Gpanda

Call off the search party, Ekscrunchy has surfaced.

Femi

LOL! Anything to keep the Westeners happy eh?

At least they put the sterilizers to some use, even if it was only storage.

Craig

My goodness! I thought for sure that after 4 months I'd be able to read your complete report from start to finish in one sitting, but nooooo...

This has been wonderful so far but I would really look forward to hearing about the remainder of your time in Vietnam.

ekscrunchy

Sorry this is taking so long...here is the next bit with more to follow soon:





I will digress here to mention that on many evenings, when I showed up at various restaurants in Vietnam (and in China on a previous trip) I would be greeted with puzzlement. “One person???”
“One person, only??” “Single lady??” And, on occasion, “Where mister??” (In Saigon there would be restaurants that would not even accept reservations for one single diner.) So I was not surprised when the hostess at Ha Hoi appeared to be in a mild state of shock when I entered the restaurant and stated that I had a reservation made through the Hilton Hotel. There was much scurrying around and many whispered conversations which, I imagine, took the form of “There is a western tourist. She says she is alone. She has no group!! What do we do with her??” The restaurant appeared to have several dining rooms, either filled with foreign tour groups or, in one case, with local diners. Where to put the lone lady?

I was first offered a small table in a rear corner of the group dining room where all of the other westerners were seated. But I declined that table, fearing that I would be shown some kind variation of the set menus that I had had at other places on days when I was with my guide. What to do? A solution was reached and I was led upstairs by two lovely ladies clad in the traditional ao dais that enhance the beauty of every Vietnamese woman.

I was quite surprised when a door was opened to reveal an elegant mirrored dining room appointed with antiques and lavish floral arrangements, and a long table set for at least 20 diners. But I tried to maintain my cool and took a seat at the head of the table, where I was shown the two menus..the group one and the regular one.

Suffice to say that I enjoyed a very good, if a tad lonely, dinner, waited on by my private serving staff of at least 5 young men and women, two of whom waited in the rear of the room throughout the meal.

This is what I ate:

Lime juice 20,000 VND
Noodles with beef 45,000VND
Grilled king prawns 110,000VND

The total came to 175,000 VND or $11USD. I left a small tip and made my way down the stairs and out the door, only to be followed by one of the ladies who presented me with the tip money. When I asked them to call a taxi, we began to chat a bit as best we could and I ended up spending a good half hour there exchanging a few words with these very friendly young wait staff.

So if you are looking for an upscale dinner in handsome surroundings, I would recommend Ha Hoi, at #4 Ha Hoi Street. Note that a private room is not guaranteed, and that the restaurant is located on a narrow lane that taxis cannot navigate.

The next morning, after breakfast, my guide retreived me from the Hilton and I was driven to the Hanoi airport for the flight to Danang.
More soon…

FromDC

Please, please soon. I can't hold off Vietnamstay any longer with my decision about Life Resort! Today I got an email from Lisa asking if I really wanted to stay there, esp facing the river, because the local authorities are building a road between the hotel and the river, and it could be noisy from road noise. So I NEED your report and advice!

ekscrunchy

Ok. coming soon. It is a very nice hotel. A lot of rooms were damaged by the flooding in late 2007, including many of the river front rooms, I believe. I did not have one of those. My room faced the walkway which, in turn, faced the inner courtyard, so not much of a view but it did not really matter too much. The river would be nicer, of course, but if there is lots of construction noise... It is not a luxury hotel in the Peninsula sense..far from it. But quite nice with a wonderful swimming pool and excellent location at one end of the town.

I will be going there soon, as soon as we make the drive from the Danang airport!

Gpanda

I'm warming up the calculator for the penalty phase. Even Craig, normally the most well-balanced and forgiving of us, has raised the issue.

ekscrunchy

Yes, Craig's comment was not lost on me. I realize that I am in the doghouse. And I also realize that the worse may be yet to come for me. (at least the doghouse has a window)

And so, I will keep plodding on... Just give me one last chance to make things right, Panda!

Nywoman

It has been suggested by Fodorites to shave days off from Hoi An,
on my original itinerary.
Now, really how can I do that without your trip report. It's not fair to ask that of me. I don't know what restaurants, tailors, sites and sights I will be missing.

Panda could you at least do 50 lashes with a wet noodle to get this going.Or may be only cat food in the Dog House.

