More precisely, 3-5feb2024. Why so short? I was in Cambodia for two weeks and to go to India next. However, there are no direct flights from Phnom Penh to Mumbai, and counter-intuitively, flights from Saigon to Mumbai have better times and are cheaper than from Bangkok. 1 EUR = 27k VND, 1 USD = 25k VND, 1 THB = 680 VND.
Sat3feb2024 Phnom Penh to Saigon
Bus to Saigon, booked at reception of my hotel for 25 USD. Used to be around 15 USD before Covid. Bus company Long Phuong (green, #315 in st 274, near all other bus companies to Vietnam), dep 11:04, 10 pax in 31 seats. Cross Mekong 12:35. Lunch break 12:48-13:05. At border 15:02-30. We have to take all our luggage and put it through X-Ray scanner. Whereas from Vietnam to Cambodia luggage stays in bus. From outskirts of Saigon 16:30 slow traffic, arr 18:15 Pham Ngu Lao.
None of the hotels I stayed in before in Saigon, all near Pham Ngu Lao, a worth a repeat. Follow a recommendation on sawatdeenetwork and go to Hoang Hoang Hotel, and this finally one I would stay in again and recommend to friends.
Spend 18:38-19:22 on Blued / HeeSay and look at profiles up to 4 km distance. I message 21 profiles, 1 reply. 1 messages me. I find Vietnamese guys less attractive than Thai, and response from them is less than in Thailand. Two factors to my disadvantage.
On my way to dinner, spot a cute boy (can see despite mask) is hitchhiking (thumb up). I can't contain my curiosity, I have to chat him up. He speaks good English, is Vietnamese, has no money and doesn't know where to spend the night. He never hitchhiked before (I guessed so, he was in a poor spot), but saw a foreigner on youtube and wanted to try. If he is still here on my way back, I will offer him a place to stay tonight.
Dinner in my favorite restaurant Ciao Vợ Đẹp, spaghetti cream salmon 100k VND, good as before.
On Blued, I had a tentative date for 22. He sent one okay picture (deleted after viewing), but now is offline. Filed as missed.
Sun4feb2024 Saigon
The place I had breakfast last trip is closed and nearby I saw signs for other places closed from 29jan on. Tet holiday is 8-14feb, some places close a week earlier? In Thailand I was inconvenienced by Songkran a week after it ended, here I'm inconvenienced by Tet a week before it starts. Have to give such big holidays a wide berth!
Chat with an acquaintance from previous trips on IG, I can see where this is leading, but I'm not going down this path.
120k Galaxy Sauna 16:57-19:30. I like the receptionist (muscular, both arm tattoo) and cute twinky locker room attendant. In sauna poor start, then a clear hit (slim, nice haircut and blond growing out black), we have a few gropes but he doesn't want to take it further.
After an awesome first visit in Feb2023, further visits okay, clearly better than in Thailand, but not worth going out of my way for.
Mon5feb2024 Saigon to Mumbai
Summary: 2 missed.
On gay online dating, what a coincidence, these two pictures showed up next to each other. Left is scraping, right is cupping. Both cause temporary red coloration of skin as in picture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gua_sha Gua sha (Chinese: 刮痧), or kerokan (in Indonesia), is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practice in which a tool is used to scrape people's skin in order to produce light petechiae. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupping_therapy Cupping therapy is a form of pseudoscience in which a local suction is created on the skin with the application of heated cups.
Somewhere I took a screenshot of two profiles one above the other, an abdomen above a pair of shorts, matching perfectly, but can't find it any more.
Permanent skin irregularities I have come across in SEAsia are keloid and pilonidal disease:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keloid Keloid, also known as keloid disorder and keloidal scar,[1] is the formation of a type of scar which, depending on its maturity, is composed mainly of either type III (early) or type I (late) collagen. It is a result of an overgrowth of granulation tissue (collagen type III) at the site of a healed skin injury which is then slowly replaced by collagen type I. Keloids are firm, rubbery lesions or shiny, fibrous nodules, and can vary from pink to the color of the person's skin or red to dark brown in color. A keloid scar is benign and not contagious, but sometimes accompanied by severe itchiness, pain,[2] and changes in texture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilonidal_disease Pilonidal disease is a type of skin infection which typically occurs as a cyst between the cheeks of the buttocks and often at the upper end.
https://drsergiomazzei.health/pilonidal-disease/ Picture here is closest to the few cases I have encountered, about 1 in 100.
Copyright 2024 ChristianPFC except quotes
hope you have better luck and more fun in Mumbai than Saigon
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