Ho Chi Minh City - General Info

[Rick Rock]

Be very careful, exchange currency at Jewelry stores are illegal, and you may get caught and slap with huge fine.

Not long ago, a local Vietnamese guy exchanged his $100 USD at local Jewelry store and was caught and fined $4000. https://www.bbc.com/vietnamese/vietnam-45949037.

It is not worth the risk, just exchange it at the banks, a bit cheaper but unless you are exchanges ten of thousands dollars, won't be much.

Prostitution is also illegal in Vietnam. Yet here we are.

[David Cohen]

Hit the jewelry stores near the market and you will nearly get dollar for dollar for usd. Just Google where to get best money exchange.

Be very careful, exchange currency at Jewelry stores are illegal, and you may get caught and slap with huge fine.

Not long ago, a local Vietnamese guy exchanged his $100 USD at local Jewelry store and was caught and fined $4000. https://www.bbc.com/vietnamese/vietnam-45949037.

It is not worth the risk, just exchange it at the banks, a bit cheaper but unless you are exchanges ten of thousands dollars, won't be much.

[Banana Boi]

Hit the jewelry stores near the market and you will nearly get dollar for dollar for usd. Just Google where to get best money exchange.

[Rick Rock]

Having spent plenty of time in Singapore, HCMC, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, I'd rank them #1 Shanghai (Judy's / Manhattan Bar), #2 HCMC (Apocalypse / Go2 Bar. Yes yes, expensive, etc. Etc. Whatever), #3 Singapore, and a distant #4 Hong Kong. Hong Kong probably shouldn't even be on the list anymore because the last time I met a VN girl there was probably 2014 or 2015.

In my experience these are all older women that can't make much money in Vietnam. That's why they go on the road to fleece white guys. None of them compare to the average hooker available to Vietnamese guys via Thienda for about 1/8 the price.

[Rick Rock]

You are in Vietnam not Vermont. If you use $US, you jack up the prices big time for yourself. When Asian vendors quote US $ to me, I immediately walk away and so should you.

In Vietnam yes. Next door in Cambodia no. Riel is pegged to the dollar and not used in the cities for anything expensive. No one wants to carry around a suitcase of cash to buy a pair of shoes.

Just change your dollars for Dong at a gold shop in Vietnam. In Cambodia, keep your dollars. Or get more, because every ATM machine dispenses them.

[MutantChicken]

Arrive 1/21 and wonder if girls will work for US $?

I didn't see any comments on this in any Vietnam threads.

Thanks,

P Chop.

Sure they will but they will give you below market exchange rates, thus rather than paying for example 1 mill you end up paying 1. 159 mill, then as you are clearly so careless about money matters they will hit you up for lucky money, taxi money, tips, plus given you are such a newbie, they probably would have given the most basic of service.

[PedroMorales]

Arrive 1/21 and wonder if girls will work for US $? I didn't see any comments on this in any Vietnam threads. Thanks.

You are in Vietnam not Vermont. If you use $US, you jack up the prices big time for yourself. When Asian vendors quote US $ to me, I immediately walk away and so should you.

[Purple Porkchop]

Arrive 1/21 and wonder if girls will work for US $?

I didn't see any comments on this in any Vietnam threads.

Thanks,

P Chop.

[Jsxyz]

Don't worry, they're not. Not even close.

You might argue that there are a lot of hot Viet prostitutes in Macau. Not Malaysia. KL mostly gets the older ones. When people say KL is the best place for Vietnamese, they usually mean its the easiest place for a western guy to walk in and grab a Viet woman for sex without any research or work.

Having spent plenty of time in Singapore, HCMC, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, I'd rank them #1 Shanghai (Judy's / Manhattan Bar), #2 HCMC (Apocalypse / Go2 Bar. Yes yes, expensive, etc. Etc. Whatever), #3 Singapore, and a distant #4 Hong Kong. Hong Kong probably shouldn't even be on the list anymore because the last time I met a VN girl there was probably 2014 or 2015.

