Hot in Hue, cool in the Scarlett Hotel

Mon 26th June
Early start with plane to catch so had a quick breakfast and jumped in a couple of taxis and had our last adrenaline rush of HCM road madness. Usual stuff at the airport, check-in etc then had to get checked but some officials before going through security, having to remove all shoes, belts, caps etc. Then we had to get ushered onto busses which took us across the airfield to our waiting jet, the price of flying low-cost airlines.
Full plane and soon we were off, getting a nice view of HCM city before disappearring into the clouds, for a bit over 1 hour flight to Hue. Louisa's neighbour tried to pretend to hold the arm rest but strayed onto her leg a few times, Yuck. My neighbour was a tiny (< 5ft tall) old man and probably a farmer on his 1st ever flight. I had to show him how to put on the seat belt. On the descent he just took off his seat belt and virtually leaned right over me to get a view out thru the window. Lovely views coming into Hue over the fish farms and rice fields in the delta area.
Landed at Hue International airport but had to disembark onto the tarmac and wait for buses to the terminal, where our bags were waiting.
Justin's magic worked again with our private hire van waiting to take us the 20 min trip into town, dropping us off at our hotel, the Scarlett Boutique hotel.
Hue has about 350,000 people and is the old Vietnam Imperial Capital for thousands ofyears. It is on the Huong River which is a short river, about 40km long before it goes into the sea.
Too early to check-in but we were invited into the lounge and served chilled juice & fruit platters while the staff explained the hotel and surrounding areas, the highlights & attractions.
Had a walk down the road for coffee, Justin bought some anti-biotics (over the counter mind you) for a chest infection he has picked up, had a pub lunch before returning to our hotel to check in.

We are all amazed at the rooms, small sized but exquisitely fitted out - a king sized bed, full ammenities and rose petals on the bed and on the toilet & handbasin. Later in the evening when we returned from dinner we find the bed turned down, bottle of water & glass by the bed, curtains drawn and new towels. The laundry we dropped off at 4pm was delivered back all clean. AND, all this for $36 per night.

The ladies were sufferring a bit so they booked in for a massage & then Ross decided it was for him also. Peter went for a walk along the river, arriving back drenched in sweat, with the humidity at >70%, it was a good workout.
After everyone recovered we got together for a drink and made a plan for dinner. Louisa found a small place just nearby called Nooks and we foind it run by an expat Aussie. Food was excellent as were the beers. Sue tried the local wine, after adding soda water & ice, found it passable. Still very warm & humid when we returned to our hotel.

Highlights
* getting to Hue;
* Beautiful Scarlett Boutique Hotel;
* great dinner at Nooks.

Overcast, hot & very humid. About 36C & >70% RH, threatened rain in the arvo, but stayed up in the hiilsRead more