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

[vinapu]

1 hour ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

I find sunsets to be more romantic than sunrises. 

 

I find paydays even more romantic

[10tazione]

Did you already experience the dragon bridge in action? Fire & water, impressive!

[spoon]

7 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

At my age, I sometimes wake up at the strangest hours to go pee-pee. Sometimes it is during a breathtaking sunrise.

 

Obviously, I go back to sleep.

I find sunsets to be more romantic than sunrises. 

How about you?

Depends on location, when i travel, i always try to do one of each, or at least one if location doesnt permit the other. 

Each has their pro and cons, but generally, i prefer sunset too, easier and more convenient, but sunrise usually more calm and less people around hehe. 

[bkkmfj2648]

7 hours ago, 10tazione said:

Did you already experience the dragon bridge in action? Fire & water, impressive!

Yes. 

The best way (in my opinion) to experience the Dragon Bridge in action, is with a newbie, as they do not yet know what is about to happen to them 💦💦

The look on their face, for me, is more exciting than the actual event 👍🤩

[vinapu]

4 hours ago, spoon said:

Depends on location, when i travel, i always try to do one of each, or at least one if location doesnt permit the other. 

Each has their pro and cons, but generally, i prefer sunset too, easier and more convenient, but sunrise usually more calm and less people around hehe. 

I'm blessed when comes to sunset as I can see it for 3 months in spring and 3 in fall from my balcony. Other 6 months is obstructed by high rises nearby

[bkkmfj2648]

Day 20 in Da Nang – 13 May 2025

 

Breakfast in my room and I prepare and post my 12 May trip report updates.

I also start looking at other AirBnB accommodations to get a feel for the availability – as my current condo contract will end at the end of this month.  I discover, via the AirBnB app, that my condo owner owns 13 units in the building where I am staying.

I discover that she has some really nice other units – BUT – one of my pet peeves are the all-too-common non enclosed shower areas – where the water and soap goes everywhere in the bathroom.  Unfortunately, this is a common practice here and I really do not like it.

The majority (between 70% to 80%) of the AirBnBs that I look at have this type of open shower system.  More than likely, I will just extend my stay for 1 more month where I already am, as it is a great living space, the shower unit is in its own room enclosed in its own glass door area, there is a great work space for my laptop, has 2 bedrooms – of which I use one for my massages.  I need to decide soon – to avoid that someone snatches this condo unit from me.

 

It is now 3ish, and I am hungry for lunch and guess where I go?

Yes – back to Gordon’s New York Bagels shop

Today they are training some new Vietnamese employees and it was very amusing watching them explain:

1.       What is a bagel,

2.       What is the significance of their variations (poppy, sesame seed, onion, etc.).

I would imagine that in the Vietnamese culture that they are not very aware of bagels.

 

Now is the golden moment to head over to the beach – as the sun is behind the hi-rise buildings and the beach becomes ALIVE and full of lot’s of eye candy to watch:

Just like back in Jomtien - on Dongtan beach – there is the group of farangs playing volleyball

And next to the farangs playing volleyball, there is the more professional Vietnamese also playing volleyball

 I love watching them play - just as I do back in Jomtien (Dongtan).  This was something that I could not do in Cebu - as there are no open beaches like this on Mactan island - where the beaches are.

 

Of course, no good beach stay without a yummy salt coffee on the beach at Caribou - my favorite place

 

 

 

 

As it is getting dark, I head back to my room and I look in Grindr, Hornet, and Heesay (formerly BLUED) for a “massage” guy.  Two of them tickle my fancy and I choose the younger twink from Hornet, as he seems to be more into the sensual game that is very appealing to me. This is my first meetup with someone from Hornet - as Hornet is not so popular here in Da Nang.  The number one app is Heesay, followed by Grindr.

He (Thành) is only 24, works in a child care center, and has a nice pre-twunk body. His English is pretty good and we stay out on the balcony looking at Sơn Trà mountain, as he tells me about a “secret” way to get onto the back side of the mountain.  As you may remember, if you have an automatic motorbike, there is a security guard who blocks the mountain road – near the InterContinental resort, due to the steepness of the road, from venturing into the back side of the mountain.  Thành tells me to approach the mountain from the opposite direction – which I had never thought of – as I did not know there was another way.  However, after he shows how to gain access on Google Maps – I become reluctant to do something like this by myself. So, when I find the right Vietnamese guy, I will go with him via this backside of the mountain way.

 

Ok, Ok, Ok, most of you don’t care, and want me to just hurry up and get to the sex part…..I know my readers….

