Vietnam trip report, 3 weeks in October-November

My trip started with 4 days in Saigon. It was a bit disappointing.

Gee there was surprisingly little going on. Not many tourists. Not many locals either, save for the odd creepy dude who would get in front of me and go: "Hey you want lady? You want marijuana?"

My answer to both was: "không không cảm ơn." This wasn't the kind of creepy I was after.

My usual plan of attack around here is to curb crawl around the massage parlours. Aside from plenty of sexy ladies, they usually have at least one or two boys on staff, and I look for one who gives me dewy eyes and looks to be of legal age. I usually agree to a full body massage with him, and if he starts to sex me up on the table, I use Google translate to ask if he wants to come to my hotel, get his phone number, etc. This time there were plenty of tres sexy women in the parlours, but almost no boys. In the dozens of massage joints there, only found two boys - one I didn't like, and the other clearly didn't like me.

Can't figure out why they were so thin on the ground this time

No matter. Found a nice scene to hang around, met some cool people, got a little sloshed, then went back to my hotel room. Alone. But ah well, had a good time.

Next day, in the afternoon, I set up my Grindr account, and waited for the taps and messages. They came, but not really in the usual quantity. Nor in quality - most of them were from slightly chubby mid 30 somethings, under the delusion they could pass for 25. There were the standard messages of "hi!" from completely blank profiles that are rarely worth responding to. Then there was the usual plethora of Asian tiny-tops - the guy who thinks he can take me to heaven and back with his little French Fry, and expects to be paid for it, despite my own profile specifying that I'm strictly Top. I get a lot of those.

So I went profile surfing on Grindr myself. There really wasn't much of a selection around. I found a handful of cute, twinky 20 something bottoms, and tapped them. A couple responded, but with really long delays between posts, and I know that means they're usually negotiating with about five different guys at once. After a couple of hours of this I got fed up, and decided to just go out and have a drink. Who knows? I might meet eyes with someone across a crowded room. If not, just socialise with people. I was determined to have a good time one way or another. But as soon as I was ready to leave it started to bucket down cats and dogs. This lasted at least an hour, and the streets were almost flooded. Not nice, spending your holiday watching the rain from your hotel room. But when it finally eased, I went out and more or less had a repeat of the night before. Had fun, but again, nothing naughty happened.

This was okay, but by the third day I was getting blue balls. That morning, I tried opening a Hornet account out of desperation, and found the selection even less interesting than on Grindr. But luckily, one of the entries appeared to be familiar to me. In another thread I started entitled "Interrogated by a local" I described meeting him in 2019 before COVID hit. Nice, hot young man who has a real thing for old dudes. He's not a Saigon local, he just happened to passing through when I first met him. And he just happened to be passing through Saigon again, in a hotel not 300m from me now. How fucking serendipitous is that?

He came to my hotel a couple of hours later and we had a merry fuck for Auld Lang Syne. The hotel staff very kindly changed the sheets afterwards, then we went for a drink. It was a nice hookup, and didn't cost me anything except the for the drinks I insisted on buying him. Thankyou Saigon!

He went off to meet friends after. I spent another couple of hours stuck in my hotel room watching the rain. It's not supposed to rain here in October! The locals were a bit freaked out by the unseasonal weather too, and it really emptied out the streets of life. Fuck you climate change, for trying to ruin my holiday!

After the rain finally passed, this night was basically a repeat of the night before, with the difference I was bit more relaxed.

Next night it didn't rain. I was invited out to Nguyen Hue Square by a straight Viet friend and his chums, and we all had a good time. Again, no naughty though, even though some of the young men in this posse were seriously cute, really friendly, and prone to be very tactile like most Vietnamese. I got a straight, manly, goodbye hug from most of them.

Next morning, got my flight to Hanoi. This was the more sexually interesting leg of my holiday. More interesting generally.

Hanoi was really active this time. It was my third time there, but I've never seen it so pumping. The weather was nice, there were plenty of tourists around (unlike in Saigon, for some reason), and whole town was on speed.

My first night there, Grindr was fruitful, as recounted in my other thread "Another ridiculously tiny Vietnamese guy". TLDR: I hooked up with a cute little 27yo twink who just had an unholy passion for rimming and blowing me. Was hard as a log while he was doing it too. He became my regular Fuckboy during my stay there.

