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Damn - the edit button is already expired, so I canno fix the duplication of text. Not sure how that happened. Anyone here in this forum know why there is this rule that we cannot edit our own posts after 15 minutes? It is very annoying....

Day 8 in Da Nang – 1 May 2025 Before going to have my usual late Bò né breakfast place, I am chatting in the apps and I book a 2 hands massage with Shjn from Grindr at 3:30pm. I can eat these Bò né everyday without getting bored - like Vinapu with Chicken with Cashews After breakfast, I take a walk on the beach promenade and I see this perfect sales truck that would be great for @Olddaddy to open a beach side business here in Da Nang. He does not even need to change the name of the business. What do you all think? Business opportunity for our @Olddaddy ?? 🤔 🤑 Shjn (the massage guy) and I, we later on move our conversation from Grindr over to Zalo, and I give him the address of my condo and we meet in the lobby. He looks more or less like his Grindr profile picture, which is good. We enter my condo and he drinks some water and we chit chat for 5 minutes. He really likes my 33rd floor view and he is updating his social media from my balcony. I get naked and he massages me only in his underwear. His massage is very good – perfect medium strength with nice kneading stroking movements. When I turn over, he takes off his underwear and he is now completely naked. Unfortunately, his attributes were not very appealing, so I just closed my eyes and let him perform the 30-minute slow edging session that I pre-negotiated. I caressed his nice body and nipples. I have to stop him 3 times – as us edgers – we don’t like fast orgasms. Moment arrives and all is blasting everywhere – it has been too many days without an orgasm like this. I think that all went well because this is the first time in like 1 month where I did not cry in silence due to the break-up with my ex Thai boyfriend. Hopefully, this is a sign of more good fun to cum… He cleans up and leaves. I shower and as it is now 5:15 pm, I jump on my motorbike to go up the mountain coastal road – as I want to try to catch the sunset. Unlike Jomtien, the sun sets behind the city – as opposed over the sea – as the East Sea (aka South China Sea – but NEVER say this in Vietnam – as you will be chastised) is facing east and the sun sets in the west. As we are still in the 5 day long weekend holiday of the 50 year National Reunification celebrations, the beach road is literally blocked. It is like a mass pandemonium – as everyone is trying to find parking and run onto the beach sand or into the sea. It is like this for 5km, until I get to where the city limits end and the road narrows and starts to go up into the mountain. It was very stressful driving – but in slow motion – as it is quasi gridlock. I read in the local news that local Da Nang hotels are close to 90% occupancy for this 5 day weekend – amazing. Shjn and I, we move our conversation from Grindr over to Zalo, and I give him the address of my condo and we meet in the lobby. He looks more or less like his Grindr profile picture, which is good. We enter my condo and he drinks some water and we chit chat for 5 minutes. He really likes my 33rd floor view and he is updating his social media from my balcony. I get naked and he massages me only in his underwear. His massage is very good – perfect medium strength with nice kneading stroking movements. When I turn over, he takes off his underwear and he is now completely naked. Unfortunately, his attributes were not very appealing, so I just closed my eyes and let him perform the 30-minute slow edging session that I pre-negotiated. I caressed his nice body and nipples. I have to stop him 3 times – as us edgers – we don’t like fast orgasms. Moment arrives and all is blasting everywhere – it has been too many days without an orgasm like this. I think that all went well because this is the first time in like 1 month where I did not cry in silence due to the break-up with my ex Thai boyfriend. Hopefully, this is a sign of more good fun to cum… He cleans up and leaves. I shower and as it is now 5:15 pm, I jump on my motorbike to go up the mountain coastal road – as I want to try to catch the sunset. Unlike Jomtien, the sun sets behind the city – as opposed over the sea – as the East Sea (aka South China Sea – but NEVER say this in Vietnam – as you will be chastised) is facing east and the sun sets in the west. As we are still in the 5 day long weekend holiday of the 50 year National Reunification celebrations, the beach road is literally blocked. It is like a mass pandemonium – as everyone is trying to find parking and run onto the beach sand or into the sea. It is like this for 5km, until I get to where the city limits end and the road narrows and starts to go up into the mountain. It was very stressful driving – but in slow motion – as it is quasi gridlock. I read in the local news that local Da Nang hotels are close to 90% occupancy for this 5 day weekend – amazing. At the overlook point that I had in mind, it is already packed – but there is still enough room to park my motorbike and I start to take some pictures and some selfies, when this young Russian guy, Nikita offers to take my pictures. Nikita is cute in a kind of Russian way. He tells me that he is able to sustain himself in Da Nang on only $1,020 USD per month – I am impressed. Sunset from Son Tra mountain coastal road – too many clouds made the sunset hazy Nikita is super friendly and he is alone here in Da Nang. He is madly in love with his girlfriend (he shows me some pictures of her – and she is absolutely beautiful) but she only wants a friendship with him. We talk for quite a while, but it is getting dark and I want to get back into the city, as I don’t feel comfortable driving in the dark mountain roads with my motorbike. I forgot to mention in yesterday’s trip report update, that while I was at the Lady Buddha temple grounds – I was trying to take some selfies of the city view when this very sexy young Italian guy from Verona, who asked me to take his pictures – which I did – but only if he reciprocated the favor. I had a strong feeling that this guy was a possible “friend of Dorothy” (i.e., gay), but he was with a tour group and when him and I were becoming super friendly, his tour guide called him away from me. Also, I was pretty much focused on my mother’s birthday yesterday – so I was not in the right frame of mind for some fast cruising. I head back to the city and the pandemonium is still underway – but now in the reverse with a gazillion people trying to leave the beach and randomly crossing the 6 lane beach road (3 lanes each way) to get back to their cars, hotels, or over to the other side of the Han River into the proper Da Nang city center. I manage to get the motorbike back to my condo but my nerves are frazzled and I head over to my favorite place for dinner, and I order my favorite dish, the Houston Platter, with an ice cold Saigon beer. Afterwards back to my room and after about 1 hour I am already sleeping. End of day 8 in Da Nang – 1 May 2025

Sorry about all of the cake postings in both the Philippine and now Vietnam channels. I have a weakness for yummy cakes and delicious ice creams. So, I cannot resist - as attested by my ever growing belly....

