Trip report April / September 2025 – Da Nang & beyond – Research if an elderly gay retiree can live comfortably in Da Nang, Vietnam

[bkkmfj2648]

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 33^rd 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

[10tazione]

What annoyed me most in Danang is crossing that horrible street between the beach and the buildings. They should put the road underground (is that possible near the sea?) and extend the pedestrian zone, or at least construct some bridges for pedestrians.

[Olddaddy]

I wonder if you could do Borocay next ?🏝️🏝️🇵🇭🇵🇭

[bkkmfj2648]

49 minutes ago, Olddaddy said:

I wonder if you could do Borocay next ?🏝️🏝️🇵🇭🇵🇭

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  🤩

 

[Olddaddy]

Could you do comparison reports please on Cebu vs Da Nang in terms of

cost💲 , lifestyle,transport , gay life 🌈 especially for retirees 

[vinapu]

2 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

Could you do comparison reports please on Cebu vs Da Nang in terms of

cost💲 , lifestyle,transport , gay life 🌈 especially for retirees 

first let him settle there , it's his 1st day , not 127th

[bkkmfj2648]

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 2^nd 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 4^th 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

 

 

[floridarob]

7 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

surf the internet for a while (looking to see which guys I can eventually get)

and.... 🤷‍♂️

[vinapu]

7 hours ago, floridarob said:

and.... 🤷‍♂️

he told us :" and then go to sleep."

[bkkmfj2648]

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

[bkkmfj2648]

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 50^th 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

 

 

[reader]

This is the most misidentified photo of the fall of Siagon. The building pictured is not the US Embassy. It's actually the top of 22 Gia Long Street (a half mile from the U.S. Embassy.

From Wikipedia

The image was widely misreported as showing Americans crowding on to the roof of the United States Embassy to board a helicopter.^[2][1] In reality, the apartment complex, then called the Pittman Apartments, housed employees of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with its top floor reserved for the Central Intelligence Agency's deputy chief of station; the embassy was located at 4 Thống Nhứt Boulevard (now Lê Duẩn Boulevard), about 950 metres (0.59 mi) to the north-northeast.

The frequent misunderstanding of what the photograph shows stems from a change made to the photograph's caption at the Tokyo office of United Press International (UPI).^] Although the photographer van Es submitted the photo to UPI with an accurate caption, UPI's Tokyo office changed the caption so it falsely read: "A U.S. helicopter evacuating employees of the U.S. embassy."^[4] Although van Es repeatedly attempted to correct the error, his efforts were "futile" and he eventually "gave up."^[4] Thus, as van Es has explained, "[O]ne of the best known images of the Vietnam War shows something other than what almost everyone thinks it does."

[bkkmfj2648]

2 minutes ago, reader said:

This is the most misidentified photos of the fall of Siagon. The building pictured is not the US Embassy. It's actually the top of 22 Gia Long Street (, a half mile from the U.S. Embassy.

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?

 

[reader]

I believe that you were taken to the offices of the USAID where the CIA occupied top floors.

Here's file photo of US embassy in 1975.

 

Americans and their South Vietnamese dependents wait in line outside the U.S. embassy to apply for visas in Saigon, Vietnam, Saturday, April 5, 1975. AP Photo.

[bkkmfj2648]

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.

[reader]

42 minutes ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

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.

The ladder in the original photo appears to be a 24-foot (three section) extension ladder that was hastily raised to convert top of elevator shaft into makeshift rescue platform. Ladder has likely been replaced several times over the intervening half century.

======

From NY Times today

The Americans Fled Vietnam 50 Years Ago. I Visited the Buildings They Left Behind

By Damien Cave

Photographs by Hannah Reyes Morales

Reporting from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

• April 29, 2025Updated 7:15 a.m. ET

 

On a rusty door at the top of a nine-story apartment building that no architect would admire, someone had scratched a declaration: “FALL OF SAIGON.”

