Ho Chi Minh City - General Info

[Irish Mongrel]

You probably didn't stick with Vinasun or Mailinh taxis. If you did you should have reported the driver to the hotline.

Also watch out in GO2 and check your bill. Better pay every drink right away. Especially in the club upstairs.

Tiger, you got it right on both counts. Was neither a Vinasun or Mailinh Taxi, and the bastards sort of stiffed me with the bill. Added my SYT's 2 x Baileys that she'd had prior to when I started to talk to her (only noticed that when I checked the following morning). The number hadn't seemed too outrageous considering the time I had been there, and the volume of drinks that had been drunk by my friends and I prior to them departing and leaving me on my todd!

[Tiger 888]

Oh ok, I didn't realize that. Most of the ones people had listed were $30-40. I'll be staying at Vy Khanh on Pham Ngu Lao. I'll report back on how it goes.

There is no guarantee that this specific guesthouse is GF. But if they are not, just shop for the next one. I have yet to find a place on Bui Vien that is not GF.

[Malakan]

I thought it were the cheaper backpacker hotels that were GF. At least that is my experience.

Oh ok, I didn't realize that. Most of the ones people had listed were $30-40. I'll be staying at Vy Khanh on Pham Ngu Lao. I'll report back on how it goes.

[Tiger 888]

I'm going to Saigon in a few weeks and planning to stay in one of the cheaper backpacker hotels rather than the GF friendly ones, so I'm thinking about getting ST rather than LT.

How much does it cost to rent one a room for ST? I assume you just rent it for an hour or so?

I thought it were the cheaper backpacker hotels that were GF. At least that is my experience.

[Malakan]

A good question to ask yourself is do you want ST or LT. I've never taken a girl LT in Saigon and of the ones I have been with there were less than a few I would want LT. If you only want ST there are tons of safe, reliable ST hotels and the girls will know where to take you. I stayed in the small hotels in the Pham Ngu Lao alleys. In each of the three they said it was okay to bring someone in as long as they had an I'd and there was no trouble. If you don't find a hotel on the board, the best thing to do is ask before checking in. It may help to instead of asking if you can bring someone, ask how much is the fee for bringing someone because most people / things are money oriented.

I'm going to Saigon in a few weeks and planning to stay in one of the cheaper backpacker hotels rather than the GF friendly ones, so I'm thinking about getting ST rather than LT.

How much does it cost to rent one a room for ST? I assume you just rent it for an hour or so?

[Tiger 888]

Spent a bit of time in the Backpacker Area last night. More specifically the Go2 bar. Lots of freelancers floating around the area, and within the nightclub on the second floor of the actual bar. The Go2 bar is open 24 hours a day, and you get a good view of what's going on whilst sitting on the sidewalk watching the girls go by.

One word of warning for first timers. Got a taxi back to my hotel from outside the bar. The taxi had a rigged meter which rung up a 300K plus meter fare for what should have been less than 50k. The SYT I had picked up got a little worried when I confronted the driver, but the guard in my hotel soon sorted it out.

You probably didn't stick with Vinasun or Mailinh taxis. If you did you should have reported the driver to the hotline.

Also watch out in GO2 and check your bill. Better pay every drink right away. Especially in the club upstairs.

[Bb Creampie]

Spent a bit of time in the Backpacker Area last night. More specifically the Go2 bar. Lots of freelancers floating around the area, and within the nightclub on the second floor of the actual bar. The Go2 bar is open 24 hours a day, and you get a good view of what's going on whilst sitting on the sidewalk watching the girls go by.

One word of warning for first timers. Got a taxi back to my hotel from outside the bar. The taxi had a rigged meter which rung up a 300K plus meter fare for what should have been less than 50k. The SYT I had picked up got a little worried when I confronted the driver, but the guard in my hotel soon sorted it out.

You're absolutely right. Go2 is the best place in the PNL area. Freelancers retail for 1 mill and I can usually convince them to go LT if I score them late enough in the night. Most of the chicks I meet there are searching for money to score their next fix of H. They all claim to smoke it, not shoot it. Either way, their desperation leaves them wide open to fuck sessions.

I'm heading there tonight!

