Wikipedia: Vung Tau

The flight with Vietnam Airlines was OK, checking out in Ho Chi Minh takes a bit of getting used to… Ones luggage is X rayed for a second time on arrival, fuck knows why. At least my equipment, dildos, massage rods, linens etc, remained undetected, or at least unheeded anyway.

Made arrangements for a taxi in the arrivals hall at the desk. The first one wanted 75 dollars for the journey to Vung Tau, the man at the second desk only 46 bucks. The three-hour journey went without incident. Even though it was already dark and I didn’t have a clue where I was, I wasn’t that much concerned about security and my cash and cameras etc. Vietnam is considered Asia’s safest country for tourism. One only has to watch out for pickpockets. 

That what the friendly steward (lived in Saigon) had told me on the plane, that the trip would cost me at least 300 US dollars as a westerner (I would be better off going to the address in the town that he had written down for me, and also ask for a certain driver), turned out to be a load of crap. So: Don’t believe what they tell you in Vietnam, no matter how nice the people seem to be, just find things out for yourselves. In this case, this is no longer necessary, because why is Major Grubert available. 

I didn’t bother with Saigon… I had information that the town’s nightlife is not all that recommendable, apart from that, one hears of rip-offs and extortionate prices. So, carry straight on to Vung Tau, which is about 125 kilometres from Ho Chi Minh Town.

The journey in the taxi passed without incident even though it was dark, and lasted for about three hours. The only thing was that the driver once had to stop and ask the way to find the town, and a few times once in the town to ask the way to the hotel. In addition, during the journey, he kept on asking me if I wouldn’t mind paying for the highway fees, (after a few thoughts) he claimed it would cost 20 dollars or more. I left him in uncertainty, and made a point of taking note at each station of how much he really had to pay. Converting the inflating currency (40,000 Dong for a dollar) caused me to have to recalculate a few times, but it was still clear to me that I only had to pay very little. Apart from that, the taxi fare included these fees. Nevertheless, I gave the driver a five-dollar tip, with which he commented, “Oh, no tip for me?” A bit angry about his barefacedness, I left him standing there and checked into the hotel.

Rex Hotel
01 Le Quy Don St., Vung Tau City
Tel: (84.64) 852.135 – 852.612
Fax: (84.64) 859.862
Email: rex.os@hcm.vnn.vn

Uff, first of all a deep breath… New country, new town, so what’s going on here? Well, the hotel was a tip I had found in a forum, on request, the guy had sent me a few photos per Email. All in all quite a good tip, even though, according to his information, the hens from the surrounding area looking for custom, who were to be found during the weekend on the roof terrace, is now unfortunately history. The terrace is still there, but the bar business has ceased; meaning that in this hotel there is little to nothing going on. For reasons described later on, it would have been very convenient to be able to take girls to ones room without any difficult circumstances, but things had changed. One just has to dip ones hand a little deeper into the bag of tricks…

The Rex Hotel has various room categories, starting off at about 20 to 25 dollars for a single room (all particulars including breakfast), right up to a suite for 70 US dollars. After taking a look at a few rooms (there were quite a few still empty), I thought, it’s my one and only treat, take the large room for a few days. Was able to haggle the price down to 60 dollars. I left my day of departure open. The suite had plenty of room, two rooms, two large tellies, two air-conditionings, two bathrooms, a shower, bath, a room-safe with a combination lock, internet (free of charge) was also in the room, they provided me with the appropriate cable. There was also a huge bed, a nice pool (but could only be used after paying a small fee with it belonging to the neighbouring hotel, which was situated on the same grounds) with a bar. The restaurant is very good, my favourite Vietnamese soup, sweet sour (with fish), which I had got to know in Phnom Penh, was just great. They even have dishes alá card for westerners, and not only good, but also reasonably priced. The breakfast buffet is also more than acceptable, up to western standards as well. 

All members of staff are very friendly, the reception endeavours to answer ones questions, organise a taxi for long excursions, or to change flight bookings etc. The hotels laundry-service is fast, cheap, and reliable. There is a small bar downstairs and the barkeeper provides good advice straight away when asked (meaning nightlife, girls etc). Apart from all of this, the hotel is situated in the right place: On the one hand one has a nice view of the bay, on the other one is right in the middle of things, the bars etc.

All in all there wasn’t anything to complain about really… That’s if there hadn’t been the restrictions when it came to the girls. This has to do with Vietnam’s communist system and not the hotel, but more about that later.