Aside from that, I played the field a little. I, of course, wanted to fuck as many people as physically possible for a man of my age. At one stage, I hooked up with a hot young Vietnamese guy from Da Nang. We had a bit of a kiss and a cuddle in his hotel room, but what he mainly wanted was to suck my dick while he jerked off. I was happy to be of service. No money changed hands.

Via Grindr, I also hooked up with a young English soldier boy on holiday. He just wanted to cuddle with an older man, which was fine by me. I was saving my juice for more sordid encounters with my Fuckboy anyway. Meanwhile, I was content to just stroke his hair and listen to his accent for as long as he wanted me to.

I took to walking around Hoan Kiem lake for exercise. There I often encountered plenty of young men who were keen to beckon me with fake smiles. Some of them were quite cute, and they were certainly willing to offer their services, but I don't think they were in it for fun. That's a deal breaker for me. My ideal off is: I have fun, he has fun, then I pay him money and he goes away I don't mind if I'm the one getting exploited (a little bit), but I don't want to exploit people less fortunate than me for my jollies. Admittedly, I have done so in the past, but I've realised I don't want to be that guy.

On Grindr, I also encountered this cute 21 yo who kept messaging me, and really wanted me to fuck him. No mention of any charge involved. But he was always too shy to come to my hotel. His reason was that I had already had one boy there before, so the hotel staff would know what he was there for. To say he was in the closet would be an understatement - he was hiding nervously behind the shoes at the bottom of the closet. I proposed to rent a room at a short time hotel specially for him, but he found that idea too sleazy.

Nevertheless he kept messaging me. This was, of course, very frustrating, as I had no idea how he expected me to solve his conundrum. But it was also quite cute. I used to enjoy my little chats with him, for some reason. I guess he was just a naturally good conversationalist. I regret not proposing to catch up with him for a coffee, and maybe staying in touch.

Had a great time in Hanoi, and I would have stayed for the rest of my holiday. Unfortunately, I'd already paid an exorbitant amount for a hotel in Phạm Ngủ Lão area in Saigon for my last seven days in VN. In advance. This was on the assumption that Saigon is always more fun than Hanoi. On this particular trip, my seventh to Vietnam, that wasn't the case unfortunately.

This brings me to another issue. Accommodation in tp HCM is crazy expensive at the moment, relatively speaking. My hypothesis is that a lot of hotels closed down over COVID, so supply isn't meeting demand. I also speculate that this is why there's so few tourists there right now, and plenty in Hanoi - they are all skipping Saigon, because it's too expensive, and going North.

I hope this situation improves, otherwise I might have to seriously cut back on the time I spend there in future.

Anyway, my second stint in Saigon was a bit better than my first. Perhaps that's largely because the weather had improved. I also discovered that if I tapped the cute 20 something twinks early in the day, I was much more successful at getting them to come to my hotel. If I tap them in the evenings, they usually just ignored me, or responded really slowly. My hypothesis for this is that they will fuck an old dude during the day, for fun, and some cash so they can go out and party. But by evening, they've already had their balls drained a couple of times, and will only respond to taps if it comes from someone they find hot, or is obviously extremely rich. I'm neither.

This system worked quite well for me though. It meant I could get my balls drained early in the day, then go out and just enjoy Saigon in the evening. Just focus on meeting and socialising with people, without being distracted constantly by all those pert little Asian buns everywhere. I have plenty of friends in Saigon these days, so I was never stuck for something to do.

A couple of times, while out and about on Nguyen Hue, I just happened to stumble on really cute young Asian teen queens, who sensed that I might be interested in them, and hit on me hard. On both occasions, these weren't rent boys, they were actually from relatively well-to-do backgrounds, so I doubt they were after money. They were just honestly interested in a relationship with an older, foreign man.

I didn't avail myself of this in any way. I've tried relationships with young guys, and it doesn't work, for a large variety of complicated reasons. Nevertheless, I can't begin to describe how flattering this was.

