Ho Chi Minh Info Thread

[refine]

Originally Posted by Hurricane88

This is very honest forum...my friends who still visit hcm, shared with me such pricings...and not those that posted 11 to 13 mil...tips 1mil to gals and mummy...those are inflated or faked pricings...

Anyone reading, please beware of unscrupulous ppl trying to scam your money by infalting prices...easy to do by getting mummy to inflate the price when billing...newbies dunno the place and only rely on ppl asking to join ktv...

those ppl that cheong will share forums and not asking ppl to join them...

Also whats the point a person asking to join with zero forums and posts...pls be wary of such ppl...

Dear Hurricane

Alot of us came to this forum to get tips and the latest on where to cheong in HCM and that was what I did for 2 weeks before I ventured to HCM during the last week of Aug. 

Honestly, after days of research, I came out with the following as a gauge 

Place Cost (F&B) Gal Booking ST LT Waiter Tips Mgr Tips

Richy7 16M(4pax) ?????? ? ? ??? ???
Boss KTV 7M (3pax) 1.5M 4M. 8M. 500K. 1M
Lux KTV. 9M (2pax). 2M 4M 6M. 500K. 1M

For my trip, I only ended up in Boss KTV and I must say that the info I gathered was pretty close, exact that the Gal Booking was 1M and she will butterfly 2 rooms. I asked for no butterfly but the papasan refused. Perhaps it was a fully booked night.

What amazed me about HCM is that the pricing can varies in very extreme spectrum. I am not sure if I am paying more because of 'tourist tax' but I suppose the pricing varies to cater to different guys with different budget.

Hotel I stayed was Le Vela Saigon which is $140/night and I know that I could get $50/night from some chain hotel or I could splurge on Sedona for $2XX/night. No regrets in Le Vela hotel as I won USD800 from the casino which help cover part of my trip. As I signed up as member (FOC) and clocked 88 points, I managed to eat at the Casino for free and they serve up great Korean / Western and Asian food.

I forget to add that 1 of the evening, my buddy (Sg) whose wife is a Russian, got some of her Russian Girls who are based in HCM and we headed out to Zion Rooftop bar for a nightout.

We order couple of beers, 4 bot of wine, 1 bot Maccallan, 8 shots of teq and 10+ balloons and the bill came to 26M ($1480). We didnt tips the Russian Gals, only book their Grab.

Another night, the 4 of us went Catwalk KTV pub area and we ordered 2 bot Maccallan + 4 Gals booking and which adds to 16.8M ($950). Do not order hard liquor in HCM as they do not give free mixers. You ask for water and they will give you bottled water. End of the day, the mixers would work out to few million as you lost count of how many you ordered.

What I am trying to demonstrate here is that when you enter to the 'wrong' place, you may end up spending alot. There are cheaper places in HCM for sure, but communication may be Zero. At the end of the day, to each it's own.

I will still highly recommend Bong Lai Cac Massage as this experience is unique to HCM. I would say that its on par or better than Alexis Jakarta.

Perhaps you can ask your bros (who travel there) to help us compile a price guide so we wont kena carrot head.

Refine

[refine]

Oh yes, for some bros who had asked me recently regarding info of the places I shared.

I merely provide them with the address or how to google for the place. I didnt provide any phone number or suggest for them to hire a local VN guide.

Bros like Dmanz, DANiel™, iwanbigboobs, Jackboysj and testoste can verify on what I said.

[Hurricane88]

Originally Posted by refine

Dear Hurricane

Alot of us came to this forum to get tips and the latest on where to cheong in HCM and that was what I did for 2 weeks before I ventured to HCM during the last week of Aug. 

Honestly, after days of research, I came out with the following as a gauge 

Place Cost (F&B) Gal Booking ST LT Waiter Tips Mgr Tips

Richy7 16M(4pax) ?????? ? ? ??? ???
Boss KTV 7M (3pax) 1.5M 4M. 8M. 500K. 1M
Lux KTV. 9M (2pax). 2M 4M 6M. 500K. 1M

Refine

The money is yours and how you spend is up to you...this prices you spent here will not be value for money...

Liquor prices here in clubs and ktv is way too high and mixers killer...and also maybe fake liquor...may had injected water...

My friends will not bother to spend such money here...

The amount you spent just this trip easily a few thousand SGD...include air tickets and accomodations...this amount is not the type of spending powers to many Singaporeans...

Vietnam economy is not doing well and many workers laid off or out of work...so the amount you spent could feed many families...

Originally Posted by refine

I merely provide them with the address or how to google for the place. I didnt provide any phone number or suggest for them to hire a local VN guide.

Mod is ok with posting addresses of proper establishments without phone numbers but not to promote the places in every pages and posts in this thread...

[RobbyChin]

Originally Posted by fredriv

Last month changed at 17500 in SG but got 17700 at hcmc ben thanh there.

Good to know, thks bro. Basically 1.2% fee for the convenience of changing in SG. I read that the hcmc moneychangers sometimes like to find fault, must prepare super clean, crisp $50/100 singapore dollar notes for them otherwise kenna lousy rates.

