To attract more customers and bring in more money, many cafés in Ho Chi Minh city now add a side service to their menus: sexual stimulation of all kinds.

Flourishing especially in outskirt districts like Binh Tan or Tan Phu, these coffee shops are busiest when darkness falls, from 7pm to midnight every day.

With a mere VND 100,000 – 120,000, drinks will be served and other additional services of sexual stimulation by young female attendants will be readily available upon request.

However, it is an unwritten rule that sexual intercourse is not welcomed there.

Early evening last week, our reporter went to Cam Hong, a café in Tan Phu district, among half a dozen others sprouting in a small, short street.

Stepping inside the place, we were instantly struck by a blatant scene — a young female attendant was sitting on a male guest’s lap and busily “discovering” various sensitive spots on his body with her hands.

He too was eagerly responding to her solicitations, and the two soon cuddled up each other right at their table, next to the front door where guests kept walking in and out.

Thirty minutes passed, the couple stood up and headed to the shop’s bathroom area.

After a while, he walked out, fixed his hair, got on his bike and left.

All around us, other couples were giggling, kissing and touching each other passionately.

If guests are shy, shop owners here can be very considerate; they place two pots of trees beside every table to deter curious looks.

Thus, a telltale sign to identify these lustful cafes for new customers are the two pots of bonsai coconut trees placed at their doors, a local told us.

“They are also usually dark, and have a rather low veranda,” he said.

Keeping these details in mind, we rode through the city toward District 8, into Pham The Hien street, where there are more than 20 small cafes of this kind.

Although it was 12 noon, inside Café 634, the place we chose was almost pitch-black.

It was only dimly lighted, enough for guests to see and choose their attendants.

One of them came right to us when we entered the place, reeking of the smell of cheap perfume.

“A massage costs VND 90,000, drinks are covered,” she said. “If you are okay, let’s go to the first floor.”

The “massage” room, as she put it, was a small 15 meter-square room divided into three by hanging curtains. Guests can choose to lie down, on a dirty ragged woven mat, or sit in an armchair.

Pulling the curtains down, the attendant opened a pack of wet tissue, wiped my face, unbuttoned my shirt and said, “You’ve got only 20 minutes, so you had better hurry up.”

From the adjacent “room” next to us came a strange, heavy breathing and sighing sound.

Source: NLD/Tuoi Tre