Quote Originally Posted by infoarmor View Post
I'm still undecided between Vietnam or Taiwan after I'll spend two weeks in Thailand.
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.

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.
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?

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.
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

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.
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.

Have you had any problems with hotels and getting boys?
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.

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