Great list guys. One of my all time favorites was also the "Egoist" - so I did not include it in my list of 5 favorites. 2022 – The Blue Caftan A hidden heterosexual – bisexual Moroccan love story – with the blessing of the husband’s wife. Well done – with all the intricacies, denials, and difficulties of male-to-male love in Morocco. This film is difficult to find with English subtitles – I believe that I was able to see it from either Amazon Prime or on Apple TV. 2013 - Are We Okay? (Tamam mıyız?) A very moving and wonderful Turkish film about the difficulties of 2 men and how their lives intertwine to help each other with the MOST difficult decisions in their lives. It can be watched for free with English subtitles at: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x93h07k 2024 - Cabrini As this was a true story it blew me away on the struggle of this nun, Francesca Cabrini for the children of Italy and the betrayal by the Vatican. A very moving story. This film can be seen in Amazon Prime or in Apple TV. 2023 - Fireworks (Stranizza d’Amuri) A beautiful youthful Italian love story based on an awful true event that happened in Sicily in October 1980, known as the Giarre murder event. Having lived in Italy for 12 years I found this film very realistic about what gay life is like in rural Italy and the related homophobia. Film can be watched here for free in YouTube with English subtitles: 2012 - Silver Linings Playbook A very bizarre and comical love story about revenge, 2 crazy people, and love found in the place least expected. I watched this film in the Google Play library – I see that it is also available in Netflix.

My fault @Tartegogo, I should have been more explicit. I had asked many of the guys who massaged me in Cebu if getting an orgasm was possible in any of the local massage places. Often they cited the @infinity_spa_ph chain as the place to get some action. When I replied with my Twitter (X) query suggestion - I did not state the above. - sorry about the confusion. Below is one quite explicit review in Twitter from a user (customer) of a specific type of massage that he had at one of the @infinity_spa_ph affiliates.

Day 7 in Da Nang – 30 April 2025 Wake up to the 50th anniversary of the NATIONAL REUNIFICATION DAY (1975 – 2025). The vast majority of the Vietnamese citizens are dressed in the national flag t-shirts – especially at my An Food breakfast place. Above generic photo from the internet – I regret that I did not take some photos at breakfast – they were all dressed like in the above photo but without the salute. It was truly beautiful and patriotic. I eat my usual Bò né yummy breakfast with my usual salt coffee. Today is the BIG day that I go to make merit to my mom, as today would have been her 80th birthday. So, I look in front of my condo for the guy that I rented a motorbike from last year – but there is now a construction site where he was located 1 year ago. I see someone that looks like him descending into the hotel garage and I wait to see if he would come out. He did and I introduced myself and he remembered me. So, I rented a nice red Honda Vision 110CC automatic scooter from him for 150,000 VND (around 5.80 USD) per day for 3 days (as I still need to decide what I shall do in day 4). He wanted to keep my passport and I told him no, and we instead agreed that he could keep my Thai car driving license in lieu of my passport. In this way, I can keep my passport and drive with my Thai motorbike driving license accompanied with my IDP (International Driving Permit) issued by ITA, where the signatories agreed to the 1968 Vienna Convention of Road Traffic – which is valid here in Vietnam. The version of the IDP that I have is valid for 3 years. My International Driving Permit (IDP) I had to wait quite a while to obtain my motorbike and when it arrived, I understood why – one of his cute Vietnamese assistants had just finished washing it so it looked spanking new. He fits me to a Vietnamese helmet – these are midget helmets when compared to their Thailand counterparts – but we are not allowed to drive more than 40km/h here in Vietnam – which is strictly enforced and 99.8% of the population wears a helmet – so I am much more relaxed about driving here in Vietnam than I am back in Thailand, where the Thais drive at any speed they choose and without helmets. My freedom motorbike Of course, at that price, the gas tank is empty and I go and fill it up for 80,000 VND (around 4.85 USD). My riding itinerary for today As it is 12noon when I depart, it is super hot and my head is boiling. The journey out of the city limits is uneventful but the traffic is intense due to the 5 day holiday. I arrive at the Lady Buddha, where I hire a photographer to take my picture with the Lady Buddha in the background and me holding a picture of my mother and I, as well as her funeral rites card. If you have never visited the Lady Buddha and Linh Ung Pagoda grounds – they are well worth it. The grounds are enormous, with many temples to visit, beautiful landscaping, and amazing views of the Da Nang city skyline. https://ahoyvietnam.com/lady-buddha-da-nang/ This YouTube video is more or less what I experienced today After the photo process was completed, I walked to the back of the grounds so that I could be alone and pray to my mother and make merit to her – as part of the reason as to why I could retire early is that she left me a small inheritance. Before she died, she implored that I protect her assets to respect her wishes – so when the Thai government decided in 2023 (effective for the 2024 tax year) to start to tax us tax residents of Thailand when we transfer funds into Thailand – this is the primary reason that I decided to implement a tax minimalization plan to allow me to honor my pledge to my mother before she died – as it was not foreseen when she died in 2021 during covid, that the Thai government would change its tax regime. Hence why I am in Vietnam – so I was proud to tell my mother that I am still doing everything in my power to honor her last wishes. After about 1.5 hours here I decide to continue up the mountain coastal road to where the road ends at the InterContinental resort. There are great views here and even wild monkeys running around. View of Da Nang looking back from the hills of Son Tra Actually, the road does continue, but only for more powerful motorbikes that are not automatic – there is a security guard there to block the road – as it is too steep for automatic scooters and motorbikes. Maybe I can find a butch macho Vietnamese guy to take me beyond - so that I can see the very end of the Son Tra peninsula one day. 🤞🤩 I head back to the city and park my motorbike at my condo and then I walk over to to eat my dinner, which was a plate of delicious rice, beans, and sausage. Before returning back to the condo, I stop at the bakery to pick up 2 desserts: Melon cake and Tiramisu I peruse the internet and munch on my melon cake and then call it a night. Today is the first day that I am starting to get out of my heartbreak funk – as today was dedicated to my wonderful mother. End of day 7 in Da Nang – 30 April 2025