After checking in, I got my traditional beer out of the fridge, unpacked a few cloths, had a shower, got dressed, and off I went. It was already quite late, about 11 in the evening. I decided to check out the closest bar to the hotel, which was the one actually in the hotel… So, in I went and ordered a beer. One can imagine what it’s like by thinking about the beer-bars in Thailand: Open-air bar, billiards, music, chilled drinks, fans hanging from the roof and… A few girls. I quickly got into conversation with the lady on the photo. I asked her what was going on around town, where one could go at this time of night etc. She wanted to go with me, but after she had knocked off at two in the morning. To tell the truth, even though she was very nice, neither was she my type, nor did I want to get hooked to the first girl who came along. After all, there was a lot more to be discovered. I also got to know a Dutch bloke in the bar, quite a nice bloke, he wanted to show me a few bars that were within walking distance, just round the corner. No sooner said than done, unfortunately the bars were already closed… He obviously didn’t know the ropes as well as he had claimed, although he somehow belongs to the inventory. There were also a few sailors hanging about in the bar, they were somehow there for “field installation”…. The ships happened to be docked in the harbour, and the lads had a little time and money on hand. Some of these were even stopping in the hotel, at the firm’s expense of course.

The circumstances however, didn’t seem to be comparable with those in Patty, because otherwise, she would not have continuously given me the thumbs up for my – normal for other places – “attacks” on other girls. This seemed to be something special there to suss the girls out. I guess I didn’t really have to pay a bar a visit to be able to booze it up and hang about, especially because the chicks there were very eager to earn a bit of money on the side. 

Anyway, neither were the girls all that good looking, nor were that young, just to put it in a nice way. Another thing is that I didn’t want to make my first experience with women in Vietnam in this place. I had got used to some things in Cambodia; the Vietchicks there were really not to be scoffed at. 

How did the evening end? I was not satisfied. I had a few more drinks, and with the use of my hands and feet, made it clear to some motorbike taxi-driver that I wanted to be taken to a karaoke bar. It was already getting pretty late, and on arrival, we found that the bar had shut for the night. The driver knocked on the door, and what do you know, the door was opened. Some bloke, who looked as if he was the bosses son, got the hens together, some of them had been woken up and looked tired and unfriendly, others were tired and interested, they got into place in the inside yard and took a look at the strange guy who was wanting a bit of fun at this late hour. It was quite obvious that westerners didn’t visit the place very often.

There were numerous rooms each with a karaoke player and a couch. Of course, the rooms could be locked from the inside – one can just imagine who things are normally carried out here – However; they didn’t want any more noise from singing at that time of night. I made the suggestion of taking two hens along, which was then negotiated. English? Next to non at all… Punched the prices into the mobile and held it under ones nose, I haggled the price for to mamas (there really were no good lookers there at all) down to 40 US dollars each, not much of a good bargain for the mother. I was determined to experience something; things got going, in my hotel.

In numerous reports about Vietnam, I had read that the “night watch” staff in hotels were prepared to turn a blind eye for a certain “donation”, and let hens into ones room. I had bad luck, I pressed a 10-dollar bill into one of the staff’s hand, which he gladly accepted, but on entering the lift, another older member of the staff (probably the supervisor) referred me to the reception.

It’s like this: Now and again the police control the hotels, they probably control the books, maybe even one or the other room. If they find something wrong, then the hotel can expect a hell of a lot of trouble. That meant there was nothing going with bribe money and happy hour (I got my 10 dollars back).

But things do function with a small trick, and that regularly: One has to book a room for ones company (one room for a few is ok). They then check into the hotel quite normally, they are given a key, and Bobs your uncle, everything is all right and legal. Of course, this room remains unused and one takes the girls to ones own room. The extra room in the Rex costs a little less than 20 US dollars. This was an agreement that I could live with, and one that I made use of quite a few times. However, why not on this day, because one of the chicks didn’t have her ID with her! Oh man, what a load of crap, what now? Both of them made it clear to me that they knew of a hotel where things “could be arranged” without any trouble. So here we go again, jumped into a taxi and off we went. Just in case you happen to have the same problem, here the hotel:
 

Son Thinh Hotel
153 Phan Chu Trinh – P.2-TP.VT
Tel 064.523492

A complete dump! I had to wait sat on the couch and the two chicks sorted things out with a room. A tiny room, very simple with worn out furniture. I cannot even remember how much I ‘paid for the room, probably even more than for an extra room down at the Rex. Anyway, its just a doss house and only meant as an emergency. Instead of sitting nicely in my bath in my suite with nice music and a few chilled drinks from my own fridge, I had a few warm beers, a crappy shower, and a Viet-soap-opera on the tiny telly.

The worst of the lot was the hen’s performance: insufficient. The blowjob, terrible if at all, and then they thought that they could lie next to each other under the bedclothes, and I would fuck them one after the other. After a short time, I was pretty angry and sent the first of them home. I thought the other would thaw out a bit, wrong, I got dressed, and let the bitch remain a bitch. Yep, I had wasted a night and my money on top of that… The famous case of dipping ones hand right into the shit.

Last picture, took it whilst leaving the “hotel” at dawn.