World Sex Guide Document: vietnam

Vietnam Travel Reports
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 1995 22:35:02 UTC

VIET NAM

The following details are my experiences from a trip that I made from
Hanoi down into the Mekhong delta region December 1994 to late January
1995. Due to the fast pace of economic change and the relatively high
inflation within the country I give no financial figures apart from
the general advice that virtually everything is priced in US$, but
should be paid in Dong, the local currency. This almost always workes
out to be somewhat cheaper. Also, you may not have enough small US$
bills and change is always in Dong.

Abstract

Sex tourists please try another destination. The government has
clamped down on prostitution in such a way that it is virtually
non-existant. Even if you are running a Million Volts, PLEASE keep
your hands off the girls as you may run her and her family into VERY
serious troubles. I know, this is easier said than done, but they have
no embassy to call when they get into problems with the police. I
partially write this to let you know what SHE may be in for after you
left.

Prostitution in General & in the North

As I was told by many people, there's a JAIL term for all Viet girls
that go or even have closer contacts with foreigners. In North Viet
Nam, prostitution is virtually wiped out. In many places the fear of
the people is quite obvious, even to western visitors who never lived
under communism. In spite of this I was invited by several girls in
their private homes but I never had any chance to be alone with any of
them. In the one exceptional case I may have brought her into troubles
later.  It's also almost impossible to make any close friendship with
someone, probably for fear of later police repressions.

In my special case they discovered that there was no official seal on
the picture in my passport when I arrived by air from Hong Kong and
they almost kicked me out on the next plane regardless to where. It
took me well over two hours to talk them out of this. Most likely this
is also why I was an object of suspicion to the security apparatus and
kept under police surveillance for almost my entire trip. This was
quite obvious in Hanoi, but from what I have heared from some well
experienced former secret police officer in E. Germany later most
likely the case throughout my presence in the country.  Some embassy
official told me that ALL phone calls to/from embassies get monitored
and more than half of the tourists that come to Viet Nam leave there
an official report in some government agency.

Night clubs

There are only few night clubs and no such fancy things like strip
shows and the rest. You can get a "dancing girl" for the equivalent of
5 US$ an hour but inside the place only. They never go to the room
with anyone. These girls are just dancing partners and employees of
the club.

Hue

There is a place that is quite obvious a brothel. The place is unnamed
and it takes a taxi driver who speaks english (and has some courage)
to get there. It's not exactly a clean place but I was the attraction
of that nite. Still, none of the girls was ready to come with me
anywhere outside, probably for the reasons described above. I stayed
in a government hotel (most hotels are still government run), but
private hotel owners get their business closed when a prostitute is
discovered in their room.

Da-Nang

A place probably well known to some Americans and once teeming with
girls. Days gone by... Now, there's no such thing. I picked up a girl
there who has a small local travel agency. Although in the end she
asked some money before I left her in Saigon, I don't think she was a
prostitute in the actual sense. I have several friends like her in
many places around the world and would rather prefer to call them
"local wifes". She came with me down south. Her mother insisted her
sister comes with us. She was really scared as long as we were
together in her town and refused to be seen with me in public or even
come to my hotel at night. When we got moving she only came to me for
an hour or two saying that her sister must not know what was goin' on
between us. She was also scared of nightly police raids though this
never happened. Even in Saigon she was too scared to spend the entire
night with me. As far as I was told plenty of people made nasty
comments on us in public. This of course meant she was loosing face,
probably the worst thing that can happen to a Vietnamese. She must
have really loved me to take this kind of troubles. Later I came to
know that when she returned to her place she was required by the
police to report on us on a day-by-day basis ! Probably she must have
run into further difficulties as she now refuses to talk to me on the
phone.  My letters are never answered. This is probably only partially
due to the fact that an airmail letter from Viet Nam costs about 50 US
Cents but an good average income is only some US$ 30 to 50. Actually I
do feel guilty about this.

My-Tho

A nice town in the Mekhong delta region, several hot hours squeezed in
a bus from Saigon. This is the only place in all Viet Nam where girls
have actually offered to come with me, but they said I had to stay in
a certain hotel. The place is expensive and very poor value. From the
way they insisted in having my passport in the reception it appears
very likely that it is run by the police themselves who takes their
share in the business that is going on. Most government agencies run
private businesses in order to raise funds. Some of the girls must
have combat experience... In all, very poor value.

Nha-Thrang

A seaside resort on the southern tip of Viet Nam, within easy reach by
bus from Saigon. Formerly the Soviets had a large army base there and
this is probably why Westeners are really hated as long as they think
you're Russian. When they see you're not, they become friendly. One of
the few places that have massage parlors, but they're just that. Not
even a hand relief. Be very careful, when they think you're Russian,
you're either not even sold food or shamelessly cheated. Nha-Thrang is
the only really hostile place I have come accross.

Saigon

When hanging around in the bars during the day there are nice girls
who try to sell maps, books, post cards and the like. The ones I made
friendship with had families to feed and made very little money on her
job. It is usually possibly to take one of them to the hotel if you
ask the hotel owner before. The place that I stayed in is a private
place near the New World Hotel that was very new and very clean but
also quite expensive. They said I could take a friend in my room
during the day but not after dark. This is probably due to police
checks on rooms occupied by foreigners. In general Saigon is a bit
more relaxed from what the rest of the country is like. Saigon is the
only place I visited in Viet Nam where I was allowed to keep my
passport (all other hotels insisted keeping it in the reception until
I leave). There's some prostitution going on quite openly in the park
next to the New World Hotel after dark, but it's probably not a very
good idea to stick around there at night.
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