Directions for this place:
Go to West lake, pass by the Sofitel and the Sheraton; as soon as you have passed by the Sheraton, turn left and & pass by Sheraton’s second entry. Go on and take the third street to the left (after the Golden resort). Proceed in this street for 300 m, and then the street name changes to: Ngo 52 Duong To Ngoc Van.
Then you have arrived and will see some men sitting on the street in front of houses (former small hotels? ) and waving you in. And then you just mention bum-bum and settle for the price and choose your girl.
Prices: as I said: it should be around 300. 000 – 400. 000 VND for short time! “
The above was posted recently on another forum on the Vietnam – Hanoi Thread and I was curious to check out validity and exact location during a short Hanoi stopover.
Since I had rented a bike for the next 24 hours, I proceeded to ride to the location of the Sheraton and followed the directions as closely as I could.
I started to doubt the directions when I could not find the “Golden Resort”.
I went up and down that road just pass the Sheraton’s 2nd entry point twice.
Finally, I decided to do a road count and take the third street after the entrance of the Sheraton while ignoring smaller turn offs and there it was – “Duong To Ngoc Van” road!
So HERE ARE THE NEW DIRECTIONS AS CLEAR AS I CAN WRITE THEM:
"Turn off the main road toward the second entrance of the Sheraton (coming from the Sofitel).
Go past that 2nd entrance.
Go past the Fraser's Suite building.
Go past the road where there is a signboard for the Ho Tay Resort.
Take the next turning left (3rd road after 2nd entrance of Sheraton). That is Duong To Ngoc Van Road."
Continuation of FR -
Halfway down that road, the men sitting under open umbrellas outside small “hotels” waved away at me as I rode by.
I did not want to partake as I dislike ST action on premise myself.
The style of this place had great similarities to the set up of the ST places in “Doson near Haiphong” which I reported on previously. https://www.clubhombre.com/discus/messages/1718/1718.html
My objective was to locate the BBS places for other mongers looking for affordable ST in Hanoi.
The result is that I did not determine prices as posted nor check out the quality of the girls. It was also quite early at 2pm and I did not think the best talents would be on show as at that time.
My take is that if a foreigner came without speaking Vietnamese, those prices would be valid. Going by what was being charged in Doson, my own belief is that prices should be somewhere in the region of 200,00 to 300,000 for ST maximum. Perhaps a Viet speaking monger will be able to verify my “speculation”.
At the end of this road, you have a kind of restaurant and just before that, a modern terrace restaurant called “Phuong Quyen” with a large 2nd floor terrace overlooking the Lake.
My thoughts are that if you are going with a taxi, you should give the name of this restaurant (Phuong Quyen), and the name of the road “Duong To Ngoc Van” and let him take you there and drop off at the restaurant. You will have passed the BBS places when you arrive at the restaurant.
Go to the restaurant to enjoy a beer and the view of the Lake to shake off the taxi driver. (This because I dislike the leeching behaviors of taxi drivers most places and their commission demanding ways!)
After your drink by which time you should be rid of him (hopefully), you walk back to the BBS places and partake of the choices available at the best prices without commission!
If you are riding a bike like me, you would pass the 2nd entrance of the Sheraton, pass the Fraser’s Suite building, the road junction of the Ho Tay Resort and enter the next road which would be “Duong To Ngoc Van”.
My nokia map for Hanoi (as for Ho Chi Minh City) does not have up to date road details unlike the excellent details for much of the rest of Asia!
Nevertheless, I was able to lock in the location and coordinates for other mongers to use. 21.0691 degrees N and 105.8241 degrees E.
Posted here are some of the relevant pictures to get you there!
Have fun and post your FRs.
(Message edited by crazier on June 27, 2008)
(Message edited by crazier on June 27, 2008)