Customer Reviews

The Men of Viet Nam: A Travel Guide to Gay Viet Nam

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

If this book is still available, I hope there is a more recent edition than the one I bought back in 1999.

The book was useful about customs and lifestyle in Vietnam. However, if you plan to travel there, you will need other travel books as well. This only covers Hanoi and Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).

A lot of the bar information in the book is no longer accurate. Things have changed a lot since 1999. Sam Son's is no longer open. And, information about places in Ha Noi is no longer up to date.

I think your best option is to hit the Internet prior to your visit and go to online chat places such as [...] and vietfun.com to meet guys in Vietnam in advance of your visit.

If you are thinking about this for "gay" infomation, forget it. The locations and venues listed for Siagon were completely out of date. I looked for most and only one was still open. The Vietnamese men I met told me the others had all been closed for "quite some time".... The information on visas and immigration and customs were wrong, I got my visa in one day and picked it up in Vietnam at the airport with a $20 extra charge. No problems with customs, no need to have multiple photos etc etc. Had I not read this book I would have planned a much longer stay in this beautiful country. Other suggestions in the book, i.e. visit the US embassy were equally out of date - it was torn down years ago! [In] reference to using Utopia tours...I found the prices for their tours significantly higher than elsewhere available in Bangkok and much higher than those available in Vietnam, where I made mine to my great satisfaction. Lastly, the "update" page on the internet was never available and emails to Floating Lotus went unanswered. Buy the Lonely Planet and enjoy your trip.

This fairly small volume arrived just before I visited Viet Nam for the first time, and added greatly to my enjoyment and understanding of this beautiful country, its people and culture. It is especially useful in assisting the gay visitor who is interested in linking up with Vietnamese guys, in both Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and Hanoi. The volume is patterned after the style of the famous "Men of Thailand" guide.

Inevitably, as in all such guidebooks, some of the specifics, such as gay-friendly bars or cafes, are no longer accurate by the time the ink dries. Nevertheless, this has much valuable practical information, and is written from the perspective of a genuine friend of the Vietnamese.

I sense disappointment among some of my fellow reviewers. My guess is that none of them have ever been to Viet Nam. What they seem to overlook are the strong points of this book: The desire filled sensitivity which the author uses in dealing with the subject. This should ideally rub off on the caring reader. Then there are the little lessons that are meant to prepare us for our visit ("The Fragile Vietnamese Heart"). The travel diary pages are another form of teaching us valuable lessons. It is important to look deeper here and not just expect a listing of all the latest happening places. With things changing so fast (raids still happen here), no print guide can ever claim to be up to date anyway. The Western view of a gay subculture doesn't (yet?) exist in Viet Nam. This country and her people deserve the insightful teachings that are contained in this book.

This book constantly compares itself to MEN OF THAILAND, but it is a pale shadow of that outstanding work. Thompson's book is long on fantasy accounts of his amorous adventures and short on information about gay sites - even being coy and saying he can't reveal some because friends want to keep the secrets to themselves! His attempts to introduce Vietnamese culture are weak at best, with none of the finesse of MoT. Internet sites give far more information and with greater clarity. Bummer!