Bareback Creampie

[Irish Mongrel]

Spent a bit of time in the Backpacker Area last night. More specifically the Go2 bar. Lots of freelancers floating around the area, and within the nightclub on the second floor of the actual bar. The Go2 bar is open 24 hours a day, and you get a good view of what's going on whilst sitting on the sidewalk watching the girls go by.

One word of warning for first timers. Got a taxi back to my hotel from outside the bar. The taxi had a rigged meter which rung up a 300K plus meter fare for what should have been less than 50k. The SYT I had picked up got a little worried when I confronted the driver, but the guard in my hotel soon sorted it out.

[Joe Looking]

Wandella,

Great report!

I will be in HCM in the next week and am sure this report will be very helpful as I will be staying on Dong Khoi in Dist 1.

You mentioned in the report that the girls are willing to go to the hotel. I have heard that most of the hotels do not allow guests int eh room. Please guide me if there are specific hotels which are girl friendly.

Any other suggestion from you would ensure a better mongering experience.

Cheers!

A good question to ask yourself is do you want ST or LT. I've never taken a girl LT in Saigon and of the ones I have been with there were less than a few I would want LT. If you only want ST there are tons of safe, reliable ST hotels and the girls will know where to take you. I stayed in the small hotels in the Pham Ngu Lao alleys. In each of the three they said it was okay to bring someone in as long as they had an I'd and there was no trouble. If you don't find a hotel on the board, the best thing to do is ask before checking in. It may help to instead of asking if you can bring someone, ask how much is the fee for bringing someone because most people / things are money oriented.

[Joe Looking]

Just a curoious question. Why on earth everything in HCMC is quoted in Dollars? From the prices of hotel services (such as laundry) to drinks in billiard bars? One girl I got yesterday wasn't even sure how much she wanted in Dong and said 60 Dollar. I had to use my currency converter on my smartphone to show her the price in Dong and ensure that it's correct.

Like it or not the bellicose foreign policy of the USA generally leads to one thing, a huge supply of USA dollars in many countries. From what I was told this is generally the result of soldiers using their USA dollars for off base transactions and aid workers being paid in and then paying in USA dollars.

Like another poster said, some things just come down to laziness. After a certain point the number of dong gets huge. Also, many of the prices seem to have remained the same, in dollar terms, for a while. I met a guy who said he always stays at the same hotel and for the past 10 years they have always had a sign saying 8 USD.

Another reason is downright trickiness. Some Asians have figured out that many foreigners on vacation are not very shrewd. Most travelers do not compare prices in terms of the local economy, but in terms of how much something costs back home. This is why more shops in places like Laos are putting up signs saying "Only X US dollars." Most people see signs like this and say "Wow it's only X dollars, man the same thing would cost Y dollars back home." Problem is X dollars is 4 times the real price. Many foreigners also seem to take every opportunity possible to tell locals how much something costs back home and pure Asian greed quickly convinces them to raise the price.

The final and most diabolical reason is arbitrage. I was in Vietnam last year and the actual market rate of dong to dollars was always close to 21000; however, when signs were posted in dollars I had Vietnamese convert at rates ranging from 19000 dong to dollar (these people probably put up the sign when that was the rate and have just kept the price constant) all the way up to 22000 dong to dollar. Putting the price in dollars and then accepting dong allows the vendors to screw those who are not cautious on the exchange. I even had a few refuse to come down to the real exchange rate even when I showed them up to date web pages, their response was always "That's the bank rate I give you the market rate.".

Along with the bad is always the good. The first piece of good news is that you can get most of them to give you a rate between 19k-20k dong / dollar, in countries where there are not tons of European / American goods imported the rate of inflation should have little to do with how the dollar / euro relates to the local currency. Don't try arguing just show them the price and if they won't have it walk away. Second and most important is that many of them, especially sex workers, don't really understand exchange rates they just know that dollars, euros, yen. Are worth more than their currency (my friend is a masseuse in Laos and a customer gave her a Danish note as a tip, she had no idea what it was worth all she knew was it was more valuable than kip). Often one price is asked in another currency because they hear that's what people pay in another country or they / a friend has worked somewhere else. Next time one of them asks you for dollars just politely respond with the equivalent in dong of about 50% of her request. It may sound dickish to undercut their initial request by half, but chances are what you will be offering is still good money, occasionally this can also shift their mindset towards thinking about what they can buy with the money (I. E. 500k dong = rent). More often than not it should work unless there are tons of other foreigners around. My advice would also be not to show your currency calculators to P4P girls. The ones who can understand what it is won't need to see it and for the others whatever you say is scripture.

