The hotel was incredible. We checked in and the reception staff quite happily called the scooter company to tell them we had arrived. They then sent us up to the 8th floor where we were shown to a table set with a plate of fruit and a glass of passion fruit juice each. Once we had finished the receptionist came to the table with a map and showed us where the 'tourist' spots where and what was worth doing. Finally they showed us to our room.
Now this place is much fancier than anywhere we have stayed so far, it was also a bit more expensive, but it had been recommended to us with a brilliant review and we fancied a little bit of luxury for 2 nights.
We weren't disappointed. The room was beautiful with big windows overlooking Hue (as with most places it's very built up so the view is mainly buildings) and lots of natural light. We had a proper bathroom instead of a wet room and we even had a bath! The wardrobes had 2 towel robes in it, and the bed was just heaven.
I immediately ran a bath! A cool bath with nothing in it because I still had the rash on my arms and face and didn't want to irritate it anymore! I wasn't sure what had made my face and eyes swell a few days earlier but that was starting to go down now. And I was pretty sure the rash may have been prickly heat, so I just needed to try and keep it cool, which was almost impossible with the temperature outside, but the bath would help and I was going to make the most of it!!
We waited for a phone call to say our bags had arrived. The hubby went to get them and about 15 minutes later he came back empty handed.... they were the wrong bags... oh no! We waited for another phone call about 20mins later and headed down again. Thankfully our bags had been on the bus, they had just pulled the wrong ones off!
After both spending stupid amounts of time in the bath, soothing the bloody sunburn, we went for a walk around. The temperature had dropped a little so it was a nice walk. About 2 minutes away from the hotel we found a street packed with bars and places to eat. It catered for everything you could imagine. We had found a few places on trip advisor and they were all on this street. Perfect location.
The next morning we went for breakfast (included in the price of the room) and it was delicious. Buffet style with a fresh egg station. The staff wouldn't let you stand and wait, they sent us back to our table and brought the eggs over. One member of staff wouldn't even let me wait for my toast, he toasted it for me! The selection was massive. Cooked breakfast items, salad, cold meats, fruit, yougut, cereal, rice, noodles, vegetables, pastries and fruit juices. We decided spending too long in the sun was a bad idea with our sun burn, so we did a little tour of the hotel and found a cute little swimming pool next to a fitness suite and a spa. Perfect.
Later in the afternoon we headed out for a walk again. We walked to the Citadel to see the Imperial City and Purple Forbidden City. The a wall and a moat form the perimeter of the Citadel which enclosed the Imperial City. The Purple Forbidden City lies within that, and access was originally restricted to members of the Imperial Family. It's an impressive place, the structures and grand and imposing, but now it's more common to see children with their parents playing on the courtyard and couples taking photographs in front of the vast Flag Tower.
For us Hue had been a quick pit stop, but we were quickly learning that some people are only able to spend 2 days in the majority of places they visit. I couldn't imagine being able to enjoy a place if we were moving that fast. We are so lucky to have the time that we have and be able to explore and take it all in slowly.