yes, unfortunately. Matters of the heart take time to heal. The last time that I brought a guy into my bed here, I started to cry and the same was also occurring back in Pattaya. It is quite embarrassing for me to have to explain why tears start to flow out of my eyes when I start to be intimate with someone who does not even know me. So, I prefer to go it alone, to avoid that embarrassment, until I feel that my heart is in a better condition. How long? I do not know. Is there a pill to speed up the broken heart process?

One of my favorite heterosexual YouTube bloggers in Pattaya is Trevor from Buzzin Pattaya - and he and his organization, they organize "Bar Crawls" which act as a "Welcome Wagon". https://buzzinpattaya.com/ https://www.tiktok.com/discover/buzzin-pattaya-pub-crawl I have personally met Trevor when he started his YouTube video series, "I can't Get it Up So What Can I Do?". Trevor is a great down to earth personable guy. It would be really nice if we had a "Welcome Wagon" equivalent in Pattaya / Jomtien for us gays.

Day 6 in Da Nang – 29 April 2025 Eat breakfast at home and hang out in my condo during the morning because at 2pm I will attend the Social Samy meet-up at 2pm. at the Aussie Bistro https://www.facebook.com/people/Aussie-Bistro/61565831309808/ The Aussie Bistro is a popular sports bar that is frequented by the local expat community. It is quite large, has big TVs to watch the games, and a big pool table. In attendance, we are about 10 people, all foreigners, except for Samy’s wife, who is Vietnamese. Each person orders his/her drink and/or food – I order a watermelon drink with a cheeseburger with egg to eat. It is an enjoyable meeting where the focus is to mainly discuss where to find what each person was querying about in Da Nang and to get to know each other. Some people were from Australia, USA, and Europe. Also, a big topic of conversation was the recently increasing prices for rentals – as Da Nang is gaining as an expat destination, due to all of the positive press that Da Nang is receiving from the many YouTuber bloggers that are here promoting Da Nang. To date, I have seen 5 distinct YouTube bloggers just walking around in my My An / My Khe neighborhood. Around 4:30pm I leave and I grab a take-away salt coffee (yes I am addicted) and go back to my room for a nap – what else do retirees do all day? Hahahaha Later in the evening I return to my favorite BBQ restaurant, and there is another concert already underway as part of the ongoing 50 year National Reunification celebrations. So, I got to enjoy good food and good music. While eating I have a very LONG chat with one of my Thai friends back in Pattaya about the break up with my ex-Thai boyfriend. These chats are good for me from a healing point of view. I can vent my frustrations and disappointments with someone who knows my ex very well. Afterwards, I take a walk along the beach promenade and I see that the bars are full of patrons drinking – as Da Nang is now very full of people for the long 5 day weekend. Back to my room and I call it a night. End of day 6 in Da Nang – 29 April 2025

When I was in Cebu for 62 days many of the guys in the apps would talk about the fun that they had in the various Infinity Spa branches. Try the below query in Twitter (X) and you will see many sexual fun comnents. I did not try the 1 small branch that is in Cebu.

Wow lucky you. I was always fascinated by the ability of the ex-Yugoslavia to market and export their cars to us in the USA. I believe that the motto was: Yugo = Nogo