[Gnsinng]

Originally Posted by RobbyChin

Do bros buy their vietnamese dongs here or in HCMC? The local moneychanger rate in Singapore seems quite competitive.

SGD/VND exchange
Spot Rate (Yahoo Finance) is 1:17,633
Local SG Moneychanger is 1:17,400

Just changed 2 days ago 17500 in sg.

[Gnsinng]

Going to HCM next week for 5 days. 1st Solo trip in my life time. Been to HCM with a big group of friends a few years ago, but all ktv session only. Read up in this thread and researched online. Below are my targeted place. Maybe can seek some advise which to avoid or new place to go as solo.

Girly Bars
- Kim's Tavern
- Bar 22
- Ruby bar
- bui vien?

Massage/Spa
- Massage queen
- Bong Lai Cac
- {illegal non-sponr - mod may delete post}
- minh tam
- dai nam
- vien dong
- saigon star

Hot Toc
- galaxy saloon
- mi mi saloon

Food
- bahn mi huynh hoa
- bahn mi hoa ma
- ho thi ky food street
- bun thit nuong kieu bao
- little Hanoi egg coffee

Won't be going ktv alone.

[fredriv]

Originally Posted by RobbyChin

Good to know, thks bro. Basically 1.2% fee for the convenience of changing in SG. I read that the hcmc moneychangers sometimes like to find fault, must prepare super clean, crisp $50/100 singapore dollar notes for them otherwise kenna lousy rates.

No issues on the SG notes but do look out whether the viet dong have any minor tear or not. Tried paying for food or something and the shop assistant reject my 200k note as there's a very very very slight tear. But tried using the same note at some other place and was OK. Maybe case by case or the receiver didn't notice.

I got the viet dongs more in 200k 100k denomination when I changed in hcmc. SG usually give 500k.

[Hurricane88]

Originally Posted by BanhMi

Better don’t name the places out right since mod may say advertising and ask u keep sharing in pm

Not true...always can mention place but cannot promote the place in every posts and last 5 pages...

Mod removed your post becos you quoted the entire post without editing...

[Manow]

Originally Posted by Hurricane88

Vietnam economy is not doing well and many workers laid off or out of work...

Curious to know many are laid off are from what industry?
It is not the fastest growing economy in South East Asia?

[Manow]

Originally Posted by refine

I will still highly recommend Bong Lai Cac Massage as this experience is unique to HCM. I would say that its on par or better than Alexis Jakarta.
Refine

I checked out the price list, not cheap if you included the 100% tip. What package did you took that you felt was unique & better than Alexis?

[Manow]

Originally Posted by Hurricane88

I am not sure why anyone bother to travel so far Binh Chanh around 40 to 50 mins in the jam just to pay >2mil massge...

That's true.
If my sole purpose for the trip is to eat, drink, massage & fck then I would book a hotel room in Trung Son, Binh Chanh district for the entire trip instead of D1. Hotels there are alot cheaper and all girl friendly, plenty of massage & KTV places all within walking distance from the hotel, plenty of places for seafood and BBQ. Everythings there are cheaper than in D1,2 & 3. I saved alot from hotel and cab staying there. It's far from D1 but it's not ulu place, I don't hangout in D1 anymore, I only hangout at Binh Chanh & D5 whenever I visit hcmc. When in Rome do what the Romans do, when in Saigon do what the Saigonese do.

[Hurricane88]

Originally Posted by Manow

Curious to know many are laid off are from what industry?
It is not the fastest economy in South East Asia?

Here answer...

https://vietnamnet.vn/en/vietnam-str...airs%20(MOLISA).

Still fastest growing GDP 4% first half of 2023...becos of export growth in electronics sector...

Several large brands (Apple, Xiaomi, Samsung etc) setup factories in the North and need 50k ppl...some Southerners had went up there although not many becos of die hard mentality far from home...

[Manow]

Originally Posted by Hurricane88

Here answer...

https://vietnamnet.vn/en/vietnam-str...airs%20(MOLISA).

Several large brands (Apple, Xiaomi, Samsung etc) setup factories in the North and need 50k ppl...some Southerners had went up there although not many becos of die hard mentality far from home...

So there are plenty of jobs.I heard many girls from the South are heading up North to work at massage places.

[Hurricane88]

Originally Posted by Manow

So there are plenty of jobs.I heard many girls from the South are heading up North to work at massage places.

It has always been like that...many Southern gals work in Hanoi and many Northern gals work in Hcm...these happened usually in entertainment...reason dun want to run into familiar faces..

Now some families had started to go up North for the bigger factories by Foxconn etc...Vietnam facing difficulties to recruit senior engineers and management staff due to lack of English and Mandarin...also mismatched in job skills...

[avks]

Originally Posted by Manow

That's true.
If my sole purpose for the trip is to eat, drink, massage & fck then I would book a hotel room in Trung Son, Binh Chanh district for the entire trip instead of D1.

Hi Bro
Which hotel u recommend at Trung Son area? Tks