[Fast Eddie 48]

Wandella,

Great report!

I will be in HCM in the next week and am sure this report will be very helpful as I will be staying on Dong Khoi in Dist 1.

You mentioned in the report that the girls are willing to go to the hotel. I have heard that most of the hotels do not allow guests int eh room. Please guide me if there are specific hotels which are girl friendly.

Any other suggestion from you would ensure a better mongering experience.

Cheers!

To Joyra

There are a Vietnam hotel section you can go to I have post many report on GF hotel in Dist one and there are many around Hai Bai trung and Ben Tanh market area that are GF around 40 USD just avoid the big hotel like Rex or the Hyatt.

Fast Eddie 48

[Wendella]

Thanks. You'll need to ask others about hotels, it's not my area of expertise, have only rarely used them. The rule seems to be that you can't go to any over 3 stars. The A&them hotels are supposedly GF. There's many others. I'd say have a look in the hotels thread here, also ask regulars who mention going to hotels.

Finally, some here don't dig it if you quote a huge post like that so the entire thing appears again in the forum. I guess it's too late to do anything about it this time.

ps: funny but the automatic spell corrector built into this forum changed my spelling of the hotel name. It should not be "them" but "em".

[Joyra]

Wandella,

Great report!

I will be in HCM in the next week and am sure this report will be very helpful as I will be staying on Dong Khoi in Dist 1.

You mentioned in the report that the girls are willing to go to the hotel. I have heard that most of the hotels do not allow guests int eh room. Please guide me if there are specific hotels which are girl friendly.

Any other suggestion from you would ensure a better mongering experience.

Cheers!

This is a guide to the "billiard bars" in District 1. They are all located in a fairly small area downtown. These bars are very simple and straightforward: only girls who are "working" are in the bar. Once inside you are expected to pick a girl to sit with, and you can also have some fun with her there if you like. All the girls can be taken out.

The Bars

There's a star rating (* * *) for each bar. Remember, your own taste may be different. In the best bars (three *'s and above) you can usually find some very attractive girls, often with a difficult choice of which girl you like best. In most bars (* * to * * ½) , there is still a chance of finding a hot girl, but less likely than in those rated * * * and above. In the bars at * ½ and under, you will be lucky if a very cute one is there, and these places usually have mostly less attractive or older girls (for example, it would be rare that 49 Dong Khoi has any Girls who could get hired at 91 Hai Ba Trung). But if you visited every bar in one evening, you almost surely would find one pleasant surprise in one of the lesser rated bars.

Many of the names of these bars are just a number, which is their address, so for those only their address is listed.

HAI BA TRUNG AREA

35 Hai Ba Trung * * Small relaxing bar with just a few girls, usually average to slightly above avg. In quality. A balcony level with a pool table where you can get to know the girl better.

49 Hai Ba Trung * * ½ Fairly large bar, relaxed, long and narrow with a back room, which has a 2nd pool table and where things can be quite cozy. Girls are usually more plentiful and in general a bit cuter than at 35.

51 Hai Ba Trung * * * A bit smaller than 49, but just as relaxed. Better than average girl selection and quality (more so than 49, in my opinion). This one seems to get new girls more often than most, and the occassional gorgeous one. They also have 2 pool tables, one in back a step down and another up on balcony level.

91 Hai Ba Trung * * * ½ This bar is the biggest and has the most girls, and they tend to be prettiest in general, also younger and taller. It is the one bar where things tend to be least cozy, and the girls more full of themselves (they're pretty and know it) but if your preference is looks over service, this is the one to visit. This would get 4 stars if girls there were as friendly as in other bars. Not relaxing.

2 Sisters * * 44 Dong Du. (formerly Saigon NY) Small bar near the corner of Dong Du and Hai Ba Trung, actually off HBT street. It has more of a social and fun vibe than most bars, but girls are slightly below average in general. They're nicer than ones in most of the bars though. Some girls here wear ao dais, which seems to be their code for "not available". There is a pool table upstairs, though I'm not sure how relaxed it is up there.

