Da Nang (advice appreciated)
Gentlemen,
I've only been in Da Nang a couple of days so I'm still orientating myself. So far I've visited the massage parlor next to the Daesco Hotel twice. Both times the ticket price was 200K for a 1 hour VIP massage (I don't really speak or read Vietnamese so I've no idea if this is the correct price). The VIP gets you a 15 minute sauna in your own private cubicle, a rub down in the tub by a cute girl and then a bone crushing massage by the same cute girl (they have rails attached to the ceiling so she can maintain her balance while she walks - or bounds, athletically - up and down your back). Luckily on both occasions the girl/masseuse I got was slim and pretty, 18-ish. When the time came to negotiate "extras" the first girl indicated a HJ and said 500K in Vietnamese (I do understand numbers, thank god). Taking my lead from advice posted here I countered with 200K and stuck rigidly to my guns despite the girl pulling disgruntled faces. In the end it became apparent that she wasn't going to accept my 200K offer and my resolve broke. I offered her 300K for the HJ and she went to work allowing me to kiss her on the lips, grope her tight ass and lovely firm tits but backed off when my hands crept anywhere near her pussy. She remained dressed throughout BTW. With the second girl I didn't have so much luck. When it was time to negotiate “extras” she indicated a HJ and wrote 1 million VD on a piece of paper. 1 million for a HJ? WTF! I countered with 200K and smiled. She laughed, then frowned sourly. She then wrote down 900,000 VD. I crept up to 300K. She wrote down 900K again. At that point I was ready to walk – the question being, could I? Every bone in my body had been crushed during the massage and I had a raging hard on. We eventually settled on 400K (for a wank!) and she went to work allowing me to grope her tits and ass but this time no kissing. I know experienced Da Nang-ites here will be rolling their eyes in mirth because I’m a sucker ruining the market by paying way OTT, but I swear, neither gal would drop to 200K and while I’m no Brad Pitt I’m not the Hunchback of Notre Dame either. So, go figure.
BTW, throughout my travels in Vietnam I’ve found double-pricing to be a real problem. It’s seems fairly institutionalized, especially in the markets in big cities where even 105 year old women selling scraps of food by candle-light are wily enough to rip off foreigners. Pisses me off actually, a blight on the country.
But I digress, back to Da Nang. I has slightly more luck at Saloon 17 where I got chatting to one of the barmaids and we exchanged numbers. The next day she came to my hotel for 500K ST. I suggested the price (straight up) by SMS and there was no negotiation, she just accepted. We had a couple of hours of great sex and she was both eager and seemingly experienced. BBBJ. FS. Ass licking. Great! In retrospect I wandered if I could have had her for free, or for the price of a meal. In fact, what is the score exactly at Saloon 17? Are all the girls free-lancers and amenable to a bit of ST? Or are they all good girls with Vietnamese boyfriends? I really couldn’t work it out. Anyone out there know?
Also, earlier today I went for a bit of a trek and had a general scout around one section of the city. There’s a massage place on Quang Trung called Xa Cioa. I haven’t tried it yet but the guy at the bar downstairs told me the girls are young and beautiful and the ticket price is 180K for an hour (regular massage) and 280K (VIP). Both massages include sauna, hot tub and rub down, but apparently the rooms are nicer if you pay for the VIP. Has anyone tried this place? Should I give it a go?
A little further out from the centre of town, off Ong Ich Khiem (heading towards the sea), there are two karaoke joints on streets running parallel with each other ( Thanh Hai and Thanh Ha). I haven’t tried either of them yet but I was chatting to the guy outside the Thanh Hai place who was very polite and friendly. When I asked how much it was he wrote down between 60K to 110K. I thought he must mean 600K to 1.1 mil but he kept repeating in Vietnames 60,000 VD to 110,000 VD. The problem is, I don’t know what you’d get for that price. Presumably 60K just gets you through the door into a room with a girl and then they throw a ton of pricey extras at you – fruit platters, drinks (which you have to pay for) and then you have to negotiate with the girl for anything sexual on top of that. Again, does anyone here have any experience of these karaoke joints, how do they operate and what can you expect to pay?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated and many thanks to the guys who have already posted info here.
Have fun.
D1
The Royal and general Danang stories
So, I checked into the Royal - rang ahead and asked if there were any last minute special prices, the lady said $35, so I booked the room. It is extremely GF – to the point of being told during check in by the receptionist “mister, you are very handsome, you go to the club and have your pick of any of the women” and having one of the porters offer to get me a(n overpriced) lady.
I'll try to do a rushed report on experiences so far, as I still have much more fun reports to write for last week in BKK.
After RTFFing extensively I decided my plan of attack would be to try a few of the discos/ bars out for some freelance action - price of 700K, 800K tops memorised, as well as the names (and locations) of some of the more recommended places to go. I started the night – unsurprisingly – at the VIP club out the front of the Royal.
