I used to set a target of 1000 customers, all five star hotels checked, 10 different countries crossed before I retire. At first, exploring new hotels and Airbnb was exciting, but the novelty wore off after a few years. I have booked so many hotels that I have become Agoda VIP Platinum, and the hotel scene has become a norm. Somewhere down the road, I’ve lost the excitement for it and also lost count. It’s partly because I have never had a consistent method of tracking the number of clients or how many countries they come from, and how many times they have had a session with me as well as the latest testimonials on What’s app and FB. Besides, the numbers are no longer important to me; words of mouth, repeat clients, testimonials, flights and hotels sponsored by clients should speak volume for my quality of service by now. In addition, new hotels and apartment building keep springing up, I can no longer keep up with the new ones.
Last time I checked, the list of 4 and 5 star hotels I have given massages or foreplay sessions in is still pretty much the same with one or two newly added including Sheraton, Caravelle, Le Méridien, M Gallery, The Myst, Sofitel, Intercontinental (Hotel& Residences) Sherwood ( Hotels and Suites), Rex Hotel, Nikko, Majestic, The Reverie, Tan Son Nhat SG Hotel, Somerset Serviced Residences ( Hanoi & Saigon), Hotel de l’Opéra Hanoï, Estin Grand Hotel SG, New World SG, Pullman, Park Hyatt, Silverland Sakyo, Liberty Central (Riverside & Centre), Novotel, Vissai, Silverland Jolie, Park Royal, Anh&Em Corner, Charm Suite Residences, Intercontinental Saigon Residences, Sunland, Royal, Sila Urban Living, Fusion Suites, Renaissance, Grand Hotel, Silverland Central, Merle Crystal Palace, and the like. I personally stayed in many of the above hotels such as Sheraton (in BKK), Sakyo Silverland, Icon Saigon, Pullman, Nikko, Sofitel and many other 3 star hotels such as Ambassador Saigon Hotel, Eden Garden Hotel, Ruby Saigon Hotel and Suites, Sky Gem Hotel Sora and Hyatt Regency (US). One of my favorite hotel chains is A25. The hotel is very well equipped and reasonaly priced by the hour. I would say I have been to all its locations in Saigon except for the one in De Tham and Truong Dinh, some of which I visited many times. I did it so frequently that I had to make sure I spaced my stays out so that I wouldn’t be seen with different clients. You know the stereotype people would create when they see the same woman with a different man each time.
For the list of apartment buildings, the number has increased by a third: Icon 56, City Garden, Tropic Garden, Vinhome Central Park, Estella, My Phuoc, HAGL3, Phu Hoang Anh, Hung Vuong 1 &2, Satra Eximland, Diamond Island, Saigon Pearl, The Manor, The Prince Residence, Airport Plaza, Sunrise Central, Masteri Thao Dien, The Ascent, Ben Thanh Tower, La Fayette De Saïgon, Glenwood Inn, Le Blanc Saigon, La Casa, Dragon Hill, Royal Huy, River Gate, Saigon City Residence, Saigon Mansion Apartment, Chung Cu Bo Cong An, Sky Garden 2&3, Imperial, Sala, Sailing Tower, Masteri M One, Thao Dien Apt, CC Lakai, Riva Park, River Garden, Glenwood Apartment, 4S Riverside, Oakwood, Golden River Vinhome, Riverside Villa, Indo Service Apartment, Studio 67, Saigon Huch Villa, Millennium, Dragon Host, Palm Heights, Vista Verde, Sunrise Riverside, Viva Riverside Apt, Thao Dien Pearl, Saigon Apartment, Masteri An Phu, Q2, and so on. Thanks to the visits to these apartment buildings, I decided to move to some of them- M-One for 9 months, Sky Garden 2 for one year, Hung Vuong 2&3 for a total of 2 and a half years. This trip to Saigon, I am literally living out of a suitcase by bouncing from district 1 for a third of the journey, to disctrict 5 for a few days, to Phu Quoc island for half a week, then back to District 4, then district 2 for a night in each and finally district 7 for its convenience. Of all the private residences I was most impressed by these apartments:
- The first one was in The Imperial building owned by an Indian client. I was lucky to give 3 nuru massages there to the owner and his two friends, whom he referred me to in a span of two years or so. The apartment was like a maze with different names for different rooms and the hall meanders with Mediteranean interior design- arch domes.
- The second one was in Sunrise Central building. It was not so much the design but the feeling when I entered his place. He was a stone collector by hobby. His living room was full of stones of different sizes; some are gemstones; some are not. I couldn't recognize most of them. He brought them from all over the world to Vietnam, some he paid for and the others he found on the beach or wherever he had been to. The number of stones he amassed was large enough to cool the whole apartment down. The room was dimly lit; it was like entering an underground river surrounded by rock walls. Dotted with some plants here and there, his living room gave me a true zen feeling. I loved his place and spending time there after the massage just to admire it and enjoy the atmosphere it brought upon me.
