Vietnamese people do not mess around when it comes to dealing with Westerners. The Vietnamese men, women and westerners have very different goals when in HCMC. The Vietnamese, of course, have the upper hand from being in home territory. It creates confusion for the westerners, who believe that their first world status can give them access to everything. When it comes to Vietnamese men, the Westerners think they’ll be able to trick these 3^rd world countrymen into doing what they want but get ultimately blindsided by Vietnamese men’s self-confidence and patriotism. When it comes to Vietnamese women, they think they’re just getting a paid session for sex but in reality, the women are plotting how to get the most money from them.

Vietnamese men use the space as a center for business deals and use the women to sweeten the pot. They try to dominate/ shame Westerners in different ways, asserting their own dominance in their home country. They prefer cash over credit, credit being a very Western monetary system. Essentially saying “I have disposable income readily available, unlike you”. The Vietnamese also make Westerners stand in line for these bars and clubs but allow Vietnamese clientele to go right into the clubs, showing that Westerners are secondary players. They even go so far as to invite Westerners to meetings, knowing they’ll say no to show dominance and that Vietnam doesn’t need them. Vietnamese men aim to show off Vietnam’s wealth and ascendancy in the global economy, finding it necessary to lower Westerners in order to drive that point home. With the Western and Vietnamese men clashing, it creates a sort of “pissing contests” in Vietnam: which region’s men will come out on top.

Vietnamese women use the space and their physical appearance in sexual transactions. For these women, prostitution is much better than working in a factory, which is where they would be since the vast majority of them are from poor rural families. This profession allows them to become breadwinners, something that is not very traditional but much more liberating for them. They take advantage of Westerners fetishizing them due to the shift of the racialized dynamic of Western dominance. They are able to form paid relationships with these Westerners, posing as “girlfriends” to accompany them to events and on vacations. They can ask for gifts to sell them on the black market, to openly ask for money to help them in fake crises. When Western men and Vietnamese women come together, they play damsels in distress and wrap the Westerners around their fingers.

The Vietnamese broker power, developing a reputation to uplift HCMC. As a secondary global city because of its travel destination and sex markets, the Vietnamese seeks to put HCMC on the primary global map. With these different bars, they cater to niche groups, increasing reputation and ability to play in global market. They create a certain kind of presence of self that is dependent on producing a shifting of racialized order, playing the role of underdogs in order to surprisingly come out on top. Vietnamese men are even crafting new forms of masculinity, where the Vietnamese born get the most beautiful women in these bars. They are trying to commodify all things Vietnamese, something they view as necessary for global respectability.