I had a lazy start today, staying indoors after breakfast till 1100. I headed out for my massage to Pham Ngu Lao. I tried choosing the place carefully again, trying to avoid the many that had skimpily dressed female touts.
I stumbled across one with a young masseur. The massage started off well, then about one third of the way through, he skilfully whipped off my underwear. The hands got a little close to where they shouldn’t be. And then they got to where they shouldn’t be at all!
He then offered me a happy ending for VND500000 (USD20). I declined and asked him to continue with the massage. All was good till when he kinda finished the massage before the hour ended, and re-offered the happy ending. He discounted the special service to VND400000 to which I still declined. The he asked if I would like the lady to give me the happy ending.
After I made myself clear I wasn’t into that with neither person, he continued the final 20 minutes of the massage with disinterest and very little gusto.
Googling it later, I found that happy endings are common in Saigon and nearly a standard offering. Whereas in Hanoi and Bangkok’s backpacker district, I’ve never never been propositioned this way in my numerous visits over many years!
Returning to yesterday’s place for lunch, I was given the wrong order. When the right meal came, it wasn’t as good as what I’d get in my local Vietnamese resto in Auckland. Rather skimpy on the ingredients.
The weather turned and I had to stay indoors for the afternoon. My plans to go to the Bitexco Tower had to be postponed.
It was dry enough to wander out when evening came and went to a nice restaurant for its Banh Xeo, Vietnamese Pancake filled with prawn and pork. Quite unusually, it was another disappointing meal. The prawns inside the pancake came with shells on but being small prawns, they were edible. I’m used to having lean pork mince inside as well and here it was fatty slices of belly pork. I’m guessing this was more authentic.
Today was a complete write-off, at first due to my own slothful self but later due to weather. I suppose it didn’t matter too much as there wasn’t much that I wanted to do in Saigon anyway.