- The third place belonged to an Indian client. He was just a tenant in Vinhome building. The apartment was visually pleasing with everything golden and a huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The dining table was unusually large for the apartment of its size. The landlord must be really into Italian furniture and architecture and definitely loves fine dining to have invested in such exquisite furniture around the table. The color scheme was mainly white and gold. It kind of reminded me of The Reverie Saigon, but not to a point that I felt sick of.
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The 4th apartment was rented by my regular French client. He has his own apartment now with a private elevator near Palm Heights. The one he stayed for a few years that I visited many times and almost got lost every time has a magnificent balcony overlooking a garden downstairs. What impressed me most was not the design of the apartment but the two cats he owns. They are furry and fluffy. One was shy and elusive; the other likes to be seen and must be there when I massaged him. It would stay under the bed and check on its master to make sure everything was in order and ok. What was more impressive was the cat house and tree he built for them. They must be damn lucky pets.
The 5th apartment is bought by the above French client. In my recent trip to Vietnam, my client rented an apartment in the same building where he resides, just in a different block. In his tower, the elevator is private for each floor since there is only one three bedroom apartment there. He hired an architect to demolish the entire 3 bedrooms and kitchens to turn it into a one bedroom apartment with a home office and an entertainment room where his wife can sing karaoke and enjoy sweating in an infrared sauna. The pool table is used as a dining table when it's not in use for its sole purpose. His balcony is huge and costs close to $50,000 alone. The apartment employs wood everywhere; there is even a hydro therapy bath tub in the master bedroom. Two security cameras are installed, and everything in the apt can be controlled from afar. The apartment is definitely a step up from his old rented one since the bedroom lights can be changed into different color combinations depending on his mood.
As for Airbnb, there are 5 places that are on top of my list. I gave them each a name they deserve.
The first one is in an alley in a prime location in district 1. The owner is in interior design, so his apartment exudes his own style. The two bed room duplex apartment was immaculate with a skyline shower on the second floor. What is unique about the place is its giant church window that spans the whole height of the apartment. It was so spotless that I didn’t dare to stay the night; I checked out after my session fearing my stay would stain this beautiful apartment. The downsides are the owner lives downstairs and there is no parking for guests; I had to tell the guy to keep an eye on my bike during the day and bring it in at nightfall. You can view some of its images here:
The second one is a French colonial house or villa also in an alley on a main street in district 3, which was a few hundred meters from a language school where I worked for 11 years. It has a few rooms separated by a set of two doors and beds with wooden poles and a wooden couch where royals or mandarins would sit a few hundred years back fanning the heat away. There was an indoor bathtub on top of gravels with some plants around to provide some greenery. This was in the early days of my foreplay teaching career, so the thought of capturing the beauty of Airbnb didn’t cross my mind. I have been searching for it on Airbnb, but I haven’t been able to locate it. It seems to have been removed from the listings.
The third one was an apartment in an old condo in district 1, also in a prime location. Unfortunately, there was no free parking on the premises. The apartment is quite spacious with 2 bedrooms; in order to access one of the bedrooms, you have to walk up a tiny spiral black staircase. In the room, there was only a mattress with a bamboo blind; it’s typical of a Japanese room with a futon on the floor. I think that’s why my regular Japanese client chose it. I have explored at least 7 different places with him: an Airbnb in Ben THanh Land, Sila Urband Living serviced apartment, this Airbnb, a 3 star hotel in SG, the Oasis, Sheraton, Pan Pacific Singapore, an Airbnb in Tokyo. The video of this apartment can be found here.
The fourth Airbnb I explored with him is somewhere in district 1 (Tan Dinh ward). It is a one bedroom house with a pool in the middle of the house and plenty of sunlight. I was determined to look for its listing during our conversations which dates back to 2016. And most of the listings are gone; they simply vanished into thin air. Anyway, you can admire the house from the below photos.
The fifth one is located right in downtown, on a second floor of an old condo and in an alley where there are many restaurants, and coffee shops on Pasteur street, district 1. What hit me in the eye when I first approached the place was the kitchen outside on a covered balcony and sheltered from the sun with blinds. That’s right, when you open the door to the apartment, you enter the kitchen where there is a long wooden table for you to have breakfast, lunch, dinner and to receive guests. How convenient! The apartment has two bedrooms with its own en suite bathrooms and both open out to the kitchen through a glass door. In a way, guests can share the Airbnb with a total privacy since they don’t have to go past their friend’s room to access the common area. I love the idea of such design and the mastermind behind it.
There are a few more private houses and Airbnb that I would love to describe but it has been quite a while since I visited these places, I cannot give it a proper description to do it justice. All I remember is a vague location of the place and my compliments to their places. Whether they were tenants, guests or home owners, they were surely proud of their place and the experience with me was a must have bonus added on to an already wonderful abode that they occupied at the time.