One day, I went for an explore on foot around District 10. Really interesting area. I went past a hair dressing salon full of really handsome young men, who were just entranced by me for some reason. Could this salon be a gay version of the classic sleazy Vietnamese Hot Toc that US servicemen used to frequent? I decided to try practicing my Tiếng Việt with them while they were all sitting outside on the doorstep. I didn't need a haircut, but I made up the excuse that I was feeling faint in the heat, and could I come in and sit in their aircon? They were happy to oblige.

Turned out my notion was wrong. They just wanted to meet a foreigner, and practice their seldom used English. They were really nice though, and gave me a bottle of water. One of them, however, a really cute one with dyed blond hair, friended me on Zalo and said he wanted to meet up and practice his English. I looked at his profile, and it was full of hot shirtless pics. He said he'd contact me soon, but he never did. Mind you, I kind of lied a bit and gave the impression I would be there for another couple of weeks, when really I only had three days left, so that might have been the reason.

Part of the reason for being in D10 was to check out an area where there's at least three gay massage parlours. In one or two blocks, there is Rainbow Spa, Guy Spa and Jack Spa. These are all to be found on Google Maps, and it's quite plausible that there's a couple more gay massage parlours there that aren't This is all part of my quest to find the gay version of Nguyễn Phi Khanh, which I'm sure exists somewhere in Vietnam. I never made it there, though, as one of the twinks I'd messaged on Grindr, earlier in the day, got back to me and wanted to hook up. I'd said I'd be available if he did, so I caught a grab back to my hotel, showered, shaved, and fucked him instead. I like to keep my word.

If anybody wants to go and check out that area, please let us know what you find.

The next two days were pretty busy, but I managed to get another two decent offs via Grindr. Again, both were early in the day.

Then came that day I was dreading. This was the day I finally deleted my Grindr account, my Hornet account, my Zalo account, packed my bags and headed back to the land down under. I was dreading it purely because of the long trip involved, but I was not sad to leave. I'd had a wonderful three weeks in Vietnam, and that's precisely what I came for. Pity old Sài Gòn was not its usual self, but I still managed to have a lot of fun anyway.

Thank you very much for your report.

I'm tentatively planning Saigon to Da Nang in January, and hotel prices is an area I'm sensitive to, if there are no reasonable offers, I have to change my plan.

I found blued to be app that overall worked best everywhere in SEAsia before Covid.

In general, the decline seems to continue, more fake profiles, or profiles without pictures, and slow chats. Observation from Thailand and Cambodia.

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Originally Posted by christianpfc

I found blued to be app that overall worked best everywhere in SEAsia before Covid.
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I find it impossible to open an account. Here in Australia, I try to, and I never get the confirmation email.

I tried opening one in VN, but it would send me a confirmation phone call, listing a series of numbers in Vietnamese. I know my Vietnamese numbers, but the call was so quick, and I'm not that fast at translating.

I thought about installing a call recorder, just so I could get the numbers, but is is worth it? Last time I successfully had Blued installed, it seemed to have degenerated into a poor man's Grindr, with even fewer free features and a lot more annoying ads.

excellent report, many thanks

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Originally Posted by extronaut

Quote removed. Please refrain from quoting entire posts, saves everyone scrolling down - ChristianPFC

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Thanks for your report, extronaut. I'm also thinking about a trip to Vietnam in January. the hotels in Saigon are seriously pretty expensive, the most I have seen. Quite acceptable in Da Nang though. I'm still undecided between Vietnam or Taiwan after I'll spend two weeks in Thailand.

Still surprised you didn't get much action in Saigon on the first leg of your trip. feels like it's mostly a combination of bad luck and maybe of a bit of bad strategy from your part. I usually set a GPS spoofer two days before I arrive and check out Grindr and Hornet and try to schedule an appointment with as many guys as possible during the days I'm there. I also usually go ahead and say Hi directly instead of tapping. Have found the response rate is higher like that.
Happy to hear you had much more luck at the end of your trip and you got to indulge on some nice twinks, so I would still keep Saigon o my travel itineraries if I were you.

Have you had any problems with hotels and getting boys? Since it seems you did most of your fucking during the day, it should be. much easier than when you want a guy to come at your place late at night. Airbnb are still the best way to go in Vietnam (you probably would have had that shy guy if you were in one) but their number and price have really gone down in Saigon.