Trai Tao (Apple) * 13 Dong Du. Across the street from Saigon NY on Dong Du just near corner of HBT. Small bar with and mainly average girls, from what I could see. Honestly I haven't checked this one out very well. Almost surely relaxing.

Thien Loc * * 23 Hai Ba Trung. At the corner of Hai Ba Trung and Mac Thi Buoi. One billiard table, the whole bar is just one room one level. This one recently reopened, but was always one of the most active bars in terms of entertainment. Might have 1 or 2 cuties with around 6 more ordinary ones.

29 Mac Thi Buoi ½ Very small new bar down the end of an alley on Mac Thi Buoi (not to be confused with the much better 29 Dong Khoi). The alley is very near the restaurant called Juice. It has one quite cute girl who is the boss's girlfriend and isn't allowed to sit with customers, plus a small group of other girls who are not attractive. Probably relaxing.

DONG KHOI STREET

29 Dong Khoi * * ½ On the last block before the Majestic Hotel (near the river). It has 2 levels and about a dozen girls, but in terms of looks they're below average overall, except for the occassional few new ones. It is the one bar of all of these that offers by far the best customer service. Anything goes here. If you are lucky enough to spot a stunning girl here, this place can be heaven. There are couches upstairs and also a very small private room in the back. Relaxing and then some.

49 Dong Khoi 0 stars A sad little bar way in the back down a long narrow hallway and upstairs. The girls are really not very pretty in this one. Seems to be designed to lure in unsuspecting tourists who don't know what other options are nearby. I prefer not to think about how relaxed the atmosphere is here, but it almost surely is. If you noticed the lack of stars above, that was intentional.

THAI VAN LUNG / THI SACH AREA

Smiley Bar * * 8A / 7D2 Thai Van Lung. Right at the intersection of Cao Ba Quat. Big bar, quite a few girls but choices are bit below average in quality. Upstairs they have rooms with pool tables. Things get much more entertaining and relaxing upstairs.

Chieu Thuy * 40 Thai Van Lung. On Thai Van Lung near the corner of Ly Tu Truong, at the top of the "hill." Selection and quality of girls here is distinctly below average. Pool table in front and sofas in back.

Vua Trai Dua (Coconut) *½ 15B Thi Sach. On the next parallel street over (Thi Sach) as you head back toward Hai Ba Trung. This is the the same street Apocalypse Now is located on, but at the opposite end near Le Thanh Ton. Girls here seem very average, and it's a smaller bar.

Momo bar 15C Thi Sach. New small bar next to Vua Trai Dua that I have not been to yet.

Little Princess 5E Nguyen Sieu. New, small bar on the side street opposite 91 Hai Ba Trung. I have not tried this one out yet.

LE THANH TON AREA

Quan Nho * * * 13 Le Thanh Ton. A very small bar with just around 6 girls. Sofas upstairs (3 levels total) to spend time with your girl. Atnosphere more upscale than the rest of these bars. No billiards tables. They tend to get a higher level of talent in their small lineup. Quite relaxing atmosphere upstairs.

Bin Bin * * * 13 Le Thanh Ton. Just across the alley from Quan Nho. This bar has the second most girls and second prettiest overall after 91. Quality of the girls here is quite good overall, sometimes excellent, and attitude and willingness usually quite good too. It has an upstairs for further entertainment. Relaxation status uncertain.

How It Works

After you take a seat, normally one girl will soon approach you. Each girl is in queue to be the one who first approaches a new customer. The problem with this system (for us) is that the girl who greets you is almost never the one you want. In that case, just let the bartender know so that girl after girl doesn't approach you like this. If you prefer no girl, you can just tell the bartender you only want to have a drink but no girl. If you want a chance to have your drink while discreetly checking out the girls first before deciding, you can tell the bartender you want to wait first before choosing. In some bars they will then ask you if you want to see the girls line up for you to choose from, and they will turn up the lights so you can actually see the girls. (91 and Bin Bin typically do this) If they don't immediately offer this, you could request to see them this way.