Day 5 in Da Nang – 28 April 2025 Breakfast at my usual place. Decide to take a long beach walk on the ever so beautiful beach promenade – and I do have to say that it is more beautiful than the one back in Jomtien. Furthermore, the seawater is much cleaner than the Jomtien coffee brown seawater. The beautiful walkway continues for about 9km, out of the 30km coastline – so you can get plenty of exercise. There are also many little beverage shacks selling cold refreshments and coffee. Of course I could not resist to have my 2nd salt coffee of the day. On the beach there are these 2 Vietnamese guys meandering around looking to fix your phone’s broken glass. I asked if I could take his advertisement picture as this topic recently came up in another thread about getting an expensive iPhone glass screen replaced. This guy claims that he can do it to perfection. The price depends on his assessment of the work that would be required – so he could not quote me a set fixed price. After my long beach walk I head back to and I order something that I have not eaten in a very long time = New Orlean Style Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. It was delicious and hit the spot. Went back to my room to relax because at 7pm I would need to head over to the Moon Beer & BBQ for a meet-up, organized by the local YouTube blogger star = Travis, https://www.youtube.com/@TravisTravelsVN Venue for tonight's meetup: https://www.facebook.com/moonbeerbbq This event was well attended, as Travis is a very likeable guy from Chicago. We were 2 large tables of about 16 people at each table for a total of around 32 to 35 people. It was mainly attended by expats who are “temporarily” in Da Nang. I say temporarily, because the tourist visa only allows you to stay for 90 days at a time. But I met several people who simply do border runs or fly over to a nearby country at the end of their 90 days and just request another one. Few have been doing this for many years. I was hoping to encounter 1 or 2 fellow gay members, but my gaydar did not make me aware of any. We were each asked to pay 360,000 VND (around 14 USD), which included some lite food to eat and all the beer that you could drink. Not bad. The BIG topic of conversation during the night was the strange blackout that was happening in real time over in Spain, Portugal, and parts of France. Many members were getting live updates from friends and relatives back in Europe. https://hispanatolia.com/en/what-caused-the-massive-blackout-spain-and-portugal-search-for-answers/ What is great about Travis’ group is that you can join his interactive communication blog at: https://www.skool.com/travel-vietnam Where you get occasional updates about what is happening in Da Nang, news alerts, and ways to communicate with the many other members. As of writing this update, there are 559 members and membership only costs $7 USD per month. For me, this is money well spent. --> This is something that we do not have back in Jomtien - a type of "Welcome Wagon" type of group for new gays moving to the Pattaya / Jomtien area. I note that several of the famous heterosexual YouTube bloggers in Pattaya do offer a "Welcome Wagon" type of event for people new to Pattaya who want to meet up with like minded people. --> I also note that in Cebu, I was not able to find anything like (Welcome Wagon) that is being offered here in Da Nang or back in Pattaya. Around 11:15pm, I hire a Grab car to take me back to my condo for 78,000 VND (around 3 USD). To date, this was my most expensive ride, as this venue is across the Han river, over the central part of Da Nang city (kind of like Pattaya City is to Jomtien). I am residing in the My An/My Khe neighborhood, which is the Jomtien area of Da Nang. Before going up into my condo, I notice that I am still hungry and I meander around to find a Banh Mi sandwich to go. Just about as I thought that I found one, the owner had already latched his Banh Mi trailer onto his motorbike and started to zoom away as I approached. But no worries, Banh Mi sandwiches can ALWAYS be found almost anywhere at all hours of the night - even if all of the nearby restaurants have stopped serving at the standard 10pm time (this is a strange Da Nang phenomena that does not exist back in Pattaya and Jomtien - where you can generally eat pretty late in the local restaurants). Around 12:30am I am already asleep. End of day 5 in Da Nang – 28 April 2025

Yes, you are correct. So I was ripped off. Probably the security guard that initially denied us access to the building and elevator was perhaps a part of this "scam". He only let us in once he was paid a bribe. The outside of the building that I was taken to did not look like what you show in the photo above 😪 Well, life is full of soo may disappointments and false illusions. So, I was probably taken to the USAID / CIA building, as the rooftop matched the UPI photo - EXCEPT, the ladder up to the mini rooftop where the helicopter landed looked different in my 2019 photo versus the 1975 UPI photo.

Interesting that you share this with us. Because I had to pay a tour guide a lot of money to bribe a security guard of the building to let us: 1.) Go up onto the roof so that I could have my photo taken on the roof of the supposed ex USA embassy, 2.) Take me to the area out back (on the ground level) where they had to burn important documents and bundles of USD banknotes. All these years when I look at the photo of me up on the roof versus the 1975 UPI photo, the structure of the 2 rooftops never matched. I always thought that perhaps I was ripped off because my photo did not match the UPI photo. So @reader perhaps I was actually taken up to the actual ex-USA embassy rooftop?

Day 4 in Da Nang – 27 April 2025 Wake up with a subtle headache (hangover) and run over to my favorite breakfast place, An Food to eat my scrumptious : Bò né and drink a power wake up Vietnamese salt coffee. Return to my room to write the 23 and 24 trip updates. Hire a Grab car to return to the VinCom Plaza shopping mall to buy some miscellaneous stuff, get some more VND dong from the HSBC ATM, and eat lunch at Al Fresco's in the mall. https://alfrescos.com.vn/ Hire a Grab car to return to my My An neighborhood and I get out at the famous Bread & Butter bakery to buy some yummy take away treats. I buy 1 Coconut cake and 1 Chocolate mousse. https://www.facebook.com/bnbbakery2023 To appreciate what is on offer, I share the below TikTok video: https://www.tiktok.com/@bnbbakery.danang/photo/7454493383147490568 Relax in my room and chat with many guys on the apps – but I am not in the mood – as one of my ex-Thai boyfriend’s dear friends has reached out to me via LINE and we chat a lot about what happened and life in general. A great sweet guy – he is a sexy dancer at the Alcazar cabaret show venue back in Pattaya. https://www.alcazarthailand.com/ I realize that it is already 9pm, so I hurry up and run over to the Country BBQ & Beer restaurant to eat my dinner. But, I see that the street is blocked off for the upcoming 50 Year National Reunification Day celebrations and a concert and show is already underway. https://ioe.vn/chi-tiet/tap-chi-tieng-anh/vietnamese-reunification-day-celebrating-50-years-of-unity-5-7090 https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-04-27/50-years-after-saigon-falls-vietnam-tweaks-story-of-victory So, I seat myself at the BBQ restaurant where I can easily watch the show and be entertained. As the crowd is very big, my favorite dishes are already out of stock and I have to settle for a salad and some French fries. Billboard & Facebook page of the 50 Year Reunification event that I witnessed. What luck – when I was in Cebu – I encountered the annual Sinulog festival, and now in Vietnam I am encountering the 4 day Vietnamese Reunification Day celebrations, where 30 April 2025 is the actual 50th year anniversary – which is also my mother’s birthday (had she still been alive she would have been 80 years old). All of these events brings me back to my childhood, back in April of 1975, when I came home from school on 29 April 1975, and my mother was crying on the sofa and told me – look at the TV son. We have lost. We are losers. Son, this is awful what we did. Fall of Saigon 29 April, 1975 – last helicopters evacuating from the USA embassy I sat on the sofa trying to comfort my mother, as I was too young to understand what was happening – but I knew that it was extremely important by the way my mother was an emotional mess and it seared into my mind this event forever. I share with all of you a video that was prepared by a local Vietnamese drone blogger here in Da Nang of 1975 versus the Da Nang of today, 2025. https://www.facebook.com/urbanistasean/videos/đà-nẵng-1975-2025celebrating-the-50th-anniversary-of-the-liberation-of-da-nang-c/1213598583652633/ So, in December 2019, during my first trip ever to Vietnam, I paid a tour guide extra money to get me up onto that same roof where that last helicopter took off, to pay respect for what we did wrong, pay tribute to my mother, and to have a moment alone in this surreal rooftop. So tomorrow, on 30 April 2025, my mother’s birthday, I will rent a motorbike and drive up to the Lady Buddha temple here in Da Nang to pay my respects to both my mother (her birthday) and to Vietnam – on their 50 year Vietnamese Reunification Day. What a moment to be alive and to live in this moment!! Walk back to my room and call it a night. End of day 4 in Da Nang – 27 April 2025