 

We both get naked and he starts the massage and within 10 minutes I understood that this was not going to be a massage but a FULL sex event.  How did I know it?  Well, when he laid his entire body on mine and started to kiss my neck, facial cheeks, etc. and with his subtle moans of pleasure – I understood.  Eventually, he turns me over and mounts himself on top of the area where my cock is – but just glides back and forth in a sensual slow way – monitoring my facial expressions to see if I would object.  As he is so cute and sensual, I don’t protest and he sits down on my cock and gives me a type of “anal sphincter” edging.  I was like wow – this guy is only 24 and is so talented.  By now he is riding me like a storm and his cock is rock hard and his moaning is getting pretty loud until his moment of busting his nut on my chest.  I was like wow.  Then he cleans up and then he edges me with his hands and my special edging lotion until my climax.

This is not my normal menu – but the way he did it in a slow, convincing, and sensual way – made it great and relaxed for me – as most of you know, I am not usually into  anal penetrative sex – as I am a 99% SIDE who is into edging.

 

He showers, I clean up the room, and I pay him his fee, 1,200,000 VND (around $46 USD).  Originally, he wanted to give me a discounted price of 1,000,000 VND and I told him – no, you are good and you deserve the normal price.

He leaves, and I respond to some emails from my ex-Thai boyfriend – as he really wants to come to Da Nang – and I try to convince him to focus on his new fruit salad shop business – as it has only been open for 15 days – and he should not abandon his new dream business.  My ex, not much of a romantic – truly surprises me tonight, when he sends me a photo of the dried out Valentine Day bouquet of roses – that I surprised him with on 14 Feb 2025 – where I reported about it here when I was in Cebu:

 

I am very moved by this, as this type of behavior is not in his normal character.  I have always been the foolish romantic one in our relationship, and rarely would he reciprocate. 

He wrote to me, “I kept these VD flowers here with me to remind me of why I love you every day”.

I don’t know what to say – I just keep reminding him that he is now realizing his dream with his new business and that he would never need to be a money boy again.  I try to make him understand that he cannot have both me and his new business and that he should NEVER give up his dream for anyone – including me.

I truly want him to be successful – but at the same time – that business requires him in that shop all the time, which is not conducive to the type of boyfriend partnership that I want – so I had to let him go so that he could realize his dream.  But now he wants both and I need to resist – because if I don’t resist, then it means that I have to give up my dream – which is to have a boyfriend by my side with whom I can travel with and do fun things before the potential dementia arrives.

 Incredibly, I do manage to eventually fall asleep.

 

End of day 20 in Da Nang – 13 May 2025

 

[PeterRS]

14 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

I find sunsets to be more romantic than sunrises. 

Surely that depends to a very large extent where you are? Sorry I expect this will highjack the thread a bit but it is only to illustrate a point. Hope it pisses no one off!

[floridarob]

1 hour ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

I don’t know what to say – I just keep reminding him that he is now realizing his dream with his new business and that he would never need to be a money boy again.  I try to make him understand that he cannot have both me and his new business and that he should NEVER give up his dream for anyone – including me.

Hang in there... some refer to this as hard love 🥺

[Moses]

16 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

Do you know the name of these hot springs?

Hot Springs Park - Công viên Suối khoáng nóng Núi Thần Tài Đà Nẵng 

QL14G, Hoà Phú, Hòa Vang, Đà Nẵng 550000, Vietnam

https://maps.app.goo.gl/MickEp6NwAVSLReV8

[bkkmfj2648]

1 hour ago, Moses said:

18 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

springs?

Hot Springs Park

Wow Moses thanks for sharing this place with us.  This place looks like a lot of fun.  I want to go there - probably for an overnight stay. 👍🤩

https://nuithantai.vn/

[bkkmfj2648]

9 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Surely that depends to a very large extent where you are? Sorry I expect this will highjack the thread a bit but it is only to illustrate a point.

I agree @PeterRS, I gave more emphasis to romantic sunsets, as I have rarely had a romantic sunrise - due to the effort that is required to wake up to capture the magical moment.

I share the below photo from 4 January 2024, when I hired a Muslim tour guide for 10 days to take me around Southern Thailand in the area where there is the ongoing insurgency.  He is from Yala and I was in the neighboring province / city of Songkhla.

We made part of our trip to be romantic when we stayed in the Ao Thai Resort (a lovely place run by a German and his Thai wife) to celebrate his birthday - where we shared a cozy beach bungalow together.

https://www.aothairesort.com/

On the morning of his birthday, he wanted to see the sunset - as we were on the Western side of the Gulf of Thailand and their is a great sunrise, but there isn't an interesting sunset because the sun sets over the land in that area of Thailand.

Here is a photo that he took of me trying to capture the morning sunrise at this early hour.

