UPDATE: Tourists-0 Lady-boys 2

According the to senior Cong An there are no known Vietnamese gays, lesbians, transvestites or other sexual deviates.

We all know how that the Cong An is an unimpeachable authority.

P.S. Guess they've never been in the basement of the Opera House, either.

Jaitch wrote:

According the to senior Cong An there are no known Vietnamese gays, lesbians, transvestites or other sexual deviates.

We all know how that the Cong An is an unimpeachable authority.

P.S. Guess they've never been in the basement of the Opera House, either.

...or served by the waiter at my favorite local haunt.

This is a true story...less 50 percent.  2 male tourists were robbed on De Tham early Monday by 2 transvestites, and I've heard there have been others.

Here's one from March, 2010:

“ I got robbed by ladyboys this week. ”

Mar 05, 2010, 6:42 AM

Hi everybody.

I have been coming to Vietnam for a long time and now live here. I have often told people of how safe it is to travel here and it is. Petty crime exsists as in many places and to my surprise, I have also become a victim..... And I am aware of the scams. So pay attention, and don't let this happen to you.

I was walking in the iddle of the at about 7:30 pm when a couple of boys dressed as ladies pulled up next to me offereing massage and sex. Of course I am not interested and tell them to go away. They dropped a little behind me and I paid them no more mind. The passenger got off the motorcycle and approached me quickly from behind and then grasped me by the testicles very hard offering massage. The grip was so tight, I momentarily forgot about the scam and used both of my hands to try to remove the offending grasp. In that moment, the other hand went into my front pocket and releived me of my wallet. He then let go and ran to the bike and sped off before i could catch him It was over in seconds.

The story has not ended yet. I recieved a letter in the mail from Saigon today. In it was a note that if I wanted my wallet bak, call a number. We called and was told that it was found by a very poor person and I could have all of the contents back ( less the money that was in it) if I gave the finder a reward....... Yea right..... I discussed my options with my vietnamese family and a good friend who has seen this happen before. My friend is meeting with the extortionist to give him the 500,000 "reward fo finding my wallet" I wanted to show up with a policeman and put the lowlifes away in prison, but my friends talked me out of it. They were sure that there would be partners watching for this and I would miss my oppotunity to get my id back.

If yo have someboly agressivley approach you this way, try to resist the instinctive reaction of protecting the family jewels, and just punch the person square between the eyes or something else that will knock them away from you I will never make the same mistake again

Owee

www.owee58.com

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g2 … _City.html

I have no doubt about the story, just illustrating how removed the police are from reality.

I remember the case of a businessman a few years ago who was found in the road with only underwear on. He claimed he had been robbed.

Turns out he was picked up by some cross dressers on a motorcycle near his hotel and taken to their place for a 'close encounter'.

Still HCMC is generally safer than Bangkok where ladyboys reign supreme.

Talking about ladyboy.

I was in the Thai embassy in SGN some time ago. In front of me, there was a Vietnamese lady who had problem with the passport. It turned out the lady was a lad before going to BKK to do a sex change ops. When he/she came back, he/she wanted to change the sex in her/his passport to female. It totally confused the local authority. As you could image, its reflex was to kick off a wild paperchase. The poor (now) lady had to get all sorts of paper to prove that she was actually a she!!!.
That included also that she had to go back to BKK to get the certificate that she had an operations there and went to the embassy to get it stamped and the indignity of explaining the situation to all people working in those offices (and those waiting).

Great stories! 

I was shocked when I saw my first transvestite in Vietnam, which was in the Mekong Delta, on my second day in country.

I have a friend who somehow fell off his motorbike, then took a nap on the side of the road.  The police happened upon the scene and recognized him, so they slung him over the back of their bike,then drove him and the bike home!  His landlady tucked him into bed and another day in Vietnam came to a close.

I've been pulled over twice.  Once the incident ended with me teaching them vocabulary that's typically used in police movies, e.g., "Go ahead, make my day."

The other time he asked me where I was from, and as I was telling him all I could think about was the war!  I told him "America" and he said "You go now." I gladly obeyed his command!

First transvestite?

^There are hordes of them and other flavours on the top floor of the Hung Vuong Plaza!

I was taking an elevator down to the parking and a fellow Vietnamese passenger said to me "Don't worry you are not my kind" in perfect English as he fondled his his friend!