Day 3 in Da Nang – 26 April 2025 Wake up and return to An Food (see previous day’s update) for my daily wonderful Bò né breakfast. Return to my room and as anal as I am, I clean my balcony and balcony windows – yes, I am a clean freak – and the balcony had some air pollution residue on it that I did not like. Also, do my first load of laundry after figuring out how this Vietnamese washing machine works. Hire a Grab car to go to the FPT electronics store to look for a nice monitor for my laptop. https://fptshop.com.vn/ I browse the available monitors and I settle on the LG 24 inch model. As they only had the display model available (it was hermetically sealed in a plastic wrap), I got a good off the shelf price of 2,190,000 VND (around 84 USD). The price was reduced from 2,990,000 – I was happy, because once I finish my stay here in Vietnam this monitor will either be left here in the condo (assuming that the owner would accept it) or I will give it to a future guy that I have yet to meet. 🤩 You may remember that in Cebu I used the condo TVs as my monitors, as there was a table and/or desk nearby to create a workstation. Unfortunately, here in this Da Nang AirBnB it is not possible. not conducive for a laptop workstation setup During the purchase process, the store clerk asked me if I have the app, because this FPT franchise has the ability to QR scan my warranty onto the ZALO app. This was a really cool and hi-tech experience, and made me realize why the Vietnamese people are enthusiastic about the many ZALO functions. So, it made me feel a little bit integrated into the local society. Return to my room via a Grab car, for 36,000 (around 1.38 USD) and I excitingly setup my new laptop workstation. To date, this has been by best workstation setup, from an ergonomically correct point of view. Almost as good as my setup back in Jomtien Go outside and eat a wonderful Banh mi baguette sandwich. The food carts that sell these are everywhere and they are so yummy. Bánh mì There are many types of Bánh mì that are available: Then I head over to the shop, as I have passed it many times by now and I became more and more curious because of its marquee = Chocolate & Coffee https://amichocolate.com/ I wanted a chocolate with some coffee (this was a common practice when I lived and worked in Budapest). Unfortunately, the chocolate factory is on the ground floor and the coffee shop is upstairs – and the 2 shops have separate entrances and are not physically interconnected. So, I had a nice salt coffee upstairs and then I went downstairs into the retail part of the chocolate factory to buy some take away chocolate covered coffee beans and chocolate covered macadamia nuts. As stated in yesterday’s report, I had been perusing all of the apps to see where are all of the guys are, and they can be found on Grindr and Heesay (formerly BLUED). The other apps, PlanetRomeo, Hornet, and The Blowers don’t have many users in Da Nang. The distribution of available guys in Grindr and Heesay is about 50/50. I need to find out if the local Vietnamese gays use other apps - I heard the Bumble app being mentioned. --> Have any of you used the Bumble app ? <-- I was here in Da Nang 1 year ago in April 2024 and I attracted much more attention than this year in April 2025. I am not sure why – perhaps because I am 1 year older ? Anyway, a sexy college guy writes me from Heesay and wants to give me a massage with some cum control activities – edging is not so diffused here, but many of the guys know about cum control – which is a close cousin to edging. We move our conversation from Heesay over to the ZALO app. In this AirBnB condo building you need to go downstairs to greet your guest because you need a FOB keycard to get the elevator to go to your designated floor. Unlike the Philippines, there is no need to check in your guest for a security control where they need to leave their National ID with the security team. So, getting guys up into your room is VERY easy – when compared to the Philippines. We make about 30 seconds of small talk and then he is already in his underwear ready to make me my massage. I am naked laying down on my stomach and he starts to massage me with his massage oil and I am relaxed because I have already covered the AirBnB mattress with the towels that I bought to protect the bed. Many years ago, I got in trouble with one of the AirBnB owners when the massage oils seeped into their bed mattress and I had to pay for damages – so, now when I travel for long periods of time I just buy a set of towels for in-room massages. This guy is a university student – 26 years old (kind of old to still be in university ?) and he is studying “Oil Exploration Engineering”. I was quite impressed. He told me that there is a lot of oil to be found off the coast of Vietnam – as long as the Vietnam government can keep the hungry Chinese away from extracting Vietnam’s still to be discovered oil reserves. This guy has a sexy manly look that is typical of the Vietnamese guys that can be found in Fresh Boys in Bangkok. His massage price was only 1,000,000 VND (around 39 USD) – very reasonable and his edging technique was very good, so I tipped him an additional 200,000 (around 8 USD) before he left. The meeting was around 90 minutes – where there was around 50 minutes of massage time and the remaining time was playing around with activities like 69, humping, and a long slow edging session. Unfortunately, when I was laying down on my stomach while he was massaging me – I found myself crying in silence with my tears going into the towels – as I am still suffering the emotional wounds of my breakup with my Thai boyfriend. I tried to hold back the tears – but being sensual with another guy brought back all of the memories of my former Thai boyfriend. I hope that this will fade over time, otherwise it is going to be a painful 130 days here in Da Nang and I want to have some FUN with more guys. The guy showers and leaves and I clean up and I take a 1 hour nap. I wake up and prepare for my night out – as I want to visit one of the local gay bars. I head over to for a traditional American hamburger, coleslaw, and fries. All was good. https://diner66.vn/ Then I hire a Grab car to go over to the Q Bar https://www.instagram.com/qbardanang/# https://www.facebook.com/qbardanang1/?locale=vi_VN It is a small bar with about 6 different tables to sit at inside and one sofa table combination that is outside the main entrance for those who want to smoke and/or socialize outside. I located myself at a table on the left corner so that I could watch the bar activities. Most patrons seem to already know each other and there were only 3 “independents” (unknowns – like myself) and each of us 3 were sitting at our own individual tables alone – the other 2 "independents" were immersed on their phones – as the atmosphere is not very conducive to mixing with the other bar guests. This Q Bar experience was VERY different than the Cave Bar experience in Cebu, in the Philippines. The Cave Bar management made it impossible that anyone was excluded from what was going on in the bar. They were insistent on creating a gay family like feeling. The drink menu is vast and I ordered a Lady Buddy Margarita (a play on one of the main attractions in Da Nang = the Lady Buddha temple). This margarita was one of the best margarita’s that I ever had – it was intense, strong, and good. Q Bar drink menu I stayed for about 90 minutes – nursing 2 margaritas and as it was not easy to interact with the other bar patrons, I decided to call it a night and leave. I will give this bar another chance, and I will intentionally choose to return on one of their theme nights, where there is either a lady boy show or dancing – which causes the tables to be moved towards the exterior walls and the bar patrons need to stand, mix, and mingle. The 2 owners of Q Bar – a US and Viet couple Q Bar location in Da Nang Take Grab car back to my condo and call it a night. End of day 3 in Da Nang – 26 April 2025

