vn tips

[odin]

i am not trying to steer people away fro eccie, but there is an informative forum site called lau xanh. which lays out the lay of the land in vn from the the experiences of forefingers who do business in vn day to day, tourist, and hometown people. unfortunately i do not know how to read viet, but there is a section in there were actual foreingers talk in english about their experiences in vn and in my opinion read up on it and learn it. stay your ground on the price for massage places in vn its usually a set standard and they will try to deviate you from it. i find the philippines much more accomodating than vn.

ps: do not try to meet girls through karaoke method. if a "tour guide" on the street try to take you karaoke you better be fuckin rich and have patiences to wait out an hour up there. otherwise just have them take you to the hotels. normally at those places its probably 4/10 i rate, bar girls are much better than the ones at the hotel already.

[seanes]

what's the link to: "there is a section in there were actual foreigners talk in english about their experiences in vn and in my opinion read up on it and learn it."

[odin]

i'll ask my buddy to see. he can read it viet and linked to it to me when i was in vn. might take a few days... for me to find out and post, i know i am slow.

[seanes]

Originally Posted by odin

... might take a few days... for me to find out and post, i know i am slow.

I'm patient, thanks. I'm looking to go over in November.

[vietnhoc]

lauxanh.us let try it

[odin]

http://lauxanh.us/diendan/forumdisplay.php?f=56 narrowed it down to that if anyone feels like they wanna browse through endless posts in viet to find any english ones. that forum is for saigon, there is the northern region section too if you go back one directory i only read very slowly and small words or make good guess though sounding it out, so i dont have time for this... since i might hit thailand. viet girls always try to milk out the american born viets or they upsale too much unless you are strong will which i am not.

[nicemusic]

Thank you, Odin, for the exact link. Very interesting. Although not fluent, I read and speak some Vietnamese.

If you want to translate the page, it's simple. Use
http://www.google.com/toolbar/ie/index.html , go to the webpage, and use the toolbar for a translation of the page. It will look the same but all the words are in English--same layout, graphics, images, etc.
If you want to cut & paste text, these two work fairly well:
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/
http://translate.google.com/
(Notice that the Google translate has a Telex on-screen keyboard to conveniently type out all the words with the weird little signs on them.)
There are other translators such as this:
http://www.windows7download.com/win7.../gtoqxcpd.html but I haven't tried this one.
http://vdict.com/%C3%B4i,2,0,0.html#translation The dictionary is good but the translator is hilariously bad.

On Vietnamese girls: Well, there is a lot of variety in terms of how they negotiate prices, but it mostly isn't that different than Thailand in finding a price. Vietnamese tend to be better at getting higher prices from Americans, yes. But, I found options of <$15 for an hour in Halong Bay with extremely beautiful women (really, 18-21 yr old girls). Service was pretty good too. I just haven't had time to write up my reviews.

Saigon and Hanoi are different stories. Hanoi is a terrible place to pick up women (for pay) and Saigon is fairly decent, although nothing compared to the sheer number and variety available in many tourist areas of Thailand. Thailand is the place most people will want to hit.

And, lastly, Vietnamese women tend to be more business like about the whole affair, while Thai can really get into it. In fact, you have to be careful not to fall in love when you're in Thailand.

[nicemusic]

Now, my question on language. So, yes, I speak Vietnamese but I'm not a native speaker. I can't ask my friends the following questions.

So, if I'm talking to a bargirl or streetwalker, and I'm carrying some small talk in Vietnamese, I simply use the pronoun "em", which works fine--these females are younger than me. But, if I wish to refer to her in her presence or another girl in a girly bar by their profession or activities, is it insulting to use the words "gái diếm" (prostitute / whore), "gái mại dâm" (prostitutes / sex workers), "gái giang hồ" (courtesan / streetwalker), "gái nhảy" (bargirl)? (It is usually in English with America to use such words, even if it's clearly what is going on.) How does one talk about what we're doing?

I ask not only because I'm learning Vietnamese, but also because the amount of fluent English in these Vietnamese bars can be pretty limited, unlike in Thailand where girls really do learn English.