Gpanda

Fortunately, E has a charming sense of humor. This will come into play in the sentencing phase.

I had the randon thought that maybe the penalty should include a weekend with AskOksana.

Bisbee

For FromDC, the Life Resort is under renovation through August.

FromDC

Yes, I saw that notice on the website for Life Resort. But Lisa was talking about a road - she really seems to be discouraging the hotel and urging us to stay at the beach. I thought Life Resort had the perfect location - we don't feel the need to be at the beach - - but I am not there on the ground and think it is impt to trust the advice of someone who is. But I would like to hear from others who have stayed there!EKS!!!

ekscrunchy

It does have a perfect location. I am amazed that they would actually be cutting a road in back of the hotel next to the river. But why should I be surprised...?!

The place is large enough that I would guess that renovations in one area would not impinge on the quiet throughout the place. Unless they were using some kind of jackhammers...

Be back soon..

ekscrunchy

Anticipating much schlepping of luggage due to the accumulation of large purchases a la my trip to China in 2007, I had booked at business class ticket on Vietnam Airlines from Hanoi to Danang. The supplement was not large but, as it turned out, this had been an unnecessary precaution because I had not purchased all that much by this point in the trip. (certainly nothing near the likes of the acupuncture statue which dogged my travels in China) The business ticket allows entrance into a dedicated lounge, which offers free drinks and fruit, along with spotty internet service on a bank of computers. The Hanoi airport is new and spiffy and appeared to be easy to navigate.

After arrival at Danang, I was picked up by my new guide/driver combo (I would not use the guide servies until I reached Hue, choosing to wander around alone in Hoi An, where no guide is necessary and one would actually be a hindrance) and whisked south through flat countryside dotted with much construction activity, to the Life Resort in Hoi An, which was to be my home for three nights. The preceeding night had been full moon and with it, the entire town of Hoi An is strung with lanterns, cars are banished, and general festivities ensure. I was sorry to have missed this by only one day due to my own oversight.

No matter: It was upon arrival in Danang that I glimpsed by first ray of Vietnamese sunshine of the trip! Hallelullah!

I was allotted Room 310, a superior garden view room, which looks as it does in the photos below:


http://www.life-resorts.com/index.ph...mp;nav3=living


There are no elevators, so people with mobility issues should take note. The rooms, as shown in the photos, is attractive; there is a shower in a small sunken tub and a tv. As reported in reviews of the hotel the mattresses are very firm but the staff, apparently used to complaints from guests, will supply a pillow-top-type topper which enhanced the comfort level substantially. The staff is very friendly and eager to help. There is one computer with internet service in the cafe (more about this later).

Wanting to take full advantage of the sunshine, I headed straight to the pool area. Surrounded by trellises dripping with what looked like morning glory vines in full flower, the pool area is truly beautiful. The pool is large enough for laps and very shallow. The water, however, was very cold. I am not sure exactly what is going on with pools in SE Asia these days, because I had that problem at every pool I swam in. Note to hotel managers: A valuable way to trim energy costs is to forego chilling the pool water! You will make at least one guest very happy in the process. This goes for you, too, over at the Phou Vau in Luang Prabang. Sheraton Saigon: We have already had words about this! I got a few laps in before the sun, alas, slipped behind huge gray clouds, never to be seen again for the duration of my stay in central Vietnam.


Never mind, I had some shopping, wandering, and serious eating to do in Hoi An, and so I got dressed, trying to ignore the rapid deterioration of the climate conditions, and set off for the large new outpost of the much-discussed Yali Tailors, a few short blocks from the Life Resort. I had read much about tailoring in Hoi An and, thinking myself rather fussy when it comes to fabric, sewing, and fit, I decided to forego shopping for bargains and head straight for the place that, by all accounts, is the best in town. Judging from the styles on display in the bargain tailor shops which occupy what seems like every other storefront in the town, I was sure that I was making the correct choice. Or at least, avoiding the incorrect choices.

ekscrunchy

Just outside the Life Resort is a small kiosk with soft drinks and another which operates as a base for a lovely woman who will wash your laundry for far less than the hotel prices. A short walk away, Yaly Tailors occupies two floors of a modern commercial building. (There is another, older location elsewhere in town) The workshops are on the ground floor; try to catch a glimpse even if this is discouraged.

