some other countries where we used to live, we always expect that the area should have some improvement. But to the German like us, our biggest concern is to protect the environment and keep everything clean and tidy.

We love our apartment. But we do not know if it is because the apartment building standards do not pay enough attention to sound- insulation or because of poor heat insulation that we have to pay high electricity bill every month and often endure noise from the outside, especially the terrible noise when major events are held at the park right in front of our apartment window , sometimes the event last 7 days and starts from 6 o’clock on Sunday morning- a very unusual thing for advanced residential areas.

Phu My Hung spring flower fair last year was very impressed! My relatives continued admiring the flowers and different plants and took hundreds of pictures to bring back to Germany . I love the urban area where I am living and hopefully I will remain here for several more years .

Veronique Phan Van- French , living in Sky Garden 3

I am Veronique Phan Van – French . I am now living with my 13 year-old youngest daughter, Sara Ylang. I knew Vietnam 20 years ago while visiting my husband’s family in Hue and through the acquaintance with the Vietnamese people in France. I have traveled and lived in many countries around the world . After living in Sydney for 1 year , I decided to take Sara back to Vietnam so that my daughter could have the opportunity to explore the culture as well as the native language of her father’s homeland.

We have been residents in Phu My Hung for 2 years . I chose Phu My Hung for many reasons though my daughter everyday has to go to the French international school in District 9 . In addition to our feelings like to be at home here, the other prominent reasons are more green space , quietness and relatively good security . The criteria is perfectly suitable to my reading hobby ( quiet space ), my love for photography ( beautiful green space ) and especially, my daughter can take a walk . We can say this place has enough utilities needed for daily life of a family.

Here, there are international schools. The swimming pool is at the ground floor in my building. The fitness club is also here . Coopmart is 3 minutes drive , Giant is in the basement, Crescent Mall Giant takes 5 minutes. VF Hospital is not so far. It takes a couple of minutes to ride a motorbike to the movies or to the golf court ( I feel the roads here are wider and safer than those in other districts) . Not to mention, the restaurants are full of European and Asian dishes , but frankly I still prefer the roadside stalls because I feel closer to the local people.

Because of my teenage daughter , I find Phu My Hung lack a lot of many amusements to satisfy the needs of young people. For example, there are very few English movies. There is no bowling area while there are a lot of international schools. I really wish there was a theater area where foreigners could come to share the experience of living in a foreign country, organize art exhibition – this is quite normal in France and I used to have an exhibition about Himalaya in Paris.

I also hope Phu My Hung organizes activities program for teenagers as well as outdoor concerts. We like last year spring flower fair. I not only enjoy watching the talents of the artisans but each year I take some flower pots for decoration in Tet.

KOO BONGGYUNG – Korean – living in Sky Garden

We have two children and we have been living in Sky Garden for 4 years now. My husband is a general manager for a bag manufacturing company in Dong Nai . When we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City , we heard that there was an urban area for foreigners and many Koreans were living there . That fate brought us to Phu My Hung .

In Korea, I taught Korean language for foreigners in Korean University. Following my husband to Vietnam , I taught Korean for the Vietnamese who loved Korean language . The Vietnamese look like the Korean but I notice that you are very friendly . I find that Phu My Hung is the right place for foreigners with enough facilities and utilities for family life . Our relatives in South Korea going to Vietnam to visit family are very impressed by with the green landscape in Phu My Hung and they are certain that Phu My Hung is quite different from other places in Ho Chi Minh City ! In general, I feel pleased with the place where I am living , though sometimes I am very frustrated because of water and flickering electricity!