Vietnam trip report, 3 weeks in October-November

[christianpfc]

@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.

[gerefan2]

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

[vnman]

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

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

[extronaut]

gerefan2: what vnman said.

[infoarmor]

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.

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$.

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.

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.

[karius]

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

[Moses]

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

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

1671080437877.jpg

[extronaut]

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

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.

[extronaut]

@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.

[bkkmfj2648]

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.