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Originally Posted by infoarmor

I'm still undecided between Vietnam or Taiwan after I'll spend two weeks in Thailand.

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How's Taiwan? I've always wanted to visit out of curiosity, and probably will some day. I also love the language.

Never thought about it for sex tourism purposes, though. Always imagined the boys would be a bit more expensive.

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Still surprised you didn't get much action in Saigon on the first leg of your trip. feels like it's mostly a combination of bad luck and maybe of a bit of bad strategy from your part.

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My strategy usually works, dammit! I'm still really puzzled that there were almost no massage boys in the parlours in Phạm Ngủ Lão. Where have they all gone?

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I usually set a GPS spoofer two days before I arrive and check out Grindr and Hornet and try to schedule an appointment with as many guys as possible during the days I'm there. I also usually go ahead and say Hi directly instead of tapping.

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Here's the thing: I normally don't have to even tap. Normally, they come to me. Not in vast quantities, but usually at least once every couple of days (minimum!) I would get an interesting proposition from a cute twink who's really keen on what he sees.

For me to have to go looking for them, as I did on this trip, was unusual.

I don't like having to do that. In my experience, Saigon people are very, very, very good at business. So if you show your hand too early, ie appear too keen, they'll exploit that to the max and try to charge you as much as they can imagine.

Part of it might have been that, in the past, I've gotten extremely good service from twinks who seem to think they can make me fall in love with them. They want to friend me on social media and stay in touch so that can hit me up for money regularly. I don't give them any indication that this is on the cards, they just assume it. This time, I specified in my profile, and made it quite plain, that I really wasn't after LTR. Didn't want to risk leading anybody on, even inadvertently.

That might have been part of it. But I'll swear there really weren't that many cute twinks around this time. I don't know where they've gone

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Happy to hear you had much more luck at the end of your trip and you got to indulge on some nice twinks, so I would still keep Saigon o my travel itineraries if I were you.

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Actually, I had most of my luck in Hanoi. Especially because of Fuckboy. I agree that's unusual, because Saigon is usually the crazier, more fun place. But this is the reason that I count this Vietnam sortie as sexually successful.

(Just as an aside, even if it hadn't been, I still would have had a great time. I love Vietnam, the culture, the language, the friends of made there.)

My second pass at Saigon was a success, but only a moderate success. In that 7 days, I had an excellent session at Tarzan Spa in Đa Kao. I recommend the place.

I also had 3 Grindr hookups come to my hotel. The first one was this 20 something guy who stalked me on Grindr for two days after my arrival. He was ok, but he was late arriving and seemed to be in a hurry to get it over with. I didn't give him the full bonus.

The second was a really, really cute 22yo who I think had collagen lips. Very submissive in bed, and very accommodating. Seemed to really enjoy letting daddy take control. Given he seemed to have a good time, I thought he might be in touch the next day, but he wasn't. He earned the full bonus.

The third was kind of cute, but just a little bit flabbier than he appeared in his pics. He was fun in bed though, and I liked him - he had a good sense of humour.

So that last week in Saigon was ok, but really not up to the usual standard.

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Have you had any problems with hotels and getting boys?

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Not in Saigon. The few boys who responded to my taps didn't care, and the hotel staff really didn't give a shit either.

One problem I did have was that the rooms at my overpriced hotel on PNL street were packed really close together, and sound insulation wasn't perfect. Tended to put music on during my hookups. Looking back, that might have been the reason hookup #1 was in a hurry to leave - maybe he just really didn't like David Bowie.

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Airbnb are still the best way to go in Vietnam (you probably would have had that shy guy if you were in one)

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I've had had experiences with Airbnb in the past, so I tend not to use it. But I see the wisdom in your suggestion, and will probably give it serious consideration in future.

Another way of doing it, which I've had good success with in the past, is to book a bed at a cheap, but reputable hostel for one night, for around 100k. I then just use their locker to stash my bags, while I go looking for a decent hotel room on foot. The trick though, is to make sure my flight arrives early in the day.

Extanaut, can you tell me if Covid Insurance is mandatory and do they inspect it on arrival, or on a visa application?

