Sunday 24 June
It's the last day of our beach holiday. We've absolutely loved it here - the professionalism and genuine friendliness of the staff, the fabulous breakfast, the bathroom as big as a bedroom, with bath plus overhead shower, plus additional shower cubicle... the massive washbasin area, with all the complimentary shampoos and lotions. We loved that arrangement of flowers (containing apricot roses) and the bowl of fruit that arrived on the first day, the patio overlooking the lazy river, the comfortable beds, the fast wifi .... the fact that every evening a member of staff rang our doorbbell, and handed us a a rolled up piece of A4 paper and said, "Your Vietnamese story, Madam". Each piece of paper told a different Vietnamese folk story.
We only ate in the restaurant twice as it was very expensive (just down the road is a local village, with a streetful of very reasonably priced Vietnamese restaurants) - but the hotel restaurant is lovely, because it overlooks the river. Every evening at 7.30 pm, 3 small boats take to the river, and two people in each boat put candles in coloured containers into the water. The current spreads the candles out into a myriad of twinkling, magical fairy lights, glowing on the water, until the flow of the river brings the candle holders to rest, one by one, against a wooden barrage on one side of the river, where they are collected by the people in the boats.
We've loved the white sandy private beach, just a few metres from our room, where we are handed towels when we arrive, and where we've sat on sunbeds every afternoon, sipping our Lipton's Yellow Label black tea from our plastic cups, poured from our little thermos flask, and Reg has listened to his music, and read his book, and I've read my kindle ... and we've swum in the warm seawater, watching people go speedboating or paragliding.
Most of all we've enjoyed the warmth of the sun at about 33 -35 deg C (fine when you're on holiday and haven't got to work in it ) with a light warm breeze on the beach, hardly moving the leaves of the palm trees behind us. We've been grateful for the comfort of air-conditioning in our room, too.
I mentioned earlier in the blog that we were in a beach bungalow - actually I've taken the trouble to look up (I'm the most unobservant person in the world) and realise that our building is 2 storey and there is an apartment above us; but we haven't noticed anyone staying there this week.
I've given this description in case anyone is planning a holiday to Vietnam - for us, it's been the ideal environment.
We have to return to Hoi An town on the shuttle bus on this our last day because we think Reg has left his sunhat and reading glasses in a cafe in the town - actually we find he left them on the shuttle bus! But it's nice to have one last cappuccino (and Lipton's Yellow Label black tea for Reg) in our favourite cafe/restaurant, called the "Before 'n Now".
We enjoy our beautiful beach for one last afternoon, and in the evening make some phone calls home. Yesterday we phoned our daughter Elaine and her boyfriend Jake for a catchup; today we phone our son George and his fiancee Marianne, my sister Heather and Reg's brother Geoff and his wife Rose. My brother Jeremy will be next on the list!!
It's good to hear voices from home; emails are great, but there's nothing like the real thing. We're surprised that the credit left on Reg's phone (about £7), with it's Vietnamese simcard lasts out, with some still to spare.
I pack up my case, aware that we will need to redistribute the weight of our luggage (probably will have to buy another holdall) if we are to manage the weight restrictions of Quatar airlines when we fly home from Singapore on 27 July. My weight gauge hook tells me that my case is 2 kilos overweight. We may even send more stuff home.
We set the alarm on my Orange mobile for 1.45 am (that's all it's useful for, as we haven't had a signal since the Ukraine - it would be too expensive to use anyway). Why 1.45 am? Reg wants to watch the England match, and that's the time it's on over here. I sleep with my eyes covered to block out the flashing of the television screen. In the morning I'm disappointed to learn that England lost on penalties, even though I'm not really a football fan.
It's the last day of our beach holiday. We've absolutely loved it here - the professionalism and genuine friendliness of the staff, the fabulous breakfast, the bathroom as big as a bedroom, with bath plus overhead shower, plus additional shower cubicle... the massive washbasin area, with all the complimentary shampoos and lotions. We loved that arrangement of flowers (containing apricot roses) and the bowl of fruit that arrived on the first day, the patio overlooking the lazy river, the comfortable beds, the fast wifi .... the fact that every evening a member of staff rang our doorbbell, and handed us a a rolled up piece of A4 paper and said, "Your Vietnamese story, Madam". Each piece of paper told a different Vietnamese folk story.
We only ate in the restaurant twice as it was very expensive (just down the road is a local village, with a streetful of very reasonably priced Vietnamese restaurants) - but the hotel restaurant is lovely, because it overlooks the river. Every evening at 7.30 pm, 3 small boats take to the river, and two people in each boat put candles in coloured containers into the water. The current spreads the candles out into a myriad of twinkling, magical fairy lights, glowing on the water, until the flow of the river brings the candle holders to rest, one by one, against a wooden barrage on one side of the river, where they are collected by the people in the boats.
We've loved the white sandy private beach, just a few metres from our room, where we are handed towels when we arrive, and where we've sat on sunbeds every afternoon, sipping our Lipton's Yellow Label black tea from our plastic cups, poured from our little thermos flask, and Reg has listened to his music, and read his book, and I've read my kindle ... and we've swum in the warm seawater, watching people go speedboating or paragliding.
Most of all we've enjoyed the warmth of the sun at about 33 -35 deg C (fine when you're on holiday and haven't got to work in it ) with a light warm breeze on the beach, hardly moving the leaves of the palm trees behind us. We've been grateful for the comfort of air-conditioning in our room, too.
I mentioned earlier in the blog that we were in a beach bungalow - actually I've taken the trouble to look up (I'm the most unobservant person in the world) and realise that our building is 2 storey and there is an apartment above us; but we haven't noticed anyone staying there this week.
I've given this description in case anyone is planning a holiday to Vietnam - for us, it's been the ideal environment.
We have to return to Hoi An town on the shuttle bus on this our last day because we think Reg has left his sunhat and reading glasses in a cafe in the town - actually we find he left them on the shuttle bus! But it's nice to have one last cappuccino (and Lipton's Yellow Label black tea for Reg) in our favourite cafe/restaurant, called the "Before 'n Now".
We enjoy our beautiful beach for one last afternoon, and in the evening make some phone calls home. Yesterday we phoned our daughter Elaine and her boyfriend Jake for a catchup; today we phone our son George and his fiancee Marianne, my sister Heather and Reg's brother Geoff and his wife Rose. My brother Jeremy will be next on the list!!
It's good to hear voices from home; emails are great, but there's nothing like the real thing. We're surprised that the credit left on Reg's phone (about £7), with it's Vietnamese simcard lasts out, with some still to spare.
I pack up my case, aware that we will need to redistribute the weight of our luggage (probably will have to buy another holdall) if we are to manage the weight restrictions of Quatar airlines when we fly home from Singapore on 27 July. My weight gauge hook tells me that my case is 2 kilos overweight. We may even send more stuff home.
We set the alarm on my Orange mobile for 1.45 am (that's all it's useful for, as we haven't had a signal since the Ukraine - it would be too expensive to use anyway). Why 1.45 am? Reg wants to watch the England match, and that's the time it's on over here. I sleep with my eyes covered to block out the flashing of the television screen. In the morning I'm disappointed to learn that England lost on penalties, even though I'm not really a football fan.
No comments:
Post a Comment