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Short Advice on Living in Vietnam #4

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Acclimate

One of the biggest complaints about living in Vietnam is the heat, this is from both Expats and Vietnamese.  A cool day in Vietnam is roughly in the low 80s F (high 20s C) which is a hot summer day from where I am from in Seattle.

One good way to acclimate is to NOT use the air conditioner whenever possible.  At home, I try not to use the air conditioner until I go to bed.  I then leave it on and sometimes will set timer to turn the aircon off during the night.

If you live in a nice quiet alleyway with a good breeze, you can just leave your windows and have a nice fan blowing on you.  I cannot do this now since my alleyway gets real loud at 6 AM in the morning.

You will notice that when you start to rely on the air conditioner less, the outside air temperature seems to cool down a bit.  For me, I consider 78 F  (24 C) as cold now.

Lastly, another great way to acclimate is to trick your mind.  I always set the temperature on my mobile phone or web browser to Celsius.  When I see 30 Celsius it seems like a cool temperature even though it is actually 88 Fahrenheit!!!

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Comments

  1. The way I survive being outside during the day in Saigon is the same way I survived the heat during the BURNING MAN festival in Nevada for six years. I keep 6 to 8 damp washcloths in individual ziplock bags in my freezer at home. When I am going out walking, I take a few frozen washcloths with me in a plastic bag inside another bag. When my head feels hot I use a frozen “rag” to cool off. Afterwards I put the still very cold washcloth inside my cap on my head to keep cool for awhile. When the first rag warms up I replace it with another as necessary. Works for me. Of course, I don’t care how I look as long as I am comfortable…

  2. One reason why I don’t leave the window open: Mosquitos.

    I like my room sterile and freezing. I like to wakeup with icicles on my nose.

  3. Hi Kevin:)

    I occasionally found your blog from Jon Hoff’s blog. It’s really interesting. I llike the way you enjoy your life in Vn, especially in HCMC, and the way you deal with it. This is the most interesting blog written about Vn I’ve ever found up to now.

    Thank you for being so nice and kind for us- Vietnamese.

    Best regards,

    Van

    P.S. I also really love Seattle-your hometown, and hope i can be there some day. Nice to meet you!