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Originally Posted by gerefan2

Extanaut, can you tell me if Covid Insurance is mandatory and do they inspect it on arrival, or on a visa application?

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I'm not sure if it's usually required. When I applied for my E visa around May, it was mandatory, so I bought it. I usually get travel insurance anyway.

I heard that the requirement was later scrapped, but I don't have any source to verify that.

Either way, when I got there, the customs guy didn't check. Just looked at my passport, looked at me suspiciously, paused as if disconcerted by something, then stamped the passport and off I went to luggage retrieval.

I found a 2 Vietnamese gay guides in my previsit grindr snoops. both generally advised staying away from chinese new year. (last half of january) everything is closed and people go home to family.

@Christian: as above-avoid TET and the week before+after
BUT HCMC=Saigon still must have dozens.dozens more (though perhaps half of them also closed down due to covid) Thai style bekpek haunts-from my stay I remember that pretty good such rooms (even with AC) were then around 10US$/nite, all small, guesthouses-of course can no local take there. These are still not on any site-its just pass by and see what is there. Pham Ngu Hao or so as in every guidebook-like KhaoSarn old style, but better rooms. The beer is much, much cheaper as here in TH, not so much 7, but FamilyMart (from JPN). Of course up to you what works out better-more exp. HTL with chance to maybe take a visitor in or guesthse+rent short time if the need passes by. But you had been there once, nah? Licking some salt statue in a bathhouse?

@Pong, yes I have to Vietnam several times, and indeed I couldn't resist to test if the salt wall sauna was indeed salt, and in a moment when I was alone, licked the salt wall.

@OP, sorry to hear about your troubles getting Blued. A friend from Germany reports similar. I set up my Blued in Thailand many years ago, don't remember details. Thanks for general information on how Vietnamese boys tick, that will be valuable when I go.

I did not consider Tet, for me to avoid all other festivals. Tet is 22jan2023, no problem for me as I plan to stay first two weeks of Jan.

Extroaut….sorry another domestic question.
Are there laundries eveywhere, as in Thailand?

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Originally Posted by gerefan2

Extroaut….sorry another domestic question.
Are there laundries eveywhere, as in Thailand?

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Everywhere. Make sure your clothes are dry because it often goes by KG :-)

gerefan2: what vnman said.

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How's Taiwan? I've always wanted to visit out of curiosity, and probably will some day. I also love the language.

Never thought about it for sex tourism purposes, though. Always imagined the boys would be a bit more expensive.

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Well, I don't really do transactional sex, at least not yet. I'm just in my early 30s,.with a youngish look and in shape so it's pretty easy to get a good haul when I throw my nets on hookups apps in Asia, but I understand as I age and the fishing on apps won't be enough to satisfy my hunger, I have to head out to the market like most of the people in here.
Taiwan is great. People are very welcoming and friendly. It's easy to go around the country and inside the cities. There are lots of guys on apps but they also have great gay venues especially in Taipei (you got to try Soi 13 in, personally, the best gay sauna in Asia, at least it was before Covid).

The only time I sort of paid in Vietnam for sex was when I found this guy on Grindr that was offering massages. I said that I'm actually interested in something more than a massage and he said that's fine. so he came to my room, gave me a massage for around 30-40 minutes and then I got to be on top of him. after we finished, he said that I can pay him as much as I want. I remember giving him around 200K VND. felt a bit bad as that is even less than 10$.

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The second was a really, really cute 22yo who I think had collagen lips. Very submissive in bed, and very accommodating. Seemed to really enjoy letting daddy take control. Given he seemed to have a good time, I thought he might be in touch the next day, but he wasn't. He earned the full bonus.

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It reminds me of this very cute twink I met in Saigon in 2018. He had just turned 18. Very sexy body and beautiful face but definitely had done some work on his lips. He didn't make much use of those when we got in my room, but fortunately the lips were not his only bubbly body part I got to enjoy. We kept in touch for a bit as he moved to school in SF 3 months after our meeting but i lost his contact when I changed my phone.

Are there any hotels you can recommend in HCM and Hanoi?

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Originally Posted by karius

Are there any hotels you can recommend in HCM and Hanoi?