The second floor showrooms boast rack after rack of ready made clothing and shelf upon shelf of fabric bolts. It can be a bit overwhelming and I had to remind myself to keep focused. I strongly recommend that you bring items and have them copied, rather than attempt to have clothing made from scratch. I was not overly impressed by the styling of the ready-made items, but that just boils down to personal taste. The fabrics run the gamut from good-quality silks to cheap-looking synthetics. They have both Thai and Vietnamese silks, in various permutations…charmeuse, brocades, raw silk, faux shantung, etc Remember that you do not have to limit yourself to clothing..I am sure that the tailors below would be adept at pillows and other home furnishings items. Do not leave anything to chance, no matter what you choose. Be specific about buttons, stitching, pockets, seams, collars, etc. Make sure to leave time for a minimum of two fittings. In addition to the clothing I had made, I had them do some hemming of pajama bottoms and shortening of shirt sleeves. All in all, I would say that I was quite pleased with the results, especially the items that I had copied. These were 2 copies of a loose, vaguely kimono-style jacket from Eileen Fisher that I had brought from home. I had them made in both scarlet and brown Vietnamese silk (Chinoiserie design in the same color as the silk). Less successful was a long, mandarin-collared coat in burgundy raw silk copied from a newspaper photo. The way the fabric drapes on this one is a little problematic (I should have had a lining made, perhaps) I also ordered a mandarin-collared short-sleeved silk shirt from a model in the store. The total for these items, plus the small alterations on my own clothes, was $165US. As I mentioned, it is instructive to visit the workshop downstairs which appears to run around the clock. My salesgirl (foreign languages are spoken in a limited way by most of the staff) was very excited to be able to take a 5-day Tet holiday. The salesgirls get two days off per month and one full week each year. Some of them have college educations.

I will be happy to go into further detail about the tailoring situation in Hoi An, so please ask!

After dropping off my clothing to be copies, and choosing the designs to be made, I turned my thoughts to dinner and set off, walking west along one of two parallel main streets, bound for the Café des Amis, on the opposite side of Hoi An.

ekscrunchy

Here is the website of Yaly with the photo on the home page showing the original location in Hoi An:





http://www.yalycouture.com/Index.asp

Nywoman

EKS, your report is as usual wonderful. Yes I want to hear all about the tailoring. I had my wedding dress made in Bangkok in 1964 and was very pleased with the result. It was not a traditional gown, it was a short dress with a jacket very 60's and I loved it.

Doubt very much that I will bring anything to be copied, since I am planning on traveling very light.
Famous last words, who knows what I will end up packing.

ekscrunchy

I am glad you are enjoying, even given the stop-and-start nature of this thing! NYW: I would have loved to have seen that wedding dress! I am not sure if my memory has faded, my standards of higher, or a combination of both, but I seem to remember that tailoring in Bangkok is of a higher quality than that in Vietnam, based on just the tiny sampling of work I had done on this trip in Hoi An. (As compared with items I had done in Bangkok many years ago..) I would rather go with lower expectations and be happily surprised than to expect a really fine product and be disappointed. As I said, it worked out quite well and certainly for far less than I would have paid at home! I, too, did not want to schlep stuff to have copied and you need to travel much lighter than I did..a dilemma, but not a bad one to have to consider, right?

And I bet that your Mandarin vocabulary is not limited to 3 words! Come to think of it, the tailoring in Beijing was good quality, too, but I paid a higher price there than I did in Hoi An. I did not have anything made in Shanghai because I had no sources that I trusted (I did not ask about that here on Fodors..)

But now that I have chowed down over a plate of xlb with Shanghainese....I expect to be privy to the best insider spots for tailoring and eating, as well as shopping, on my next trip!!

Bisbee

I think the reason the pool was so cool in Hoi An was because of the excessive rainfall and the Sheraton because it gets limited sunshine (same issue with the SGS in BKK). I would be very surprised if any hotels were chilling their pool water. I have the exact opposite problem at my house. The water is so warm, it's really not very refreshing to use the pool except in the evenings when the water/air temperature are similar.

ekscrunchy

Bisbee I don't know the answer to this, but the pool at Peninsula Bangkok also was much colder than the air was at night. Because of this, I am pretty sure that there is some kind of cooling system in place at some of these luxury hotels. I would be very interested to know if this is, in fact, the case, and why.. The people at the Sheraton Saigon indicated to me that they did use some kind of cooling procedure.. How could we find out more about this??