Sunrise in Sathing Phra District of Songkhla on 4 January 2024

As I found him in X (Twitter), he was a closeted very hot guy with a wonderful cut cock.  We had to celebrate his birthday 2 times that day - 1 time with his mother and family via a LINE phone call where we sang happy birthday WITHOUT birthday candles (as this is not allowed in their faith) and then after we terminated the LINE phone call with his family, I sang him happy birthday, but this time with 24 birthday candles that he had to blow out on his cake.

 

[vinapu]

11 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

 

I truly want him to be successful – but at the same time – that business requires him in that shop all the time,

as they say , 'in first few years you don't have a business, business has you "

[PeterRS]

10 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

I agree @PeterRS, I gave more emphasis to romantic sunsets, as I have rarely had a romantic sunrise - due to the effort that is required to wake up to capture the magical moment.

Dare I suggest the ever present possibility of a hangover rendering whatever the scene as boring as the drill in your head? Oops!

[bkkmfj2648]

Day 21 in Da Nang – 14 May 2025

 

After last nights wild sex escapade, there is a lot of laundry to do – mainly those lovely towels that I bought in my first days here in Da Nang to protect the massage bed need to be thoroughly washed.  But I don’t mind this chore – as the reward was worth it.

After posting my 13 May trip report updates – I perform another search on AirBnB and after looking at many other condo options, I decide to extend this current condo where I am through the end of June.  One less thing to worry about. 

You may remember that in Cebu, I had to change many AirBnBs because I was trying to find the “holy grail” perfect condo with a nice sea view with a big balcony on the sea.  Well, since this is my 3^rd visit to Da Nang, I already know which neighbourhood is like Jomtien, and I am already in a condo that meets all of my Jomtien-like equivalents (high floor, laptop workstation, great internet, big balcony with sea view, rapid access to many restaurants, quick access to a sandy clean beach where you can walk for kilometres uninterrupted, etc.)  -AND- this landlady has been great with constant gifts of coconuts and mangos – so why move. 

On 22 July 2025, my 90 day tourist visa will expire, when I will need to either:

1. Do a border run on the famous  bus to Laos to obtain another 90 day tourist visa within the same day – however, the entire process takes the entire day between 12 to 15 hours, 

https://lynnvisa.vn/

      2.  Fly out of Da Nang and go somewhere else and either:

•           Stay there for 40 days and return to Thailand in September from that location,
•           Fly out and back to Vietnam within the same day using a special visa agent to get another 90 day tourist visa.

By now it is 2pm and I am hungry for lunch.  I decide that I want to break my daily habit of always going to    -OR-  ,  so I set my sights on the famous all day breakfast place

= Op la Cafe    https://www.facebook.com/oplacafe

over on the famous An Thuong 2 street.  Unfortunately, in the moment that I arrive, it is crowded with the backpacker hippie beachcomber surfer crowd and the place looks very disheveled and disorderly – as there are still many tables in disarray that have yet to be cleared and cleaned.  So I bail out and return to   for my usual Chicken Club and salt coffee.  Eating at the Op la Cafe shall be for another day.

Afterwards, I take a nice walk on the beach promenade, but my head is burning again from the intense sun, so I decide that today I am going to buy a “Crocodile Dundee” type of Australian hat:

The last time I wore a similar hat was in the late 1980s, when I lived in Denver, and I started Cowboy dancing as my then  hobby.

I am not normally the hat wearing type of person – but I see many people wearing these out on the beach and/or beach promenade – so I decide to join their club.  I have read that it can take many days to create a new habit – so I strategically put this new hat at the door of the condo – with the hope that I will be encouraged to put it on when exiting the condo during the daytime.  In my opinion, this hat was incredibly cheap, at 100,000 VND (around $3.86 USD).

Back to my room for a nice nap – oh the joys of being a retiree.

Wake up and shower and I return for dinner at the Pizza House

https://www.facebook.com/pizzahousedanangvietnam/#

But this time, I order a pepperoni pizza, instead of the Australian beef tenderloin, that I ate on day 14 of my stay here (which confused some of our gayguides readers as they did not expect me to eat a steak in a restaurant that has pizza in its name).

It was very good and I can confirm the 4.8 (out of 5) rating that it received in Google reviews.  So, this restaurant has very good meat dishes as well as great pizzas.

 

Ok, now the most difficult part of today's trip report: – as I know that I am going to upset some of you and get some well deserved push back, after all of my heartbreak whimpering and whining in the last couple of weeks.

 

Tonight after long chats and conversations with my ex-Thai boyfriend – I decided to:

• Un-BLOCK him in LINE ,
• Buy him a roundtrip ticket to come and see me in Da Nang on 29 May 2025

Why?

