Hue

The time is going so fast, we are now at Hue, which is wonderfully peaceful and relaxed after the frenetic pace of Hanoi.


We are staying at the Pilgrimage Village boutique resort and spa. It is so peaceful, and the staff are so attentive. Every time I arrive for breakfast I have my own personal waitress who comes over to me, escorts me to my table, pulls out my chair and makes sure that I have everything I need. Each time I get up to the buffet she grabs my plate and she puts the food on the plate for me and assures me that there is no seafood in this dish. I wanted some toast, she made it for me, put my butter and honey in little dishes and brought it back to the table for me. None of the other ladies are getting this wonderful service. I am feeling very pampered and special.

It is now 1pm. We have been out on the tour bus this morning and visited a couple of King’s Tombs and a Budhist Pagoda, and seen how inscense sticks are made, and in half an hour I am booked for a treatment at the spa. I am having an aromatherapy facial and a foot reflexology, about $45 US.

I have a room to myself here, for which I am very grateful. It means I can just soak up the tranquility and enjoy at my own pace. It was wonderful sharing a room with Dianne in Hanoi, she is well travelled and a fountain of knowledge and we shared many stories, but this place is one to enjoy in solitude. Time for me to reflect and ponder, and maybe even think about what I am going to do when I get home, and where my next holiday will be.

It is great to be connected to the world again, although this new word programme is taking some getting used to. This morning I typed for about half an hour and did the whole catch up from Hanoi to here, and then Windows decided to do an automatic update and shut the computer down and I lost the lot. So now I have to go back and start all over again. Never mind, good practice and exercise for my fingers!!!

I have just had a very light lunch in my room – there is a complimentary fruit bowl – a mango, an orange and another fruit with big black seeds and a skin a bit like a potato skin, with a flesh somewhere between a nashi (but not that crunchy) and a melon. Quite nice, although I don’t think I would bother buying one. Especially not when the mangoes are so nice – big and juicy and very sweet. A different flavour to the Peruvian or Argentinian ones we get at home – but of course that may be because these ones are so fresh. The pineapples here are very tiny, but very yummy as well.

Well, must take a break, go have a quick shower and head for my spa treatment.

I am back from my treatment – it was amazing. I had this delightful young man and he gave me a facial – an aromatherapy vitalising facial which lasted 60 minutes. I was a little taken aback when he asked me to take off my top and then my bra, but he stood discretely behind the big towel he was holding and then as I lay down he put the towel over me. He massaged my scalp, and my upper chest and shoulders, the back of my neck and applied a variety of lotions and potions to my face. I tell you I look twenty years younger – well at least I should after all that. The massage part was very similar to the Shiatsu type massage I get at home, and he certainly managed to find the tight and tender knots in the back of my neck. After all of that he then proceeded to do a foot reflexology for another 30 minutes. How heavenly. Wouldn’t mind bringing him home with me, and the little girl who has been serving me my breakfast – her name is Hoahi. They are such beautiful, calm and serene people, always smiling and everytime you pass them in the grounds they smile and greet you. Their English is very good, until you ask them something – they have obviously been trained to say what they need to say to you but haven’t learnt the art of general conversation. But then I guess they have lots of different nationalities staying here so they have had to learn lots of other languages as well.

Yesterday morning we got off the overnight train from Hanoi and were met and transferred to the spa hotel by bus. We have a new guide here, a lady called Van who will be our guide until we leave Hoi An. After a late breakfast we had time for a bit of rest before we headed out for a tour of the city, The Imperial Citadel and the Pagoda. Unfortunately we missed the daily Budhist prayer recital by the monks but we got to see them preparing for their dinner. What an amazingly serene place, and they all looked so calm and happy. The little novice boys start there as early as seven years old. From there we got on a boat for a trip down the Perfume River as the sun was going down. The city is busy preparing for Budha’s birthday in four days time and there were seven huge water lilies floating in the river, which we saw later all lit up, but unfortunately weren’t able to take a photo of them lit. The usual sellers were on board the boat and I bought a pair of baggy black pants for $8. Everything is so cheap, I should have brought an empty suitcase and a bigger wallet!!

I am starting to feel much better, although being very gentle on my tummy so I didn’t eat too much of the meal at dinner time. They bring out the hugest meals – mine was a very thick creamy vegetable soup which would have been enough for me without anything else, so I only ate a tiny bit of it. My main course was chicken with buttered vegetable sticks and rice. It was very delicious but I only ate a tiny bit of it, and my poor waitress and waiter were so concerned that I didn’t like it or it wasn’t good enough and it was really hard explaining that I only wanted a tiny portion. Dessert was a tapioca and banana pudding which was very yummy. Again I washed it all down with the local beer, which is very good.

I had intended staying up to listen to the pianist playing in the bar from 8.30pm to 10pm but again I was absolutely shattered. This heat is very draining, and so I came back to the cool of my room and did a bit of my blog, but my eyes were closing, so I climbed into the huge big bed and again, as soon as my head hit the pillow I was asleep and didn’t wake until 6.00am.

But the good news is – today I feel absolutely great. Back to normal. Most of the girls have had a touch of the belly ache – I was lucky no cramps.

Today we – woops I’ve just noticed that I have already told you what we did today – but because I have had such a problem with this wee computer, I am not even going to try and cut and paste in case I loose it all. At the moment, touch wood, it is working, it is staying compatible and I will continue for as long as I can without trying anything fancy.

It is 4.43 pm, and we are having another thunder storm. It is raining quite heavily and we are due to meet at 5.30pm to go on the shuttle bus to the market and then out for dinner. At least it might cool down a bit now.

And now that I have managed to type up these blog pages, Blogger is down. I can get into my gmail and xtra to get the news, but Blogger are doing maintenance, so hopefully I can post these pages tonight when I get home.

Hard to believe that the first week is over already. The time has gone so fast.

Catch you all later.