And this is SO SO SO true. There is ZERO marketing on the international stage for: - Pattaya / Jomtien as a gay retirement destination, - Pattaya / Jomtien as a gay tourist vacation destination. All advertising is: - local inward facing, - disfragmented - Supertown (Jomtien Complex) advertises and does marketing ONLY for what is inside the walls of Supertown and ignores the gay venues outside of its walls - like a medieval fiefdom. For Boyztown I cannot remember the last time that I saw any local or international marketing. For Sunee Plaza - no words are needed. I think that the Thai government needs to step in, because the local gay community appears to be lost. Since the Thai government is petitioning to host the 2030 World Pride, that would be an excellent opportunity to put all of the gay places (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Pattaya, etc.) in Thailand back onto the world stage. Thailand should not MISS this opportunity.

Day 2 in Da Nang – 25 April 2025 Prior to leaving Thailand I had arranged to meet up with 2 local famous YouTube bloggers. This morning I met with Social Samy, https://www.youtube.com/@socialsamy For a wonderful Vietnamese salt coffee at the Sun Coffee shop on An Thuong 34 street. He is German and very jovial and has been living in Da Nang for several years and even married a local Vietnamese woman. He got me up to speed on all of the changes since I have last been to Da Nang – which was 1 year prior. Beach erosion – the beach shorefront has shrank by at least 50%. Samy told me not to worry, as this is a natural phenomena – and from next year forward the shorefront should start to grow in size again, Best bank ATMs to get large sums of money in 1 go – VP Bank and TP Bank – I also have my personal favorite, the HSBC ATM located in the VinCom mall, Best place to get a local SIM card = Viettel shop – I will discuss this later, Best place for a man to get his hair painted (colored) and cut = NHUA Style. This is very important to me because my prior hair color experience in Vietnam – back in 2019 – was super complicated – as the male barbershop would not color my hair and sent me to the lady shop – but they had to hide me in the back away from other female customers – as they told me that they should not color my hair in public. After they coloured my hair, they would not cut it and sent me back to the male barbershop. Samy confirmed to me that NHUA Style would be able to color and cut my hair all in the same shop. Samy is a wealth of information with the network that he has created here in Da Nang. If you join his group you can purchase his recommended Google Treasure Map of Da Nang, which I did, and already it is very helpful to start my assimilation into my new temporary retirement home. I enjoyed my meeting with Samy and he invited me to the next meetup, which will take place on Tuesday 29 April, in the afternoon in one of the local restaurants. By now I was starving, I had only eaten a yogurt in my condo, so I head over my favourite breakfast place (that I discovered in my April 2024 trip to Da Nang), hoping that it would still be there and I was so happy to see that it was. I order my favorite breakfast meal: Bò né - easy to remember just think of boner and truncate the letter “r”. Of course, I order another salt coffee. In my personal opinion, this is where Vietnam has both the Philippines and Thailand beat – for the best breakfast category. I can eat this breakfast meal every day. I decide to walk over to the Viettel shop that was suggested to me by Samy to obtain my very own local Vietnamese local phone number, SIM card and Zalo installation. As Samy mentioned, this shop is VERY helpful and very adapted for foreigners. I purchased the 3T5G160B Plan, which cost 480,000 VND for 90 days, with a 4GB daily allowance and free calls of up to 100 minutes per month. The price for the new SIM card was 50,000 VND. I also had to top-up my new ZALO account with 10,000 VND. Everything was completed within 30 minutes and my wait time in the queue was only 10 minutes. I was very impressed with the service. As the ZALO app (which is similar to our LINE app in Thailand) is all in the local language, there was no way that I would have been able to do the setup by myself. They don't use LINE here. Then I decided to walk over to the Vincom Plaza mall, which was a very long walk, as I needed to buy towels that I can put on my 2nd bedroom mattress to protect it from potential damage from massage oils and creams. In Da Nang, I am only aware of 1 shopping mall, Vincom, and when compared with Cebu, it is very small – as the Vietnamese people do not have a fixation with shopping malls like the Philippine people do. This mall only has 4 floors, of which the 4th floor is dedicated to eating and the other 3 floors are for shopping. So, the towel selection is limited to just 3 stores and I buy 3 large bath towels from the Japanese Akemi store. https://vincom.com.vn/vincom-plaza-ngo-quyen I also decide to eat lunch at the mall and I visit the HSBC ATM that is hidden away down near the parking level, where I withdraw 10,000,000 VND (around 385 USD) – many of the other ATM machines in the city are limited to just 2,000,000 VND (around 77 USD), so by visiting this HSBC ATM I can limit the number of times that I need to refurnish my VND stock. I also look for a computer monitor to buy, but in this mall there are ZERO electronic stores – as these types of stores are independent and not generally found in shopping malls. So, this will be a task for another day. As I am exhausted from all of the walking, I hire a Grab car for 50,000 VND (around 2 USD), which will take me back to my condo, which is 3km away. So, transportation costs are VERY cheap. I take a nap and later after my nap I return to the Country BBQ & Beer restaurant that I reported on in yesterday’s trip report update to eat my dinner. Afterwards, I make a nice walk along the beach pavilion and then head back to my room, surf the internet for a while (looking to see which guys I can eventually get), and then go to sleep. End of day 2 in Da Nang – 25 April 2025