I am a sucker for romance – and he made some BIG romantic moves in the last couple of days.  He is NOT much of a romantic type of person – so this was a BIG move on his part - when he made me know via a powerful email that he has secretly kept the bouquet of roses (evidenced in the above photo on the right) that I had delivered to him as a BIG surprise on Valentine's Day (while I was in Cebu).  He told me that these dried roses are a substitute for the real me and that he is still waiting for me.....

So, I conceded to give it one more chance, for the 2 weeks that he will stay in Da Nang with me, to see how it goes. No commitments on either side – but to give it another try.

 

Ok gayguides readers – bring it on – I am ready to be slayed.....

Off to bed – it was a long and restless sleep……

 

End of day 21 in Da Nang – 14 May 2025

 

[floridarob]

1 hour ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

Ok gayguides readers – bring it on – I am ready to be slayed.....

🤐

[PeterRS]

1 hour ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

I know that I am going to upset some of you and get some well deserved push back, after all of my heartbreak whimpering and whining in the last couple of weeks

Why should it be up to anyone else to comment of another's affairs of the heart? Shakespeare said it best in the first Act of A Midsummer Night's Dream - "the course of true love never did run smooth."

Beware, though. That play features the magic potion which, when applied to the eyelids of somone who is asleep, on wakening that person falls instantly in love with the first living thing he sets eyes on. Just in case such a potion is available in Pattaya, make sure there are no geckos or frogs in your bedroom! You might have a problem with your air ticket home! LOL

[spoon]

5 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

On 22 July 2025, my 90 day tourist visa will expire, when I will need to either:

Is the cost for extension visa fee too high that it is not even an option?

[Moses]

1 hour ago, spoon said:

Is the cost for extension visa fee too high that it is not even an option?

VN is visa free for 45 days for 12 countries and for 15/30 days for even more countries.

[spoon]

17 minutes ago, Moses said:

VN is visa free for 45 days for 12 countries and for 15/30 days for even more countries.

Visa run also cost money and time..... Hence my question.

[bkkmfj2648]

2 hours ago, spoon said:

Is the cost for extension visa fee too high that it is not even an option?

$25 for a 90 day single entry tourist visa,

or, $50 for a 90 day multiple entry tourist visa - which is the option that I am currently on.

I believe that the visa run via the Lynn Visa bus service to Laos costs around $200 USD, which would include a new 90 day multiple entry tourist visa.

Or, the cost of airfare to fly out of Vietnam and back + the cost of a different local agent service who can give you a same day expedited new 90 day visa  - as long as your passport on re-entry to Vietnam shows that you truly exited Vietnam.  I do not yet know the cost for this service, as I need to discuss it with Travis, a local YouTuber here that I discussed in an earlier post.  The next social meetup for his group is on 25 May.

[floridarob]

Go try somewhere different, by the end of 90 days, you should know if you like it enough to live there..... I'll bet $1 that it's nice to visit, but not live there....🧐

[KeepItReal]

13 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

Day 21 in Da Nang – 14 May 2025

 

 

So, I conceded to give it one more chance, for the 2 weeks that he will stay in Da Nang with me, to see how it goes. No commitments on either side – but to give it another try.

 

Ok gayguides readers – bring it on – I am ready to be slayed.....

Off to bed – it was a long and restless sleep……

 

End of day 21 in Da Nang – 14 May 2025

 

Just curious; who will take care of his newly established business if he is gone for 2 weeks? Sounds like he was working hard to make it a success...would be a shame if it came apart now... (As you can tell, I too am very romantic - worrying about the business before love!)

[TotallyOz]

Absolutely amazing reports. Thank you for sharing. Da Nang is one of my favorite places to visit and I was able to spend a week there recently. My favorite pizza place is 4P's. Their Par Ham is awesome with homemade cheese on top that melts over the pizza. I normally get a half/half with 5 cheese the other half.

[vinapu]

17 hours ago, bkkmfj2648 said:

Ok gayguides readers – bring it on – I am ready to be slayed.....

 

why? my take on it is that you know better whet you are doing.

I'm in favour of giving second chances but yes, KeepItReal has very valid point - who will take care about business ?

[bkkmfj2648]

9 hours ago, floridarob said:

Go try somewhere different, by the end of 90 days, you should know if you like it enough to live there

I agree.  My proof was when I reached the end of my 62 days in Cebu - I learned that I could live there as a retiree - but with many caveats.  So, by the end of my 90 days here in Da Nang I am presuming that I could live here as a retiree - but with a different set of caveats than the ones I listed for Cebu.

9 hours ago, floridarob said:

'll bet $1 that it's nice to visit, but not live there

And on this I already disagree after being here for 22 days already.  I could definitely live here - more so than in Cebu.  But perhaps, not enough more than Jomtien.  But it is still too early to judge.