I once met an American who regularly did business in Vietnam and claimed to get rid of jet lag from his flight from Seattle by having a shower, a massage and a sauna (in some order) as soon as he arrived.
Showers help. But a sauna? Vietnam is a sauna. Why pay for one that is indoors? Walk outdoor and you are in a sauna.
A massage might help, but usually I save that for right before I leave, after I have been in cars and on motorbikes that may or may not need new shock absorbers. I once went to a place recommended by the hotel I was staying at: the place offering massages was next to the hotel, upstairs and at the back of a bar. The masseuse walked on my back and I lived to tell about it, but since then I have chosen to go to the spa at the Ho Chi Minh City Sheraton which--no surprise!--has Western city prices and standards of cleanliness. Appropriately, it is on Dong Khoi, basically Ho Chi Minh City's Fifth Avenue, and as far as I can see, the place offers a range of standard good-for-your health massages, not what some apparently do call "happy massage".
But next to my usual hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Lan Lan 2, is Kelly Hotel, a place that I imagine is much like Lan Lan 2, give or take, with forty or so dollar rooms, including breakfast. But at the door to Kelly Hotel--in essence, downstairs from reception and at street level--used to be a Foot and Fish Massage place.
Did I go? No. First, even the modest foot massage as part of a basic pedicure makes my feet twitch. Second, although I like the idea of little fish nibbling the callouses and dead skin off my feet--I mean, it does seem environmentally sound--I had to wonder how often the water is changed and what diseases (parasites?) the cute little fishies could transmit as they munch away--and what human-to-human diseases might be lurking in the water as well.
Fish are for eating.
Finally: fish are for eating.
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