Once you are sitting with a girl, after 2-3 lady drinks normally the girl will ask if you want to do more with her later, namely to go visit your hotel together. Some may also like to do as much as they can to get you feeling relaxed right there in the bar, which is allowed in some of these bars (but not all). If you only want to talk / grope / hug / kiss / etc. A bit at the bar, that's also fine. You must try to sense what the girl is willing to do, or else let her lead the way and show you.

These bars are perfect if you prefer to go out alone and hope to meet a girl you can be sure is ready to go, without any distractions or risks (such as: she is not that kind of girl-all these girls are that kind; the place is too crowded; the place is so loud you can't have conversation; etc.) Also, these bars are all in comfortable walking distance of each other. If you don't like what a bar has to offer, you can try the next one that is only a few steps away. If you prefer to visit one of these bars with friends, they can put your group in a private room with a low table where everyone sits on cushions. These rooms can also be used even if you are solo. You can have fun with your girl right there in the bar, or else more fun at your hotel. There are different degrees of fun allowed at the different bars. Some actually allow you to do anything, and I mean anything, right in the bar. But in most you can only go to a certain point, and only when you and your girl are hidden somewhere such as in a balcony level or back room.

About prices, the price for a beer is 30, 000 (maybe still 25, 000 in some) and 50, 000 for a 'lady drink. ' (one notable exception: Quan Nho charges 50, 000 for a beer but also 50, 000 for a lady drink). In any bar, your girl will keep asking for another drink whenever she finishes one, that's standard. Don't become upset. To take a girl out, you have to buy her 5 or 6 drinks first, but normally those just get added to your bill, even if she doesn't really drink them. It's really just a barfine. For example, if you had 2 beers and she had 2 lady drinks, and you decide to take her out, they would charge you for the drinks that the 2 of you really drank (60, 000 for your 2 beers plus 100, 000 for her 2 drinks: which equals 160, 000 total) PLUS an additional (and imaginary) 4 lady drinks (200, 000) , so your total bar bill would be 360, 000. In other words, the barfine is 300, 000. And now the 2 of you are free to enjoy your evening together. The number of total drinks you must buy also depends a little on your negotiation skills, and some bars will ask for more lady drinks. As for the girl's payment, they tend to ask for 1 million for 2 hrs or so these days, but can occassionally be bargained down to as low as 800, 000.

If the bar tries to charge you a higher price for each beer or drink, tell them you were just here last week and paid only 30, 000 for each beer and 50, 000 for each lady drink-usually the bartender will play it safe and retreat to the normal price. If the bartender ever puts things like nuts or chewing gum in front of you and your girl, just have the bartender take them away. It's only a tactic to pad the bill at the end-they charge far more than those things really cost. Finally, if you want to leave the bar and not take your girl, then you should at least give her a tip. Standard tip these days is about 100, 000. If the girl's attitude was not very good, then a bit less is ok. They tend to feel insulted if it's 50, 000 or lower. If her attitude was good, pay higher accordingly. To make a good impression on a girl I want to see again, I would leave her a tip of 150, 000, or even 200, 000 for one who's very special. If you leave no tip, there's a good chance all the girls there would discuss it and brand you a "cheap charlie" after that.

If you go to a place and disagree with my rating, remember that the quality in the bars fluctuates. Also, if you get there late at night or after a big group of customers has arrived together, the choices left over may be few. 7pm seems to be a peak time when you can expect almost all the girls who work there to be present and available.

Have fun.

[Tiger 888]

Just a curoious question. Why on earth everything in HCMC is quoted in Dollars? .

It is for those who get easily irritated by one or the other trailing zero, at the same time not too worried about spending one or the other buck too many.

I have never seen this anywhere else in Asia where I've been (TH, MY, SG, CN, HK, MO)...

You haven't been in Cambodia then? There the USD is almost then official currency.

[Crocodilexp]

Just a curoious question. Why on earth everything in HCMC is quoted in Dollars?

History of hyperinflation.

While VND has been stable for the last few years, there's a reason simple things cost *millions* of dong. The communist government used to print money in bulk whenever they'd get in trouble, making any currency you hold increasingly worthless, therefore forcing people to think about value in dollars. At the moment they are not doing this, since there's too much commerce to be damaged, but there's nothing preventing them from starting again if they're in a bind.

The same is not the case with other currencies like THB or JPY, which had a steady inflation rate (under 10%) , for many decades.