After living in Thailand now for 2.5 years as a new retiree, I see that what I like the most is to be entertained. Consequently, I see myself gravitating more and more to the show bars like: M2M, The Best Bar, Candy Bar, M Bar, etc. This is why I abhor the current common bar mantra of, "farang sit - farang drink". Those are the bars that bore me and I only frequent them by request (to catch up with a local friend who only likes these types of bars -or- I need to be a guide to visitors who just want to sit and drink...). I go home much more satisfied if I am in a bar or event venue that makes me laugh and has sex appeal that is provoking and stimulating. These 2 places were places that brought me much joy from the past: soi Twilight (in Bangkok) - the intense energy in that place was amazing, titillating, and exciting. It had the right balance of bars, restaurants, and gogo bars. Boyztown from the past (in Pattaya) - I truly looked forward to the daily 9pm sexy march on the red carpet in the center of the principal alleyway of Boyztown. Unfortunately, the organizers of this canceled its continuation after covid. I used to try to be there by 8:30pm to get a good seat - near the corner angle of BoyzBoyzBoyz - where the former gogo guys would be warming up for their time up on the stage by working out in the outdoor gym. Between watching them and then the sexy guys who would march on the red carpet - I could not wait to get inside of BoyzBoyzBoyz to watch the show and often I already knew who I wanted to off because of the prior 2 mentioned outdoor activities. So, to answer @PeterRS question, I would like to see venues that bring back the former titillating, erotic energy that has been lost over the years. As the cherry on top, it would be great if there was a place to go dancing where the sexy gogo guys would dance amongst us to great disco music. That is a NEW mantra that I could get into: "farang dance, farang touch sexy guy, farang take home sexy guy..." And of course, said farang is drinking the night away so that the bar cashier remains employed and happy...

wow, good to know because I have never eaten at Sophia's. I did not even know it existed or where it is located within the complex. I will give it a try when I am back in Thailand.

I hope you are kidding or you are not already suffering the effects of Alzheimer's or Dementia ? Our gayguides.com forum is divided by physical nation states with different geographical locations - as shown below: Your reply about Borocay was posted in the Vietnam sub-division of our gayguides.com forum. Boracay is part of the Philippines. I already posted about my 4 days in Boracay (which you already commented on back in February of this year). Below is the link to help you remember. So, this thread is dedicated to Vietnam.... Thanks 🤩

They are hybrid go-go bars, in that a segment of their sexy shows is dedicated to their in-house go-go dancers.

You can add The Best Bar (on one of their sexy show nights) and M Bar - both located in the Jomtien Complex (aka Supertown).