[Rick Rock]

I certainly hope the best Vietnamese girls aren't in KL because the Viet quality in KL is not that good. Will cut my trip to HCM short if the Viet girls are worst in HCM than in KL.

Don't worry, they're not. Not even close.

You might argue that there are a lot of hot Viet prostitutes in Macau. Not Malaysia. KL mostly gets the older ones. When people say KL is the best place for Vietnamese, they usually mean its the easiest place for a western guy to walk in and grab a Viet woman for sex without any research or work.

[Banana Boi]

Well, the best girls in Vietnam are down in KL, Seoul and even Jakarta.

I certainly hope the best Vietnamese girls aren't in KL because the Viet quality in KL is not that good. Will cut my trip to HCM short if the Viet girls are worst in HCM than in KL.

Where are the Viet girls in Jakarta? I've never seen one.

[Rick Rock]

So I have been here for 2 weeks.

Any tips of advice would be greatly appreciated.

If you stay on Bui Vien or another tourist area, speak no Viet at all, and don't know the prices, you will most likely get bad service at high prices. There is lots of prostitution in HCMC, but it's mainly for local Vietnamese guys. They will all accept you as a customer, but no one is going to hold your hand.

Even if you are a Viet Khieu or Viet from out of town, you will get overcharged if you don't know the prices. That even goes for basic stuff like buying food and clothes in local markets. That's just how it goes in Vietnam.

If you do some research, look around a bit, make some local friends, pick up a few words, leave the tourist ghetto, and get some info, you will find that you can get great service from some of the best looking women in Asia for very low prices.

At hot toc goi dau that aren't over run with western white knights, expect to pay 150000 dong for a good BBJCIM complete with rimming and body massage. You can get a BBBJ and sex with very hot 19-25 years olds for 350,000. You won't find any of this at Bui Vien, Pham Ngu Lao, Liberty 4, or Apocalypse Now. You have to go get it. Google in Vietnamese. It really isn't that hard.

Don't expect anyone who knows to post much about it here either. When it has been done in the past, we've seen services go down and prices go up as much as 400% in a year due to tourists overpaying and accepting whatever they get.

[Rick Rock]

Wait. I thought that dude was slinging weed when he was really pimping? FFS.

He was pimping himself.

'If you are staying along Bui Vien or De Tham Street, you will definitely see this "Massage Boy" on bicycles. They are riding bicycles to make hundreds of rounds at backpacker areas to find customers. They come with a unique tool to attract tourist attention by putting some steel bottle covers together and make it as a signal ringer. Their target customers are mostly gay tourist or some gay friendly straight men that are curious about their services. They normally offer massage services in customer's hotel room besides offering sex services. The price for this service can starts from VND200,000 up to VND1,000,000 depends on type of services. There are some robbery cases reported by tourist who are using this services which end up with loosing money, camera, Ipad and many other valuable items. ".

http://thevietnamguide.com/tvg/prost...ckpacker-area/

[Pointy Stick]

Just stop the bicycle guy that rings a bell around PNL, it's the sign for massage and tell him what you want.

Wait. I thought that dude was slinging weed when he was really pimping? FFS.

[Bertyru55]

Check the prices, you spoil them. I don't speak any vietnamese but with google translate you can easily find many many vietnamese sites that advertise and post experiences about working girls. There are also sticky threads explaining how the deed is done.

The rest is up to you, use your brains to figure out slang. E. g. Ks stands for kach san hotel (mostly hourly), p stands for minute (s) etc.

I'm a first timer in VN and I just arrived here in hoi an and all these tourists are ruining the prices dramatically, not just those of the girls, which you can forget in tourist cities. Way too overpriced IMO.

And yes I'm sure you can't get a PI or TH experience here, but touristically there is a lot more to see here.

1 shot starts with 300 k.

The only $ that changed hands was 100 k vnd. I see my post was not clear. I definitely did not give US $100.