Ten WhatsApp groups moderated by long-term Saigon residents. Whoever you are, whenever you arrive, a community is already waiting. You will never stay alone in Saigon.
Back in late 2021, a group of us sitting in a Thao Dien quan an realised something simple: most of our best Saigon memories started with a stranger saying hi. So we started a WhatsApp group called "Saigon Welcome" and added anyone we met who was new in the city.
Within weeks it was 80 people. By early 2022 it had hit 250 - the WhatsApp group limit at the time - and we had to split it. Street food regulars wanted crawl talk. Nomads wanted co-working meetups. Parents wanted pediatrician recommendations. The one group became three, then five, then ten.
Ten WhatsApp communities, each capped around 250 members, each moderated by 2 to 4 long-term Saigon residents. When you reach out, a human reads your message, checks which group fits, and adds you. We do not use bots, we do not sell numbers, we do not run ads in the chats.
It is a labor of love, paid for by the occasional restaurant that sponsors a members-only dinner and by a small number of members who buy us coffee when they can. That is it.
A rotating team of 12 moderators across Thao Dien, District 3, Vung Tau, Binh Thanh and Nguyen Hue. Half of us have been in Saigon 5+ years, half arrived in the last 18 months. We are not a business. We do not have an office. We meet for dinner every 6 weeks in different quan an eateries to keep sane.
Communities
Active members
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