Da Nang Trip Report – Day 1 – 24 April 2025 This is my active ongoing trip report for Da Nang, Vietnam. I am in Vietnam for 130 days as part of my tax minimization plan, as discussed in this previous post: As part of my tax minimization plan, I already completed 62 days in Cebu, Philippines – as reported in this post: The additional objective is to see if I can find a retiree place that is similar to what I have back in Jomtien Thailand --> in Vietnam. Consequently, I will search for hirise condos that are on or near the beach with balconies with sea views – as is commonly found in Jomtien. Some days prior to my departure to Vietnam, I decided to break-up with my Thai boyfriend (ex-money boy). The fairy tale that I was hoping for never realized and so, I asked him to not accompany me to Vietnam – as had originally been planned. I am deeply in love with him – so this decision was not taken lightly. As my last “gift” to him, I decided to help him open a small business in one of the local Jomtien night markets. He hated being a money boy ( he found that work very degrading and soul destroying over the long term ) and with this new business, he could free himself from the shackles and ugliness of being a money boy. 23 April 2025, in the late afternoon, I leave Jomtien for the Hyatt Regency hotel (formerly Novotel) at Suvarnabhumi airport. I decide to use my preferred car service = https://www.thelimopattaya.com/ and I am lucky to have Eve, the co-owner to drive me to the hotel. Chatting with Eve, the 90 minutes passes quickly and we are already at the hotel. Please note that the Hyatt Regency booking system produces a mysterious notice when booking this airport property – that the required checkout time is at 7:45 am. Back when it was Novotel – this was not an issue, as the Novotel was properly adapted for the type of clientele that desires to sleep at the airport. I had to sit on one of those Hyatt customer service chat lines for a while to confirm that I could check out at 12noon instead of the stated 7:45am. I would imagine that this is a bug in the Hyatt reservation system that does not accommodate the flexibility required by a hotel that is located at an airport. Upon checking in, the front desk asked me when I wanted to check-out and I stated 12noon the next day. The hotel clerk confirmed to me that you are paying for a 24hour window – I was checking in at 6:30pm and I could keep my room up until 6:30pm the next day. By the way, this hotel is not cheap, I paid 5,649.84 Thai baht (including taxes), where the base rate was 4,720 THB, which was already discounted by 20%, as part of their Grand Opening offer. Last year, when it was still the Novotel, I paid 6,059.81 (including taxes). So, we can clearly see that the Hyatt Regency brand will charge 6,779.81 THB (20% more) once the Grand Opening promotion ceases – thus an increase of almost 12% over the Novotel price. Why do this? Because I sleep better when I know that I am already at the airport – instead of worrying if I might make it in time from Pattaya. I know, crazy – but “peace of mind” for me has no price. For dinner I walked over to the airport ( via the underground tunnel which terminates at the Hyatt Regency – same tunnel that the Airport Link arrives in from Bangkok ) and I ate in one of the airport restaurants. Semi ok sleep – still nursing the pain of the breakup – but I am happy that when I woke up that I am already at the airport. Ate a wonderful breakfast at the delightful Hyatt Regency breakfast restaurant. After check-out, I thought that I would just use the tunnel to walk with my luggage over to the airport and NO, the hotel bellboy insisted that I take the complimentary hotel van – which I did and within like 5 to 8 minutes I was already at the Vietjet check-in desk for my flight to Da Nang. Everything went smoothly, as they only required to see my passport and Vietnam pre-approved tourist visa letter. I applied for the maximum 90 day tourist multiple-entry visa via the official government site: https://evisa.gov.vn/ Where the price is $25 USD for a single entry visa or $50 USD for a multiple-entry visa. The process is easy and straight forward. You should allow 3 to 5 working days for you to receive it electronically to your email address. Around day 85, I will decide to: Do a border run to Laos via the highly recommended Lynn visa service https://lynnvisa.vn/ to extend my stay in Vietnam for an additional 40 days, Or, if I find that I am bored with Vietnam – I may fly over to Surabaya in Indonesia to see my sexy Indonesian friend – or – go somewhere else that I haven’t yet been to, like Sri Lanka, to complete my last 40 days, before I can return to Thailand. During the Thailand automated immigration exit turnstiles procedure - I asked one of the immigration assistants if I could have my passport stamped by an immigration official. new automated turnstiles where you swipe your passport and can exit immigration at the airport. They were very kind and accommodating, as I explained to them that I needed the physical exit stamp in my passport for: my 90 day reporting cycle, to prove that I was not a tax resident in Thailand. My flight was on time and the 1 hour 45 minute was pleasant and non eventful. This was an Airbus 321 which can accommodate 244 passengers and I would estimate that it was only 50% full. I almost always choose the emergency exit seat (for more leg room) and that entire area was vacant – so I sat by myself. When the stewardess asked me if I would accept the evacuation duties, I asked her if I would be responsible for both emergency exit doors – as there was no one seated in the opposite seat. She replied, don’t worry, during the flight I will sit at the opposite seat. The beauty of the Da Nang International airport is that it is very small – so, the immigration clearance and luggage collection is very easy. My AirBnB owner, sent a family member (he was very sexy but could not speak any English). For example, I was told to wait by column 5 outside of the main airport terminal and then a mysterious message appeared in WhatsApp = “you go by human you” ==> Note that I used the Airalo service to pre-load a Vietnam 30 day eSIM data plan, so that when I arrived I would be able to have instant communication services. I will also eventually venture over to the Viettel office to get a physical SIM card so that I can have a local number, so that I can avail myself of ZALO - Vietnam's answer to Thailand's LINE . Before I could understand if an alien was coming to get me that sexy guy appeared and said my name and then motioned me to follow him to the Grab car pick up – where he came with his car to get me. As the Da Nang airport was built by the French in the 1940s, it is very small and located right in the middle of the city, so the ride from the airport over to the beach Jomtien like area – My An – took like 15 minutes. The actual owner was waiting for me at the condo building and brought me up to my 33rd floor sea view condo with balcony. She photographed my passport as per local regulations – gave me a tour and explained how everything worked in the condo. My current AirBnB condo View from balcony – looking north towards the Lady Buddha statue ( in the extreme right upper corner, you can see her white silhouette ) View from balcony – looking northwest towards the city centre across the Hàn River ( note the golden Dragon Bridge in the upper centre of the photo ) Map of Da Nang with the accompanying My An & My Khe beach areas - the Jomtien of Da Nang Unpack and then head out to eat at the Country BBQ & Beer restaurant https://www.facebook.com/countrybbqandbeer And I ordered the Houston Platter – which consisted of brisket, pulled pork, sausage and chicken wing, accompanied by a cold Saigon beer. After dinner I went to one of the many nearby convenience stores ( note that Da Nang does not have any 7-Eleven convenience stores - Google states that the few that they have are in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi ) to stock up my refrigerator. Then I crashed and went to sleep. End of day 1 in Da Nang – 24 April 2025

And this trend can also be seen for retirement in Thailand. The LTR Wealthy Pensioner visa is ONLY offered to those who can show $80,000 USD in annual passive income. This visa excludes them from having to pay taxes on money brought into Thailand. If you cannot meet the above annual passive income requirement - you can avail yourself to the non O Immigrant Retirement visa - BUT --> you are subject to taxation when you bring funds into Thailand. So, "high-value" retirees are exempt from having to pay taxes in Thailand while non "high-value" retirees need to pay taxes in Thailand.