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Solaria hotel in Hanoi is quite good with reasonable prices. GC bar (gay) is just "behind the corner", location near lake, old town.

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Originally Posted by karius

Are there any hotels you can recommend in HCM and Hanoi?

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I found a good 3 star place, near Hoan Kiem lake, that gave me a nice big, clean room with a balcony for about 30usd/n. They appear to have doubled the price since, though. If you're interested, I'll message you details.

Fuckboy came and visited me there three times, and so did soldier boy. The staff were very nice, and gave the impression that they really didn't give a shit, but also that they appreciated discretion.

If you're going to book online, might I suggest you aim for a hotel in the Hoan Kiem area. There's some better deals in the Old Quarter, but the buildings there are quite run down, and there seems to be a chronic rat problem. Also, the plumbing in those streets is quite ancient, so more chance you'll have to master the bum gun (if you haven't already). Not all the hotels there have these problems, but when booking online, you don't always know what you're getting.

@Moses re tp HCM, didn't have much luck with hotels this time.

The place I used on my first visit there was a hotel in De Tham, and cost me about 37usd/n. Room was big and had a balcony. Was comfortable enough, but a bit run down, and the building itself has some weird issues. The staff were really nice though. Would have booked the place for my second trip, but they decided to double the price.

On my second visit I got a room on Pham Ngu Lao for around 45usd/n, which was clean and comfortable, but kind of bland and sterile, like something on a hospital ward. There was very little sound insulation between the rooms. The staff had no problem with me bringing boys back, but honestly, the lack of privacy was a bit of a deterrent.

This is the problem when you book online: the reviews give you a bit of a guide, but ultimately, it's a case of 'suck it and see'.

Next time I visit that city, I may as well take Infoarmer's advice and use Airbnb. I've had bad surprises using that in the past, but let's face it, my recent experiences using the hotel booking apps (at least in Sài Gòn) haven't been much better.

I highly recommend this place via AirBnB that sits right in front of Hoan Kiem lake. I had a balcony overlooking part of the lake.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/3747605...7-75bc87d39e0d

What is cool about this place is that during the daytime the entrance to your room is via the on-ground tourist store. Sometime in the evening, perhaps 9pm or 10pm, the tourist store closes. You are given a key where you can open the security gate and then pass through the store to the back entrance to the stairs and small elevator to the upper floor rooms.

When I was there I exclusively used the BLUED app to meet my Vietnamese guys. What was hilarious was when I would give them the address and they would find a closed tourist store. I would tell them - just wait - I will open the roll up security gate and let you into the store. They would say, are we going to have sex in this store? I would reply - NO, we are going to go upstairs to my AirBnB room. When they would leave, I would then accompany them into the store and then open the roll up security gate to let them out and to relock the gate - and also to make sure that they did not take anything from the store - as all of the merchandise was out on display.

In all of my years of frequenting AirBnB places - I never had full access to a store after it was closed. Truly fascinating and trustworthy of the owners - who are great people by the way. Plus the location and view (partial because of some trees) onto Hoan Kiem lake make it ALL worth it.

In Saigon I may recommend to stay in this area. Almost every building there is 3 or 4 star hotel, rooms are faced to green area, most have balcony with chairs. Reasonable budget $30-40 with breakfast. Walking distance to Bui Vien.

Personally, I had experience with Cosmo Hotel and Liberty Hotel.

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Views from balcony of Cosmo Park hotel, building in front - theater for evening water show:

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Originally Posted by Moses

In Saigon I may recommend to stay in this area. Almost every building there is 3 or 4 star hotel, rooms are faced to green area, most have balcony with chairs. Reasonable budget $30-40 with breakfast. Walking distance to Bui Vien.

Personally, I had experience with Cosmo Hotel and Liberty Hotel.

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Views from balcony of Cosmo Park hotel, building in front - theater for evening water show:

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Thanks for the hotel tip. Cosmo Park is available for just 437,000 VND per night. Any issues with bringing boys back/ boys coming to the hotel room? Just read some reviews on TripAdvisor which are some of the worst I have seen for a hotel though...

Any other hotel or AirBnb tips?

I am in HCMC for a week in May.

Any other recommendations?