A few days in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

[alexexal]

Having lurked around these parts (and other similar places) for a long time, and being grateful for all the useful information here, I thought it was about time I finally posted something that might be useful for others.

So, here goes on my visit to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) for a few days at the end of February. Including…

Booking a guide for the day through Siam Roads
General touristy things, eating, drinking
Visit to Nadam Spa
Massage at Ikeman
Apps (Blued, Hornet, Grindr)

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[alexexal]

As this was my first visit to the city, I looked into getting a guide for the first day. Having perused the Siam Roads website and, as others have noted, been a little confused by mixed messages on the marketing (shirtless pics, etc), I was nonetheless confident this would be “no messing around” (plenty of other opportunities for that).

Of the three guides listed for HCMC, I chose Will, as he was available for my preferred date and because he had 5 years’ experience of being a guide there, so I figured he should know a thing or two by now. I booked for my first full day (Sunday), for both daytime and evening (meaning from 10am to midnight).

This turned out to be the best investment I could have made for this trip - a lovely day in the company of a lovely person, covering a lot of ground and interesting places, and setting me up with plenty to do for the rest of my days in the city.

After booking on the website, Will got in touch and asked me if I wanted to do anything in particular for our day. While I was thinking about it, he sent a suggested itinerary which sounded perfect, so we went with that.

In the end, this is what we did:

Meet at the hotel where I was staying (Liberty Central Saigon Citypoint - nice hotel and great location)
Walk and walk and walk (I love walking around a new place) and learn how to cross the road confidently (very useful skill in HCMC)
Visits to Independence Palace, War Remnants museum, Notre Dame cathedral, Post Office, Ben Thanh market
Nice stops along the way for coffee and lunch (Secret Garden rooftop restaurant)
Visit to Nadam Spa (more on that later)
Dinner at local street corner place, Com Tam Hong Calmette
Drag Queen bingo - not sure what was happening, but it was a lot of fun
Thi Bar for drinks and a live music trio

Certainly packed a lot into the day! Also, everything was very well-timed, so we arrived at each place when it was most intersecting. Will was interesting and engaging to talk to, and gave me a lot of good suggestions on places to visit later in my stay (shopping, barber shop, etc).

[alexexal]

Will suggested this place for our sauna visit, and we arrived at about 5pm on Sunday afternoon. Coming by Grab car (which seemed to work well and cheaply all over HCMC), we stopped at the end of the little side street and walked down. A very unlikely location - quiet residential street - and then some energetic music and a name plaque on the wall to show we had arrived.

I found the “system” a bit confusing on arrival, but only because it was different to what I have experienced anywhere else. Immediately handed a small bottle of water with a key on a rubber band, then invited inside without needing to pay, the key then immediately taken from me by a helpful assistant who showed me to my locker and unwrapped some fresh, fluffy towels for me.

Will continued his excellent guiding job, showing me round the main areas and pointing out where everything was, before leaving me to my own devices, having arranged our meeting point.

The place was every bit as lovely as the pics on Google - very stylish and clean, and with a night club kind of vibe to it. And (not in the pics on Google) jammed full of about 100 of the most beautiful young Vietnamese men (and a couple of other foreigners) that I could have dreamed of. I had heard a lot about how shy the locals can be, but that certainly wasn’t the case here - especially in the darker areas further back. Fortunately, many of them seemed keen on an older, white top like me.

If it wasn’t for the fact that Will had more on the schedule for the evening, I would probably still be there. I imagine that Sunday afternoon was a good time of the week to visit, and this was the real highlight of my time in HCMC.

[alexexal]

Before arriving in HCMC, I had researched various massage options - there seemed to be many. I also had a few guys contact me on phone apps offering to come to my room for massage, but the prices they quoted were the same as going to a proper spa location, and I preferred to do that.

During my day with Will, I asked him for any recommendation, and he suggested Ikeman. Since that was one of the places I had already researched, and was not far from where I was staying, I was happy to give it a try.

Very conveniently, I was able to book through the Ikeman page on Facebook, and went for the 90 minute Thai massage, for 750,000 dong. The appointment was quickly confirmed by message back to me.

The place was quite easy to find (address worked for Grab car, then on arrival I asked the guard at the gate house who showed me the exact entrance). At Ikeman reception, I was offered and accepted a private room, which cost an extra 200,000 dong.

I was asked to wait in the locker room, which was a very pleasant area, with hot tea available. There was no suggestion or obvious place to take a shower, so I was glad I had had one before visiting, then my masseur arrived, who washed my feet before we proceeded upstairs.

The massage itself was extremely good. Strong pressure but never uncomfortable, and the bed and room itself were very relaxing. Altogether a very invigorating experience, especially and happily towards the end, followed by a relaxing head and shoulder massage.

After being shown downstairs for more tea, I sat for a while on the bench. The masseur’s next customer was there, so I waited (OK, slightly voyeuristically) while he had his feet washed and then went upstairs. Then I had a look round and realised that in fact there were some lovely outdoor showers, along with a small sauna room and small steam room. All of these were very smart and clean, with bundles of herbs placed around, giving a lovely relaxing fragrance to the place.

It was really lovely to be able to stay and relax like this for a while after the massage, before dressing and heading back out into the city.

Total came to 950,000 dong (all prices include tip), so I gave a round 1,000,000 (I love using all these big numbers). That is about US$42, which may be one of the best value massages I have ever had, given the quality of the overall experience.

[Andaman!]

Thanks for excellent detailed report. Was most of the action safe or BB? When you refer to “older white top” are you talking 30, 40, 50, 60, 70??

[Moses]

Just for reference: Will's page with photos is here https://siamroads.com/will-tour-guid...-minh-vietnam/

[alexexal]

Thanks for excellent detailed report. Was most of the action safe or BB?

Difficult to see what else was going on, given the subdued lighting, but I would say a mix of both was on offer.

When you refer to “older white top” are you talking 30, 40, 50, 60, 70??

In my case, mid-50s (so about twice as old as most of the locals there).

[alexexal]

Finally, a note about phone apps that I found useful in HCMC.

I tried out Blued, Grindr, Hornet, and Romeo, as these are ones I have generally found useful on my travels elsewhere.

I found that Grindr was the most popular at my hotel location (Liberty Central Saigon Citypoint), in the city centre, with Blued second and Hornet third, based on the distance of the nearest users. Romeo was very sparse.

Since my hotel was opposite the Saigon Centre shopping mall (selling expensive designer handbags and a Lamborghini stall outside), I seemed to end up chatting with a lot of guys out shopping with their friends/partners/unspecified, but just chatting, so this was mostly the waste of time that these apps can tend to be.

Apart from that, I had multiple offers of massage and “kisses/cuddles” in my hotel room. Since the hotel reception had helpfully informed me on check-in that room guests are allowed before 10pm, this presumably would not be an issue, but I preferred to visit sauna/massage as mentioned earlier.

[latintopxxx]

what a great post...many thanks...and Moises I admire your initiative in setting up this business

[maump]

did you stay at Liberty Central Saigon Citypoint Hotel (225$/night)?

Did the massage include full sex, happy hand job or just a good massage?

TIA