The time was just before 8 (I didn’t realise, as I had just got in to Danang, and my internal clock was telling me it was later); there were no customers in the bar, but quite a few attractive (though not stunning) women sitting around. I make eye contact with one sitting by herself, order a drink, and invite myself to her table. Her first comment is “you are so handsome” which I have been getting a lot from people trying to sell me things in Vietnam – although I really do have to agree. We get onto talking – which she starts in Vietnamese – I confused her with my ability to say “hello” “no thanks” “yes’ and “thank you” in VN. After moving to communicating in a language we both have at least moderate skills in, we have a good chat, and I think that things may be going my way. I make a joke about loving Vietnam so much that I should marry a Vietnamese woman to stay, and ask her if she is interested (said in a clearly tongue in cheek way – before anyone accuses me of leading her on). She quips back that I am too handsome, and I’ll meet a more beautiful woman the next day and marry her. We joke around a little, she asks me if I have had a massage done in Vietnam. I answer “No, but are you interested in coming up to my room so I can?” She replies that when she finishes at 10 she might be persuaded, and quotes the prices 1 Mill dong ST; US$100 LT. I joke back saying that those are the prices for tourists that don’t know better, that all my friends from Danang have told me 700K is usual long time. Rather than even negotiating (as I was doing, in a friendly, jockular fashion), she becomes rude in demeanour “your friends lie to you, no girl here ever goes with a man for less than 100 US, or 1 million short time,” then yells to the rest of the girls something in Vietnamese that contained the words “100 US.” I smile at her, her demeanour changes back, but all attempts to negotiate at all are met with “no.”
I decide to leave (without anyone trying to convince me otherwise), and maybe come back when it is a bit busier (as in the turn on the music etc), after the girls have a chance to see that I am willing to walk away, rather than be extorted.
First point of call is the New Phuong Dong. This is visually stunning (girls), expensive (76K beers), and full of hot Vietnamese girls... oh wait I mentioned that already. Unfortunately it is also full of Vietnamese guys, and none of these girls seem interested in even making eye contact (and I am fairly young, pretty good looking and in good shape). I stay for one beer, decide I will come back possibly another time.
The next stop is 17 saloon, beers are still a bit expensive (54K+ I think), but the people here are friendly enough. By this stage I am OK just relaxing for a bit and drinking beer for an hour or so, rather than trying too hard to get laid. One of the waitresses starts up a conversation, sits next to me, her friend suggests I buy her a beer, I do and we chat for a while. She is not really my type – she says she is 26, but she looks a fair bit older then the Thai women I have been with recently who are closer to my age (29 and 30), she is not terribly skinny, but doesn’t have voluptuous curves either, and she is probably a 7 for face. She is being exceptionally friendly, so I decide to play along – but not push the mongering side of the night quite yet - well unless one of the cuter girls in the bar shows interest. During conversations I am told that the bar closes at 1 (followed by “no, 12... no, 1... no. 12”).
After realising that I was running low on money (purposefully limited amount taken out drinking), and that the other girls were generally not showing interest except when serving me, or when they were rushing to light my cigarette any time I pulled one out; I said to the lady who was sitting with me that I would have to go back to my hotel to get money. She said “you promise to come back?” I sillily agreed and went out jumped in a taxi.
When back at the hotel room I decided to get a quick room service massage. The girl that arrived (I think she said it was Ong or Om) was super cute little package, received a massage that was OK (I actually don’t like massages – have been getting them in SE Asia just for what comes after), but said a definite no to extras (I showed her the tip with and without – she obviously wanted the larger tip without the extra work). I ended up tipping her 50K, the massage was 200K, and i had serious blue balls.
I decided to give the clubs a second chance – went to VIP – it was closed, decided to go back to 17, as it had at least ˝ hour until close. The same girl greeted me at the door “what took you so long?” “I had to make an important phone call, you want a drink” “no, I’m very hungry, can’t drink, haven’t eaten lunch or dinner.” For most of the brief remaining time the bar was left open she seemed a little annoyed I had taken so long, and her friendly demeanour was reduced. At closing time, when she asked if I wanted to go with her, I thought I had got semi-lucky (as I was not that interested), but it turned out she just needed a sucker (me) to buy her dinner. Afterwards, when I advanced the idea of her joining me at my hotel, I got the reply “very tired, just going to sleep at my home, you go back to your hotel.” I probably could have pushed for a phone number, but was a little bit jaded by the night, so cut my losses, lamented the spending of so much money in the pursuit of P, and went back to hotel.
The next day, I am determined to get some action whilst in Vietnam, I went for a wander down to Daesco massage. After a lacklustre massage from a girl who did not seem to want to be there, negotiations started for “massage baby.” I said 300K, pointed to mouth, she said she doesn’t do that. I said 200K massage baby, she said something ridiculous like 900K, I stuck to my guns, she came down to 300K, but then stuck there for half an hour of me saying/ gesturing 2, her responding with 3, me saying either 2 or zero, her choice, her saying 2 tip just for normal massage etc etc. In the end she gave in, but the only smile/ friendly part of it was when she first grabbed mr happy, and he grew considerably – she tried to measure me up along her arm, I made the joke “very small yes?” she grinned, then proceeded to give a very lucklustre HJ, whilst looking away from me/ staring at the wall with a pissed of look on her face. For some reason that look helped things along - and I was able to finish with just a HJ.
Overall, my experiences with P4P in Danang haven’t been excellent, and I am still trying to decide whether I should chance the clubs tonight (I better get a move on if I do), or have a quiet one in, and maybe try the Bamboo Green tomorrow to see if I get better service.
So although I love Vietnam (like a lot), unless tonight/ tomorrow is slightly more lucky than last night or today, I may leave mongering off the menu next time I visit until I am lucky enough to move here as an expat for work, get a better lay of the land, and have time to learn more than 7 Vietnamese words.
