Glen: 4th October – Hue, Vietnam
You know how the other day we were saying the people in Hanoi kept a straight face and didn’t smile or engage with us, (or each other) well we’ve now moved south to Hue, which is roughly half way down the Vietnamese coast, and checked into a lovely hotel. It’s about a 700km journey but it could be another world. The people in the restaurants smile and invite us in and are ultra polite. They ask us our names and want to know where we’re staying and for how long etc It’s like we’re back in Bali but these people seem to be trying too hard (I know, they can’t win with us, they were too sad now they’re too happy!)
Our hotel in Hue was only built three months ago and on trip advisor it gets a 100% rating! We were a little suspicious (yes, we’re cynical as well) but the hotel was lovely, possible the best to date and all for £15.50 a night including fruit, water and coffee in our room and a delicious multi choice breakfast which was as good as any in you get in London.
When we arrived by taxi and walked up to the main hotel door, two, yes two not one, doormen opened the perfectly polished glass doors and before we’d even crossed the threshold they were pealing our backpacks off our backs with broad smiles and welcoming words.
We approached the reception desk where three receptionists greeted us with big smiles and questions about our welfare. I was just about to hand over our passports when they ushered us to a table and set down a dish of pealed dragon fruit, melon, apple and passion fruit plus an orange drink and a cold flannel.
Two staff then proceeded to ask us where we were from, how was our journey, what do we plan to do today, how long do we intend to stay here, how long are we in Vietnam, etc, etc, etc! They then asked for our passports which in Vietnam they keep for twenty four hours, not here, they were returned to me in twenty four seconds. They had already taken our backpacks to our room and now one of the smiling ‘Stepford Wives’ was escorting us to our room. Our room was immaculate and Ms Stepford proceeded to show us every convenience therein. She then reversed out of our room doing a sort of curtsey and smiling all the way.
After freshening up we decided to venture out. We were greeted by a member of staff on leaving the lift and as we left our key at reception the six, yes six, smiling staff proceeded again to say thank you and ask where are you going, have a nice time, see you later, enjoy yourselves etc, etc, etc. the two doormen then jumped up smiling and opened both glass doors and said good bye, see you later. We left the hotel with stitch in our smile muscles.
When we came back a bit later we went through all the above but in reverse.
After a lovely quiet nights sleep, no dogs barking, cockerels crowing or the sound of morning prayers here, we ventured down to breakfast. As we walked to our table we were warmly greeted by all four waitresses with a smile and in unison they said in a ultra happy way “Good Morning” The menu was brought and ‘Julie’ introduced herself to us (we didn’t think that was here real name!) Then ‘Julie’ asked our names and after various pronunciations she correctly repeated both. I said sorry my name is difficult to pronounce and with a sort of frown she said “no not difficult” She said it in a way that seemed to say nothing you could ask for or want is too difficult for us here. ‘Julie’ then went on, at great length, to ask us all sorts of questions. She asked us how we slept, was our room good, what are we doing today, how long were we staying etc but in between each question she would just stand and smile at us for ages.
Now personally I don’t mind slight pauses In conversations but as most of you will know that’s not Mandy’s style. After answering ‘Julie’s’ questions I kept quiet in the hope that she would run out of steam. However, Mandy, who was embarrassed by the pauses and silence, would ask ‘Julie’ yet another question! Mandy didn’t seem to realise that ‘Julie’s’ training wouldn’t allow her to walk away from a guest as long as the guest showed the slightest bit of interest in talking to her. Lost on ‘Julie’ were the subtle English phrases such as, “we just want to have a quiet day on our own today” and “anyway we don’t want to keep you from your other guests”
Mandy and ‘Julie’ were locked in a never ending conversational maze …………I just stared down at my steamed dumplings.
————————————————————————————————
Foot note: Although all the above is true I wanted to add some balance. This hotel was a breath of fresh air for us, the staff, hotel and food were all fantastic and I will be yet another guest that will be giving them a 100% rating.