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[The Internationalist]

Any nightlife experts can give me the lowdown on the best places to check out? By best I mean the places with the most girls and fun/lively atmosphere.

Cheers

[sigmoid]

The "dearth" of responses "speaks volumes".

You must be thinking about Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Shanghai, etc.

Vietnamese are very hard-working people who reverently respect their ancestors and go to bed early. Much of the city is a ghost town by 9:00 pm.

VNese women live with their parents until they get married.

The govt kindly opened a few bars so tourists would have somewhere to have a drink or two.

You might try those, or go to a different country?

[Professional TEFLer]

[toiyeuthitmeo]

Nightlife exists, and is dependent upon your tastes and means. The backpacker ghetto of Pham Ngu Lao is heaving with travellers and city-based expats alike, at all hours of the night. There are very cheap plastic chair street beer joints on Bui Vien street where 10.000-20.000 will get you a beer. There are a handful of bars-- more than a few of the hostess variety-- in this area as well. Boston Sports Bar, the Crazy Buffalo, and Go 2 Bar are the stalwarts, though many expats stay away from these places as they can get messy in a number of ways. There is a popular pub quiz which is frequented by many teachers from across many schools, which I believe is run on Thursday nights at the Spotted Cow on Bui Vien. Classy the PNL is not, by any stretch of the imagination, though there is a rooftop bar at Duc Vuong hotel towards the end of Bui Vien Street which offers a respite from the grime of the street and nice views at decent prices.

If you want to blast your way to the pinnacle of ostentation, the Chill SkyBar, 20-some floors atop the AB Tower near the New World Hotel in D1, has stunning views of the city and features a clientele of the monied elite. If you have some money to burn it can be a great night. Dress code in effect up there-- absolutely no backpacker or slovenly teacher style accepted. You will see amazing women in this place, but you'll have to bring your A game in many senses.

There is a new-ish venue in District 4 right over the bridge from D1 called Cargo Bar, which often hosts live music (Turtle Giant and the Cribs are two upcoming shows) or DJs playing Western tunes such as soul/motown or indie stuff. It seems to be favored by expats and often stays open quite late. The music is not of the throbbing, deafening variety you find at most Vietnamese discos, either.

Some other popular night spots for the hip young expat and Vietnamese alike include Decibel, Acoustic, and the expat-owned Broma. All have web presence if you care to search.

Apocalypse Now, or "Apo" as the locals call it, is still drawing the crowds until the early morning. It is a Vietnamese disco/club/bar crawling with tourists, young Vietnamese, men and women on the prowl, and many folks of dubious intention looking to make various exchanges.

Finally you can get Vietnamese style with it. Popular night activities include karaoke, sitting and jawing at late night eateries/beer joints, and discos. Karaoke can be a blast with the right crew, and most places feature a decent selection of Western tunes.

Enjoy and be safe-- it can get rough out there. Especially be careful with spirits as fake booze is quite a real problem and can downright kill you.

[Tigerstyleone]

[1st Sgt Welsh]

There are no shortage of places in Saigon to wet your whistle and, despite what sigmoid says, I think the nightlife here is pretty good . In regards to night clubs, I'm not a big fan of them and never was. I prefer pubs where you can just sit around, chew the fat with your friends and maybe watch a game or shoot some pool.

The Pham has been mentioned on this thread and I personally can't stand the Crazy Buffalo or Go2. I just find the music too predictable and the staff too pushy. I quite like the Spotted Cow though.

There are a few good sports bars dotted around the place. Phatty's is perhaps the best known, although there are quite a few OK bars on that street. A lot of people also head to the Spotted Cow to watch sport. If you wind up in District 7/Phu My Hung, you could do worse than spend an evening at Harry Casuals and that's sort of become mine and quite few people I work with's preferred local watering hole. As far as I know, there are two proper Irish bars in Saigon, [the one at the quiet end of Bui Vien Street, IMHO, doesn't count], and I also quite like Sheridans and O'Brien's.

The Emergency Room and Number 5 Bar, both very close to each other and in District 1, are also very popular with certain male expats and, if you walk in there, I think you'll understand why.

[lenny321]

I'm very very far from an expert on that subject, and also more of a "pub guy", just keep that in mind (I hate dancing).

Lush is crowded on certain days. I know a guy who went there every Tuesday (ladies' night). The crowd is mixed (VN and foreigners). What I like about the place is that you can move around between different areas/rooms.

A bit more upscale/exclusive are places like Vascos or Blanchy's Tash.

PS: I don't think that all girls in Saigon live with their parents until they get married, as was suggested above. Many young people are from other parts of Vietnam, so they often live in shared flats. Many (or probably even most) of them don't go partying, that's true, but some of them do.

[ExpatLuke]

Night clubs in Vietnam are nothing like clubs in most places. Most of the girls in the clubs are prostitutes who will go home with you for some cash. I've been to clubs in the US, Japan, and Korea, and in those places they're a good place to go to have some fun, meet some new people, etc... but here you just go to clubs if you want to find a hooker.

Of course, there might be some proper clubs in the bigger cities, but it's quite doubtful you'll meet a normal girl in club in Vietnam.

[mark_in_saigon]