Nguyen Van Hiep can still see it happening. On April 29, 1975, as South Vietnam’s government collapsed in the final hours of the war, he watched from next door as an American helicopter landed on the roof of the building’s elevator shaft, a space barely big enough to hold its skids.

A crowd of Vietnamese civilians squeezed their way up a narrow ladder to the military chopper, yelling and jockeying for position. An American with a white dress shirt ushered a lucky few onboard.

“Everyone was fighting to get up there,” said Mr. Hiep, whose father helped maintain the building known as the Pittman, where the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency lived and worked. “It was very chaotic, only people in the building could go.”

Continues with photos at

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/world/asia/vietnam-saigon-pittman-building.html

[Travelingguy]

When I was in Vietnam, our guide was very clear that that was the building in the famous picture and that it obviously wasn’t the US Embassy, which was a much larger structure that is still there. The classic perspective of the building in the picture is from in front of the post office. If you’re looking at the post office, you would look right and up and that would be the building.
 

He also did say that the US Embassy had underground connections to other buildings. I think they were mostly important south Vietnamese buildings. I don’t know if there was actually a tunnel that went to the USAID/CIA building . 

[vinapu]

One horror finished on that memorable day and in few days another started next door as Khmer Rouge emptied Phnom Penh and started their bloody genocidal experiment in Cambodia.

[PeterRS]

I believe the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh on April 17 almost a couple of weeks  before Vietnam celebrated its total independence on April 30.

[PeterRS]

14 hours ago, Travelingguy said:

When I was in Vietnam, our guide was very clear that that was the building in the famous picture and that it obviously wasn’t the US Embassy

I was and remain a member of the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong. Hugh was a regular around the bar there and always maintained that the location of his photo of evacuees was not the American Embassy. He had been walking around Saigon taking photos of the chaos when he popped into the UPI office to develop some film. During the process a colleague shouted at him to come out with a telphoto lens on his camera. He managed to take 12 photos of the evacuation from that building. It was in fact the Pittman Apartment Building where many CIA and USAID families were housed. Also the date of the photo was April 29. It could not have been April 30 because President Ford had ordered a stop to all helicopter flights from around 4:00 am on the 30th when there would not have been enough light for photos.  Someone at UPI then submitted the photo and incorrectly stated it was the Embassy building.

Hugh's passion was photography. His only disappontment was that he received no royalties from that iconic photo. These went to UPI!

[vinapu]

4 hours ago, PeterRS said:

I believe the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh on April 17 almost a couple of weeks  before Vietnam celebrated its total independence on April 30.

correct, and first there were flowers welcoming them entering the city, horror started few days later

[PeterRS]

1 hour ago, vinapu said:

correct, and first there were flowers welcoming them entering the city, horror started few days later

The full horror started the same day. On 17 April, the day the Khmer forces entered Phnom Penh, all givernment soldiers were rounded up, taken to the Olympic Stadium and immediately executed. I cannot find any evidence that the Khmer Rouge fighters were welcomed with flowers. Indeed, at 7:45 am on the same day the soldiers arrived, loudspeakers ordered everyone in the city to evacuate. The announcement made clear that "anyone who refused to move would be shot dead." The welcoming with flowers seems to have been a piece of propaganda.

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, PeterRS said:

 The welcoming with flowers seems to have been a piece of propaganda.

possibly but can be seen in the movie they play driving you to Chuong Ek Killing Fields if you take a tour, hardly piece of Khmer Rouge propaganda.

Unpopularity of  Lon Nol regime at that  time can't be discounted and even Conan the Barbarian would be welcomed as bringing hope. 

 

[bkkmfj2648]

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 2^nd 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

[vinapu]

"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."

 

 

this is what I like the most ( other than boys) in SE Asia - energy and industriousness. People are looking for business opportunities whenever they arise. As my smartphone glass is broken I'm tempted to keep it that way until I go to Da Nang just to give them my business as a token of appreciation